With Ms. Kim's permission, I changed my conversation partner from Fawaz to Abdul. Fawaz fell away as my conversation partner, perhaps out of frustration. I would meet with him and separately with Abdul after class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at the downtown library, which stays open until 9 pm. This would give me exactly 50 minutes with each of them.
This did not seem to be enough for Fawaz, who did not like the interruption. The last time we met, he tried to convey to me that he did not want to meet with me on the same day that I met with Abdul. I proposed to meet only with him the following Thursday, but I believe that he did not understand me, and he did not show up. I was not able to reach him thereafter. Fawaz was very frustrated in his pursuit of English skills, asking me at length how to accomplish facility in the language.
This was a good lesson for me. My students are going to the trouble of meeting me away from campus (I can't use Strozier Library, since I am not a student). Fawaz doesn't have a car, so he walks downtown, I believe. 50 minutes of walking (or however much) for 50 minutes of conversation partnership may just not have seemed worth it to him. I wish him the best in his efforts.
Now, though, I have up to an hour and 45 minutes to work with Abdul. Abdul is happy with this.
On this day, we began by my helping him with his reading lesson, which was about 'English Town' in Shanghai, China. Then we reviewed 'The Dining Room' in his picture dictionary.
We next performed a speaking/listening/writing exercise of his describing the house he rents. This was followed by practicing the pronunciation of the contents of a house using his picture dictionary. I would intersperse questions about these contents to check for comprehension.
Last, we practiced the pronunciation and definitions of regular '-ed' verbs.
No comments:
Post a Comment