Erfaan Mahmoodi CP #1

Last Tuesday, on the 18th, I met my CP Alex at Calvin's Coffee House. Our conversation spanned across a number of topics, namely our second language, our family backgrounds, and our views on global thinking. There was a stark contrast in our genealogies: Alex could trace his family back, and with greater ease, to 18th-century settlers in Maine (I hope I remember correctly that they were French; otherwise, they may have been Scottish or German; curse my memory) who moved down to Madison, Florida and have remained there ever since. I on the other hand talked of a history that really comes into form only during the late 19th century, and which is marked by martyrdoms, and migrations spanning the world. When I asked of the language and interests Alex had, he told me Russian had been his first stint. In detailing my language, Farsi, I delved into both a heavily abridged explanation of 20th century Iranian history followed by my mom and dad's immigration stories. The intersection we found was a desire to learn more about the world, and to expand one's horizons through it. How poetic then for us to meet, a long-time American and a second-generation child of immigrants.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sara Young TS #11

Date/Time: 07/17/19 Location: CIES Lounge Topic discussed: George Lopez and Other American Sitcoms Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: Andres and I decided to watch part of an episode of the George Lopez sitcom during our tutoring session, in which Andres was asked to pick up vocabulary or idioms he's never heard before, in which the list was extensive due to the fact that the show is in native English and uses everyday phrases heard in America. Andres also lacked some cultural knowledge on idioms and phrases that were explained to him, to which he enjoyed learning about. At the end of the session, he was given a list of vocabulary words and phrases to cover on his own.
Read more

Sara Young TS #16

Date/Time: 07/26/19 Location: CIES Lounge Topic discussed: Final Review Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: Seungjae and I met for our second and final tutoring session, in which I set up a review with example sentences and worksheets to allow him to practice grammar tenses he did not understand. This tutoring session took over an hour, as with many of the questions on the practice he had concerns, to which I helped him clarify with detailed explanations and reasons to grammar. He luckily showed much more understanding at the end of the tutoring session, to which I encouraged him to continue his studies and provided him additional information that would help explain these grammar tenses he struggled with. 
Read more

Sara Young TS #12

Date/Time: 07/17/19 Location: CIES Lounge Topic discussed: Review Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: Marcia came in after I met with Andres and we hosted a review of all of the concerns she previously had during her first two tutoring sessions, both of which were answered and clarified. Marcia was able to successfully show understanding of the material during our review on present perfect and present perfect continuous tenses, as well as prepositions, all of which were her only real concerns. With this, Marcia and I concluded our third and final tutoring session, after which I provided her with additional links in the case she doesn't understand or remember grammar we covered in the future before wishing her the best of luck in her future English studies.
Read more