Actual 3rd meeting with Marisol

Today I met with Marisol for the 3rd time. It was a good session and I felt like I taught her and helped her a lot more. I used the new books given to me by Dr. Williams and they were much more effective. They are simple and easy for her to understand, unlike the GED book we had been using before. We went over prepositions and plural and singular verbs. She had a lot of trouble with the prepositions, but by the end of the meeting she was grasping the concept better.

After meeting with Marisol today, I really noticed how never going to school has affected her life. Not only has she never been taught formally, she doesn't know exactly how to learn. I don't know if that makes sense but it is evident that she doesn't understand concepts well at all. This is really hard for me because I have to do my best to explain things. I always just want to say "this is how is it just because" or "it just sounds right" but I prevent myself and do my best.

Nevertheless, Marisol is trying her hardest, as am I. She has already learned a lot and will continue to do so.

3rd meeting with Marisol

On the Friday before spring break (the 20th), I was supposed to meet with Marisol again. I was sitting in my room studying for a test I had later that day and glanced at my watch. It was 12:30. I then looked to the left of my desk and saw the GED books sitting there. I immediately knew I had forgotten to meet with Marisol. I had been studying all morning for my test and completely forgot. The feeling that came over me was terrible. I sat there thinking about her sitting in the Rec, looking at her watch waiting for me to come around the corner. I had let her down and I hated myself for it.

I quickly picked up my phone and dialed her number, trying to get a hold of her so I could beg her to accept my apology. She didn't answer. I left a long message apologizing profusely and telling her I would meet with her 3 times the first week back in order to make up for it. I was legitimately upset. I had let Marisol down and I had let myself down. The feelings that overcame me were awful. I thought about it for the rest of the day, blaming myself for being inconsiderate and a terrible person.

I really hope Marisol can forgive me and does not hate me for missing our session. I will just have to wait to find out...

2nd Meeting with Marisol

Today I met with Marisol for the second time. This time I had a GED book to get her started. We went over the writing portion of the exam and she completed the pretest for that section. She struggled with a lot of it and had trouble with the concept of correcting sentences in English.

After a short while, she began to ask me questions saying "do you think you can help me?" and "do you think I can learn English?" My obvious answer was yes. I know she is capable of learning and getting her GED because she is a hardworking person. She then went on to tell me about getting her American Citizenship and how it took her 3 months to pass the test. I asked her a question that I thought I knew the answer to, but I was wrong: I said "how far did you go in school? 8th grade?" and she replied in saying "no, I have never gone to school. My father taught me at home". Marisol has never had any education in her life. This shocked me. I really did not know what to think at first. She expressed so much desire to learn English because she wants to have a better life. She told me she is tired of cleaning dorms and offices till 1 in the morning. She wants to teach some day. This really sparked my motivation. I have an opportunity to help this amazing lady obtain her dream.

I know she appreciates what I am doing for her. She thanks me every 5 minutes and always looks at her watch and makes sure we aren't going over an hour (which I do not care about at all). When I am helping her, I don't think about anything else. Her telling me she has never gone to school in her life and her telling me her dream of being a teacher really opened my eyes. So many people in the world have little to no education and are just regarded as lazy or ignorant. I for one can say that that is absolutely false. Even though Marisol has no education, she is an intelligent woman who has picked up all the English she knows by just listening. I look forward to my next meeting with her because now I know what I have to do in order to get her where she wants to be. This is an amazing opportunity and I am going to take full advantage of it.

First Meeting with Marisol

My first meeting with Marisol went really well. We met at the Rec Center and it took me several minutes to find her, but when I introduced myself, it is obvious that she was eager to get started. Since we did not have a GED book handy, I simply asked her to tell me the things she has trouble with in English. She told me how she didn't understand how to sound out the letters "a, e, and i". I wrote them out phonetically for her and wrote down several examples of them in words. She started to understand the sound of each letter and by the end of the hour, she was saying them correctly. I also showed her how to log on to the computer using her name and password and how to get on the internet. She commented that her kids have computers and know how to use them but she has no idea. I found it funny because my mom is not very technologically inclined and I could understand her confusion with the technology.

After meeting with her just once, I could tell how much she wanted to learn. She is an extremely hard working woman who is working two jobs and trying to support her family. Her brothers are attending school and are learning English and she would like to get the same help. In the beginning of this class, I was so excited about the service learning project. I have always loved helping people. In this case, it works out even better because I am a Spanish major and it has already come in handy with just my first meeting with Marisol.

Helping these employees is a great experience. They are so appreciative of our willingness to help them achieve whatever goals they have set for themselves. I really cannot think of something I would rather do for an hour than to help someone with a problem. I look forward to my next meeting with Marisol and this time, we will have a book to start advancing towards her goal of getting her GED.