Reflection On The Tutoring Session

The week of March 12, 2018 I was involved in an evening tutoring session for Hispanic adults wishing to obtain the GED. The session was supposed to start at 6:30 pm and end at 8:30 pm and five adults attended the session, excluding the professor and myself. There were four males, relatively young and one female of about 32 years. Only two of the five participants could communicate in English and the rest only spoke in Spanish. The tutor was a European –American middle aged woman that knew Spanish. The tutoring session focused on arithmetic and word problems and involved simple topics (fractions, proportion, percentages and negative numbers). Of the males, only two were proficient in solving the word problems and providing quick and correct

All of the pupils talked about how they had to work and take care of their families before and after the session. Secondly, not many Latinos consider education a primary goal after coming the United States, since their priorities are still fixed on provision for the family and a better life. Those who believe education is important are limited by their ability to speak the language and time constrains that subject them to family activities. Thirdly, although men were the majority in the tutoring session, they behaved in a nonchalant manner, indicating control over the circumstance; however, two out of the four males were afraid to answer the problems and seemed nervous when the tutor asked questions, probably indicating their anxiety and lack of control. Fourthly, the ethics governing the situation were predominantly those of a patriarchal society. The males charted the course of events and the Hispanic female followed silently and made a few comments when she was addressed by the males or the tutor. Ethics in this small group were already established, and every tutee seemed to comply with them and assume his/her perceived role, the woman as a silent caretaker and the man as the provided and main figure. There was no tension caused by role

The presence of their family members spoke of the protective environment and trust one member of the family deposits on another (Germán, Gonzáles, & Dumka, 2009). The tutees, by having their spouses and children, felt more secure in an unknown and apparently hostile environment. This familial support worked as a protective factor that allowed external inhibitors to be diminished (Germán, Gonzáles, & Dumka, 2009). Secondly, acculturation seemed to be an obstacle to the tutees. The two males that knew English were able to adapt more easily and interact with the American tutor, while the other three students had problem connecting or relating to the tutor and expressing their agreement with the tutor on certain topics or their likeness of the tutor. These three tutees, according to Abraído-Lanza, Echeverría, & Flórez (2016), have not been able to adapt or change their values, beliefs or norms to be assimilated into the majority culture. The two students who possessed knowledge of the English language did show more openness to the tutor’s humor and sarcasm while the three tutees who only knew Spanish were not susceptible to such humor. According to Archuleta (2012), the degree of acculturation of the tutees varies depending on the makeup of the community in which the individuals live. Therefore, given that the two young English speaking males worked in an environment where this language was used by the majority, and the