Logan_CP#6

J Logan Matthews
CP#6
Oct 11, 2014 (10:30AM-1:30PM)
Lewis & Bloxham Park


Today was my final session with Ibrahim as he is returning to Turkey next Tuesday. Hopefully Marissa will be able to tutor him one last time as well. I had invited Ibrahim to see the ACT(Asian Coalition of Tallahassee) festival and was willing to drive him because he had already sold his car and had given me a ride before. I think I was a little over-concerned when it came to parking as it was not too hard to find coming from the direction of the library. It appeared that there are regular vendors that come to every downtown event that we had to walk though first. When we arrived at the main thoroughfare, we were both preoccupied with finding food. Having perused the offerings and finding the Korean vendors not as appetizing after having already eaten mandu and kimchi the day before, we stopped at one of the three Indian vendors for biryani, curry, and laasi. Ibrahim was eager to pay for everything but I was able to cover most of it when he was negotiating his order. Luckily, we were able to locate a place at one of the public tables after not too long a deliberation.

Ibrahim was curious about the kebabs on offer at some of the other vendors but was disappointed that they did not have lamb kebabs available. When we finished our meal we mosied over to the stage area. We persisted long enough to see the mayor's speech, the lion dance, and the taiko drum ceremonies. Eventually with the temperature rising and my back aching from standing rigid for the benefit of the spectators behind me, I felt like retiring for the afternoon. As we walked through the vendors on the way back, I asked Ibrahim about souvenirs. Apparently, he already had some selected or did not have room in his luggage as he was not interested in anything except for the postcards. Both he and I were nostalgic for the postcard as nearly everyone uses email or social media to document their travels these days. I also found out that day that Ibrahim had a young daughter waiting for him back in Turkey who was very eager to see him when leaving voice messages and emoticons as he had to keep leaving the public congregation to answer calls from Turkish speaking family and friends.

Ibrahim plans to change companies when he returns, hoping to pursue Godiva Chocolatier. As an English learner I can say that his fluency is very high but his pronunciation was still poor at times. I can remember having a difficult time understanding when he said "shade" as in the shaded path but overall I do not have much trouble understanding him. I think I overlooked these faults in my cultural class because I was used to not having to stress accuracy with him as a conversation partner. However, I have to remember that the value added as a teacher is to check for accuracy even in a casual setting without putting too much stress on the learner.