Providing Homework Help

Shenell Lodge

On November 10, 2022, I volunteered at the Little Sisters of Faith Assumption Family Health Service on 333 East 115th Street, New York, NY 10029. As learned in previous classes, globalization is a process which embodies a transformation in the special organization of social relations and transactions generating transcontinental or interregional flows and networks of activity, interaction, and exercise of power (Steger, 17). Little Sisters of the Assumption Family Health Service helps low-income families and children meet their basic needs through food assistance, medical care, family support, and educational assistance. They provide tutoring and homework help to children in grades K - 5. Subjects include and are not limited to English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Writing. This program is only offered Wednesdays and Thursdays weekly. This service project aimed to build stronger relations within and outside of their community through helping the future of the world. I chose this project because I love working with children. As an older sister to three and an aunt of three, also many little cousins, I developed a passion for helping children. I am always the one who assists with homework assignments and projects.

I arrived at the Little Sisters of Assumption Family Health Service thirty minutes early. The walls were decorated with learning materials in both English and Spanish. The team leader, Jadie Vasquez, then gave me a run-down of how this  volunteer service works being that it was my first time there. When the other volunteers arrived, we were given a handout outlining the rules and what we were expected to do. When it was time to start, it turned out to be more kids than volunteers. Each volunteer was assigned to a student to help them with their homework, and the remaining children read until one of the volunteers finished helping their assigned child, at which point they switched. Regardless, every student must read for twenty minutes.

Cultural Globalization refers to the intensification and expansion of cultural flows across the globe (Steger, 83). The first thing I noticed when I arrived at my destination was that it was a Hispanic community. The entire team, including the team leader, is Hispanic. What I found fascinating was that all the children are bilingual, fluent in both Spanish and English, despite their young age. The team leaders were committed to allowing each child twenty minutes of reading time. All of the reading books were written in both Spanish and English. I worked with an adorable and smart eight-year-old boy who told me he could speak Spanish but couldn't read nor write it. The instructions for his homework assignment were written in both English and Spanish. This reminded me of our class discussion about pessimistic and optimistic globalists.  The way I see this is through an optimistic globalist standpoint. Even though they were born and raised in America, the teachers and community made an effort to help these children learn about and embrace their culture. This demonstrates that the world is moving toward a cultural rainbow that reflects the world's diversity. Despite the fact that they are in the United States, which speaks English and has no culture as some may say, they were able to create an environment in which these children could learn and embrace their culture.

References

Steger, M. (2020). Globalization: A very short introduction, Oxford University Press.