This being my
first time volunteering with the Bolivia4ward program, I knew very little of
what to expect throughout my time here. All I really knew in regards to my
involvement in the program was that I would be assisting Bolivian children and
teens in expanding their math knowledge using the Khan Academy website. My lack
of knowledge about the project compounded with my lack of confidence in my
Spanish-speaking abilities and my inexperience as a teacher instilled in me an
apprehension that followed me from the time I departed from Chicago all the way
to the first time I decided to sit down next to a student in need of some extra
assistance with a tricky problem.
Coming out of a
full week of teaching, however, I have to say that I couldn’t be more thankful for
the opportunity to participate in the program from the perspective of a nervous
foreigner and a true newcomer to the field of education. What I began to
realize, and what became my mantra every time I felt overwhelmed by a
particularly difficult concept to explain, was that the girls and boys whom I
was teaching weren’t here to judge me on my Spanish or scold me for making a
simple mathematical mistake—they were here to learn about math just as I was
here to learn about their culture and language. The moment I realized this
simple fact was the moment that the program turned from a daunting test of
mathematical skill and command of the Spanish language to a mutual journey for
knowledge.
In this new
reality, what I had attributed as my weaknesses turned out to be the biggest
advantages that I could muster in the quest for truly understanding how best to
impact the lives of these bright children that I had the joy of surrounding
myself with. The feelings of unease and self-consciousness that I experienced
as I tried my best to appear as someone who was fit to teach a roomful of
children mathematical concepts, while stumbling through the most elementary of
Spanish phrases was the same exact feeling that my students had. Just as I had
felt that I wasn’t worthy to be teaching math in Spanish to a bunch of native
Spanish speakers, the students felt as though they weren’t worthy of asking for
math help from someone who they assumed was a master of the material. When they
saw me bumble around and asking my fellow volunteers for help with vocab or
with some insight as to how to explain a topic as simple as division, the
intimidating nature of my presence was replaced with the notion that I, just
like them, had a lot to learn.
This realization
from them made learning less about saving oneself from the embarrassment of
failure and more about learning alongside someone who was truly as clueless in
other topics as they had convinced themselves that they were in math. Instead
of looking confused at some nonsensical Spanish phrase that I had thrown
together in an attempt at basic communication, they would help me work through
what I was trying to say, offering encouraging words when they could tell that
I was embarrassed about my butchering of their language. I would say things
like “Lo siento, mi español es muy malo,” and they would instantly respond with
“No! No! Es bueno!,” and offer back a smile that made it seem as if they were
grateful to know that I wasn’t some perfect human being who was there to force
them to learn what they assumed must be expected of people to know where I come
from.
Perhaps the most
important thing that I have learned from helping these kids with their math is
that the best way to teach someone effectively and to open their minds to
accepting failure is to connect with them on an equal playing field, making it
apparent that you are learning just as much from them as they are from you. I
think that, if more people realized that they can learn something from every
single person out there, they would realize just how equal we all are at a
basic, human level, and be more driven to ensure that every person has a chance
at achieving their full potential. What the Salman Khan espouses in his Khan
Academy manifesto, The One World
Schoolhouse, and what I have experienced first hand with the Bolivia4ward
project, is that it is for everybody’s best interest to make quality education
accessible to every person out there because not doing so could be depriving
the world of some of its greatest innovators and game changers whose full
potential was being oppressed at the hands of societal boundaries such as class
and financial status. All in all, this experience has most definitely left me
with a drive to level the playing field for all who have a will to learn.
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