Gale Workman
CP#4
Sept. 9, 2014, 2 p.m.
Hecht House
Sepideh brought a classmate with her to Conversation Partners
today. Fatima, from UAE, is a master's student in nutrition/food sciences. She
was a CIES student for four sessions before enrolling in her FSU master’s
program this semester. Fatima and Sepideh met on campus this semester because
they have the same major professor.
Conversation among us was typical of three university types
getting to know one another. I asked about their research interests, and as
they explained tree nut allergies ... I probed to learn more. At the end of our
hour, both students agreed the conversation had required them to dig deeply
into their memories to resurrect English vocabulary they knew but had not used
in a while.
All our talk of nuts naturally lead to discussion of
food/cooking, then to personal/religious food choices. Both Fatima and Sepideh
are Muslim, but Sepidah says she doesn’t observe a lot of Muslim customs. For
instance, in Iran she wears al-hijab, but in the U.S. she wears contemporary
fashions. Fatima wears al-hijab in the U.S. Sepidah and Fatima talked (in
English) between themselves explaining their different Muslim perspectives on
fashion and food. We all learned a lot from one another about the influence of
faith on fashion and food.
Both students have not ventured off campus much in the year they
have been here. Neither has had enough native-lifestyle English exposure to
improve their speaking/listening -- that's why both seek conversation opportunities
now. Neither have cars, so we chatted about activities they might do together
to explore Tallahassee -- and get into conversations with native speakers. We
discussed meeting later this month at the Florida State Museum on a Saturday.
Yes, I know that both of these students are in a lab all day and are eager to speak in English. Glad they found you!
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