On February 20th Ran and I met at CIES for our fourth conversation partner meeting! We talked about the stereotypes Americans make towards Asian culture and especially, food. She thought it was funny that Chinese and Thai restaraunts here sell sushi... that is a Japanese food!!! She has recognized that in America many parts of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai, etc. culture and traditions are just put into one basket and are all considered the same thing, Asian. A misconception she has noticed the students at CIES have, as well! We then talked about different Chinese films that I have been wanting to see and what her favorite films are. We also talked about the different apps they use in China and how they differ from those Americans use, social media and online banking. We then talked with other students in the CIES program about the cultures in Saudi Arabia vs. Kuwait vs.China.
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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