Adam TP # 4

I met with Bayasgalan again today in Room 409 of Eppes Hall. He showed me a project he was doing for class in which he had to read an article of his choice and identify unfamiliar vocabulary from the article. He asked me to explain some of the unfamiliar words. Some of these were words he understood easily, such as "epidemic" and "valley" (the latter of which I drew an example of). He also wanted to know the definition of the word "spitting," so I drew an illustration for him on the white board. However, there were also some terms he occasionally struggled with. For example, he struggled with the word "victim." I described a victim as someone who has suffered from something bad happening or someone doing something bad to them. Bayasgalan had some difficulty with the explanation and ended up having to look it up on an English to Mongolian dictionary app he had on his iPhone. Another word he was curious about was "rash," which he had not often heard before in English. I explained it as a long lasting skin itch, as well as an adjective meaning impulsive. He seemed interested and engaged in discussing the vocabulary, but I noticed when I saw the homework he did for his class that he sometimes struggled with understanding the homework instructions themselves. I made sure to clarify his teacher's instructions for him. There was another assignment that posed some difficulty for him because it required that he watch TV or a video in order to find unfamiliar vocabulary. He said that he did not have the capability to do this because he did not have a television or a working computer. I asked if he could use the internet on his telephone to look up English language television shows. I recommended that he should watch something short and simple like a childrens' cartoon. He said that he planned to buy a used television so that he could watch videos for his assignment, so I recommended that he buy a used television from Goodwill. In general, Bayasgalan caught on quickly when it came to new vocabulary. He also appeared to be showing improvement in writing the correct simple past or simple present tense forms of verbs. Additionally, I noticed that his spoken English had improved substantially, though he said that he still does not understand very much of the English he hears. I told him that he was showing a great amount of improvement and that he was learning very quickly. We agreed to meet again on Friday afternoon at 1:00 pm after his CIES classes.