Nic CP6

For teatime, both of my CP’s had dates: Dongsoek with his girlfriend, Jongouk with the gym. Single and oh-so-lonely, I ventured out to find another lone sole to share my coffee with.

I struck up a conversation with Alice. She is from China, and she is looking to get her Masters in Integrated Marketing Communication. Since this degree is offered by my college, I told her that I knew a few people who may be able to help her out. I fronded her on Facebook and about that time her CP, Kyla, showed up to have tea with her.

Not wanting to be the awkward third to their duo, I went off searching again for someone to chat with.

My search led me to Hussan and a few other TEFL-ers. For the rest of Tea Time, we talked about movies, weekend plans, and what we liked to do for fun.

Nic-CP5

This evening, I took my tutees Dongsoek and Jongoek out for an American dinner at the Red Elephant. We met at Strozier at 6:30 and added Dongsoek’s tutor, Katie, along the way. There was a good amount of culture that shared: We listened to the oldies station on the way over. At dinner, we discussed all kinds of things from siblings to travel plans in August to a bucket list for Tallahassee (I explained the meaning of bucket list for them). Everything went well with the occasional confusion from the conversational buzz around us. On the way home, we chatted about different social scenes in Tallahassee while listening to contemporary pop.

Nic-CP4

I met with my conversation partner, Dongseok Lee, yesterday before class. We played chess for the fifteen minutes. I really enjoyed that; he’s a good player! We didn’t say much during the game, but it was still a shared experience where we got to know each other more.

The last 45 minutes we talked about various things. He had several questions on things, so I sent him some info on Facebook. The difference between billiards and pool (In America, Billiards is an umbrella term for different kinds of sports played with cues. Pool is one type of billiards; it is the most popular one in America). I referenced Schulz’s “Peanuts” and he didn’t understand, so I sent him to a site to check out the comics. I told him about Redbox and Netflix. He told me about their satellite TV, SkyLife, and their equivalent of Netflix, Qook TV. Lastly, he used “publish” incorrectly (Apple is going to publish their iPad and iPhone in October). I said most Americans would understand what he is trying to say, but that “release” or “come out with” would be more appropriate.

Towards the end we talked about military service in Korea, but I got the feeling it was a subject he didn’t want to talk about much. He said he is indifferent to his time there, he doesn’t want a career in the Air Force, but serving the minimum two years is something all Koreans have to do.

I can tell that there are definite improvements to his speech patterns. Dongseok pauses during conversations and asks me questions when he doesn’t understand something. When he messes up, he asks for correction.

Nic-CP3

Dongseok, Jongoek, and I met this evening to play a few round of pool at my house. When they showed up, I had vegetable platter set out: tomatoes from my parent’s garden and two different types of homemade pickles my mom made. They really enjoyed that. Of course, that transitioned to talking about different sorts of food in America and Korea. As we played pool, there was some confusion between the difference between “pool” and “billiards”. I had to confess, as a native English speaker, I didn’t know the difference but that I would send them a message on Facebook. On the way home, Dongsoek was trying to explain to me a term for a part of the car’s tire, but I couldn’t figure out what he was talking about and there was not an exact English equivalent for the Korean word he was trying to express. It was a good example that there isn’t always a 1:1 equivalent for every word.

Nic-CP2

Today’s conversation partner meeting went splendidly! Joungouk and Dongseok are roommates, so they were already comfortable with each other. They said that they were okay meeting together, so most of my conversation partner meetings will be with both of them. We talked about American culture, Korean culture, and film stars in both countries. Using Dongseok’s iPad, we all saw our homes on Google maps.

The conversation went well with few major errors; both are well-spoken. Probably the thing that I will have to work on the most, though, is making sure that both have equal time to talk because Dongseok is more extroverted than Joungouk.

One word that both had some problem with was provides. Both pronounced it PRO-VIDE-ESS. I explained that the “e” is silent and the sound it makes is a “z” sound with a silent “d” on the front (Another way I explained it was to say “improvise” and add a “d” before the “s”). I then said it a few times, and they were pronouncing it with greater mastery by the end of our meeting.

Nic CP1

My first visit with my conversation partner, Joungouk Park, went well. I thought the conversation flowed naturally. It took some effort to find a balance of letting him lead the conversation and then me leading the conversation.

He said one of his goals was to speak English smoothly.

Joungouk already has a good grasp of English. His receptive vocabulary is high with an expanding productive vocabulary. Is pronunciation is good with the biggest “beautiful mistake” showing up with the R’s (e.g. “Everybody Loves Laymond” or “Pletty Little Liahs”). Any suggestions on helping with the R’s/L’s would be appreciated.

We both learned a few new words: He taught me how to say his hometown and name correctly, and I expanded his knowledge of the word nostalgia (we were talking favorite movies, and I shared with him that “Winnie-the-Pooh” is my favorite movie because it is nostalgic). I think the things he appreciated the most were my attempts to pronounce the Korean words correctly, and allowing him to lead the conversation.

PAEC Volunteering: Week 1

On Thursday, 6/23/11, I volunteered with the PAEC (Panhandle Area Education Consortium) Program to work on teaching English to children of migrant farm workers. I worked with about 15 students in the Pre-K to 3^rd grade age group. I learned some interesting things about teaching from the experience. The one thing I wish I would have had was a better grasp of Spanish. I think I could have been more useful in helping them out. Many of the kids spoke only Spanish with broken English including basic phrases such as “Thank you”, “me”, “you”, and, of course, “snack”. I agree with D. Snow in that it is important to encourage students to be self-motivated in their studies especially since these children move around a lot during the year (See pp. 11-12).

The kids loved doing things with songs and games: Duck, Duck Goose and Tag were fairly easy. It wasn’t focused on language so much—maybe it’s one of those universal games?

We sang “Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes”—the kids liked that. Another song they liked was something classed the “Big Pig Song” that the teachers showed on YouTube. Here’s the link for your amusement (I’m telling you, the kids loved this one!): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOu-QkmInKc

They started to get restless with a few things. Color and shape bingo caused restlessness in that it took too long for anyone to get bingo. Is it possible that kids need more variety or work the best with an element of fun?

One kid had on a Batman shirt and we talked about superheroes for awhile: He knew Batman, Hulk, Luke Skywalker, Star Wars, lightsaber, and Spiderman in English. I was impressed. Again, D. Snow covers connecting student’s interests with speaking English (See “intrinsic rewards” pp. 14-15). It is evident that he learned the English name for something he cared about: superheroes.