Last Wednesday I met with Abdullah for our first official tutoring session! Because we were both hungry, we decided to go to McDonalds. As I mentioned earlier, Abdullah is from Kuwait and has a lot of problems with his pronunciation of the English P and B sounds (which is incredibly common for speakers of Arabic as we learned in Class.)
When we got to Mcdonalds, I tried to inadvertently quiz him on what he would be eating. I asked, "What do you like to eat at Mcdonalds?" He replied, "I like the Big Mac" but it sounded a lot like "Pig Mac." I asked him if he could repeat himself until he made the right sound. Tutoring Abdullah is a bit of a challenge because he doesn't really like the idea of learning during his lunch hour, so I am doing my best to disguise the lessons into something he would enjoy! (it requires some effective filter finesse.)
When we got our food and sat down, Abdullah and I worked on minimal pairs. By far, the most challenging word for Arabic students learning English has got to be "Bowl." Therefore, we practiced saying "pull" and "bowl" as a minimal pair until I got the correct sound from him. I think I will continue to work on minimal pairs with Abdullah, as he needs to work on his pronunciation. Also, lunch tutoring sessions work out well for us, so I think these will continue as well!
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