If you'll remember I picked out a few of the words from our Scrabble game for her to define then use the words in sentences with each of the definitions, in different tenses and the verb/nouns forms. Unfortunately, the dictionary she used didn't necessarily have all the multiple definitions of a single word. She misused one word trying to use it for the same definition twice thinking she was using it for each meaning. We went over everything together. I helped her work through the correction process, which can be sooo painful, people. We also worked on FORMS! She has forms to fill out for her insurance company from the car accident she was in. Ok, let me just say that those things were hard for me, a native speaker, I can't begin to imagine what they were like for her. So, I basically asked the questions, rewording when necessary, used the accident report, asked for clarification and filled out the forms for her. I know, probably not the best idea for improving English, but those forms were intense. =/
Anyway, I had been invited to stay for dinner yesterday and I was nervous about meeting her husband. I was worried what he would think of me and the whole situation because Chomy has said that he is quite conservative and has confided some of her frustrations in me. I didn't know if he was entirely approving of her tutoring lessons, especially since it had taken her a while to get him to concede to her getting into the library program as well as it taking a while to find a tutor. She really had expectations of me getting her husband to talk in English, to ask him questions. I understood her reasons for it, but at the same time it was a bit of an awkward situation to be in, especially when two people can talk in a language you only know a handful of words in so you're left wondering at what the exchange is about. It probably went something like, "Why is this crazy American woman asking me difficult questions? Was this your idea?" "Who me? Where would you get such an idea?"
No, I'm joking. It was easy to tell that he has great difficulty with the language, and also why she is not advancing as much as she could be. She gets to go out and use her English, but at the same time she's kept insulated, especially after her car accident. Her husband and son were both quite happy to see each other and he used some English when communicating with his son. However, I'm not sure if that's regular or if it was putting on a show for the native English speaker in the apartment. =/ Dinner was a traditional Korean meal made for special occasions. Her husband was actually quite happy I was there for dinner for that reason alone. I learned a lot of Korean foods, meals, and Korean chopsticks. You would think chopsticks are the same throughout the different Asian cultures, but you would be wrong, like me ( so don't worry because you're in good company ~_^). Turns out they use stainless chopsticks and they're pretty flat, so less to hold on to.
Dinner consisted of a main dish of beef stew, a few different sides; kimchi, a spicy cabbage, and cucumbers and carrots, rice, spicy radish, and then there were also noodles. The noodles were clear and Chomy said they were made from sweet potatoes. The meal was roughly pronounced jopchet. Jop stands for it all being mixed together and the chet for the thin cut of the noodle. Although, my noodles didn't really get mixed in with anything else. I pretty much ate everything separate, which I didn't get scolded for so I imagine that was ok. Once dinner was over she made tea and coffee, both Korean, and fixed fruit. Let me tell you this is A LOT of food. So, what does this tell me about Korean culture? Well, it seems like they take their time with meals, that meals are important to them and so is the healthiness and well-roundedness of the meal. Chomy expressed as much to me when she talked about preparing her husband's lunches.
So, maybe one can further extrapolate that mealtimes are good for togetherness and conversation, which I used this mealtime for. I worked at carrying on a conversation with her and her husband. So really, our tutoring session became focused on speaking. She did a very good job of carrying the bulk of the conversation after dinner, so she got a lot of practice in. I was thinking she might be in need of more speaking practice so this was very good. Next week we'll be at the library again so I might do a lesson on transitive and intransitive verbs because we keep running into problems with those and when to use 'to' with them.
You know, I don't really begin to see just how much this means to her, or what all this arrangement and experience provide for her. She is quite happy to have me as a tutor because I am nice and understanding. I feel that can be such a drawback though because sometimes I understand what she's saying without her having used English properly and that doesn't necessarily benefit her. She is very grateful for our time together and I am happy to be of any help, but keep thinking there has to be somebody better that can really help her. The only way to get better is through experience. I plan to continue on with tutoring till I can't. Partly because the experience will be good and partly because I feel like its rude, and too soon, to leave Chomy in the lurch. There's nothing keeping me from volunteering my time so I'll stick with it as long as I can.
No comments:
Post a Comment