Kelly CP-2

On May 9, 2012 I met with Rose during her lunch break at CIES. She was eager to meet, having already finished her light lunch and ready to practice her English. She began by showing me the results of a placement test that she received from the Career center. This test is meant to provide an insight on character strengths and to guide a person in deciding the trade they would like to pursue. I found the test results as difficult to interpret as she did. The test placed her as being fit to pursue a career as a Immunologist, whose meaning we were both not clear on. I explained to her that these tests should not be taken to seriously, and that she should pursue the career path that seems to fit her needs best. She explained that she would like to go into the medical field one day. She wondered why a friend of hers at TCC would be able to receive certification as an X-Ray technician in a two year program, and why it would take her longer for other medical fields. I seemed to ease her worries in deciding her academic fate by explaining that she is quite young (19 years old) and that it is natural to not know exactly what to study. She felt more comfortable pondering a liberal arts centered Associates degree with some classes suited for the medical field.

After this discussion we worked on pronunciation. She is having a hard time discerning the 'd sound (as in; I'd, he'd, she'd, etc) both when others say it, and when she attempts to pronounce it. In using the example, “I'd,” I wrote down “eye duh” to help her with her pronunciation. It seems that practicing the “duh” sound helped her pronunciation. We also worked on the “th” sound (as in; than, then, thus, the, they, weather, etc). It is quite difficult for her to pronounce and we attempted to focus on the way our mouths function when making this sound, The tip of the tongue hits the bottom of the front teeth when making “t” and then falls back into the palette with an open mouth on “h.” Rose also sought clarification on terms such as “by chance,” “come across,” “run into,” “so far,” and “for a long time.”