Nic TP 12

Today’s tutoring session with AR went real well. As usual, AR comes in with questions of English that he has learned through the week, and I teach from there. I know that this may be somewhat unconventional, but I think that it is a good way to learn because he is learning English that he has encountered during the week, so it allows him to build on vocabulary he has come across during the week.

We talked about pronunciation, as he sometimes hears people pronounce school as “sgool”. I said that sometimes certain dialects of native speakers slur the “ch” to make a “g” (as is schooner or schema).

He also had questions about the difference of disused and unused. I explained by going to the Latin roots. Dis- means to take away, as in disappear or disable. Un- means not, as in unlovable or unknown. Therefore, disuse means that it was used but is now no longer in use. Unused means that it has not ever been used. This was helpful to him.

For the rest of the time we talked culture, American and Chinese. AR is very knowledgeable of Chinese culture and history since he lived there until his mid-30s.

He told me that there are many gods in China, which surprised me because I thought China was a Buddhist/Taoist/Confucius state that believed more in the “power of the universe”. He said that the gods came to China from India during the Tang Dynasty.

I asked him about China and Japan. It was very interesting to hear about a Chinese person talk about how they view the Japanese.

We talked about America and its’ future. He said that the reason he thinks America is great is because they recruit the best and the brightest of the world’s scholars to America not because of our Constitution. He didn’t support defense contractors saying that they have “kidnapped” President Obama. He believes that you can find the best and the worst in America.

I really enjoyed today’s session, and he gave me a lot to think about. I told him that when I came back for the fall semester I would contact him so we could continue to meet. I am looking forward to continue to help him become a better English speaker.