Service Learning Project Sample

Community Partner

For my service learning project, I have been volunteering in the ESL (English as a Second Language) program at Salt Lake Community College. Their contact information is as follows:

Andy Shaw

ESL coordinator

English as a Second Language Classes

Salt Lake Community College

TB 123 & 125

Email: [e-mail]

Project

The English as a Second language classes or ESL are to help students learn English and practice their reading, writing, listening, speaking, grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. As stated on the SLCC website “The (ESL) courses are to improve student’s English language skills which will help them successfully develop personally, professionally and academically at Salt Lake Community College.”

For my project

Trying to remember and explain grammar rules to the students in a way that they would understand. I realized in speech that we tend to learn something once, and then we kind of forget about the rules. So while I was speaking they would ask why I said something in a particular matter. It was hard for me to remember why we do use words and phrases in a certain way, and why we don’t use different ones. I’ve had this same experience with my husband still learning English. He will ask why words sound the same but mean different thigs or the spelling of words and how they are pronounced differently than how they look. I had this similar experience with my peers.

Theory

The theory that I focused on was Geert Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions. Hofstede created five different cultural dimensions (later added a 6th but was not discussed in class) that offer insight into why cultures behave and interact in the way that they do. The five dimensions are as follows.

Power Distance Index (PDI): “This dimension expresses the degree to which the less powerful members of a society accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.” (Geert Hofstede) The main focus of this dimension is wither people except power differences, social inequalities and a hierarchical system. Or if there is a bigger focus on an equal distribution of power and social justifications of power

Low LTO societies focus on family traditions and cultural norms and don’t like changes. Cultures that have high LTO are different because they are always looking for improvement/change. They tend to encourage thriftiness and put a high emphasis on education and future preparation.

Analysis

Out of all 5 of the different dimensions I was able to connect my project with Individualism and Collectivism the most effectively. The United States is an extremely individualistic culture. All of https://geert-hofstede.com/china.html the other cultures that I interacted with were Collectivist. I found at first it was difficult for me to help teach the students because I was focusing on getting the task finished. The rest of the classmates were more interested in getting to know each other and developing relationships. Once I realized that this was a difference in cultures. I was able to adapt and adopt a more relaxed teaching style. This helped everyone open up more and in the end we got more