Barbara CP@1

Conversation partner blog record

May 12, 2017

My first conversation with my student, Nataliia Zelenska, was a very interesting experience.  What I mean by interesting is that her story is not the same as many students who attend CIES.  Nataliia is a Ukrainian resident who has lived in Tallahassee for 7 months.  Her family is also here; her husband, Michael, who has been in Tallahassee since 2008, teaches Chemistry for FSU and her daughter, Katrina, is a student at TCC.  Her son, Daniel, currently lives in Ukraine and has finished high school. Our conversation centered around her desire to become more fluent in spoken English.  She wants to speak, to listen, and to build vocabulary.  Nataliia has a BA degree in Psychology from Russia and her occupation there was as a licensed hair stylist.  Her goal is to learn enough English to get her license in the US.  She told me that her name means “nature” and that she likes to live completely in the present. She loves art, likes to play drums and swim.  We discussed the purpose of our talks and she just wants to speak everyday conversation.  Like many CIES students, she reads well.  Her understanding of spoken English is difficult.  She told me that when she hears the teacher and students speaking in class, it tends to be a blur.  Based on what little I know about rating students for learning levels, I would say that she is either a beginner or low intermediate in speaking.  After our session, I spoke to Claire and Jen at the front desk and they recommended that we plan some activities so that we have a general topic to cover.  Suggestions were Museum of Fine Arts, San Luis Mission and lunch among others.  I plan to talk to Natallia about these options.  One thing that I learned about myself in this conversation is that I need to slow down and listen and not interrupt Natallia while she is forming words particularly at this level since our goal should be fluency.