I met with my conversation partner on tuesday and we had a really interesting conversation about his religion and reasons why he came to study in American. He pretty much gave up his life in Saudi Arabia to come here with his sister so she can work on her masters. Women are not allowed to travel alone and her dad refused to come to American so he ask/told him to come with her.
Sometimes during our talks, I can sense frustration because he doesn't know enough vocabulary and I don't always understand what he says. I too get frustrated because I feel like I can't fully comprehend his ideas and thoughts and I am missing out on what he has to say. I think in our next session I am going to talk to him about different ways he would like me to help him better his speaking. I also haven't asked his permission to correct his speaking errors. So stay tuned, and we'll see how our talk goes!
Glad to see things developing, Ayerim. You might want to agree to allow him to take some time to look up words he doesn't know, and then write them down in a log. This is conversation, but with an ESL focus.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy learning facts like these about the actualities of other cultures. Even some that I may not agree with or quite understand I just think that it is very interesting and useful to remind us of these differences to take into consideration while learning about other cultures.
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