English Conversation Club

When I was eight years old, I used to be scared of the Chinese family who owned China Dragon (a tasty Chinese take out place in Macclenny). They were some of the only Asians I had seen before, because I'm from the rural South you see. But when they spoke English, they talked funny. It was then when I realized this: not everyone speaks English as their first language. These people spoke Chinese like I spoke English, but just like I sounded funny when I tried to say the Chinese word I learned off of Arthur, these people sounded funny when they spoke English.

But as I grew older, I began to grow fascinated with languages and how people learn them. You see, my brother has a severe disability that affects his developmental and communication skills, so basically he's not capable of holding a conversation or understanding one. This fascinated me so, even at the age of 12. I mean, how do we learn a language? How do we learn to speak? After we learn our first language, why is it so hard to learn another one? I wanted to help people who came from other countries to have a better life in the United States, and since the number one language of these people is Spanish, I wanted to learn Spanish to help them. I still love Spanish. In fact, I'm about to earn my Bachelor's in it! But I soon learned that not everyone who immigrates to the States speaks Spanish as their first language-they speak hundreds of them! But what I could do was teach them English and help them this way. 

Since my senior year of high school, I've found many ways to do that! From the Mexican and Honduran families I helped when I interned in Houston to the 9-year old boy from China I tutor in English, I love teaching English as a Second Language. At FSU, one of my favorite things  I've done is tutor with English Conversation Club for the past three semesters. Hence the title, I meet with international students and families an hour a week and help them improve their conversational English.  Here is some of my bunch from last semester!

Students are from all kinds of countries with all kinds of backgrounds, all of them being cooler than I'll ever be!! I've had Olympic athletes come in, women whose husbands were studying at FSU, several Fullbright scholars, former Korean government officials, brilliant scholars, the list goes on and on! These students come from India, China, South Korea, Turkey, Pakistan, Iran, Spain, Germany, France, Taiwan, Belarus, Colombia-everywhere. We talk about everything from politics to Taylor Swift to dating! They really have helped me understand soooo much more about the world with all of us having different cultures, languages, faiths and food! I am constantly learning new things from them every week!

But not only am I constantly learning from these students, I'm also getting to make some awesome friends. From my first semester, I met Fatimah, Leticia and Elise-three awesome ladies who over coffee, free FSU events and the occasional chick click I would giggle and talk to about my new relationship with Andy! I would hang out with Lulu and now that she's a busy mama I love playing with her baby Emily and making Chinese food with her as her husband and Andy do manly things like playing tennis :D Last semester I met Naon, who just gets me, and Yu-ting, who is one of my best friends in Tallahassee and is always bringing me awesome Taiwanese food! Naon and Yu-ting still come this semester, and I've also gotten to know Suheyla and her husband who are such a sweet couple and are constantly teaching me something new.