Sophie TS #16- Fahad

The final tutoring session! At this point Fahad and I were both pretty busy with the end of the semester, but we did manage to find a time when we weren't cramming to meet one last time. He was a little worried about his reading skills for the end of the semester, so I decided to do another reading activity, but I tried to find a more interesting one than last time. After looking around for something that was both interesting and level appropriate, as well as a good length, I ended up deciding to use the reading lesson plan I came up with for class. However because I created that for a slightly lower level than Fahad's, I gave him the whole article and added several more questions. I think this exercise was more engaging than the other reading exercise we did the session before because it was about something relevant to my life. In addition to that, it was a news article instead of an academic one, so the language was a little more casual and the structure a little more informal. And even if Fahad had never heard of or listened to the Beatles, at least it was interesting because I got to talk to him about their influence in my life. I grew up listening to them, and I named the cat I adopted this summer Ringo, which is something Fahad and I talked about every once in a while.

Sophie TS #15- Fahad

For our next meeting I actually used a reading handout we were given in class, about the Impressionists. I had planned to do another tutoring session like #11, where I just created my lesson plan based on the questions Fahad had for me, but he didn't have any specific questions, so I decided to go through my handouts from class and use something from there. I was kind of partial to choosing this exercise because it reminded me of the kinds of questions I had to answer after readings in elementary and middle school. But also I was one of those weirdos who actually liked school and classwork. I think it was a little boring for Fahad, compared to the more real-life based things we had done in previous sessions, and because he had been doing classwork most of the day before we met in Strozier. But regardless, I think the level was fairly appropriate- he struggled with a few questions, but he didn't just breeze through them either. So I'm glad I had this worksheet as a kind of backup, but I'm definitely going to go back to the more realistic based for our next session.

Sophie TS #14- Fahad

For my next tutoring session with Fahad I decided to focus on verb tenses, because I noticed in our text messages that that was one thing he could really improve on. I began by just going through the list of all 12 tenses in English, and briefly explained each one and gave an example. For the ones used most often in casual conversations or texting I tried to give a little more explanation and examples for. Then we went through our text conversations, and I had Fahad look for mistakes with verbs and prompted him to fix them. For the mistakes he missed the first time around, I went back and pointed them out and had him do the same thing with the others. Even though it wasn't the most structured exercise, I think we both really liked it because it was realistic and based off of actual conversation. After that I came up with a few sentences off the top of my head and asked Fahad to identify which verb tense I was using. Again, it was informal, but I think it worked for a quick review!

Sophie CP #6- Prius

For my last conversation partner meeting I ended up talking with someone not from FSU or CIES, but an ESL student nonetheless. While in Minnesota I got to meet a man living with my grandmother's neighbor, a man from Cameroon named Prius. He's had quite the journey to get to this little rural area in Minnesota, and it was really interesting to hear him tell it. He was studying to be a preacher, but was suddenly forced to leave the country because of the government. So he escaped, with very little, and ended up in South America. Soon after he left, police came to his house looking for him, and arrested his brother thinking it was him. As far as he knows, his brother is still in prison. He did a lot of traveling on foot to make it to the United States, but finally made it here to seek asylum. Now he's in Minnesota and continuing his studies, living with my grandma's neighbor and two other refugees. All of them are pretty advanced English speakers, as they've been here for several years now. It was really cool to be able to talk to him, and to hear a story firsthand that I've previously only seen in movies and books.

Sophie CP #5- Rayan

My fifth meeting with Rayan was at a Starbucks again, this time after he spent the weekend in Panama City. This ended up in an interesting conversation about regional stereotypes in America, because I had just begun preparing for a vacation in Minnesota, which is a very very different place than Panama City. I told Rayan about how I was born in Minnesota and raised mostly in Maryland and Florida, that the culture was notably different in each of those places, and while I don't think any one is empirically better than the other, I definitely have my favorite (it's Minnesota). I think for the most part Rayan said he had really only travelled around the south of the US, so I did my best to imitate Maryland and Minnesota accents- an extremely entertaining thing to witness. I also talked about the stereotypes of each place- which ones I've experienced to be true and which ones I don't understand. I've never been to Panama City so Rayan described it to me, it kind of sounds like a southern version of Ocean City, MD. We talked about some things that are very common here in Tallahassee, and Panama City as well, that are sort of token southern things, but also how Tallahassee feels less stereotypically southern than other parts of Florida because of the diverse population that FSU and the capital bring to the area. I think we both have similar views on stereotypes, that they obviously come from some little bit of truth, but also that they're never really hard rules either.

Sophie CP #4- Rayan

My fourth conversation partner meeting with Rayan occurred after a weekend where he travelled to Alabama with his friends who took the IELTS exam that weekend. We talked about the differences between the IELTS and the TEFL, and I shared what I had learned about them both in class so far- the differences/similarities, and which one people tended to prefer based on their native languages. He told me his friends think they did well, but Rayan jokingly told me he's not so sure about them. Like Fahad, I think he's also more nervous about the writing portion than anyone else, which makes sense because he also comes from an Arabic-speaking country. Also like Fahad, he's at a much higher speaking level than writing- compared to some other students I've interacted with at CIES who spoke something other than Arabic as their first language, who are generally not as good (or confident) at speaking, but seem a little better at grammar and writing. And of course all of this falls in line with what we've learned in class! Or it's just a good ol' case of confirmation bias. Anyways, if I'm remembering correctly, Rayan says he's planning on taking the IELTS exam over the TOEFL!

Sophie TS #13- Elia

For our final meeting, Elia and I read more of Alice in Wonderland for almost the entire time. He must have really enjoyed it because every time I asked if he wanted to do something else or keep reading he always stuck with Alice. So we did the same thing as the last two times with the book, but I tried to go a little more in depth with some of my explanations. I also touched on some grammar concepts, so that even if he doesn't remember exactly what they are they'll at least hopefully be familiar to him if they come up again. I explained punctuation, especially the idea that quotation marks mean the words inside of them are being spoken by someone directly, instead of just part of the narration. Towards the end of our session, even if Elia wasn't tired of reading yet, I was, so I switched to explaining parts of speech. I still used Alice in Wonderland, by using words from the book as examples, and by choosing words and asking him to identify which part of speech they were.

Sophie TS #12- Elia

For this meeting I brought Alice in Wonderland with me again, but to keep from just doing one thing the whole time, I brought along several postcards, photos, and an art journal as well. Before reading I pulled out the pictures and went through some of them with Elia. I asked him basic questions like "What do you see in this picture?" or "What does this picture make you think of?" It wasn't the most successful activity as Elia didn't seem to be a huge fan of it, either because it was too difficult or just because he didn't care about what was in the pictures. It took a lot of encouragement just to get short, one-word responses out of him. Also, I sort of felt like some sort of therapist trying to see into his subconscious by asking questions about the photos.. But we toughed through it, and some photos were better than others! There was a mix of subjects in all the photos, including some silly photos of me and my friends, a close up of a praying mantis, and a picture of my dog. Apparently where Elia is from there is an insect similar to a praying mantis that can crawl up your nose and kill you. No word on whether or not that's an urban legend among kids there- I grew up learning almost the opposite, that it's illegal to kill them, which is definitely not true.

But after that exercise, which Elia was definitely not a fan of, we went back to Alice! We did the same thing as last time, switching off paragraph to paragraph and stopping after each one for an explanation.

Sophie TS #11- Fahad

This time I showed up to tutor Fahad without much of a plan in mind. We met up in Strozier like we usually do when he's working on his homework. I planned to answer any questions he had, and spin that into some kind of lesson. We ended up talking about essays again, as that seems to be the topic he's most worried about for when he takes the IELTS exam. I hadn't thought about how having a completely different alphabet would affect writing an essay by hand, only how it would make typing one difficult, but I can see how that would make essay writing a daunting task. While he seems to get along pretty well in normal conversation (several mistakes, but nothing that makes him impossible to understand), Fahad's writing skills are definitely not on the same level. As someone who's always loved writing, I think I did go off on a few tangents sometimes about details that while interesting, aren't the most necessary for someone at his level to know. That being said, I think he did appreciate me speaking from my own experiences instead of just giving him handouts and lecturing about grammar. I compared the writing portion of the IELTS and TOEFL to that of the SAT or an AP exam, and kind of walked him through my process of brainstorming, planning, and ultimately writing an essay under a time limit. I don't have a complete understanding of the grading scales of the IELTS and TOEFL, but I know in my experience writing timed essays, they're graded as drafts instead of as final essays, which was always very reassuring for me. One thing Fahad mentioned was that on top of not really liking essays because of the alphabet/foreign language thing, he also just didn't like writing essays anyways. He's not planning on studying English like I did. But I pointed out how writing is something that will be incredibly useful to him in school regardless, because he might not have very many classes after CIES on how to write essays, but he'll definitely still have to write some, so the more he practices now, the more successful he'll be later. Basically I just geeked out about writing for our whole session, but it seemed to be helpful and motivational, and what better tutor to have when you're nervous about writing than someone who loves it?

Sophie TS #10- Elia

Having learned my lesson from last time but still wanting to try something new, I showed up to this tutoring session with some more ideas, knowing we could always fall back on spelling if we needed to. I brought an old copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland that I had in my room, and worked on reading a portion of that with Elia. I was nervous because it was the original text, not a version adapted to be more kid-friendly, and I didn't know if the vocabulary would be too difficult for him or not. Paragraph by paragraph we took turns reading. At the end of every paragraph I would ask Elia if there were any words he didn't understand and explain those to him, as well as ones I thought needed explaining. I also helped him with pronunciation as he was reading particularly difficult words. Word by word, he didn't seem to have a problem and actually did surprisingly well, but as a whole I don't know how much of the content he processed. To sort of counter this I also tried to summarize what had happened so far after every paragraph. Once we had been reading for a while and I felt Elia was starting to get bored I pulled up a video on YouTube from the Disney cartoon of Alice, and showed him the scene we had just read through. By the end of the video all of his brothers had gathered around to watch too.

Sophie CP #3- Rayan

For our third meeting Rayan and I met at Starbucks again. As much fun as it was to show him All Saints, it's much easier to meet up when there's a Starbucks across the street from where we both take classes. We talked a lot about sports this time, as there was a soccer match coming up that he was pretty excited about. Like with Elia, I told him about how I played lacrosse. I explained some of the rules and tried to compare it to soccer when I could. I used to play soccer too, so it was pretty easy to do so. I showed him some pictures of me and the FSU club team, and explained the difference between men's and women's lacrosse. I also told him that if he's still in Tallahassee this fall when the club team hosts our fall tournament that he'd be welcome to come and watch with some friends! Unfortunately I probably won't be here to be able to go with and explain what's going on throughout the game. Rayan also told me about some of his experiences playing soccer, and I showed him some places online he could check out to find a league in the area. I've met several international students through IM soccer- it seems like something everyone can bond over regardless of where you come from. Unless you're fans of rival teams of course.

Sophie TS #9- Fahad

My next meeting with Fahad continued on the essay writing track. This time we focused specifically on vocabulary related to transitions, introductions, and conclusions. Some of it was familiar because we had talked about it already in an earlier session, but this time we went over seemingly similar words, and when to maybe use one over the other. I used the essay we had looked at before to give examples, as well as samples of his own writing that Fahad brought with him. I decided to focus specifically on essay-writing vocabulary for this session because I think the more familiar he gets with this kind of vocabulary the easier writing essays will come. Speaking from my own experience learning Spanish, having a list of transition words is one thing, but the more familiar I became with the subtle connotations of each one, the easier it was to write an essay.

Sophie TS #8- Elia

My next tutoring session with Elia was a little bit disorganized and unproductive compared to all the others. First of all, I almost didn't make it because my car wouldn't start, and I spent the whole session worrying about that. So noted for the future- double check that your ride will turn on or up, and have a back up plan just in case... 

But it was also a weird session because I tried switching out the spelling for something a little more fun, however it didn't quite go as planned. I brought a miniature version of the game Apples to Apples, and came up with my own modified rules. Per these rules, Elia got 7 red cards (usually nouns), and for every green card (usually adjectives) I asked him to pick one of his 7 cards that was best described by the adjective. What I didn't realize when I came up with this plan was that the Apples to Apples set was the "trendy" version, meaning it had a lot of pop culture references from 2010 to whenever I bought the game. So mostly people, tv shows, and slang that Elia had never heard of.. That, on top of the fact that the adjectives were probably too difficult for him made it a not very productive session.

After a point I finally realized how much it wasn't working and switched to something a little simpler. I gave Elia the stack of red cards and had him sort them into piles based on whether they were people, places, things, or ideas. It was still difficult because of the topics, but I think ultimately he got more out of this than what we first did.

Sophie TS #7- Elia

My next meeting with Elia was pretty similar to the last few. We worked on spelling again, because every time I ask him what he wants to work on he says spelling, and because he seems the most engaged when we work on it. This time we reviewed some of the more difficult and problem words from the household items and animal vocabulary lists that we went over before. I also added in some sport words too, in the hopes that I could get some more natural conversation out of him that way. I learned that his favorite sport to play with his friends and to watch on TV is soccer, and that soccer is pronounced almost the same way in Swahili. I told Elia that I play lacrosse, explained what it is, then showed him a short video. Then I made him try to spell it of course. Even though it was something new he had never heard of before, he did alright because I've been teaching him to sound out unfamiliar words to guess their spelling. Then we practiced some vowels by looking at lists of minimal pairs (ex: wall, well, will, *woll, *wull), so that he could better see and hear the difference between each one.

Sophie CP #2- Rayan

For my second conversation partner meeting with Rayan I picked him up from the CIES building and took him to my favorite coffee shop in Tallahassee, All Saints Cafe. It's very different from Starbucks where we met up before, but it has a unique, eclectic vibe, and it's been my favorite place to study and pull all-nighters the past four years here. I was so excited to show him my favorite part of Tallahassee right around All Saints too. We sat down in a booth and I told Rayan all about the place, and pointed out the regulars. I told him funny stories about some of the weird stuff I've witnessed happen there in the middle of the night, and made sure to buy him one of their homemade cookies- I wouldn't have survived college without those.

I probably talked way more than Rayan did- he seems kind of shy, a least around new people, and I tend to talk a lot around people I'm not familiar with yet.. hopefully next time we meet up the conversation will be a little more balanced!

Sophie TS #6- Fahad

Between my second and third meetings with Fahad a lot of time passed as we both got busy with classes and travelling. Unfortunately he didn't get the chance to write the essay or introduction paragraph we had talked about last time, but because it was his idea in the first place and everything we worked on was optional, it wasn't that big of a deal. Plus, I didn't want to pressure him to add more work to everything he already had to do for his actual classes! However, I did have a few examples of essays that I had prepared beforehand, so we went over those.

http://www.englishadvantageblog.com/wp-content/uploads/Introductions.pdf

http://www.englishadvantageblog.com/wp-content/uploads/Good-intros-and-conclusions.pdf

I found these handouts online, one for lower levels and one for more advanced students, but I brought them both with me and used a combination of the examples on both.

I also brought with me a sample of an essay that did a good job with the introduction and with transitioning smoothly throughout the essay: http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/eslapb/writingsamples/grade11_level5.html

Fahad seemed to understand the things I pointed out in each example, and understand how they worked to create a fluid, engaging essay, but had some trouble recreating similar sentences and paragraphs himself. However I think because he can identify and explain things, he'll get better at recreating them himself as he becomes more familiar with English and simply with practice writing essays.

Sophie TS #5- Elia

For my next meeting with Elia I started by reviewing the words I had him spell the last session. He definitely seemed more confident this time, though he still made several mistakes so it could be that he's just more comfortable around me than before. But while he improved in spelling most of these words, he still really struggled with the ones that were giving him trouble last time. To work on this, I tried to find more examples of those sounds and letters- this is where I definitely could have improved and prepared ahead on, because there was no logic behind which words I chose, just whatever came to mind first. So for the letters l and r, I made two columns- one for l words like lion, lollipop, and lime; and one for r words like road, rhino, and read. I had Elia read these words out loud, making sure he knew what each one was. I corrected his pronunciation when necessary, and made sure he could hear the difference between the two letters. I then repeated this process for some of the other problem sounds/letters too!

Sophie TS #4- Elia

For my second meeting with Elia, we worked mainly on spelling again. This time we focused on words in the environment around us, Elia's house. So that meant words like chair, table, fridge, television, etc. I started to notice certain letters and letter combinations that give Elia trouble, such as the 'dg' in fridge or the 'ight' in light and bright. Sometimes it's hard to tell when he actually knows how to spell the word and when he's just guessing random letters, especially when it comes to vowels. I explained vowels to him a little bit, and wrote them on the top of the page we were spelling on so that he had them all in front of them when he wasn't sure which one to use. He also has some problems with the letter w, as well as with making out the difference between the letters l and r.

Karinna- CP#6

For our final conversation partner meeting, Sultan and I decided to facetime. Which is his favorite form of communication. Sultan loves to talk to his family over facetime. His favorite person to facetime is his young nephew. He explained to me that his nephew is having a hard time understanding that he is overseas and misses him very much. Sultan and I were unable to meet in person since he took the break to head out to New York! Sultan was very excited to hit the big city and visit all the tourist attractions the city has to offer. After his trip to New York, Sultan is heading back home to visit his family. His nephew is going to be very excited to see him! 

Regina TS#16

Regina Sosinski - TS#16

Abdulrahman Al Habib

 

Date: August 23, 2017

Time: 6:30 - 7:30 pm

Location: Starbucks

 

Topic/skill: Speaking/rhyming words exercise, vocab

 

For our last session, I brought Abdulrahman a rhyming riddle handout for fun. I thought it would be a good exercise for practicing vowel sounds. First new vocab word? "Rhyme"! There were actually a lot of new vocab words on the handout--covering a wide range of animals and other low-frequency words. But we happily looked up and discussed each one, often finding pictures for visual reference--always adding to Abdulrahman's extensive vocabulary list! New vocab often led to other new vocab. It was a never-ending source, and seemed to encourage Abdulrahman to keep at it. He said he was going to miss our sessions. I reminded him that a new group of TEFL students will be looking for students to tutor when the semester starts. I agreed to keep in touch.

Regina TS#15

Regina Sosinski - TS#15

Saad Alburaiken

 

Date: August 22, 2017

Time: 8:00 - 9:00 pm

Location: via email

 

Topic/skill: Essay feedback (IELTS preparation)

 

Saad is in Tampa for the week, and is planning on taking the IELTS this coming Saturday. For our last tutoring session, he asked if he could send me a copy of the practice essay he wrote in preparation for the IELTS writing part of the exam, and for me to give him feedback on it. The essay topic involved two pie charts--one for Japan and one for Malaysia--depicting average household expenditures by each country in 2010. I wanted to use this opportunity to have Saad practice self-editing, and I began by noticing patterns of error types I could address: there were a number of places where words were left out (is, it, and); some plural nouns were missing the "s"; several sentences included the wrong verb tense; and the past tense wasn't maintained throughout the essay. I addressed all points in my feedback, and noted the types(s) of error(s) to be found in each sentence/paragraph. I asked Saad to try to identify the errors and correct them himself, and to send me his second draft following corrections. I look forward to reading it...

Regina TS#14

Regina Sosinski - TS#14

Abdulrahman Al Habib

 

Date: August 21, 2017

Time: 6:30 - 7:30 pm

Location: Starbucks

 

Topic/skill: Speaking/conversation, sentences, vocabulary, correction on pronunciation

 

Today Abdulrahman and I worked on speaking/conversation. He noticed that I often have trouble understanding him when he's speaking, which is mostly due to mispronunciation of words. I asked him to practice speaking in full sentences as opposed to simple phrases full of pauses and/or stops to look up words on his phone. I explained that by using full sentences, he provides the listener (me) with more context in which to comprehend what he is trying to say, even if a word or two is unclear. He seemed to understand. I asked him what he's been keeping busy with since the semester ended, and he said mostly watching movies and playing cards with his friends. I asked him what card games they like to play and he said "boker." "Poker?" [Ah! That crazy English letter "P" again!!]  We practiced some more on pronouncing and hearing the differences between "b" and "p" sounds, repeating our "buh buh buhs" and "puh puh puhs" and feeling really silly. The difference is difficult to explain and even demonstrate. The best description I've come up with so far regarding the pronunciation of "p" words is that it sounds like a little puff of air comes out as you say it. Abdulrahman and I generated some new vocabulary words as usual, which I wrote down and sent home with him to add to his list.  

 

Kate TS#16

(Dojun)
Date/Time: August 24th, 2017; 8:00am
Location: Skype
Topic/Skill: Conversation Skills,Vocabulary, Grammar Structures
Feedback provided to tutee: In today's session, Dojun and I worked on expanding vocabulary and reusing some words/phrases that I had introduced in the past. One of the more interesting things I got to explain was the connotative difference between "traveling" and "tourism" (as well as what "connotation" and "denotation" mean).
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Today I learned how hard it can be to explain the connotation of certain words/phrases, as so much of that seems instinctual and difficult to put into words. Overall/throughout these tutoring sessions, I've learned some very important lessons, but I think the most important are: 1) Time management-- not just using time wisely during the session, but using time wisely beforehand to make sure that you are prepared and ready for any technical issues that may arise (especially when tutoring over Skype), 2) Be encouraging enough to facilitate conversation, but don't be afraid to be the bad guy/annoyingly persistent-- in the end, the tutee will benefit more from this, and 3) Know what you're talking about-- you can't "you know" your way out of an explanation when teaching English.

Ken TS #16 Moses

Mosas also learned about animals with Hope; but as he is on a different level as she is, he needed different attention and activities. He also was a part of the warm-up riddle game and watched the videos on various animals, but I had a crossword puzzle for him instead of the long worksheet that I gave hope. The puzzle was mainly used to reinforce spelling and to answer a series of questions that corresponded to an animal name. Moses in illiterate, so I have been trying to get him to spell words out. This makes his father happy. I plan on meeting with him next Saturday with a beginner book that I want him to attempt to read with me. Hopefully, I will make some progress with him during my time in Tallahassee.

Ken TS #15 Hope

On August 12th, I went to see Hope again. We continued our lesson on animals.

The format followed the same format as our previous lesson. We began with a riddle game. I would say something to the effect of, "I have 4 legs, I live in the bush, and I have a long trunk. What am I?"

After doing through several of these, I used youtube videos to show her the animals that we were learning about and also to see their habitat and how they interact with the animals in that habitat.

After several videos, I provided Hope with a worksheet that compared used animals and also terms like "bigger" or "smaller" that showed that she understood the meaning of the work.

At the end, WE just talked freely and I learned that she wants to learn about computers next. I am not sure if that means that she just wants to see more videos, but I will make sure that she continues to enjoy her time learning english

Ken TS#14 Mardioli

On August 17th, Mardioli and I met at Strozier Library for a short tutoring session. It was originally supposed to be longer, but my laptop (which had my lesson plans) was unresponsive, so we focused on her textbook. It was embarrassing for me to not have my shit together, but we made due.

It was a complete shift from our previous session, where I felt much more confident in what I was doing. I credit this to the difference between coming prepared and coming up short.

I was thankful that she didn't take it as personally as I had, and we quickly got to work comparing gerunds and infinitives.

I was unsatisfied with my performance.

Ken TS #13 Mardioli

On Wednesday, August 16th, I met again with Mardioli for an extended tutoring session that lasted over 4 hours. During this period, we went over two listening lesson plans that I designed around a video and an audio sample. We also went through her textbook and worked on several of the pages that were not addressed in CIES.

The first lesson involved watching the media provided and then going through a vocabulary worksheet that followed a scaffolding style. The video was 3 minutes long and was watched twice. The vocab was given for some words and some more was added when Mardioli noted some words that she didn't know the meaning of. At the end of this lesson, she had to use the words that she had just learned to create a new story.

For the second lesson (one that was more advanced), Mardioli listened to a 10 minute audio clip about forgiveness, and had to answer questions based on what she had heard. Before I began the audio clip, I had her answer some questions that were based around forgiveness

ex/ Is it possible to forgive someone who is not sorry? How does it feel to be forgiven? Is forgiveness something that happens all at once or does it happen over time? etc.

She was impressed with the professionalism of the prepared tutoring session, so I plan to have more like it in the future

Corbin Ryan: Tutoring Session #12 with Christian

            For this session with Christian, we focused again on identifying upper and lower-case letters as well as copying words. The lesson plan for this session included:

1.     Have C write the ABC’s with no outside aid

2.     Match upper and lower-case in groups of five (and one group of six) in chalk on the driveway

3.     Have C copy short words I write on the pavement, to practice letters outside of the context of the alphabet, as well as practice for eventually writing words.

4.     Read a couple books

Once again, Christian can produce the alphabet flawlessly, an improvement compared to when we struggled to get through the alphabet in the first few sessions we had together. Though it was definitely clear at the time that Christian wasn’t having the best time struggling to put every letter next to one another and getting frustrated, it definitely helped get us to the level that we’re at today. Of course, I know that I could have used a better, more fun method of teaching him the English alphabet, but at least now I know, and better yet, C knows the alphabet.

C had little difficulty in matching up the letters. He clearly recognizes the different versions as being one in the same. The next step, though, is teaching him the context in which each set is used.  

Corbin Ryan: Tutoring Session #13 with Christian

            For tutoring Session #13 with Christian, the plan went as:

1.     Have C write out the alphabet

2.     Copy the alphabet, lower and upper-case 

3.     Match upper and lower-case letters to their counter-parts in chalk on the driveway

4.     Verbally instruct C to draw out different shapes and objects in different colors to test comprehension skills (ex., “draw me a red TV/a yellow cat/a blue house)

5.     Finish up by reading a couple books

Christian had no issue with any of the activities/exercises. He perfectly matched all the upper and lower-case letters, so he definitely recognizes, or rather, comprehends the letters’ counter-parts. The next step, which I will attempt in the next lesson, is to see how he does in producing the different sets of the alphabet.

I had him draw different things of different colors since I realized he had trouble producing the names of colors during our last session, even for his favorite color “yellow.” He understood what he needed to do when I asked him to draw x thing with y color, so it is clear that he is  receptive to those words.

To finish the lesson as we usually do, we read a couple books I checked out from the library. He seems to favor Curious George.  

Corbin Ryan: Tutoring Session #14 with Christian

            For tutoring session #14 with Christian, I had planned out a pretty cerebral lesson, centered around using chalk on the driveway to practice and reinforce the upper and lower-case letters, copying simple words, letter-word association, etc. But, when I arrived at Christian’s house that Thursday evening, it was very clear that he was feeling very low-energy, and was in a bad mood. He had just woken up from a nap, and it was the end of the first week of school for him.

I tried to hype him up for our lesson, but it failed to pull him out of his slump. It was obvious that it would be best not to try out what I had planned for him, as it would only make him more miserable that evening, and risk the possibility of weakening our teacher-student relationship. In my backpack, I had brought my Gameboy Advance with a copy of the Legend of Zelda. In previous sessions, Christian would ask me: “Next time, can you bring this one?” as he would pantomime with his thumbs and fingers playing a handheld videogame device. I don’t how he knew.

I had brought the videogame as a reward for after the lesson, but I decided it would be best to try out some speaking and listening practice for that session by teaching him how to play Zelda. I guided him through dungeons and fields within the game, and he understood. He had some difficulty navigating the game, but I he definitely enjoyed it. I taught him the directions “left” and “right,” so hopefully those ideas will stick with him. 

Karinna TS #16 -Imani

For this session we also worked on more homework that Imani had. Just like the last one it was another reading passage with comprehension questions. I wanted to try a different method from the last time, so I first read the passage out loud to Imani nonstop. Then I underlined all the words that Imani knows, then the next time we read it I had him read with me outloud, but this time I stopped whenever there was an underlined word and had hiem read it. For the comprehension questions, I used the same method I did as last time but this time I used videos to explain the questions. For example, the passage was about different track and field games. He had a difficult time visualizing what the races were about so I took the time to show him different videos of what the different races are. This really helped Imani understand what the passage was about and made it easier for Imani to know what the correct answers were! Overall, I think I was really able to get to Imani during this session.

Corbin Ryan: Tutoring Session #15 with Christian

            This session, I was very pleasantly surprised to arrive to Christian’s house and find that he was bursting with energy to learn new things, unlike the last session when I had to resort to a back-up activity because it was painfully clear that he had no energy for the regular lesson-plan I prepared. 

            The plan I organized for this session went like this:

1.     Copy all upper and lower-case letters of the alphabet

2.     Find a word from a word-bank based on the first letter of the word, other sound-word associations he can find within the written word

3.     Read a couple books together

4.     Time permitting, letter-word association run of the alphabet

In the second activity, he was very interested in looking at a word from the word bank and spelling it himself. I was amazed that he wanted to try to learn something, whereas normally I’ve had to just trick him into learning.

During the activity he asked “Can I write this word”

Without any sort of hesitation, I said “Yeah! Sure, go ahead!!”

Without looking at the written words, he wrote out:

-Frog

-Yes

-Ball

-Pig

-You

-Six

-Dog

-No

-Book

-Us

-We

      I believe that his desire, not to mention ability to duplicate these words without looking at the word-bank demonstrates a huge leap for Christian. After the activity, I read to him a couple Curious George books I checked out from the LeRoy Collins Public Library, which was all we had time for.  

Tutoring Session with Christian #16; THE FINAL LESSON

            Given that Christian usually asks if we can go across the street to the basketball courts after our tutoring sessions, I decided to focus our final lesson on the vocabulary of basketball. To state the obvious, to state one of the mantras of this course, English is a tool for communication, and the goal here is that Christian will be able to communicate better with other players (outside of our session) on the court, which will hopefully lead to more opportunities for listening and speaking practice.

            To begin the lesson plan, I had him copy the alphabet, both upper and lower-case. After that, we took to the courts. I brought chalk, made drawings and arrows, and did my best to verbally, repeatedly demonstrate:

-Hoop

-Net

-Basket (“What do the hoop and the net make together?”)

-“Shoot a basket”

-Dribble

-Backboard

-Shot

-Pass/ “Pass the ball!”

            It seemed that “pass the ball!” stuck with him the most. I would call it a successful lesson if he remembers just that one for the rest of his basketball career. Because he’s still working on being able to read, of course I had to instill these phrases and words in him verbally. We just shot hoops and I would keep telling him to “pass the ball” or “shoot a basket,” etc.

            By our last session together, Christian was able to:

-Write out the entire alphabet

-Spell short words

-Communicate simple ideas, comprehend questions and requests I give to him

-Pass the ball when asked to

It was a humbling task to teach this child who recently arrived in this country with little grasp of the English alphabet, and I am grateful for the opportunity and experience this task brought me. I can only hope that, in the future, he continues to learn and has more highly trained and experienced teachers who can do a much better job than I could, and over a longer span of time.  

Karinna TS#15 - Imani

Today was Imanis third day of school, he seems to be enjoying it more than he did on his first day. As soon as I got there we jumped in on his homework. His homework requires him to read a passage and answer the comprehension questions that follow. Imani is not at the level that he can read a passage on his own, especially one with the words used in the passage. I went ahead and underlined all the words Imani should know and while I read the passage to him I stopped a that words and has him read them. We then re-read the passage, but this time I asked Imani to read out loud with me. I made him emphasise the words he already knew to reinforce them. Lasty we did the questions together. This might have been the hardest thing I've had to ever explain to someone. Although the questions are simple to me, they are literally in an entirely different language to Imani. I took time for me to not only explain what the question was asking in terms that Imani would understand, but it also took a lot of time explaining where to find the answers. I tried my very best not to give him the answer, but if had to I would spend extra time explaining why an answer was correct. It was very challenging for both of us.

Karinna TS #14 - Imani

I visited Imani today after his first day of school, we took a few minutes to talk about his day. He did not seem as excited as I thought he would be. After thinking about it I probably would not enjoy going to a place that I know nothing about and everyone is speaking a different language. I asked him what his teacher's name was, but he did not know. This really worries me because it seems like the teacher did not take the time to understand Imani's situation. Next we talked about what his favorite part of the day was and which subject he liked the most. Imani's favorite subjects are math and science, no surprise there ! Since it was the first day of school there was not any homework, so I brought a book for us to read; "Goldilocks and the Three Bears". This book has repetition of the majority of the words Imani has learned. We spent the rest of our time reading this short book. I first read the book to Imani and then we went page by page underlining all the words he knows. Then we read page by page together, I let Imani try to read on his own as much as possible before stepping in to help.

Karinna TS#13 -Imani

Imani is days away from starting school! He seems nervous but yet very excited to be starting something new. I asked him what he thinks his favorite part of the day will be and of course he said "math"! For this session I wanted to really just wanted to review everything he has learned these past sessions. I wanted to not only boost his confidence but also remind him of everything he was able to accomplish in a short period of time. First we reviewed the alphabet which he breezed right through. Next we reviewed the new words we have spent time learning, which he needed a few hints but for the most part he was killing it. Lastly which reviewed the sentences, but as I expected he needed much more help with this part. Overall it was a great reviewing session, and by our next session Imani will have started school!

Kate TS#15

(Dojun)
Date/Time: August 22th, 2017; 8:00am
Location: Skype
Topic/Skill: Conversation Skills, Current Events, Vocabulary
Feedback provided to tutee: In this session, Dojun and I worked on the usual conversation skills and inherent vocabulary and grammar that make up the conversation.
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: It's getting harder for me to find new and interesting topics for Dojun and I (and also Soyoung and I) to talk about, since he only wants to work on conversation skills. To his credit, he's a trooper and finds things to say about topics he isn't super interested in (like the environment). However, tutoring two people from South Korea has made me notice that they don't know a lot of the same words/phrases, which means I can pretty accurately guess what idiom/vocab word one won't know based on what the other doesn't. I also learned that most South Korean men have to serve in the military, which came up during a very interesting conversation on Dojun's take on the North Korea situation.

Kate TS#14

(Soyoung)
Date/Time: August 21th, 2017; 7:30am
Location: Skype
Topic/Skill: Conversation Skills, Grammar Structure, Vocabulary
Feedback provided to tutee: In today's session, Soyoung and I worked on grammar structures and vocabulary expansion through conversation. I provided more nitpicky grammar feedback (mostly focused on tenses) since the focus was grammar.
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Soyoung continues to be a very good conversationalist and to improve further with our sessions. During this session it was interesting to realize that some things that other cultures might find "strange" are so deeply ingrained in the home culture that people don't even notice it. For example, one of our conversation topics was movies, and I asked if she knew of anything that Koreans do at the theater that was different from Americans. At first she couldn't think of anything, but then remembered that dried squid was the most common movie snack, so much so that the movie theaters always smell like squid.

Kristen TS#16

This was my last session with Crispin.  It made me a little sad.  Teaching a 4 year old is challenging but it was also a lot of fun.  He seemed to open up to me a little more each week.  I found some fun "I Spy" books at the library.  We would look for different objects on the page.  If he knew what an object was he would tell me the name of it, if he didn't know I would tell him the name and he would repeat it.  I also used the opportunity to practice the colors of the objects.We also went through a book on rain forest animals and a book on cars.

Kristen TS#15

This was my last session with Brenda.  We spent about 15 minutes in conversation practicing her speaking.  Since she wants to work at the embassy in Mexico City, practicing her speaking and listening abilities is important.  Last week she asked what the difference was between the words "each" and "every", so I spent some time explaining that each focuses on the individual and every focuses on the the whole group.  I gave her about 4 example of each and then had her come up with sentences to make sure she understood.  I spent the rest of the lesson going over comparative adjectives.  When she talks she will say things like "She is more tall than her".  So I taught her about when to use adjectives with "er".

Kristen TS#14

I had Crispin again today.  We spent the first part of the session reviewing Our shapes and colors.  He gets purple and black confused, which is understandable to me. I think Crispin's favorite shape is circles, probably because he can draw it the best.  We spent the rest of the time reading books.  He loves to look at the objects on the page and tell me what they are.  He also loves to count the objects on the page.

Kristen CP#6

My normal CIES conversation partner couldn't meet with me this time, so I met with a tutee from the Adult Literacy Program, Tianfeng.  I have been working with Tianfeng for the last few months.  His most pressing concern is his pronunciation. I decided to make this session like the the previous conversation sessions I had with Bruna.  Tianfeng doesn't get a whole lot of time practicing English and by spending the time in conversation, I thought it would help me evaluate what areas of pronunciation he needed to work on.

We talked the whole time about travel. Tianfeng recently made a 2 week trip with his son.  They went to Kennedy Space Center, down to Key West, the Everglades, and to Orlando.  His son's favorite place was Lego Land in Orlando.  We also spent a lot of time talking about the experience of flying.

One interesting thing I learned is that in China newborn babies don't go outside the home until they are at least 3 months old.  Tianfeng told me that once he went to Niagara Falls and saw a couple with a 1 month old child.  He said the experienced changed him forever because once he saw that was possible, he wanted to go everywhere with his son.

Regina CP#6

Regina Sosinski - CP#6

August 19, 2017, 8:00 - 9:00 pm

Brigitte Tsobgny

Location: Level 8 Lounge - Hotel Duval

 

I took Brigitte out to the Level 8 to celebrate her passing the SPEAK exam yesterday! She can now teach French at FSU as a teacher's aid! I thought an evening view of the city from the 8th floor outdoor lounge would be a great way to toast the next phase of her adventure here in Tallahassee. She loved it, and we even got to feel a cool breeze as we sat above the city and discussed our plans for the future. Brigitte is studying this week to take the driver's license test so that she can get a car and get around town easier. She's had a difficult time relying on buses for everything. She is so motivated and disciplined--methodically going after her goals and making them happen. It's quite inspiring.

 

Regina CP#5

Regina Sosinski - CP#5

August 5, 2017, 6:00 - 7:00 pm

Brigitte Tsobgny

Location: Brigitte's new apartment

 

When I emailed Brigitte to see about meeting up this weekend, she was dealing with a carpet odor problem in her new apartment. She said her neighbor recommended getting a powder that you can sprinkle on the carpet, and asked me if I knew of it (maybe they don't sell that in France?). I told her yes--that it's made specifically to deodorize carpets--and offered to bring some to her apartment. She was so grateful, and quite desperate to get rid of the odor!

 

I could smell it as soon as I walked in, kind of a musty, old dog smell. I read her the directions: sprinkle on carpet, wait 15 minutes, vacuum. Wow. Its increasingly nauseating floral scent quickly overpowered the room. I apologized about the strong smell, but she didn't seem to notice or mind. We talked about studying for finals and the SPEAK exam she needs to pass in order to teach French at FSU. I told her I think she'll do very well, and that I've noticed quite an improvement in her spoken and written English since our first meeting together. She said she's been studying very hard in preparation for that test, and that it's the one she is most concerned about. By now it was way past time to vacuum [and way past my ability to deal with the smell!], so I wished her luck on the carpet and on her exams.

 

Whew! Hot, humid, muggy Tallahassee air never felt so good to breathe in!

 

Regina CP#4

 

Regina Sosinski - CP#4

July 31, 2017, 3:00 - 4:00 pm

Young Joo Oh

Location: Starbucks

 

Today was our last conversation session, and Young Joo said she was sorry it was going to end. She really enjoys having an English conversation partner. I told her I thought her English had definitely improved since our first meeting, and that she spoke with more confidence. She was happy to hear it! I also told her there will be a new semester beginning soon, with a new TEFL class of students who will also need conversation partners. I encouraged her to contact Claire about participating again next semester. Over the weekend, Young Joo said she drove a couple hours out of town with a friend to pick dates from the trees at some kind of farm. She said it was really fun and that they brought home a lot of dates, which are very popular in Korea. She told me she also made some kimchi, which Koreans eat with almost every meal, and we discussed how it is prepared. I told her I read about a method in which kimchi is buried in the ground. She said that is done only if it is cold outside, as a way to keep it cool. Young Joo told me that in Korea, many families have a second, smaller refrigerator made just for kimchi! I showed Young Joo a printout of some Korean symbols for good luck that I had brought, and asked her to tell me about them. They were mostly circle-shaped or hexagon-shaped designs. She said they are typically found on the roof tiles of homes, both in Korea and in China. I also asked if she would write my name and her name in Korean for me, which she did. Very cool! She also described how some of the letters are formed, writing down examples and explaining some of the meanings. I thanked her for her time, and wished her luck and continued success as she worked toward her goals. She said I helped inspire and motivate her to go after what she wants, and wished me the all the best in my future endeavors.

 

Regina CP#3

Regina Sosinski - CP#3

July 17, 2017, 3:00 - 4:00 pm

Young Joo Oh

Location: Starbucks

 

Today I asked Young Joo to tell me more about her family and life in Seoul, where she was born. Her mother, father, brother and two sisters still live there, in apartments very close to one another. Family is very important to Koreans. She said she was planning on visiting her son in Jacksonville this coming weekend, and that he told her not to bring any food because he would cook some Korean meals for his mother. Young Joo told me she wasn't sure if she should still bring some food, just in case, and asked my opinion. I encouraged her to go ahead and let her son take care of the food as he requested, and not to worry about bringing any. Plus, I reminded her that Jacksonville has grocery stores too if they need something. She seemed surprised at my answer, but said she would try it. I asked her how her English speaking was going, and she said she didn't have much opportunity to practice. All of her friends are Korean and attend the same church, and they prefer to communicate in Korean. She still expressed the desire to find a job in an early childhood education setting, but that she has not seen any job opportunities. I told her perhaps in another month or so when schools start up again she will see more jobs advertised. I found out that Young Joo had previously attended a program for ESL students at the public library, but stopped going due to interference with some of her church activities. I strongly encouraged her to revisit the library program, and that it sounded like the best opportunity to regularly practice her English, to which she agreed. Apparently she has cut back on some of her church commitments to allow more time for herself and her own goals. I told her I thought that was a good idea!

Regina CP#2

Regina Sosinski - CP#2

July 10, 2017, 3:00 - 4:00 pm

Young Joo Oh

Location: Starbucks

 

Young Joo was already at Starbucks when I arrived, enjoying an iced coffee drink and reading a book in Korean. She was very happy to meet me and so glad I was willing to talk with her! Young Joo does not attend classes at CIES, but applied to have a conversation partner. I got a coffee and joined her at the table. I found out she moved to the U.S. from Korea with her husband, son and daughter about ten years ago. They first lived in Connecticut for about 6 years, then moved to Indiana for about 2 years before finally coming to Tallahassee. In Korea, she received a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. But, she said she's only able to teach preschool in the U.S., and switched her major to Early Childhood Education. She hasn't worked since living in Tallahassee, but would really like to get a job at a preschool, even as an aid. She says what prevents her is that she doesn't speak English well enough to work in a situation in which she has to talk to childrens' parents on any given day. I told her it was just a matter of practice and, in the process, becoming more confident when speaking. I asked if her family spoke English at home, and she said her husband spoke in English to their son and daughter, but in Korean to her. Her son, (in college in Jacksonville), and her daughter (16 and in high school), both grew up learning and speaking English. She said her daughter will speak to her in English about basic things, but gets easily frustrated if her mom doesn't understand and switches to Korean. I asked Young Joo if her daughter would help her practice speaking English if asked, and she thinks she will. I suggested role playing in a preschool situation might be a good exercise, starting with typical topics a parent might ask when dropping off or picking up a child. Practicing common dialogue builds familiarity, ability and confidence. As a result, the prospect of having to spontaneously respond to a parent will feel less intimidating. She liked the idea of role play, and getting more practice speaking English in general. I encouraged her to practice speaking English any time she can!

Regina CO#3

Regina Sosinski - CO#3

July 12, 2017, 10:00 - 10:50 am

Composition 3C, Ryan Flemming

 

Teacher Presentation: Essay second drafts

 

Instructor began class by returning the students' timed writing exercise from the previous class, asking them to review his feedback and let him know if they have any questions. Today's class was going to consist of the students working on the second drafts of their essays. As the instructor took role, he returned each students' first draft, which included a rubric regarding his feedback. The students were asked to work on their second drafts for the remainder of the class. I observed that most students had their own laptops on which to work, with some also using smart phones to look up vocabulary. Two students who didn't have laptops were told they could use the computer lab, which I thought was really cool. The instructor went around the room and spoke to each student regarding their first drafts, his feedback, any questions they had, etc. I took in what I could hear. Topics included: putting the thesis statement at the end of the first paragraph; using transition words (next, then, finally, after that, etc.) to let the reader know you are beginning a new topic; the 5-paragraph essay format; using key words used in thesis statement; defining words/vocabulary; connection of ideas; punctuation; adding more information; and providing examples to help reader visualize what you're writing about. The instructor was patient, engaged and encouraging during his discussions with the students, exuding a consistently calm energy throughout the class (something I think the students must feel too).

Regina CO#2

 

Regina Sosinski - CO#2

July 5, 2017, 1:00 - 1:50 pm

Speaking 3B, Felicia Ciappetta

 

Teacher Presentation: Debates

 

Class began with a recap of the previous class discussion, and introduction of the first topic to be discussed today: "The pros and cons of advertising--Can advertising do more harm than good?" Instructor had the students form pairs/small groups, and asked me to join a group to take part in the discussion. Goal: get the students to speak in English as much as possible. I was in a group with two Korean students who were rather shy and reluctant to talk at first, but I was able to elicit some of their opinions regarding the pros and cons of advertising, writing down notes for each. They both agreed that advertising is more helpful than harmful--that it provides us with more information on a product before we buy it. I shared my opinion that we are aggressively inundated on a daily basis with advertising from every source imaginable, and that glossy, airbrushed women's magazines are commonly viewed in America as perpetuating an unrealistic ideal of how women should look. I could tell that the students (both female) didn't feel the same way, or maybe that they didn't understand that viewpoint being from a different culture. Results were discussed as a class, with the instructor asking each group to share an opinion, and writing down new vocabulary words on the board for review and discussion. We further discussed how advertising can be misleading, aggressive and manipulative, appealing to our emotional needs in order to sell their products. We summarized the exercise by agreeing that everyone should do their own research, and that we can't believe everything we read! We formed the same pairs/groups to discuss the second topic: "Should all students should be made to learn a foreign language?" Again, group results were discussed as a class, the consensus being that it was a good thing to learn a foreign language in school. I learned that in Korea, students begin studying English grammar at 8 or 9 years old. I also discovered that Arabic students are taught English throughout high school, then switch to all English when they attend university! The students seemed genuinely interested in expressing their thoughts, which facilitated lively discussions in the class as a whole. I enjoyed the speaking class and the chance to communicate with some of the students. Teaching students to speak in English seems like a subject I would enjoy.