Manal had gathered a group of friends again for our tutoring
session. Abeer came back and two new
friends joined our group. What I thought
was going to be a TOEFL review session turned into a Scrabble game. Manal is unexpectedly leaving to return home
to Saudi Arabia and she wanted to have fun her last session with me. With her friends surrounding her, she had a
wonderful last day in our tutoring session.
Before we began the game, I asked them to run down the
list of pronunciations that are troubling for Arab speakers; beer and peer,
pall and ball, pass and bass and the others we came up with in class last week. As an entrance ticket to the game, they
individually had to say each word and tell me what it meant. It turned out to be a good exercise and they
very much appreciated hearing the correct sounds.
The experienced Scrabble players explained the rules to the newer members and if
someone didn’t know a word, they gave a definition and explanation in a
sentence. It was a vocabulary
and speaking exercise, though it did seem like we were just playing a game.
You can certainly learn through games.
And best of all- Manal won the game. What a nice way to send her off.
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