Remi TS #12

This meeting with Shu I once again chose an article from NPR. The one I chose was on the topic of paid parental leave in the U.S. I thought it would be interesting for him since he had gone through this point in his life relatively, not very long ago. When I met with him he told me he was feeling sick which I could hear in his voice. I decided to start off slow and have a casual conversation with him about the new session which was commencing. I asked him what he thought of his new classes and professors. He was upset that he was slightly upset that he did not move up to the next listening class but I think that was in a joking manner.

          He had not listened to the article previously so I had him listen to it. I realized that he was not in the habit of taking notes so I told him to listen to it a second time, but this time to take notes on what he thought were the important ideas and points. After this we discussed piece, I asked him some prepared questions and made sure to go over vocabulary and idioms I thought he might have trouble with.

          We concluded the session with a discussion about parental leave in Japan vs. America. In Japan the mother receives an entire year of paid leave however, the father receives none. As a result, Shu went to work the day after his son was born since it was a Monday. I thought this was very interesting and was glad to learn a little more about Shu and Japan.