Blog 3- During Service

1.  The technology in the home of our Burmese family is scarce. Between the four family members, there is one cell phone and one landline.  They also have an iPad that the father uses for his job.  This is more than enough technology in their opinion.  While teaching and conversing with the mother about food, we found out that she has never even used an oven.  This gave us the idea to teach her how to bake a cake during our next visit.  I bought cake mix and the ingredients to go along with it.  I even bought a disposable 9"x13" pan to bake the cake in.  However, the baking process did not go as smoothly as I anticipated.  The oven took over a half hour to preheat because it hadn't been turned on in a few years.  I did not even think to bring measuring cups or a mixing bowl.  It was hard to ask the Burmese mother if she had those things.  I had to explain what a measuring cup was because she has never actually used one.  Luckily, the family is very close with their neighbors and we were able to borrow measuring tools and a big mixing bowl.  In the end, our hard work and confusion resulted in a delicious cake for our Burmese family to enjoy.

2. Technology is highly valued in America.  It is our ethnocentric belief that all people should have many sources of technology such as cell phones, computers, televisions, etc... Our Burmese family did not value technology as highly as most Americans.  They only needed two phones in order or contact each other if something happened at home while the father was at work.  They hardly knew how to use their iPad because it was so technologically advanced for them.  They did not care to use it very much.  The mother was excited to bake with the oven though.  When we ran into conflict, we had to find ways to resolve it using interpersonal communication.  When coming up with the idea to bake a cake, I used very low future orientation.  It was an "in the moment" decision. Since I forgot a few key tools to baking a cake, we had to use descriptive words to explain to the mother what we needed.  She did not have the vocabulary equivalence of a measuring cup because that was never a word she needed to know in her native language.  Luckily, she lives in a collectivistic community and her neighbors were happy to lend her some bowls and measuring cups.

3.  Baking a cake was a great experience for the family.  However, in the future we need to plan more before doing such complex activities.  The mother enjoyed learning how to cook rather than the typical reading, writing and math that we normally do.  In the future I will incorporate more activities related to American culture while I teach the family.  We could start using their iPad to get apps that teach vocabulary, math, and writing skills. That way they can make use if their iPad and learn English at the same time.  We will try to make leaning English more enjoyable for our family.