I met with Naief last Monday evening. I met him at his
apartment and then we went to Olive Garden together. Apparently, that’s his
favorite restaurant after the Indian restaurant within the same shopping
center.
Naief first came to Tallahassee last October to study
English at CIES and then returned to Kuwait the following December. He came
back to study at CIES in January of this year, so he has been here in the United
States for about seven months. His speaking and listening abilities are at a noticeably
higher level than other CIES students who I have interacted with, and there is
no doubt that this is because he has had a lot more practice and exposure to
our language. Actually, Naief lives with my other conversation partner,
Mohammed, who has only lived here in Tallahassee for the past five weeks. The
two have become good friends.
There
were only one or two instances where he was confused about a question I asked
or an idea that I shared. For example, he had to ask what I meant when I asked
him about the most major differences he noticed between Kuwait and the United
States. Once he understood the question, though, he told me his observation
that students have a lot more freedom in choosing their studies. Naief said
that in Kuwait, a student is required to commit to their major with the
government, because they want to make sure that they will have enough students
who major in the sciences, mostly. I must be conscious of these differences
when teaching my students in the future, wherever I go.
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