Sam - TP - 1

I met my tutoring partner, Hayriye, last Tuesday at the Leon County Public Library. Karen Gotti had arranged our meeting. Hayriye is a young, new mother who has lived in the U.S. for two years. She and her husband are Turkish. Her main reason for seeking a tutor is that she is studying for the G.E.D. (General Education Diploma... a high school equivalency). I didn't know that foreign students could pass that test instead of the TOEFL and be admitted to community college. As a Good Enough Diploma (as my drop-out friends and I call it) recipient myself, I had some familiarity with the test and so right away we had something in common. I think she was a little surprised that I had gotten a G.E.D. instead of a normal diploma.

For this meeting we mostly just talked about ourselves and got to know each other. I found out that Hayriye played marching drum in high school-- way cool. She was a math teacher in Turkey and hopes to become one in the U.S. Her husband is also a math teacher and she wants to work alongside him at the same school. Adorable!

I really think Hayriye is going to be a fun person to tutor because I can tell she is very intelligent and eager to learn. She has little trouble understanding me, speaks clearly, and doesn't hesitate to ask when she doesn't understand a word. I get the feeling that in her native tongue she is a bold, frank person. I like that. She has asked me to correct her pronunciation whenever possible. Basically, she is making my job really easy!

We parted with an agreement to meet up the following week, which we did today. Stay tuned, I'm going to post about our first real lesson next!