On Friday, I revisited pronunciation, vocabulary, and reading comprehension with Andre. We began the session with him saying that the word list from our last meeting was tacked onto his apartment wall. He also had written context sentences of each word, without needing prompting by myself. I was so elated that I wanted to give him a hug. Instead a booming high-five sufficed.
Practice does indeed make perfect, as Andre nailed all five words from our previous meeting. He even pronounced "ribbit" correctly. If only someone had recorded my attempt to explain what a frog is and imitate the sound that it makes. I drew many quizzical stares from the other Strozier patrons.
In the article he read, there was the number 600,000, which was initially recognized as 600. The reason for this is the numerical system in Brazil switches the decimals and commas. Six hundred thousand reads as 600.000, with the commas denoting the first decimal place. I constructed a brief homework assignment and plan to quiz him on numbers during the next session.
Through the session's tutoring, Andre and I were able to share in each other's culture. He was unknowledgeable of the name hierarchy of years in college (i.e. Freshman), which I proceeded to inform him of. In Brazil, he explained that students associate their academic status with the number of semesters completed. So a Junior in American translates to a Semester Five or Six in his home country. I asked if the older students ever make fun of the Semester Ones and he just smiled.
Your experience with 600.000 versus 600,000 points out the value of learning through contrast, one's own culture serving as a point of reference to differences between cultures. The college hierarchy differences is another good example. At least while our students are relatively new to the United States, this should serve us well in our (mutual) instruction. Andre seems very self-motivated. Even making a fool of ourselves acting like frogs will go a long way in enabling us to reach our students. I we can drop our inhibitions, so too can they.
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