Learning about safety and procedures also stood out in Rouda's mind "The
most important thing is safety. I remember the safety." Rouda then quickly
added that she learned more than safety procedures in the coffee shop. "I
remember the muffins, [and] reading." She then added that she
also learned how to prepare for a job interview: "How to talk, not to be nervous,
[and] calm down." She learned to use the coffee machine and to serve customers "the
polite way" . She also talked about the importance of learning to be "particular" ,
and compared the way she approached a task at home with the way she has learned
to do a similar task in the coffee shop. "At home," she
said, "your mind knows everything. Everyday, what you are doing, you know."
The coffee shop, in contrast is very different.
Sugar we know, flour we know. It's important, You
have to be particular [about] how you use [them]. You have to know [and be]
careful because you never know if you get the job and you have to know metric. [At home] everything
you know. When you [are] making something, cooking something. [at] home, it's not
important.
She said the activities that are done in the coffee shop, such as metric
measurement, and careful reading, may be similar to the activities that are
done at a job. She felt it was important to learn these things in order to prepare for work.
If you know or not, they [will] tell you, 'Follow that paper.' If you don't
know, you [are] lost. You don't know nothing. You cannot ask people [who are]
working; they are concentrating on something else. 'Excuse me, can you help me?' That means
you don't know. You [have to] be ready.
Stacey expressed similar opinions as Rouda. "When you are going on [a]
job, you have to know everything they teach or you [are] lost. Otherwise,
you need help or something." Like Hannah and Rouda, Stacey said she
learned to read and use recipes. Even though she enjoyed cooking and learned
to prepare different cultural foods, she said she didn't understand how to
use recipes before she participated in the coffee shop. She explained
that she used to read them but did not actually use them when preparing food. Now she explained,
"I like to read the recipe—how to measure, what to put, and how
many. I'm glad that now I understand." She also talked about learning to
be more organized and methodical when she prepared food. She then added
that it has helped her to understand text better when she is actually using the text, like
reading the recipe or following directions for making coffee. Fran aptly
described the learning in the coffee shop: "[The students] are very eager to
be in [the coffee shop] and certainly seem to know what they are doing.
They have a clear sense of direction that they brought with themselves."
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