I had my very first session with 18 year old Mario from Bogotá, Colombia yesterday. This was my first session with an adult, as I have only tutored 4th grader P.J. prior to this. This experience was one characterized by many differences, namely, the motivations for acquiring English. In a sense I have a deep appreciation for a child's ability to capture the innocence of knowledge, the attempt of using language to explore the world and understand it, free from all fetters of grammatical necessity. While for Mario it was immediately obvious that his pursuit of English is purely a means to an end, in order that he may enter a university to study business. This session, consequently, was characterized by an open willingness to attempt difficult tasks, such as reading the material that I provided for him. My best explanation for this phenomenon would be that as adults we have a different grasp of reality that is defined by external motivations. I look forward to more sessions where I will be able to test this hypothesis with the different types of reading materials by which Mario seeks to improve his reading abilities as well as some writing assignments for similar reasons. These two areas require the most attention, as he was placed in a level three speaking class, something that was instantly evident by his fluid speech.
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