Becoming More Personal

    The next couple visits to Rock Island high school were more interesting because our relationships became more personal with the students. More students  in the classroom started asking Cassie and I our names and would start a conversation with us before the second bell rang, which signaled the beginning of the period. Majority of the time when we would visit, the same two girls would come with us every time. We walked down to the library just like we always do, but this one session was different. During this session, for the first time, we focused more on each other than on the homework. The girls asked us many different personal questions, like our age, if we enjoyed college, if we had a boyfriend, etc. In turn, we asked them more personal questions as well just to get to know them, and I was honestly curious as to some of their answers for certain questions would be. We did not want to ask a question that might offend them, so we were cautious as to how we worded our questions. Learning they were from Africa and that they come to the US at a young age gave us some sort of cultural background on who they were. By taking this class I was able to be respectful and not over-step any boundaries in situations like these.  It was very cool learning more about the girls and their family life compared to how they interact with their friends or us. 

    In this situation, we practiced the interactive strategy. This interactive strategy means is when we communicate directly with a person from which we are trying to get information from. Since we were all asking questions about one another, this interactive style was used as we were in a group setting. We directly asked that an individual specific questions to get to know the other person better. We also used effective verbal delivery in this situation.  Effective verbal delivery expresses an object or idea in the simplest way successfully.  Effective delivery includes using words well.  The usage of specific and concrete words refers to an object or action in the most specific way possible. 

     Having this type of experience will help me in the future for when I am faced with a conversation of someone with a different cultural background as me.  Using the interactive strategy and effective verbal delivery helped everyone involved in the situation, because we were able to find out new information about the girls, and they found our information about Cassie and I.  This session was important in our relationships with the girls, and I’m glad they initiated the questions.