Today on February 12, 2019 I spoke with DJ for an hour through Skype in my bedroom. We talked about Korean weddings, the Korean Lunar New Year Celebration, hanboks (traditional Korean attire), and online shopping. I learned that Korean weddings can be complex and that they can have multiple parts, such as a ceremony with the white dress and tuxedo, then another celebration with hanbok. In the Korean Lunar Year celebration, people give thanks to their ancestors, kids bow to their elders, and sometimes the elders give the kids money. DJ was explaining the kinds of gifts married couples receive and then I explained how in America, it is popular to sign up with companies to create a wedding registrar online, such as with Target or Amazon. Then going off on that topic, I told him how the CEO of Amazon once said that he knows Amazon will not last forever because companies don't usually last for more than 100 years. He will try his best to keep adapting Amazon to consumer behavior, but he realizes that Amazon can probably not last forever. I asked DJ if he thought those were wise words and then I further explained to him that although it is hard for us to imagine that such a huge and prominent company might one day go bankrupt, that it really isn't that far fetched of a conclusion. For example, Blockbuster used to be huge back in the day, but little did they know that Netflix would one day take over and make them quickly go bankrupt. I explained how emerging technologies can disrupt industries and take over, and he agreed with my opinion and told me I made a good point. I love having these conversations because they are very relevant to the society we live in and make you think about how the world is changing.
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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