First time meeting

Finally I could meet my language partner Roa’a.  I emailed her and suggested we meet in a group study room in library, because I think we need a quiet study environment to practice pronunciation.  However she asked if we could meet in Hub, I didn’t ask why but I agreed.

We met in front of Hub, and she recognized me with a hug. While we were looking for an appropriate place to begin our study, I suggested again that we go to library. She responded that she had never been to library before, and that is why she would like to meet in Hub.  I was surprised about it and offered to take her there. On our way to the library, we had a happy talk. She told me she is from Saudi Arabia. Her husband is a PhD student at Penn State, and they have two children, so she is busy with families.  From our talk, I feel her oral English is good, with proper vocabularies and sentences structures. The only problem is that she has a little accent, which sometimes made it a little confusing for me to understand her.  She is now taking English classes to make a preparation for TOEFL test, and after passing it she could further her study at Penn State.

We found seats in lobby of the library, and began to conduct the Pronunciation Project.  She asked me how long it would take to finish our meeting, because she had to go back home to cook for her children. For the dictation part, which I thought she may have some difficulties in, it turned out that she knew enough vocabularies to complete this part. When we were doing the recorded practice, she didn’t get what to do at first, and after given more time to read the directions, she still seemed not so interested in asking me questions. Thus I came up with some questions as examples.  I could tell that she didn’t look at the pronunciation project packet carefully or prepare so much for our meeting.

I feel we had a good time with each other. But because we are in different ages and different life stages, it seems she doesn’t care so much about this project, only treats it as homework.  I could understand her but am more willing to help her make a big progress in this project.  For our next meetings, I think I should behave more confident of my English and my teaching, thus establish my authority. And some motivating activities or effective strategies should be come up with to help her engage more in this project.