Reflection on Class 10/21/09

In this class we were able to interact with ESL students and learn about their backgrounds and countries. I thought this lesson was great, because we got to learn so much about other cultures and countries while at the same time the ESL students got to know some more UALR students and work on their english speaking with E1.

I spoke with 5 different ESL students. The first was an older man from Iraq (Pakistan region) who informed me that he has a PhD in computer science. I told him how surprised I was at how good his english was, he has only been here 4 months. He told me he studied a lot of english by reading. The naming system according to him is as follows: given name, father's name, grandfather's name. We also realized we both love the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Next, I spoke with a younger boy named Adam from Saudi Arabia. At this point I just kind of kept smiling and didn't really know what to ask. It's tough to know what questions to ask complete strangers. He told me he has also been here for 4 months, but had previously been in canada for a while. He said people in Canada were more friendly than he felt people were here at UALR. We talked about French in Canada and Toronto. (So I didnt really learn much about saudi arabia from him).
Elisbaeth was third, and she told me that she was from Niger which is in West Africa. Loved her accent, and she told me that they speak French in that portion of Africa. I didn't know what to ask..so I said that the way they pronounce their French probably sounds a lot different from the French in Europe, which she said was true. Next I spoke with Siyu from China. I asked if she spoke either Mandarin or Cantonese, she said that she speaks Mandarin and a little bit of Cantonese. She seemed the more informative about her country. I slipped the question of "do you have any siblings" and she described to me how the government only allows one child per family, which I knew of but it was much more real hearing it from someone first hand from China. She explained how the schools were mostly reading and writing and no speaking out. Lastly, I spoke with Waleed who was also from Saudi Arabia. I asked if the schools were much different and he said not really. I was at a loss for questions again, and asked about siblings, pets, etc.

The one consistency I saw involved pets. The conversations seemed to go fine, except each person I asked if they had pets, they would say "pets?" and I'd have to explain what pets are. Then everyone would tell me no. I found out in these countries, such as in Chinam, Siyu explained that they live in such small spaces that there aren't room for pets or yards for them. Most of them said they wouldnt have yards for the pets to go outside and... "do their business" I filled in. I thought that was interesting because I've always been a lover of pets and didn't realize how it is common for people from a lot of other places to not have pets.