GarretTS#6

On September 15th at 7 pm I met with Mario Fayad. Initially, as per protocol, this first meeting should have been a "needs assessment" based session. However, after speaking with Mario for about 20 minutes, it was very clear that he has a very strong receptive vocabulary, however, as with many of the students I have encountered, Mario struggles with his productive vocabulary. Mario is graduating from CIES in October and plans on returning to the FSU as a full-time student in the Spring, after he spends a few months back home in Colombia. Mario expressed to me that he struggles with vocabulary/speaking as well as parts of grammar. After the assessment, which lasted about 20 minutes, I thought it would be helpful to begin engaging with Mario just to get a more clear idea of his weakest attributes. I began asking Mario a variety of questions so as to force him to speak in English. He knows that I speak Spanish moderately well and he would often revert back to Spanish when he would encounter a word that he could not express. This was the beginning of our lesson - forcing Mario to spend time with English and to be patient when speaking. I have seen Mario around the CIES lounge, and I often hear him speaking in Spanish with his friends. I expressed to him that it is extremely important for him to speak in English as much as possible if he wishes to fully acquire the language. Mario was very comfortable with me because it was only him and I, and he made a few mistakes, however, I am interested in seeing how he performs when his affective filter is increased, perhaps around other people.