Devon CP #2

Isabela de Oliveira Soares (Brazil)

7/20/21

7:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Isa is a dear friend of mine that I met at school when I went on exchange to Brazil. She learned English as a second language in school, but when we talk we usually speak in Portuguese. For these conversation partner sessions she will speak with me only in  English so that she can improve her speaking/listening skills. This is a little outside of her comfort zone, and she expressed that she is embarrassed about her English skills. I think that because I am also her friend, that the informal manner of our conversations will encourage her to speak English more with more confidence.

At first we talked about icebreaker related material, that though we already knew many of the answers to, we had never expressed in English. We talked about our favorite foods, movies, colors, etc. I then realized that I did not know very much about her family. She then tried to explain her rather large family to me, though she struggled to know the name of family titles outside of Mom, Dad, Sister and Brother. Additionally, she often mis-genders people/things, calling objects she/he, and using the wrong pronouns for her parents by using exclusively "he". 

We also talked about the school system in the US. I had explained K-12 to her in the past, but I did not think that university would be so different. She was amazed to learn about how American students can pick their field without having to test into a major through difficult exams. She then explained to me that they had to take extremely stressful exams their last year of high school to even be considered for a field, let alone apply for a college. She currently goes to a university in Curitiba, which is in the capitol of her state, Parana.