CONVERSATION PARTNER 4 - Conv club at the Globe. Meeting 4
There most recent conversation session at the globe was attended by the now regular Dongsoek, and a new lady, approximately in her mid-fifties, from Colombia named Luz. Luz is very sympathetic and very gentle in her communication. Give our common Latin backgrounds, I felt very comfortable in her presence and tried to prevent her and my conversation from dominating the session. In this session we talked about each countries’ respective recycling strategies, given that Luz’s husband is here working on a PhD in waste management.
Luz struggles with a lack of vocabulary, but has a good sense of how to use words once they are supplied to her. She uses a lot of filler and often relies on hand motions to link ideas, but once she settles in, she becomes a bit more natural in her speech. It was interesting to see Dongsoek and Luz try and negotiate the meanings of particular words, especially since they come from such disparate cultures and are at fairly different stages in their English development. I really enjoy the conversation groups. For me honestly, the toughest part is gauging people’s interest in a subject and shifting it if necessary so as to keep everyone engaged and involved. I also have a hard time finding ideal seating so that everyone can see each other comfortably as they talk.
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