Kelly- CP1

While searching for my conversation partners in the lounge, Hong Tran called my phone and we had a Clueless moment in which we were speaking on the telephone while being in the same room. Hong prefers to go by “Rose.” She is from Vietnam and after finishing high school journeyed to Tallahassee to learn English. She has taken four semesters worth of coursework at CIES. When she began, she could not understand English being spoken to her, and when she tried to speak English no one understood her. I find her very easy to understand, and she seems to be a diligent student, very interested in staying on task and working on her conversational English. She says that some Americans still do not understand her, but perhaps they are “lazy.” She says that she does not get to practice her English very much outside of CIES because she lives with her Uncle and only Vietnamese is spoken in the house. I had expected her to know very little English because of our initial phone interaction. She was very curt and nervous, and used as little words to convey what she was trying to say. Finding her to be much more proficient, she explained that talking on the telephone is something that she has trouble with, and that our short conversation actually encouraged her. She said it was the first time she had had a phone conversation where she could understand the person on the other line, and the person on the other line could understand her. He goal is to take the TOEFL test and to go to TCC to get her A.A. and eventually transfer to a University.

Teebnouma Bougouma was brought to me by some of his classmates that knew that I was looking for him. He is fluent in French as he is from the Ivory Coast. He prefers to go by the name Kader. There are at least four other young men from his country currently studying at CIES and he lives with at least one of them. He has been in Tallahassee for two months and it is the first time he has been in the United States. He explained that when he arrived at the airport in Atlanta he had a hard time finding his gate because he knew next to no English. I was quite impressed at the progress that he must have made because he is very apt in conversation. He maintains fairly complex conversational topics, and also is inquisitive and initiates conversation. Him and his friends have found a social niche in Tallahassee and go out often to dance at the clubs. He plans to return to his country and to continue his studies in University. He is studying business with a focus on marketing and economics. He knows that English is the international language, and that it is vital in the business world. As he says, “that is why I am here!” It seems that he has many incredible progress within two months if he has started from knowing nearly nothing. I imagine that this is due to only to his classwork, but also immersing himself in social interactions within Tallahassee.