Date/Time: May 17 3:30-4:40 PM
Location: Starbucks
Topic/Skill: Diagnostic (first meeting)
Based upon our email and texting communication to set up our initial meeting, I was able to quickly reference these conversational tools for a writing diagnostic. Abdulrahman's writing skills need development as it was sometimes unclear who the subject of the sentence was supposed to be (myself or him). Because of this, I did not want to inundate him with writing work during our first meeting and, instead, see what he wanted to work on and felt like he needed help with specifically. We discussed our academic studies and his interest in pursuing business law. His intention for participating in the CIES program is in preparation for the IELTS exam. I took time to ask him about his favorite and less favorite classes. He indicated reading and listening are two areas he would like help with specifically, which works well for our meetings. I asked about specific homework assignments and he did not seem interested in pursuing these as something to work through together. He did become excited regarding my (minimal) Arabic knowledge and seemed eager and open to helping me learn the Arabic alphabet. It is possible that utilizing something he has more control and understanding over will be useful in improving his speaking and communicating more fluently. This is exciting for both of us, but I reiterated I want to provide him with the help he needs throughout our meetings. I explained the phrase "a while ago" to him in our discussion and we spoke about how it is to be applied.
I offered to provide reading for summarizing and listening exercises for our next meeting and he was receptive to this idea.
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