On Monday night, I had my final tutoring session with Mohammed. It was very bitter sweet as i now see these CIES students as my friends. We briefly caught up with each others' weekends like we always do before we focused on his tutoring session. Today, I wanted him to focus on the speaking part of his presentation that he has to do on Tuesday. I had already assisted Mohammed with the powerpoint process of his presentation, and now, we wanted to work on the verbal part. He has to present for ten minutes so I wanted to time him so speaks enough to fill the limit. I had him stand up so he could get comfortable presenting in his second language while in a vulnerable state. In general, Mohammed's speech was clear, but somewhat deliberately slow because he want to fill his time out. This was mostly a nonissue though but I encouraged him not to read directly from the powerpoint because he may just end up having his back to the class the entire time. I assisted with finding additional information that he could add to notecards so that there would be a nice flow to his presentation.
After going over his speaking, we closed off our final tutoring session with a talk about our futures. I asked about what he planned on doing after his education in the States, and he expressed that he would go back home, where English is vital to many occupations and positions. He also interestingly gave me his thoughts on teaching in an Arab country and the differences between teaching in the 4 main countries he focused on (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Qatar). He stressed the fact that if I wanted to make money, I need to go to an Arab nation.
After a very enjoyable talk with Mohammed, we sadly parted ways. As I've told all the CIES students that I've grown close to, I see him as family and that he is welcome in my home in Orlando anytime.
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