On Wednesday I met with Ran at 3:00 pm in the CIES kitchen for the cooking class. We learned how to make gumbo and we talked about the difference between food in China and food in America. Ran told me that she thinks the food in America doesn't have a lot of flavor or spices and it tastes bland. She prefers the Chinese food and misses it. I told her I agreed and try to make my food with as many spices and flavor as possible! We planned a day where we make some Chinese food together with a few other CIES students and their conversation partners. I was asking her about her life in China, where she grew up, how many siblings she had, where she went to school, how long she has been in America, and how long she plans on staying, what her plans are after she graduates, what is she studying, and some of her favorite hobbies. It was a great first meeting and we learned a lot about each other!
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...
Comments
Post a Comment