My first tutoring session was with an older woman named Manal from Saudi Arabia. This was my favorite meeting to date, for I found it to be the most eye opening; challenging the stereotypical norms I held about Saudi Arabia prior to our meeting. In the US, I find we often hear about Saudi Arabia tagged along with the words "no women's rights," "oppression," and merely nothing positive. After talking to Manal, who described Riyadh as her home that she loved and missed, it made me realize how much I was negatively judging and assuming the role of women in society in Saudi Arabia from a Western lens. I find it common that we as a western culture look down on the way women are treated in several Middle Eastern countries, from the clothes they have to wear to the fact they just recently got the right to drive. In our minds, at least among my peers, I find we view these women being forced to live potentially "meaningless lives" under the control of men. However, after talking to Manal I found she is currently pursuing a PhD, being paid to come learn English by her job back home, she has a driver that she appreciates (for she thinks driving would be scary), and doesn't mind the clothes she has to wear. She's raising two lovely daughters and brought one here to the US with her, while the other remains at home with her family. She spoke nothing but positively about Saudi Arabia, and it reminded me to always remember that although our cultures may be different, it doesn't mean one is merely "better" than the other. There is of course a difference in the level of rights women here have compared to Saudi Arabia; however, when we as a society try to improve these rights of women in places like such, we must remember the cultural implications of these attempts of change. Things may be depicted differently to those there than from us over here, and just because we can't relate, doesn't always mean its "wrong." When it came to tutoring we focused on practicing listening as well as speaking skills, and plan on working on composition skills during our next session.
My next tutoring session was with Turki. We met at the Starbucks on Tennessee Street, the usual spot, and started the session with a causal conversation about life and his short term English goals. Turki decided he didn't want to continue with the second session of CIES classes, and that he wanted to rather focus solely on passing the IELTS exam. He said he found the CIES classes to be helpful, but also distracting. He said he thinks he's gotten the most out of his classes and that it would be more productive for him to study on his own. Where I don't completely agree with his logic, it is his life and I trust his decision making. For this session he brought his own material that he wanted to focus on. This time it was a reading passage that I even found to be quite difficult, and I was once again impressed by his far reach in practice and ability. The reading passage was accompanied by a set of numerous comprehension questions that we reviewed and answered together. The qu...
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