Alexandra CP 10

CONVERSATION PARTNER 10 - Conv Club at the Globe. Meeting 6


Today there was a very good and diverse attendance at the Conversation Club. Two of the ladies present I already knew, Luz and Lulu. There was another Chinese woman present Jinxua, a professor in the department of Information technology working on the prospectus to her dissertation. Given her position and experience, she was quite fluent and turned out to be very helpful in reaching out to a new Japanese postdoc student, whose English was very elementary. He seemed rather scared of speaking, and seemed not to understand direct questions, but he was happy to listen and seemed entertained by the conversation. Every once in a while, I would make an attempt to turn it back to him, to give him an opportunity to try and speak if he wished. Sometimes he would deflect, but at times he would attempt to answer, but not have the verbal tools to fully answer the question. Fortunately, if there was any difficulty, Jinxua knew just enough Japanese that between us we were able to coax him out of his shell just enough for him to be able to answer some questions about himself or add a comment or two to the conversation. Today the conversation centered around organic foods as well as discussing Luz’s family which was in for a visit, from Colombia, and some really fascinating interface technologies which Jinxua’s department is currently using.