Meredith TP #16

During my most recent session with Yujeong the new semester of CIES had just started. She moved up to Level 3 in every class except for Speaking, and is a little nervous. She knows that she is going to have a lot more intensive work and was definitely nervous about that. So, we spent some time talking about what she wants to improve by the end of the session. At the end of this session she leaves CIES to go back to South Korea, so this is really the home stretch for her.
Even though she is in Level 2, I think her speech is at a pretty good place. There is definitely room for improvement, of course, but it is not her main focus. She is definitely more concerned with writing. Out of every skill it is the one that is the hardest for her and does not come naturally.
She did not bring anything specific from school because the session had just started, so I thought going over basic and essential formatting of writing and essays would be good.
One of her main problems has always been organizing her thoughts, so I made a fake prompt -"Where do you want to vacation and why?" and we went from there.
We made an outline with topic sentences, relevant adjectives, and details about each of her topic sentences. I think visually making an outline was very beneficial. She has the tendency to get flustered or scatterbrained when she writes, so we went over the idea of outlining a lot. Making a visual outline of her writing helped her a lot, because it gave her a format to start from.

Meredith TP #15

I met with Yujeong at Starbucks, because Dunkin Donuts was very noisy. She has been very good at having material ready that she wants to go over recently. At the end of one our previous tutoring sessions she started asking questions present perfect, but I had not felt comfortable answering her questions. I did not know/ remember enough information to feel like a helpful source. Her specific questions at the time were about present perfect, but she definitely was struggling with perfect tenses overall.
So, I studied up a lot about perfect tenses and we spent most of our tutoring session discussing them. We went over the formula for each tense and the easiest way to remember them. Part of the difficulty she has with perfect is understanding when in time the action is actually happening. So I drew charts for each perfect tense to show her what they all mean.
I gave her sample sentences and had her change it to each perfect tense for a few rounds. With Yujeong, even when she does not understand something at first, she learns very quickly. So she was able to change each sentence with little or no help from me. I think going over each tense at a much slower more detailed pace was really what she needed to fully grasp it.

Briggs CP#2

Zoe and I returned to meet with our previous conversation partners and further discuss the handout we had been presented in the previous class. The session was all about culture and cultural variances. Ramin called on each group and asked us to share anything interesting we found in out during our discussion. The class, once again, seemed to fly by. I found the class to be very informative and stimulating. Ramin discussed cultural sensitivities through example. This helped bring perspective as well as set the tone for the class discussion.

Briggs CP#6

Coo and I met again at Starbucks. We picked up right where we left off and entered easily into conversation. She is very easy to talk to as well as enthusiastic. We discussed Dr. Bronner's soap and it's popularity in Korea. It is super expensive in Korea so her friend asked her to send some to Korea. Well, she did so only to find out that it cost more than triple the price of the soap, to ship the large bottle to Korea. This was a cultural difference for her since it is very affordable (around  2 dollars) to ship items from Korea to the United States. We went on to discuss the cost benefits of Marshalls, Ross, and T.J Maxx to outlet malls. We discussed restaurants in Tallahassee and I gave her some suggestions of places to eat. She said she liked cheeseburgers and I excitedly shared my favorite place to eat burgers in town. She was pumped! I asked her if she cooks, she said, "yes, but not in America, in America, I live the American way and eat-out!" We laughed and went on to discuss the Tallahassee Jr. Museum and San Luis Mission. I am going to continue to meet with her.

Elyce CP #6

For my sixth conversation partner meeting, I attended Ramin's final cultural workshop on Thursday. These workshops have really been so fun for me, and I am sad that they are over.

Today in class, we presented our projects to the rest of the class. It was so interesting to see what other people had done! I learned a lot about personal space, family relationships, and education in other cultures. I feel like our presentation went really well, and I was really proud of all of the hard work that we put into it!
I
 am sad that this was the last cultural workshop! I have learned so much these past six weeks, and they have really opened my eyes to other cultures of the world. Most of all, I feel like these workshops have taught me to be a lot more open minded about different cultures, which I am very thankful for.

Elyce CP #5

For my fifth conversation partner meeting, I attended Ramin's cultural workshop on Wednesday. We are meeting twice this week so that we can finish our projects!

Because we had printed out pictures and typed up our cultural explanations, my group focused on gluing all of our materials onto our display board. While we were doing this, it was so much fun to talk to the other members of my group. I learned that it snows in South Korea, and there aren't really movie theaters in Saudi Arabia! The more that i attend these workshops, the more I realize how diverse the world really is! I feel like I am traveling every time I attend the workshop!

I am so excited to present our project tomorrow, and see how everyone else's turned out!

Briggs CP#5

I met with Coo from Korea at, wait for it.... Starbucks : ) She is a former CIES student and Ms. Kim suggested her as a conversation partner since she is looking to practice her English. She and I are three years apart in age and we really hit it off. She and I discussed Tallahassee, her family, and her profession. She in turn, asked me all the same questions. She is really enjoying her stay in America and Tallahassee. She asked me to explain the difference between, "someone told me..." and "I heard...". I explained the differences in use by modeling sentences to her. She then told me how much she enjoyed reading 'Reader's Digest'. Funny, I do too!!! She asked me if it is generally reading material for an older audience than us. I said YES, with a big smile and we shared a good laugh.