Kim TS #14

I had my seventh tutoring session with Modibo on Thursday, April 13 at 12 pm. We sat on the patio outside of the CIES building and had a really lovely meeting. My intentions for the day were for Modibo to read an article, for me to check his comprehension, and to cover new vocabulary. However, we found ourselves in a really intriguing and interesting conversation so I decided that today we would just focus on his speaking skills. We started off our meeting with the usual small talk and somehow ended up talking about a range of topics from allergies, American gun rights, to race relations in the US, and finally to American television series. We covered new vocabulary including: sulphur, well (as in a water well), and flies (the bugs). At the end of the hour we talked for a bit about how difficult learning a new language is and how it seems to be much easier to pick up a language when you live in a place where it is the primary language spoken. Modibo shared this quote with me from Bob Marley that he really likes. "Tu ne sais jamais à quel point tu es fort, jusqu'au jour où être fort reste ta seule option." It translates in English to "You never know how strong you are, until being strong is your only choice." He's very optimistic. I'm really going to miss meeting with Modibo once a week. I told him I was sad next week was our last tutoring session and I joked that I would cry. He laughed and said, "me too."