Amberly TS #1

 All Saints Cafe June 21 3-4pm

Zhou and I met up and got to know each other. He shared his concerns with me about his language skills and how it prevents him from being able to socialize comfortably with native speakers. He wanted to express more emotions in his speech as well as show some level of cultural competence. I got to know where he was from and we discussed his background. I assessed his language skills and took a 2 minute recording and followed it up by providing feedback. I asked him about what he was learning in class. He is a student in the Advanced Listening class. His main obstacle is listening. He struggles to follow conversations and stories, but is successful in lectures. Zhou showed comprehension of many grammar rules and he was able to fully hold a conversation, but he lacks in listening skills and cultural comprehension. His pronunciation is clear but some sounds in the English language remain a challenge to him. He uses advanced language but is hesitant to speak. He typically takes a moment to fully flesh out an idea in his head before speaking which interrupts the flow of conversation much of the time.