I had my first CIES tutoring today with my partner, Ahmad. He is from the country Qatar, an asian country near Dubai. His native language is Arabic and he is 18 years old. I met him today for the first time at Stroizer library in the Starbucks area. I got his phone number and I had text messaged him a day before to confirm our meeting place and time. He does have a car and lives off campus, but we agreed it was best to continue meeting on campus since he does live close to campus. In the beginning, we talked about his favorite food and how long he has been in America and he said that he has been here for over 6 months (took CIES last semester, I believe?) and he said that coming from an Asian country he does like rice, but he doesn't love it. He apparently hates pizza and loves steak. His favorite place to eat here in Tallahassee is Jim-and-Milts (?) which I found pretty funny since that is like the all-American rib/meat place.
He is level 3 in listening and speaking, but a level 1 in grammar; I immediately knew he can converse well with me, but he admitted that he has trouble in grammar. I had asked him what he wanted out of these tutoring sessions and he said that he would like to work on his grammar and improve his writing skills. So, we decided that any questions he has on homework I can help him on, but for next week, he will bring his grammar book used in the CIES classes so that I can determine where his level is and from what starting point I should start helping him.
He travels to different places a lot on the weekends and so, I can only meet him on the weekdays. He has already driven to Orlando three times and is planning to go this weekend. He has been to California and Las Vegas and pretty much all surrounding cities near Tallahassee and in Florida. I think that speaking with him will be no problem, but I do hope that he benefits from these tutoring sessions and feels more confident in grammar skills.
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