There is a part of Arlington Park Racetrack seldom seen by those who visit the facility. It is the Backstretch area where racehorses are kept, stabled, exercised and cleaned by scores of employees who perform these thankless tasks at Arlington during the summer season and at Hawthorne during most of the rest of the year. During their summer employment, workers and their families live in concrete block style 12'x12' dormitory type rooms, the buildings somewhat reminiscent of old, spartan motor inn lodging.
Most of the families who live here are Hispanic and for many, Spanish is their only language. There are some who may say that these people are "taking jobs away from Americans", however frankly, I know of very few Americans who would find these jobs and living circumstances acceptable. But that's another soapbox. This story is about "Kids on Track", JA, and one of the students, Hector
The "Kids on Track" (KOT) program is supported by School District 214 and is essentially a summer camp for the children of the Backstretch employees. Educationally, these children are some of the neediest you will find in the Chicago area. KOT provides these kids with summertime activities that they otherwise would never receive. These are high-energy children that come from loving families that give them very little educational stimulation, likely because the parents have had little if any schooling themselves. In fact, I am sure in many cases the parents are learning things like English and other basics from some of their children.In the summer of 2011, 236 children ages 3-13 participated in KOT from Thursday - Sunday. For about 4-5 years now, JA has been included in the KOT offerings; I have delivered the "Ourselves" and "Our Families" programs for the past three summers now, mostly to children ages four and five. While these programs are usually shared with five and six year olds, there is a good chance that the "campers" will receive them again if they return to KOT, or in a grade school in Cicero, IL where Morton College students present JA. For these children, reinforcement and repetition is good and necessary.
During my three summers of involvement, I have spent about two hours in the morning, one day per week for five weeks. I enter through a non-descript gate to the west of the track; the security guards know to allow JA volunteers to pass. Since my students are among the youngest, my classes are held in a 30'x30' multi-purpose room adjacent to a small cafeteria used by employees, trainers and jockeys. Older students usually receive JA in an outdoor setting, which comes with distractions such as traffic noise from nearby Route 53 and Mother Nature.
I usually have 40-50 students in two groups of 20-25 each. They come walking in linked by a soft plastic chain that they hold in their hands. They are accompanied by 1-2 counselors and often 1-2 HS or college student volunteers. Sometimes they will sit on the floor (typically on a carpet) to hear a story and other times I move them to small tables and chairs to do exercises. The first two and a half weeks they receive the "Ourselves" program, followed by "Our Families" in the last half - the third week is the transition week from one to the other. The first group receives two lessons in the first hour, then the second group follows, receiving the same two lessons as the other students had. My challenge is that I am teaching an English text by speaking mostly Spanish (I am bi-lingual) to children whose learning levels are sub-par, all in a camp atmosphere that totally lacks the discipline of a normal classroom.
I remember well my first year with the KOT program and JA. My last day there I was thinking how relieving it was to be finishing up. This was one of my most frustrating JA experiences I had ever had - the kids just didn't seem to be grasping much and maybe the curriculum was too far over their heads to be useful. Some of the children connected with me, but many were aloof - and so be it, given the circumstances. Some of them overtime became more willing to come up and show me what they had done with their exercises, and I always gave them the positive reinforcement they wanted - and is so needed with these children. One of those who shared their work with me was Hector - in a way that I would never have imagined.
Hector was around 5 years old and over the course of the five weeks became progressively more sociable with me. When the children are doing exercises related to their learning, I usually walk around and answer their questions or often help them lift stickers off their sheets to put on the JA material. At this age, it's good to complement them often and look for the positive elements in their work. Hector was one of the students I assisted and during the last lesson he was using stickers to develop his own community map - much like the floor map that the whole class had just looked at and participated in putting together. Hector finished a little ahead of the other students and came up to me and said "Here", extending the map to me with his hand. He had finished putting the stickers on the map, but since the others weren't ready, I told him if he wanted he could color it a little too. So he returned to his desk.
A few minutes passed and he returned to me with his exercise, having done a few more things to it. He shared it with me again and I looked at it, then handed it back and told him he had done a nice job. He said in broken English, "no, you" to which I replied (in Spanish) that it was his to take home to show his family. He responded again in somewhat broken English, "No, you. I want you to remember me!" I gratefully accepted and said thank you. It was all I could do not to break down.
That one "magic moment" changed my whole perspective on that summer with JA at KOT. And I have returned each summer since.
No comments:
Post a Comment