After hearing about some partner mix-ups from other TEFL students, I was quite thankful that both of my conversation partners received my emails and showed up for tea time yesterday as we had planned. I have two girls for my conversation partners, one of which I will also be tutoring. First, I met XinWen. She is a bright and energetic girl from Sichuan province of China. I was happy that we hit it off straight away because we have similar outgoing personalities. I was looking around for my other partner for several minutes and then XinWen actually found her for me. As it turned out, I had been speaking with this second conversation partner in a group before tea time. My second conversation partner is Joyce, or Jung Chun. She prefers to go by Joyce because it is much easier for Americans to pronounce. Joyce is quite a bit more reserved than XinWen but happy all the same. Before we got much of chance to chat, we were lured into a culture class on comic books. Kirk, a former TEFL student, provided yummy doughnuts and did a great job with his class. The discussion of comic books will certainly make for a good conversation topic the next time I meet with XinWen and Joyce alike. He began the class with an icebreaker so I was able to get to know Joyce and XinWen a little bit more. I learned that XinWen is 19 years old and has been here for only 3 months. I find this hard to believe because her conversational speaking is already so advanced. As Kirk went through the lesson, I determined that XinWen did not know some of the harder, more obscure terms such as pirate and mermaid. I made a note to ensure her that we'll watch the Pirates of the Caribbean films at some point. Joyce, on the other hand, has been here for 8 months and I can see that she understands a little bit more of the American culture (or so I assume from very brief observation). For example, when I asked her how old she was, she instead jokingly requested that I say my age first. After I told her that I was 22, she revealed that she is 25. This probably explains why she is a little more calm and reserved than the bubbly 19 year-old XinWen. Joyce is from Taiwan and she is quite proud of it. She said that I should go teach there instead of China this coming year. Overall, it was a fun first meeting with both of my partners. I wish we could have chatted a bit more but I will get that chance one-on-one soon.
-Allison
My conversation partner has only been in the United States two months and seems to have also made incredible strides in his proficiency. It encourages me in my own foreign language studies. Immersion is a key element!
ReplyDeleteHow dare you take my conversation partner from me?!
ReplyDeleteKidding.
Hey, if you'd be up for it, and if it's permitted, we should gather with the two conversation partners and do something some time. Might be good to try out a larger group? Just a thought.
Sorry. She was just too precious. I wanted to put her in my pocket and run away...to the comic book class haha. Anyways, I'd definitely be down for a group thing. It'd probably help them get used to the American culture more anyways since we Americans tend to hang in groups quite often. Be sure to ask Joyce if she'd be interested in that though because she did inform me earlier today that she prefer individual studying over groups.
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