Overall Reflections
December 17th, 2011 by Jonnalyn BenoleraoFrom the beginning of the semester, I was unsure of what to expect with my refugee family. I’ve had experiences with other refugee families and those were definitely different compared to the one this semester. I felt that my partner and I connected with the family at some levels and sometimes there was also miscommunication. One of the major challenges was the language barrier. The family was very eager to learn the language but realistically they only know a limited number of words. We did appreciate their warmth and hospitality that they have showed us. They were always very friendly and would provide us snacks and water whenever we were there. It was quiet interesting how they thought that my partner and I were there as teachers and always expected us to have something to teach – but through explaining to them, we were still able to help them with learning the language and also explained that we were not teachers and that we were students. The main family was great at our departure and thankful for all the assistance that we provided. It was definitely sad to say good-bye to these individuals who became a part of our learning experience. We hope to keep contact with them and hope they too will be improving and doing well in the future.