Sixth Session- November 24, 2015

Today’s topic was to discuss Saleha’s main motivation for learning English. She obtained a degree from university, and is now studying to pass the TOEFL exam. Her goal is to speak advanced English. She believes that learning language in general is extremely important because it is a way to connect with people and improve oneself. In her opinion, English is one of the most important language to know because it is an international language, meaning it is universally studied as a second language. Having speaking skills in English is important, especially when studying abroad or traveling to other countries. She gave an example of traveling to Turkey; it is not necessarily important to speak Turkish, because you will be able to get by speaking English. I do with this point, because even when I studied abroad in Florence, Italy most of the people spoke English, so it was not difficult to get by without knowing Italian. I think that a part of this was due to the vast British Empire, because they were able to bring the English language to all corners of the world through colonization. That’s truly what makes it a global language. As for Afghanistan’s progress in learning languages, Saleha believes her country is improving. Many people in Afghanistan want to learn English. She encounters children ages 5 or 6, and they all want to learn English; she also sees 50-40 years old with a desire to learn the language as well. She explains that there is a good start for learning the language because they learn English through memorization of a variety of topics and words. However, she believes that listening is essential when learning a new language, because it will help people to speak well and have good pronunciation of words. I think it’s great that her people has such a strong desire to learn a new language. It’s great to see that people are passionate to learn new things and develop a skillset in English.

Fifth Session- November 18, 2015

Today’s topic was the discussion of music. I asked Saleha what her favorite music is and she said that she liked romantic and dance music. She said that when she plays music she likes to dance to it and it relieves her stress. It is the most important thing in life when she is sad or feels lonely, because it brings up her spirits. She usually thinks about life, her exams, and her goals while listening to music, because it makes her pensive. Her favorite songs are Afghan and Indian songs. She said she also listens to music while she studies, which reminds me a lot of how American students study. She emphasized that she can always learn new things and information from music. Music makes her feel good and gives her the confidence and motivation she needs. I talked to her about American music culture and played “Sugar” by Maroon 5 to give her a sample of what American music sounded like and I think she enjoyed it. I talked about concerts in America, and she said there aren’t really concerts in Afghanistan. She said that she can learn about every country’s culture by listening to their music, because she can learn what they like through what they sing about. I thought this was a very astute and accurate observation. She couldn’t play any of her favorite songs due to technology limitations, but I would be interested to see what I could learn about her culture from her favorite songs.

Fourth session- November 11, 2015

Today we talked about education and how it impacts a society. Saleha discussed how important and crucial education is, and how it promotes knowledge and betters a society. One of her major goals in life is to receive her Master’s degree in America, so she places a strong value on education and higher learning. Knowledge is very important to her, and she’s utilized her lessons to get a full time job in accounting at an investment firm. She was very grateful that her father encouraged her to pursue an education, because in other provinces of Afghanistan many families cannot send their children to school because of war and violence. She also talked about how some fathers did not go to school, so they consequently didn’t encourage their children to attend school. She related this a lot to our conversation from last week and brought up how this ignorance and lack of education contributes to a lack of peace in her country. I think it’s great that she is able place such great value on learning and education. It’s clear that she’s seen how a formal education can make a difference in people’s lives. As a female, I can only imagine the obstacles she’s had to overcome to get where she is today, and I admire her ambition and drive.

Third Session- November 4, 2015

Today’s discussion topic was about peace. I started off the session by asking Saleha how a country can achieve peace. She gave me a very detailed response, which showed me that she was very passionate about this topic. She said that when a country has peace, they can improve and expand their knowledge. She went on to talk about how Afghanistan does not have widespread peace. The province she lives in is peaceful, however, a lot of war exists in other provinces. This prevents the people from receiving an education. She believes that peace is the most important thing for a people and for countries. She went on to talk about how people can go to school, study abroad, and learn new languages and skills when a there is peace. She thinks it’s important for people to improve their minds if they want to improve the country. Saleha then went into more detail about the culture in Afghanistan.  She said that in a lot of places there is violence, and women must live with men and oftentimes can’t decide things for themselves. It’s hard for them to have their own life. She talked about how grateful she is for her father, because he allows her to make her own choices. I wasn’t that surprised about the current state of Afghanistan’s culture, and imagined it would be something similar like that. I think it was great that she recognized that knowledge and education would help bring peace and change to her people. I asked her what needs to happen in order to achieve peace, and she said that first her people must work on themselves. When people can’t go to school or learn, they usually don’t let their children receive and education, and then those people disturb the peace. She had a lot of hope for her country, and believes that when Afghanistan finally achieves peace, a lot of people will want to learn from other countries and experience different cultures.

Second Session- October 28, 2015

For our second session, we talked about the topic of success. I asked her how she defined success, and she related the question back to achieving her goal of getting her Master’s degree in America. She also said that she has high hopes and aspirations to succeed in her career. I thought this was wonderful and I was actually quite surprised, because I wasn’t expecting her to be so career-focused. I then asked her if she had any role models. She said that her family is very important to her, and they are very supportive of her goals. However, she specifically mentioned that her father has played a huge role in encouraging her to pursue higher education and study abroad in America. He wants her to experience new cultures and go to the best school she can. It seemed as though she looked up to him very much, and they he inspires her to go the extra mile when it comes to achieving professional success. I think he has definitely impacted her personal definition of success in a positive way. I was very happy to hear about how supportive her family was of her dreams. 

First Session with Saleha- October 21, 2015

During my first session with Saleha, we mainly focused on getting to know each other. We introduced ourselves and talked about what we do and our hobbies. I was surprised to find out that she is an accountant at an investment firm in Afghanistan. I am a Corporate Finance and Accounting major and I am also interested in working in the investment world after graduation, so it was great to have that in common. We talked a lot about our goals and aspirations. It was wonderful to hear that one of her dreams is to come to America and study to get her Master’s degree in Economics! We then talked a little bit about American culture. Being from New Jersey, I described what life was like on the east coast and compared it to life in rural settings. I also talked a lot about New York City, and I think she was intrigued by that. She asked me about good colleges to go to, and I recommended a few in the NYC area. It was really great to see how enthusiastic and excited she was to learn English and experience American culture. She told me that after she gets her master’s she would like to return to Afghanistan and spread her experiences in America with her people. She had a very positive outlook towards the United States, and it gave me a lot of hope for peace in the future.