I met with Eun-kyoung for our last session yesterday. She surprised me at the beginning of our session by telling me that she would be leaving CIES within the next two weeks. Since it came so quickly most of our session was spent talking about her decision to go back to South Korea. She feels that she has improved in her English - but the program and living in America is too expensive for the amount of knowledge she is gaining. I think she may be at the "plateau" stage we discussed in the TEFL class. She is a little frustrated that she is not learning as quickly as she has in the past. She was also a little frustrated that she did not make more American friends. She said that a lot of her time was spent talking to other Koreans in Korean - so she couldn't get the full experience of being immersed in English.
I also know he boyfriend is back in South Korea, and I can only assume that this fact has a little influence on her feelings. Even though she did tell me that he trued to talk her into finishing her last session. Overall, I really enjoyed tutoring Eun-kyoung and we have made plans to meet up in South Korea once I get over there. I believe she made the most progress in her speaking and reading skills. She is a very good and dedicated student so I have full confidence that she will get to where she would like to be in her studies back home.
Yeah, it isn't easy for many of the students to be away from home, especially when in a relationship. I think she answered her own question about why she didn't progress as much as she wanted to. She was hanging with Koreans too much! Keep thin in mind if you go to Korea to learn Korean ;)
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