Xueping CP 1

       This Tuesday, I met with my conversation partner Michelle in Classroom 407 at CIES.  She is from Africa, and her first language is French.  This is the first time for her to come to the U.S.  She is studying in foundation group at CIES. 

       When I met with her at 3:00pm, I found that it was a little hard to communicate with her because she could not understand me well and she could only speak a little English.  I thought about this situation and wondered what should be the first and the most important thing for me to help her.  After I had a short conversation with her about her name, I also found that it was not very easy for her to pronounce the letters and the words.  Then, I decided to teach her English letters first.  She was so smart that she could understand what I was teaching very quickly. 

       We spent about 10 minutes to review all the letters and I tried to figure out which letters she was not very familiar with and which letters she needs more practice.  It is a little difficult for her to pronounce the letters K, Y, U, Q, R and W.  I pointed out these letters and practiced them more with her.  Besides, I taught some common dialogues to help her build basic communication abilities, such as “How are you doing?”, “What’s your name?”, “What color do you like?” “Excuse me, could I ask you a question?” and “Where are you from?”  To my surprise, she can write these sentences very correctly. 

       After this first conversation meeting, I realized that these Foundation students really need more help than other international students.  I also got some ideas about how to apply various strategies and methods, especially visual resources and body languages to help them absorb and learn English.