Evan TS#10

I met with Dojun from South Korea over Skype. I had never used Skype before, but everything worked out fine. He told me he works as an air traffic controller and that he wanted to improve his casual conversation skills. At first I wasn't sure where to start because it is hard to replicate the parts of American conversation on the spot. However, he mentioned that he wanted to know more idioms and that helped me find more talking points. We discussed phrases like "call it a day" and "wrap it up" which fit nicely into conversations that could be held in a workplace. We also discussed the phrase "before you know it" which I have used with a few of my tutees and conversations partners. I have found that by repeatedly explaining idioms I become better at finding examples that illustrate what they mean. I most cases, Dojun could figure out what they meant with literal dictionary translations, but lacked the cultural understanding of the phrases.