Conversation Partner #2, A-R and friend, for third meeting on Tuesday, April 8, 9:00-11:00 pm
We meet at the Strozier Library late after I get a text while still in class. A-R shows up a little late but is very happy to be meeting. Within a few minutes as we are getting settled at the Starbucks in a quiet area, a few friends of his appear and greet us both. We all exchange a few words and they depart to other areas in the library. One friend remains with us but he says he will not interrupt us. I said it was OK with me if A-R wanted some native language support.
A-R is very quiet compared to his friends, and less confident speaking. I wish he did not rely on friends so much, because while it was a struggle, I thought we communicated fine one-on-one before. But this time his friend turned out to be quite helpful. He came with a notebook full of vocabulary they both were studying and a good Arabic-English dictionary on his phone. They were quite intent on studying and asked me many questions about word forms and grammar. I had to get my computer out to answer some.
The friend was not much better in English, but was better at forming questions and pronunciation than A-R. But I began asking A-R to repeat the question or word and encourage him to mimic his friend. Then I would answer him, and this seemed to encourage him a bit more, because we could practice asking "what is the meaning of…" and "how do you say…(spell)", etc. I had difficulty modifying my speech to offer good synonyms for some of the vocabulary and they added many to the notebook including words for extended family "aunt", "uncle", "grandmother"; and some contractions of "not" that were confusing.
Our conversation went well over an hour and they were both very grateful for the time. This was more like a tutoring session than a chat, and I was glad they both were able to focus on work for that length of time without seeming bored.
Showing posts with label AR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AR. Show all posts
Monday, April 28, 2014
Wednesday, April 2, 2014
Carlton CP #3
Conversation Partner #2, A-R, for second meeting on Monday, March 17, 5:00-6:00 pm
We meet at the Starbucks on Tennessee. A-R is prompt and that is good because I have another appointment at 6. We sit outside where it is a bit quieter. He seems much more confident today and we start out simply making small talk repeating a simple greeting, comment on weather, speak about friends and family. He is very young and since I am much older, he is interested in talking about my life and career. At first, I must ask him to repeat or restate almost every question. Sometimes I have to guess at the words he is saying until I can grasp the meaning. His pronunciation of the words he knows is often wrong, so we use spelling as a strategy sometimes. To be fair, we were still in a rather noisy environment, and I will seek out a quiet place next time.
He does not drive, so his experiences in Tallahassee have depended on others who do. He is looking forward to traveling to P.C. or Miami over spring break. Since the weather is still cool up here, I recommend the trip to Miami. I have also visited recently, so I had some tips I tried to convey about getting to South Beach. At least we could converse using simple directions and time, descriptions of places, and feelings: "love", "hate", "nice", "good", "bad", "warm", "cold", "beach", "crowd", etc. He was most interested when talking about the vacation.
The time went quickly and I think he appreciated the practice. Again, I did not do much in the way of grammar correction because of the feeling we were still getting acquainted, he needed more speaking practice, and because of the noisy environment.
We meet at the Starbucks on Tennessee. A-R is prompt and that is good because I have another appointment at 6. We sit outside where it is a bit quieter. He seems much more confident today and we start out simply making small talk repeating a simple greeting, comment on weather, speak about friends and family. He is very young and since I am much older, he is interested in talking about my life and career. At first, I must ask him to repeat or restate almost every question. Sometimes I have to guess at the words he is saying until I can grasp the meaning. His pronunciation of the words he knows is often wrong, so we use spelling as a strategy sometimes. To be fair, we were still in a rather noisy environment, and I will seek out a quiet place next time.
He does not drive, so his experiences in Tallahassee have depended on others who do. He is looking forward to traveling to P.C. or Miami over spring break. Since the weather is still cool up here, I recommend the trip to Miami. I have also visited recently, so I had some tips I tried to convey about getting to South Beach. At least we could converse using simple directions and time, descriptions of places, and feelings: "love", "hate", "nice", "good", "bad", "warm", "cold", "beach", "crowd", etc. He was most interested when talking about the vacation.
The time went quickly and I think he appreciated the practice. Again, I did not do much in the way of grammar correction because of the feeling we were still getting acquainted, he needed more speaking practice, and because of the noisy environment.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Carlton CP #2
Conversation Partner #2, A-R, for first meeting on Wednesday, March 12, 5:00-6:30 pm
We exchanged a bunch of text messages trying to get together and settle on me dropping by his apartment. When I arrive, there is confusion because there are 5 male Arabic (Kuwaiti?) students and 1 female (Brazilian?) guest in the apartment drinking coffee, and several have very similar names. Only one seems to be fairly strong in English. After a few minutes of introductions, it is clear my CP is asleep in another room and my texts were going to a friends phone. Everyone wanted to talk, though, and I was asked about a diverse group of topics while I awaited my CP to return to the living.
When he came out, we met formally and laughed about the confusion. Then we all sat down for some coffee and dates that were really good. The conversation was still with the group, but I tried to focus on A-R. He is a foundation student and was glad to have supportive friends around, but it kind of defeated the purpose. Because this was our first meeting, I did not insist on moving. By engaging everyone, he would still benefit and I would definitely get a culture lesson.
A-R was quiet at first, but others were willing to tell me about family in Kuwait, and one student made up a little story about being married with children to see how much I would believe. I was not sure who he was speaking about, but I made a joke about my mistake (from experience). We talked a lot about relationships and cultural differences they wanted explained. I was not prepared to address divorce rates, poverty, political leaders, nutrition and more in a few minutes.
Gradually, A-R was encouraged to question me but it was hard to understand his accent sometimes without help. The public setting could be embarrassing, too. I was trying to be only positive and encouraging. I asked him to meet me alone next time and we agreed on the Starbucks location (for more coffee) next week.
We exchanged a bunch of text messages trying to get together and settle on me dropping by his apartment. When I arrive, there is confusion because there are 5 male Arabic (Kuwaiti?) students and 1 female (Brazilian?) guest in the apartment drinking coffee, and several have very similar names. Only one seems to be fairly strong in English. After a few minutes of introductions, it is clear my CP is asleep in another room and my texts were going to a friends phone. Everyone wanted to talk, though, and I was asked about a diverse group of topics while I awaited my CP to return to the living.
When he came out, we met formally and laughed about the confusion. Then we all sat down for some coffee and dates that were really good. The conversation was still with the group, but I tried to focus on A-R. He is a foundation student and was glad to have supportive friends around, but it kind of defeated the purpose. Because this was our first meeting, I did not insist on moving. By engaging everyone, he would still benefit and I would definitely get a culture lesson.
A-R was quiet at first, but others were willing to tell me about family in Kuwait, and one student made up a little story about being married with children to see how much I would believe. I was not sure who he was speaking about, but I made a joke about my mistake (from experience). We talked a lot about relationships and cultural differences they wanted explained. I was not prepared to address divorce rates, poverty, political leaders, nutrition and more in a few minutes.
Gradually, A-R was encouraged to question me but it was hard to understand his accent sometimes without help. The public setting could be embarrassing, too. I was trying to be only positive and encouraging. I asked him to meet me alone next time and we agreed on the Starbucks location (for more coffee) next week.
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