7/27
My first session with Slava. Slava is from Moldova and has been in country for 5 years. His English is very good, and in my assessment, only has real problems with listening someone speaking at full speed. As suggested by Professor Kim, I am using "role playing" to help him feel more comfortable with casual conversation. Today I acted like a customer and Slava acted as the waiter. Using the "dumb American" approach, I asked all the normal questions, ie; where are you from, are you Russian, how long in country, do you like it here, etc.... He is very familiar with this type of questions and had very scripted answers. However, when I asked more specific questions about his English learning experience, he struggled with verb tenses. With his permission, I corrected his beautiful mistakes by using the proper form. I then began telling him a story about my dog, speaking with a southern accent and as quickly as that accent would allow. He would stop me when he did not understand something and we would discuss. I know this does not sound like much but it is helping me gain confidence in what I am teaching.
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