Miguel Derett - TS #3

November 7^th, 2018. 2/2

            For the second part of my meeting with Alina Bai, we moved on from the TEFL tutoring guidelines handout and onto more personal conversation. She explained to me that she completed her undergraduate in Communications. I mentioned to her that I had a double major in English and Communications. We both discussed how we both majored in communications. She tried to explain to me how in China, majoring in communications and broadcasting is a popular decision. I mentioned to her that it was also popular here in the US, yet the job prospects were a little more complicated. She later went on to try to explain to me how her major prepares her to become something similar to a Master of Ceremonies. However, that job title did not necessarily translate entirely. It simply seemed to be the closest approximation. As we continued to converse freely, a few things stood out to me. She consistently used the term “leisure time.” I tried to explain to her that while leisure time is a completely acceptable term, the more casual term is “free time.” She mentioned that none of her professors had used this term before. Another thing that stood out to me was when she used the word “seldom.” I was surprised and also impressed when she used this word. I told her that it was a word that one does not usually hear from native English speakers, and not because the word is outdated but rather because most English speakers do not have that word in their vocabulary. Thus, I encouraged her to continue to use it as it elevated her language. While I believed this to be a promising started to our sessions together, Alina would, unfortunately, later go on to cancel all our future tutoring sessions.