Sophie CP #4- Rayan

My fourth conversation partner meeting with Rayan occurred after a weekend where he travelled to Alabama with his friends who took the IELTS exam that weekend. We talked about the differences between the IELTS and the TEFL, and I shared what I had learned about them both in class so far- the differences/similarities, and which one people tended to prefer based on their native languages. He told me his friends think they did well, but Rayan jokingly told me he's not so sure about them. Like Fahad, I think he's also more nervous about the writing portion than anyone else, which makes sense because he also comes from an Arabic-speaking country. Also like Fahad, he's at a much higher speaking level than writing- compared to some other students I've interacted with at CIES who spoke something other than Arabic as their first language, who are generally not as good (or confident) at speaking, but seem a little better at grammar and writing. And of course all of this falls in line with what we've learned in class! Or it's just a good ol' case of confirmation bias. Anyways, if I'm remembering correctly, Rayan says he's planning on taking the IELTS exam over the TOEFL!