After tutoring Mecit, I got a quick lunch with some friends at Voodoo Dog, then I had to rush off to another tutoring appointment. Another Turkish student had responded to my tutoring offer. His name is Caglar and he seems to be an advanced-level learner. He was studying for the GRE, so this session was a more technical one.
We started by looking through the GRE study book. I was amazed at the difficulty of the vocabulary and just about everything else in there. I respect that Caglar does not let himself get discouraged with the material. There was too much material in that book and it was just a matter of memorizing, so we switched over to a TOEFL book and did some exercises out of there. We did a reading exercise and a couple listening exercises. I was really just checking Caglar's answers to the questions. He already passed the TOEFL exam in Turkey, but he thinks he may take it again for a better score sometime.
I suggested that we read a current article online because the TOEFL readings can often be cookie-cutter. Then I explained what the phrase "cookie-cutter" means. While we were on the topic of phrases, Caglar asked me what "to track down" means. After mentioning a few more phrases, we found an article on NPR. Caglar told me that he is a Geology major, so I chose an article about volcanoes on Titan (a moon of Jupiter). There were no articles on Earthling geology, so I found the next best thing.
He read out loud, so I could listen for mispronounced words. After we read we went over the article in summary. Then we talked about astronomy and the cosmos a bit. I am always interested in seeing how other cultures view the cosmos and how they name the Moon, the Sun, etc.
I told Caglar that I would be back in town in a few weeks and that he should feel free to call me if he wants to meet up for tutoring or just to talk next semester.
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