Harrison TP#3

Last Wednesday after classes ended at CIES, I again met with my student tutees Seforah and Koo. We also had another student join us this time. Her name is Hoda and she is from Saudi Arabia. Like Seforah and Koo, she understands spoken English very well but she is a little more hesitant to speak.

As we got settled in, I asked them if they had any homework that they wanted help with. As it turned out they were all in the same speaking class and had an assignment where they needed to interview an American. I did my best to answer all the questions that I could but there were several about life in Tallahassee that I wasn't as helpful with since I don't actually live here. The rest of the questions were pretty run of the mill personal questions like "Where are you from?" and "What do you study?" I felt bad because I ended up talking for the majority of the time, but we did have a couple of good conversations. One of the questions that Hoda came up with herself was "What does family mean to you?" which led to a very deep discussion. I also had the opportunity to teach them a few idioms such as "talking behind someone's back."

For our next meeting I plan on having a short speaking lesson centered around a prewritten dialogue. Of the discussions we have been having are always a welcome diversion and I think they are good practice for their speaking and listening skills anyway.

Harrison