Ganem TP-3

On Monday June 6^th, I met Dongsoek in the Globe Café at the International Center. Many of my appointments for tutoring had been canceled because my past two tutees were too busy to meet for them. It was a really good opportunity to have run into Dongsoek. He is from Korea majoring in mathematics. I asked him what he wanted to practice for the TOEFL. He replied that he wanted to work on writing. He was looking for a tutor to focus on helping him improve his writing.

I asked him if he ever had to practice writing essays in Korea. He said they did but it’s different than how he is being taught in America. There was less focus on individual critical thinking and more focus on restating what their instructors lectured. I asked if they ever wrote persuasive essays in Korea. He replied they didn’t and he was struggling with this aspect of writing.

I asked about how he learned other aspects of English, such as reading, listening and speaking. He showed me two notepads that he carried with him. He used one notepad for writing down phrases he heard from people; idioms and expressions that were unfamiliar to him. He used another notepad for writing down sentences and paragraphs he read in class, books, newspapers, magazines, advertisements, etc. This was how he practiced his reading and listening skills. He also told me he had another tutoring partner, Alexandra, who was helping him with speaking and grammar. He was glad to have two tutors because he felt it gave him more practice speaking English.

I asked him what days he would be free to meet for tutoring. He told me he is able to meet twice a week, Mondays and Fridays. We agreed to meet at Strozier Library the coming Friday. Dongsoek then said goodbye because he had to catch the bus to get back to his home.