Allyce_TP7

           For my last session with Ahmad we focused on prepositions of Place. I’m really bummed though because unbeknownst to me it was our last session! He was going home early for Ramadan and seemed really excited to return to Kuwait. I told him that I wanted to try to see him Monday before he left and he said he said it sounded good but turned out he was too busy, of course I understand, packing for a long trip like that can take a while and he really wanted to spend a lot of time with his friends from CIES before he left. However, I feel that our last session went really well and I could see progress from the first session we had previously had in May.

            We focused on words such as on, onto, against, next to/beside, behind, at, in, on. There was some major confusion between on and in. For example, there was a picture of a cat sitting in an open cupboard. The homework sentence said “The cat was _____ the cupboard,” and Ahmad answered with on. Okay that wasn’t completely wrong…but it wasn’t the best answer. "Ahmad it should be in the cupboard not on." He seemed really frustrated, "...but the cat is ON the cupboard too!" I replied “Yes but see how he is enclosed on all four sides, like there are walls all around him…” he looked at me with a blank stare. I got up and looked around the room and started to touch the walls “See, we are enclosed in the room, there are walls all around us, we are IN the room.” He got it then!

            There was some more trouble with against…again I looked around the room and leaned a chair against the wall “see!” I said pointing between the wall and chair “The chair is against the wall.” He pointed to the clock “So the clock is against the wall not on?” Well again, not technically wrong but you wouldn’t say that “Yes the clock is hanging against the wall but you can just say that it is ON the wall.” He stood his ground, “but it is also against…” Well yes but still not what his worksheet is looking for…

            Despite the confusion, I think we had a good time figuring out the worksheet, there was a lot of play acting on my part which got a chuckle out of him but when I gave him a little test he aced it (this was of course the 2^nd one I gave him, I gave him a preliminary one which didn’t go over so well.) I could tell he was antsy and wanted to leave. “You want to go hang out with your friends now don’t you?” I asked and he started to laugh “Oh yes I won’t get to see some of them for a while.” Okay I’ll let you out a little early then!  But lets get together Monday and at least take a picture together.” He quickly ran out the door. He mentioned that he will try to return and I hope he does, I’m proud of the progress he made.