Journal 1- Zanele Mhlaba

This semester I will be volunteering in the ESL program. From what I understand the program is mostly with spanish speaking students. There are definitely a lot of negative stereotypes associated with hispanic people. For one many times people think they are illegal immigrants and also people place them into a large homogenous group, assuming that they are all Mexican. There is a disregard for what countries many of these people come from and or that they may actually be documented, especially the children. I have not met the students yet, but I am very excited to work with them. Having spent half of my life in my native country, I can definitely appreciate how it can be hard to reconcile your own culture and your home life with what you have at school. I imagine that the language barrier is the hardest, especially at a young age when children are more prone to tease each other. I definitely think I will be able to learn a lot from the students and share things with them.