This Monday I met with Ngoc at Lake Ella for two hours. We walked around the lake with her sister, as well, and I explained to them the shops that surrounded the lake, the types of events they had, like Foodtruck Thursday and Farmers Market, and explained to her what people usually do when they come to this lake and why. It gave her a good look at American culture and what a typical afternoon looks like in Tallahassee, especially when the weather was as nice as it was! I gave her names of various animals we saw around the lake and asked her how it differs from Vietnam. She then asked me a few questions about the animals and my past time hobbies, etc. Once we were finished walking around the lake, we stopped by the coffee shop, Black Dog, where we ordered some coffee. She got to practice her ordering conversational skills and we talked some more. I asked her if she was having troubles with any particular lesson or assignment, and she said the biggest thing she needs help on is listening, writing, and of course, conversation. I told her before next session, what she should work on is watching movies in English with the subtitles so she can both read and listen to what they are saying, to get a better idea of what words sound like. I also told her to listen to English songs and podcasts, and try to only talk with her sister in English. Next session, I will be meeting with her individually, and we will be covering grammar and doing writing prompts, then discussing them afterwards.
My third conversation partner meeting was with Josue, my conversation partner from Paris, France. He suggested that we go to a restaurant for this meeting, and recommended the Colombian restaurant on Tennessee St. called "Super Perros". I had never been to this restaurant before, so it was interesting to not only converse with someone from outside of my culture but also at a cultural restaurant with an atmosphere and menu different than what I am used to. Most of the menu was in Spanish, so we were able to bond over trying to figure out what the menu was saying, and ended up sharing a lot of laughs over it. During our meeting, we caught up on how he was doing at CIES, what he's involved in in Tallahasee, and discussed deeper topics such as the current political affairs going on in France. This led to a grander discussion about American politics, and it turned out we had similar views. It was interesting to connect our ideas across border lines, realizing we all want the ...
Comments
Post a Comment