Product Reflection

At the beginning of the Junior Year, I kept in mind what sort of product I would want to create
when choosing the topic for my graduation project. I was really interested in both languages and computer
science, so choosing my topic on peer-mentoring for ESL students enabled me to combine both of these
fields. The creation of this product allowed me to learn more about both of my respective interests, as
well as allowed me to learn how to work through the hardships that come with each field.
For my SLE hours, I spent time volunteering at my local library where I tutored students in
reading. Many of these students were either learning English for the first time, or didn’t speak English at
home. After finishing these hours, I gained insight on how to best teach students who were just learning
English. Because the world is becoming an increasingly global community through the internet, I figured
it was best to create a product that focuses on the digital aspect of learning cultures/languages. The
internet is used by people of all ethnic background, in every corner of the world. The internet would be
one of the most helpful tools in exposing others to more languages. With this in mind, I decided that a
website would be the most beneficial thing to aid both mentors and mentees in their quest to teach/learn
English. During mentoring sessions, they would be able to go online to access this website, where
different resources (such as videos, games, other tips, etc. ) would be compiled for them.
In the creation of this website, I wrote all of my own code on a resource called “Glitch” that
allowed me to put up an accessible, working version of the website. I coded and wrote each part of this
website. I including sections on the most popular languages in the local school system, as well as tips and
other resources on how to learn English. I presented the link to the website at the library, local ESL
teachers, as well as other students who were interested in learning other languages/teaching English. It
was important to develop traffic to the website to ensure that the information I gained through my service
learning experience would be shared with the world.
I gained a lot of knowledge on coding and website creation, something I am considering as a
future career. I have learned how to work through issues in coding. One of the most difficult parts of this
project was figuring out how to create different elements of this website such as the forum comment box.
I feel that my abilities in using HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Glitch have greatly improved. I plan to
continue improving the quality and information of the website as my skills in coding continue to improve
with time. I have also learned about how important languages are to the world- but learning and
communication can transcend languages. Now, at the end of this graduation project, I can say that I am
proud of what I have created!