Whitney TP-3

June 3:

As I was out-of-town last week, I was curious to see who would show up to English Club today. Alaiddin was not there, sadly, and he never responded to my reminder email. A sweet, middle-aged woman named Luz did show up there. She is from Columbia, and much like Alaiddin, is here in Tallahassee because of her husband, who is studied for his PhD in Engineering. She is taking English classes at TCC, and lived in Miami for 10 years, but her English is still weak (she didn't really need to use it in Miami). As we were talking, Onur, from CIES showed up, and made it a group-conversation (instead of the one-on-one I thought it was going to be).

Luz's biggest weakness is the pocket dictionary she carries in her purse. It's basically the size of a smart phone, and the temptation to pull it out and look up the English translation is extremely strong. We discussed the merits of not using it, but she did eventually give in and pulled it out once. We also talked about helpful ways to practice English outside of class--talking to yourself in front of a mirror, etc. She said that while her husband and son speak very good English, they don't speak it with her, and so her practice opportunities are fewer. I encouraged her to speak even the little English she knows around her husband and son, maybe they could even provide feedback and encourage her.

Luz was extremely grateful for the practice, and left to go to a neighbor's birthday party--it was a surprise party, so being there on time was essential. Onur and I stayed to attend the International Coffee Hour. I definitely hope to see her again.

Whitney TP-2

May 20:

Today I met Alaiddin at the English Conversation Club. He is from Libya, and his first language is Arabic. His wife is a student at CIES, and plans on getting her masters in public health at an American university. Alaiddin would like to improve his English for the mere reason that he will be in the states for the next couple of years. As far as English goes, he finds reading and writing to be the easiest for him, while speaking and listening are more difficult--which is good, since that is what we'll be doing the most of!

I shared a little about myself, but I kept him relatively occupied answering my questions. I find that his greatest difficulty in speaking is that he wants to communicate on a much deeper and intellectual level than his skill will allow. While I would be extremely frustrated, he seems to handle it gracefully, and I listened patiently, helping him along if I could.

Alaiddin's assessment of himself was pretty accurate, but I think there is great potential--only practice will smooth out the wrinkles and gaps.

Whitney CP-3

May 23:

Conversation with Jongouk is gradually becoming more natural (for both of us)--more like we're friends and not just "conversation partners." As I forgot for a moment that I was speaking that English is his second language, I caught myself using an expression--I stopped and tried explaining it. I then asked Jongouk if Koreans used expressions, he nodded, and I asked him to share one with me. He smiled nervously, saying it would be difficult to translate, but he would try. I instantly wished I hadn't made the request, but then, it was already out there, and I was too curious to take it back.

"Other people's rice cake is bigger than mine," he said. He then tried explaining its meaning, and I soon made the connection that we have a similar phrase in English: "The grass is always greener in somebody else's lawn." It's really interesting, because while both sayings hold the same meaning, they are both understood best in their respective cultures. Most Americans don't eat rice cakes often enough for the "rice cake version" to make sense--but in Korea, they are so commonplace, that everyone can easily relate to that expression.

I love seeing how we are similar and yet different, and the ways in which each culture expresses itself.

Whitney TP-1

May 19:

I met Habib today at the tutoring-partner meeting this afternoon. He is an business/marketing major from the Ivory Coast, hoping to get his master's in international accounting from an American university. His first language is French, which is the predominant language of Abidjan (capital city), but many different dialects and tribal languages are still spoken throughout his country.

He seems very proficient and told me that his English is very good--but that he feels speaking his is weakest point, where he fumbles the most. He seems to struggle with the plural noun endings--often skipping the "s" completely. He said this is the most difficult rule for him to remember, since it is completely different in French. He would also like help in his writing, especially on persuasive essays.

My only concern is that he is taking the TEOFL next Saturday, which means doesn't give me any time to prepare him, and judging from how low his confidence-level is, I'm surprised he signed up to take it so soon (he has only been in the country for a month). He will also be taking the GMAT, but hasn't signed up for that yet, so I guess our time could help him in his preparation for that.

Jules TP-12

For our final tutoring session, Ahmed and I met up for boba tea at What Café and did a little reading practice. We started with some Isaac Asimov short stories, one of which was called "The Fun They Had". We both found this one especially interesting because of all the predictions it made that have come true. Though it was written in 1951, the story is set in the year 2167, and describes some children's awe and wonder at a book that is made out of paper, of all substances. In their day in age, books are read on a television screen, which is eerily similar to the e-readers that are becoming so popular in our century. I was pleased to find a story that actually held Ahmed's interest, since he has stated on multiple occasions that he's just not that into reading.

In addition to the vocabulary and comprehension building, we were also able to work on his timing and fluency because I had him read to me aloud. I tried (somewhat in vain) to explain the concept of thought groups, but was able to get the point across that he should always pause at a comma and nearly always before a conjunction. Sometimes examples are so much more illustrative than abstract explanations.

We ended with a story from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark called "The Curse". He inquired as to what a curse was, and when I explained it as like a magic spell that an evil person puts on someone to cause them bad fortune, he immediately recognized the word and went into this whole conversation about the Pharaoh's Curse (he is Egyptian, after all). He seemed much more motivated and enthusiastic about these stories that he could relate to -- this is definitely something for all of us to keep in mind when choosing our teaching materials.

Jules TP-11

For our tutoring session on Friday, I gave Ahmed a quiz on the idioms we had learned in my class on Wednesday. Some examples of the phrases we covered were "to deal with something", "to get someone down", and "to get under someone's skin". He did a great job at giving examples of each, like "The CIES students' low TOEFL scores got them down." (He even got the s-apostrophe correct, which is more than I can say for a great deal of native English speakers!) Then we practiced distinguishing between the P and B sounds, which are especially difficult for native Arabic speakers. He would do really well when he was focusing on voicing the B's and keeping the P's silent, but when he got really involved in conversation the P's started getting softer so I had to continually remind him that the P sound is very sharP and Precise. Of course we had to Practice the Peter Piper Poem to Perfect the Pronunciation of P!

Jules TP-10

For our final tutoring session, Jae and I revisited the extensive list of idioms I had compiled for our previous meeting. She especially enjoyed the imagery of "to bend over backwards" and "to bite off more than you can chew". Some idioms definitely make more sense than others. Then we did a pronunciation exercise that involved tongue twisters. She is getting a lot better at distinguishing between R's and L's ever since I gave her the hint that the tongue touches the teeth to make an L sound.

Somehow we got on the subject of emoticons and the abbreviations people use in chatting and text messaging, such as "lol", "brb", "lmao", and "jk". It was funny -- she knew intuitively that lol meant that something was funny, but she actually thought that it was intended to mimic the image of someone with their hands thrown up in the air with their mouth gaping open! It was fun to discuss how this whole new language has formed in the past 15 years or so, and how malleable the English language is. I really look forward to visiting more with Jae after I get back from Oklahoma later this month.