By Robert Cassady Posted December 20, 2024
1. What inspired you to pursue your current career or role?
MG: Well, for starters, my husband said I should get into the school. I never thought I was going to get into the schools. I worked in a warehouse for seven years prior to that, so he inspired me to go into the school district, and it just felt right after getting into it.
KC: I was an ESL ML student when I was younger, so that helped me and inspired me to help other kids in higher grades with their English.
JM: I was also a Spanish-speaking only student, and I just feel like just being able to support the kids and helping them be successful.
2. How do you think diversity and inclusion impact the workplace or community?
MG: Inclusion and diversity impact the workplace and community because you’re able to learn different people’s cultures and how they handle assignments or problems, and maybe how to handle an assignment, you learn different ways to do that.
KC: I feel like diversity is good for the workplace because getting to know other races and ethnicities, and other people helps us better learn about the world and helps us just be better about getting along with everyone.
JM: I agree with Karina; having a lot of diversity is also good. That way, you know other things, and you can learn about other people and that we, not everybody, are the same and are different.
3. Can you describe a significant challenge you’ve faced in your work and how you overcame it?
MG: One of the biggest challenges that I’ve had is that I’ve had students who speak Arabic, they’re from different cultures, and one of the biggest things is the language barrier. I’ve worked with students more than just Spanish speakers, and in this, we take an assignment, we do a translation of it in Google Translate, I will print out that document, and we’ll work on it together. It creates a bond between the aid and the student.
KC: One of the challenges is when you have a student who doesn’t speak either English or Spanish, trying to find that common ground on how to help them with their languages is sometimes challenging.
JM: One of my significant challenges is when you translate at the same time as the teacher is talking because it gets a little difficult because some of the words that are being said aren’t very commonly used words that you use in daily conversation, so I get a little stuck sometimes.
4. What skills do you believe are essential for success in your field?
MG: I believe you do have to have strong communication skills, and you have to be able to adjust to change.
KC: Being open-minded and accepting everyone for who they are, but also standing your ground when something goes wrong.
JM: Like Karina said, just being open and being able to work with a diverse group of children and people because everybody is different.
5. How do you stay motivated and passionate about your work?
MG: I stay motivated and passionate; it really comes off from the students. I like to see that they’re trying. They’re learning they’re trying to come up with a way to figure out how to solve the questions that they may have on a quiz or an exam. That is what helps me stay motivated.
KC: Just watching the kids succeed and how much improvement they have. I had this job last year and then I have almost the same kids this year, so listening to their English improvement has been a big success.
JM: for me seeing how much the kids have learned from the day I got here to now, and just how they work together in the class setting and how they’re getting a lot of confidence and being more outgoing and personable with each other.
6. What trends or changes do you see shaping the future of your industry?
MG: I do see a lot more technology and technological advancements that probably will be implemented and then over the next 10 years.
KC: I feel like AI is going to be a big help, and in this field of work, like how I said, when there are other languages that I don’t understand, or I don’t know, AI would be helpful with that.
JM: I think the changes being, the teachers implementing a little bit more for the students that are fluent in English, like translating their papers for them, or the stories, or stuff like that just to make it a little bit easier for them to comprehend that material.
7. How important is collaboration and teamwork in your line of work?
MG: In my line of work, it is very important; since I go to seven different classes, I see different students. The teachers and the other ML Aides also have the students, so it’s nice to collaborate with them because then I’m able to tell them what the student may need a little bit more work on or what they’re excelling at.
KC: Just lots of communication and communicating with the teachers along with the students, advocating for students, and then also relying upon the students and what are the teachers’ expectations
JM: Yeah I agree with Karina, you have to be really open with the teachers and have a lot of communication with them because if you don’t work as a team, and you guys aren’t on the same page, it’s kind of difficult for the kids to be able to understand what’s going on in class.
8. Can you share a memorable experience that highlights the impact of your work?
MG: Yes, so I have had a student where she was really struggling, just coming to a whole new place. She was from Pakistan, she didn’t know the language, she was really nervous, but she was able to actually with the help of Google translate, start doing the assignments with my help. Then, as soon as she got the hang of it, she was able to start them herself and then she would ask questions later so she was able to overcome a fear of not really knowing what to do, and being in a new place, to be comfortable enough with what she was doing and she was able to then proceed to do it herself.
KC: From working last year to coming this year, just seeing those students that I had last year improve their just sociable and the improving their English language has been very interesting.
JM: I guess when we sit down during one of our class periods, and all the kids take turns, and they read, and they actually have that confidence to do it around each other.
9. What advice would you give to someone looking to enter your field?
MG: If I had to give someone advice entering my field, it would be, don’t let a language barrier keep you from going into the field. I think it’s important to have people who are willing to learn how to teach somebody, that they cannot communicate with language.
KC: Just to be open-minded because there are all kinds of different types of people from backgrounds, so just being open and helpful.
JM: Yeah, just being open and helpful and just remembering that they’re kids, and they need the support and being there for them, and not just expecting them to kind of know what’s going on, and understanding that there’s kind of like stuff that they won’t understand thoroughly.
10. In your opinion, what role does communication play in enhancing understanding and cooperation among people?
MG: Communication plays a major role because you are able to find out what people need, find out what maybe the student excels in, and then kind of play off that. People are all different learners, they could be visual learners, or they could be audio learners. Once you get to know that, and that’s with collaborating with them, and kind of figuring out what they know. Then you can go forward and help him succeed in what they want to do.
KC: A big role, communication is key to helping everyone out and understanding.
JM: Communication is a big part of being able to talk to people and explain things to the kids. You have to communicate with the student and the teacher. It’s a big part of what the whole school’s around either way and not just our program but just in general.
