Monday, May 2, 2016
Jared PJ TS#8
I had to reschedule this session till monday because my mom surprised me by saying my grandfather would be in town that evening. That is probably the one person I "drop everything" for. He is a linguist himself. He has worked for the Wyclieffe organization, translating the Bible into indigenous languages. Regardless, I meet with PJ later today and we will cover an episode of The Middle that has a very entertaining guest star.
Jared Adult TS #8
Dojun had a colleague's father pass away when we were supposed to have this session. He tried to reschedule, but I would be at graduation ceremony. When we meet shortly, I will try to ask how my graduation experience might have been different than his.
Jared Adult TS #7
In today's lesson I wanted to ask Dojun about something he could really speak at length about. I asked him personal questions about his company and whether he thought it would be good for his superiors to incorporate bigger planes into the fleet. He had great insight. And then I asked him about his company's advertising. This was fun to her about the KPop stars that represented his airline company abroad.
Jared Adult TS #6
I was busy when I met with Dojun today, I was in the middle of editing a lengthy paper for a History class. Dojun wanted to read it, but I think he would be discouraged because my diction can 100% get too bombastic! Therefore we just talked about hisotry instead. And I asked him poignant questions to keep him on his toes.
Jared TS Adult #4
In today's session, Dojun talked to me how about a Chinese flight company was in town and his company was meeting with theirs. He said that the Chinese employees did not have good English, making conversation difficult. I pointed out that he would not run into this problem! Of course he tried to brush off the compliment but it was funny.
Jared TS Adult #3
Today Dojun and I talked about baseball players for quite a awhile. He was a fan of a player who I had personally met when I was younger! (David Ortiz) This got him really excited so I could get him to listen and speak really emphatically.
TS Adult#2 Jared
I tried something different while working with Dojun today, I had him listen to the video I had prepared for my advanced level listening class that I would be teaching in the next week. It was really hard for him to get thru it even though he wanted to try. It was impossible to build schema without my powerpoint.
Jared Adult TS #1
Dojun and transition from informal chat to grammar lesson seemlessly. I don't try and overdo correcting his speaking, but rather when I reply to him I already have a question formed that asks him about comprehension on what I just said. That and I continue to prolifically write vocabulary in the margins.
Jared CP#6
Today, Dojun told me about the cherry blossom trees, and his plans to fly to Thailand to get away from the mushy romance. I thought this was a great I idea, and I laughed when he told me his plans.
Jared CP#5
Dojun, was tired today. I think he had a long day at work, I felt bad about that. He said they had recently changed a company lunch policy that limited his lunch options. This was a real downer for him. We talked about food for a bit.
Jared CP#4
While skyping Dojun this time, he entertained me very much by bringing up a state primary in the American election. He talked about his country's own upcoming elections. I really enjoyed doing this.
CP#3
Today Dojun asked me about what the difference between "college" and "university." I elucidated this for him. We covered a great deal of of basic English idioms and he seemed to understand them.
CP # 2
I really enjoyed my first conversation with Dojun. I was a little embarrassed that my dad and brother kept trying to get into the skype picture, but I think he thought it was funny. Next time I have written down notes for talking points.
TS #7 PJ
This week, class had a tasty potluck. I took this time to see how I could help maintain academic focus even in a distracting environment. After going over geometry, we started an episode of the middle on a spelling bee.
Jared TS#6 PJ
This week PJ and I started going over a few homework problems. Because I had the problems in advance. I could highlight the ESL issue and focus on its resolution. Afterwards, we concluded the middle episode on "spontaneity."
TS#5 PJ Jared
PJ and I were going to continue the TV show "The Midde" this week. We first reviewed vocabulary from last episode. Those words were "genuine" and "assume." Later we went over this weeks vocabulary, it started with a schema building clip about the word "spontaneous" and then we dove right in. This was a good lesson and I thought frequently during it on how I could improve formative checks during viewing the show.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
Charlene TS #3 Adult No. 2
As planned, I met with Ileana in the lab at CIES. She told me that she has been listening to the Voice of America promised every day. She said she is beginning to understand more, and has found more on that website besides we were listening to last time. I praised her for doing this. Unfortunately, she had not received the links I sent to the cooking programs. So I pulled these up and let her locate them online. She pulled up her own email and found that the email message a headset with the links, had gone to her trash folder. She retained the use for later viewing. She noted that she doesn't cook, but she might find this interesting to look at.
I have prepared a Story Corps viewing for her, with three voices. Two of the voices have American mid-western accents, but one of the voices has an Asian accent. However, the voice speaks, I assessed, rather slowly so I asked if she would listen to the Story Corps program and watch the animation for it. She agreed to do so. After listening to it the first time, she said that she believes she understood most of it but she was confused about the relationship among the people in it. I think that she likely had difficulty with this because the relationships were not clearly stated at the beginning, and were only explained more clearly near the end of the story. We listened to part of it again. We also discussed the story. She did seem to understand about three-fourths of what was being said and said that she would listen to this again on her own. I pointed out some other possible stories that she might want to check out on her own on this Story Corps website.
Ileana said that she would like to start reading out loud with me so I could check her pronunciation and that she could hear her own voice. This is a suggestion of a friend. She thought that this might be helpful because she, apparently, sees herself as possibly having a future in the tourism business as a guide when she returns to Colombia. I agreed to prepare something for next time.
We spent some time working through a needs assessment instrument aimed at discerning factors, other than the previously discussed diagnostic issues, that might affect Ileana's learning English. Since the lesson up to that point had taken an hour, and my tutee was very accommodating with answering the lengthy questionnaire, the session today lasted a little over 2 1/2 hours. However, I think I came away from it with a much better grasp of how to help Ileana with her English needs. She is highly motivated by future employment, but especially by her son's needs. She is independent, and has a distinct distaste for overly dramatic relationships "that keep people stuck." It is clear to me that speaking – listening/listening – speaking should continue to be the focus of her tutoring. Perhaps we will be able to work in some reading comprehension activities also by having her read aloud.
I have prepared a Story Corps viewing for her, with three voices. Two of the voices have American mid-western accents, but one of the voices has an Asian accent. However, the voice speaks, I assessed, rather slowly so I asked if she would listen to the Story Corps program and watch the animation for it. She agreed to do so. After listening to it the first time, she said that she believes she understood most of it but she was confused about the relationship among the people in it. I think that she likely had difficulty with this because the relationships were not clearly stated at the beginning, and were only explained more clearly near the end of the story. We listened to part of it again. We also discussed the story. She did seem to understand about three-fourths of what was being said and said that she would listen to this again on her own. I pointed out some other possible stories that she might want to check out on her own on this Story Corps website.
Ileana said that she would like to start reading out loud with me so I could check her pronunciation and that she could hear her own voice. This is a suggestion of a friend. She thought that this might be helpful because she, apparently, sees herself as possibly having a future in the tourism business as a guide when she returns to Colombia. I agreed to prepare something for next time.
We spent some time working through a needs assessment instrument aimed at discerning factors, other than the previously discussed diagnostic issues, that might affect Ileana's learning English. Since the lesson up to that point had taken an hour, and my tutee was very accommodating with answering the lengthy questionnaire, the session today lasted a little over 2 1/2 hours. However, I think I came away from it with a much better grasp of how to help Ileana with her English needs. She is highly motivated by future employment, but especially by her son's needs. She is independent, and has a distinct distaste for overly dramatic relationships "that keep people stuck." It is clear to me that speaking – listening/listening – speaking should continue to be the focus of her tutoring. Perhaps we will be able to work in some reading comprehension activities also by having her read aloud.
Charlene TS #2 Adult No. 2
I met with Ileana at The Bay Leaf, a small store and Bay with free Wi-Fi, and Crawfordville, Florida. I especially wanted to meet here with my tutee because I know the owner and the general manager. They are not from Wakulla County and do not have southern accents. They are also very welcoming to everyone, and it might serve as local people that Ileana could speak with what her friend is not around. However, after we had ordered something to eat and drink at the counter, she informed me that she had some problems understanding the manager and the owner because they talk too fast. I suggested she could ask them to slow down for her. I reassured her that they would not take offense at this – – that there are other people in this community who don't speak English as their first language. Ileana looked a little dubious about this plan, so I decided to drop that subject and perhaps will revisit it later. This did not seem the best time to sit down with Ileana and my friends.
After we samples our refreshments, I asked Ileana if she would listen to The Giving Tree on my computer without subtitles. (The subtitles are incorrect.) She said that she would, and she did so. I asked if she thought she was able to understand the story. She said that she thought she was able to because the narrator spoke sufficiently slowly for her. The pictures also helped, and a few words of the text appeared on one of the pages in the video. She was able to retell the story to me accurately, stating that she liked it very much.
I then pulled up the Voice of America website for English learners on my laptop. I found a couple of different news stories and asked Ileana to listen to them. She said she had trouble understanding the information. So, I asked her to simply pull up the daily program of new stories. She did so and listen for a while. We discussed the stories. She, like a lot of people, is tired of hearing about Donald Trump. She was able to find a story of the daily program, however, for which she could follow the story. She said she did not understand every word. I assured her that it was not necessary to hear every word to understand the story. She consider this for a while. She had not thought about this. She admitted that she often does not hear every word of new stories in Spanish, her first language, but does understand these. She agreed to begin listening to the Voice of America website, at least one story, every day. We will discuss how this is going next week, and I promised to send her some links to other sites that she might find interesting. Evidently, she has been avoiding the news lately because she is tired of hearing about the American Presidential Election. I assured her that we all are, at this point.
Later that day I found and emailed Ileana links video of "Martha Stewart Bakes" and "Martha Stewart's Cooking School." Martha Stewart speaks slowly in these programs because she is working as she provides recipes and tips. Also, I am hopeful that Ileana might find this more interesting and less stressful than hearing about politics.
After we samples our refreshments, I asked Ileana if she would listen to The Giving Tree on my computer without subtitles. (The subtitles are incorrect.) She said that she would, and she did so. I asked if she thought she was able to understand the story. She said that she thought she was able to because the narrator spoke sufficiently slowly for her. The pictures also helped, and a few words of the text appeared on one of the pages in the video. She was able to retell the story to me accurately, stating that she liked it very much.
I then pulled up the Voice of America website for English learners on my laptop. I found a couple of different news stories and asked Ileana to listen to them. She said she had trouble understanding the information. So, I asked her to simply pull up the daily program of new stories. She did so and listen for a while. We discussed the stories. She, like a lot of people, is tired of hearing about Donald Trump. She was able to find a story of the daily program, however, for which she could follow the story. She said she did not understand every word. I assured her that it was not necessary to hear every word to understand the story. She consider this for a while. She had not thought about this. She admitted that she often does not hear every word of new stories in Spanish, her first language, but does understand these. She agreed to begin listening to the Voice of America website, at least one story, every day. We will discuss how this is going next week, and I promised to send her some links to other sites that she might find interesting. Evidently, she has been avoiding the news lately because she is tired of hearing about the American Presidential Election. I assured her that we all are, at this point.
Later that day I found and emailed Ileana links video of "Martha Stewart Bakes" and "Martha Stewart's Cooking School." Martha Stewart speaks slowly in these programs because she is working as she provides recipes and tips. Also, I am hopeful that Ileana might find this more interesting and less stressful than hearing about politics.
Charlene TS #1 Adult No. 2
I met with Ileana for the first time today and the CIES conference room. We can completed an initial diagnostic. Ileana complains that she can on understand the spoken English word except for her one friend and her teachers at CIES. And discussing her situation, she told me that she is from the country of Columbia. She decided to come to the United States to study English to improve her job skills so that she can get a better paying job when she returns to Columbia. She says that she was laid off from her last job, but felt if she could improve her English speaking skills, she would be much more employable. She said that there appears to her to be a real preference in Columbia for young employees. Ileana does not want to advertise her age, because she feels that part of the reason she was laid off from her last job was because of her age. She is very health conscious and reports that she eats well and exercises for her health. She is living with friends and Crawfordville, Florida, which is in an adjoining county. She said that her friend who is older than her, married a man from Crawfordville 10 years ago. The friend is from Columbia, and somehow she met this gentleman who is from Wakulla County. Unfortunately, he is 81 years old and apparently speaks with a very strong southern accent. She stated she cannot understand what he says. She is concerned because her friend will soon have to travel, and she will be alone in the house with this gentleman with whom she is not able to verbally communicate. We discussed of the strategy of writing down questions and answers to the gentleman while her friend is traveling. She said she could do this because her writing and her reading skills are in fact much higher than her ability to understand the spoken word. At this point, Ileana think she will be returning to Columbia sometime in August. She has a son who is living in Columbia with her parents. She is not intending, she said, to try to work in the United States. However, she said that her son spent six months in the United States finishing high school in North Carolina. She said he lived with her cousins who are residents there. She said her son would be thrilled if she decided to try to immigrate to the United States permanently.
Ileana shared the following placement scores that she was provided one she finished her initial testing at CIES: grammar 3, speaking 3, composition 3, reading 2, and listening 2.
Ileana stated that she has been working with the conversation partner weekly. She is also apparently has taken some initiative to get out and see the sights in the community. She has been to the old and the new capital buildings, she has walked all around the FSU campus, she has been to the Governor's Mansion, she has gone to the Tallahassee Nursery with her conversation partner to look at plants, and she has visited missions Saint-Luis. She likes photography and the music of the 1980s. She said that she finds grammar difficult, but not as difficult as trying to make out English words spoken by other people. She noted today that she did not have any trouble understanding me, for which I am thankful.We made an appointment to meet next week in Crawfordville, since CIES will not be having classes.
Ileana shared the following placement scores that she was provided one she finished her initial testing at CIES: grammar 3, speaking 3, composition 3, reading 2, and listening 2.
Ileana stated that she has been working with the conversation partner weekly. She is also apparently has taken some initiative to get out and see the sights in the community. She has been to the old and the new capital buildings, she has walked all around the FSU campus, she has been to the Governor's Mansion, she has gone to the Tallahassee Nursery with her conversation partner to look at plants, and she has visited missions Saint-Luis. She likes photography and the music of the 1980s. She said that she finds grammar difficult, but not as difficult as trying to make out English words spoken by other people. She noted today that she did not have any trouble understanding me, for which I am thankful.We made an appointment to meet next week in Crawfordville, since CIES will not be having classes.
Charlene TS# 5 Child
I met today as planned with Nayun and her mother at the Northeast Branch of the Leon County Library. We had planned to meet on Monday, but the library was closed. Nayun had worked very hard on the last lesson and I wanted to reward her for her hard work. Therefore, today I had brought an art project that I thought would interest her, challenge her, and provide her with another way to develop her fine motor coordination in her hands. This is all aimed towards helping her to have a more legible handwriting.
Nayun and I reviewed the cursive letters that she had written during the lesson last week. She is still able to write these and remembers how to form them without prompting. Ahead of time, I had taken the letters for Nayun's first and last name and written them down the left-hand margin of the page. I asked her to finish out the page by writing each letter all the way o'clock cross to the right side of the page. She did this and was careful about her letter formation. I did have to remind her to slow down. Over the course of this lesson, she admitted to me that her friends often have races in school to see who can finish writing their lessons first. From this, I deduce that Nayun knows perfectly well how to write legibly, she is just more motivated to be the first one to finish in her class.
I noticed that Nayun did have some trouble forming the lowercase y. I demonstrated this for her several times, and had her write the letter with me as I was showing her how to make the letter. She did the best she could, but she continued to make a very small tail on the left her y. Although not perfect, the letter was more than passable, so I decided it was not worth spending more time today on trying to make a perfect letter.
I asked Nayun if she would try writing her name but not connecting the cursive letters. She did so and did a very nice job. I then asked her, after showing her, if she would try to write her name connecting the letters. She was successful on her first attempt. I asked if she had written her name using cursive letters before. She said that she had not. (Hooray for D'neilian script! I guess it does work.)
I then brought out the potholder weaving project that had brought with me. Nayun actually got very excited when she saw this. We open the project together and I explained to her. I demonstrated how to put the loops on the frame. She finished putting the loops on the frame. I then demonstrated how to weave the loops through the existing loops. This was harder. She stuck with it even though I had to help her breathe weave the beginning. After that she appeared to be "hooked," and worked with great concentration until the project was almost half finished. This was hard, but she persevered. At this point we had run out of time. Therefore I got Nayun's mother and Nayun showed her project. Her mother was very proud of her and told her so. I gave the project to Nayun and her mother to take home, in case Nayun wanted to finish the other half on her own. I praised her for her hard work and her lovely weaving.
I spoke with Nayun's mother about whether she wanted to continue the tutoring sessions since the family will be leaving for Korea soon, and we have not finished the usual eight sessions. She said that she and her husband wanted to more sessions. I am willing to continue with Nayun, but will check with Prof. Kim to make sure that she does not want to assign Nayun to another tutor for the last two sessions.
Nayun and I reviewed the cursive letters that she had written during the lesson last week. She is still able to write these and remembers how to form them without prompting. Ahead of time, I had taken the letters for Nayun's first and last name and written them down the left-hand margin of the page. I asked her to finish out the page by writing each letter all the way o'clock cross to the right side of the page. She did this and was careful about her letter formation. I did have to remind her to slow down. Over the course of this lesson, she admitted to me that her friends often have races in school to see who can finish writing their lessons first. From this, I deduce that Nayun knows perfectly well how to write legibly, she is just more motivated to be the first one to finish in her class.
I noticed that Nayun did have some trouble forming the lowercase y. I demonstrated this for her several times, and had her write the letter with me as I was showing her how to make the letter. She did the best she could, but she continued to make a very small tail on the left her y. Although not perfect, the letter was more than passable, so I decided it was not worth spending more time today on trying to make a perfect letter.
I asked Nayun if she would try writing her name but not connecting the cursive letters. She did so and did a very nice job. I then asked her, after showing her, if she would try to write her name connecting the letters. She was successful on her first attempt. I asked if she had written her name using cursive letters before. She said that she had not. (Hooray for D'neilian script! I guess it does work.)
I then brought out the potholder weaving project that had brought with me. Nayun actually got very excited when she saw this. We open the project together and I explained to her. I demonstrated how to put the loops on the frame. She finished putting the loops on the frame. I then demonstrated how to weave the loops through the existing loops. This was harder. She stuck with it even though I had to help her breathe weave the beginning. After that she appeared to be "hooked," and worked with great concentration until the project was almost half finished. This was hard, but she persevered. At this point we had run out of time. Therefore I got Nayun's mother and Nayun showed her project. Her mother was very proud of her and told her so. I gave the project to Nayun and her mother to take home, in case Nayun wanted to finish the other half on her own. I praised her for her hard work and her lovely weaving.
I spoke with Nayun's mother about whether she wanted to continue the tutoring sessions since the family will be leaving for Korea soon, and we have not finished the usual eight sessions. She said that she and her husband wanted to more sessions. I am willing to continue with Nayun, but will check with Prof. Kim to make sure that she does not want to assign Nayun to another tutor for the last two sessions.
Charlene TS #4 Child
I met with Nayun today at the Northeast Branch of the Leon County Library. Nayun's mother had her little brother with her, and had to "entertain" him while Nayun and I worked. I had come well armed with many handwriting sheets so that we could practice handwriting today, her Nayun's father's request. Nayun and I went through every upper and lower case letter in the outfit that. She formed every letter very well. She didn't have to rewrite many letters. She was able to demonstrate that she knew proper form by tracing all of the letters in the proper directions before going on to write rows of need letters on the tablet provided to Her. This took quite a bit of time. I had noticed in the beginning, that Nayun wrote very quickly. I asked her to slow down and pay attention to her letter formation, and she did so. I discussed this with her little bit. She says that she likes to write fast. She was able to say that she does have a better handwriting which he writes more slowly, and agreed to write a little more slowly when she does right. Since this child has been able to do everything I have asked of her thus far, I had also, to the lesson today with worksheets showing how to write D'neilian Cursive Script. I praised Nayun for having written such nice lettering and printed script. I then asked her if she wanted to try cursive. She said that she did. Prior to this lesson, I had found that D'neilian script is now the preferred script for schools that teach cursive writing. It is full her and rounder than previous scripts, and it is easier for children to make the switch from printing to D'neilian and script. I modeled several letters for Nayun, including capital K, capital N, and lowercase a, i, e, c, n, u, and l. I did not have to tell Nayun to write slowly; she did so and appeared to be trying her best form the letters. Her attention did not waver. I assume from this exercise that if she is doing something at least a little bit challenging, her attention is not an issue. I praised her for doing such a good job, and asked her if she wanted to do something a little bit more fun. Of course, she said that she did. I then retrieved a colored pencil set that I have picked up really cheaply from an art store. This was like a paint by numbers set with colored pencils. From the two I had, and Nayun chose the one with dolphins. She began to color in the picture with the tiny little pencils provided by the set. I had chosen this exercise for her, specifically, because it is intended to help her develop fine muscle coordination and her hands. After a short time, our time was up and I returned Nayun to her mother. We agreed to meet again next week at the library.
Nayun's mother told me that the family will be leaving for an extended visit to Korea this summer sometime in the middle of May.
Nayun's mother told me that the family will be leaving for an extended visit to Korea this summer sometime in the middle of May.
Charlene TS #3 Child
I had written back and forth this week to Nayun's parents regarding today's lesson. They decided that Nayun had been to the Tallahassee Museum several times, and a return trip would not be appropriately educational for her. However, she had not been to the Museum of Florida History, and that where is I met her and her family today. Nayun and her father walked from the parking garage with me to the Museum, and her mother Stayed in the family vehicle because Nayun's baby brother was sleeping.
The three of us signed in at the front desk and began the tour. I had been to the Museum last week with my adult tutee, but there was no exhibit verbiage posted for children. Children are usually taken on tour with the docent in groups through the museum. And, although there are "talking narratives" about the exhibits, the vocabulary is too high for kindergarten aged children. Therefore, I acted as docent for Nayun and her father. I father was very interested in the shipping and shipwreck information in the museum. Nayun seem to be most interested in the Paleolithic Indian period of the museum. I suspect the mannequins and the hands-on type exhibits were attracted to her. Although she did not speak, Nayun did seem to be listening closely. When we got to the end of the exhibits and entered the temporary exhibit on NASCAR in the State of Florida, Nayun's mother and her little brother, now fully awake, joined us. Right away, Nayun and noticed the free video driver to, hopped up into the seat, and asked her father if she could play he started the game for her, and she did very well, considering that she has never driven anything in her life. Pretty soon, her mother became fascinated by the game and joined her". She and Nayun took turns driving the "vehicle." Nayun's father was very amused by their reaction to the videogame – – especially, his wife's interest in the game. Nayun's father asked me how I knew so much about Florida history. I was surprised by this, since I felt like I was babbling through most of the exhibits. However, I advised him that in Florida, Florida history is taught in the schools, and if Nayun stays in the USA for a few years, she will certainly encounter Florida history and her school curriculum. He stated he was not aware of this, but said that he expects the family to be in Tallahassee for three or four years while he is getting his PhD. He said now that he knows that the museum exists, he will bring the family back again to review the exhibits, since there were several exhibits that we had to skip through due to our needing to hold the tour time down to one hour for Nayun's little brother's sake.
I asked Nayun's dad if there was anything in particular that he and Nayun's mom wanted me to work on with Nayun. I noted that her reading level seemed to be high. He advised me that Nayun is reading on a third grade level, according to her teachers. However, he said that they felt that her handwriting was not good and they would like me to help her to have a neater handwriting.
Since the family wanted to continue to play the videogame, I left them to it, and we decided to have another lesson next week at the Northeast Branch of the Leon County Library.
The three of us signed in at the front desk and began the tour. I had been to the Museum last week with my adult tutee, but there was no exhibit verbiage posted for children. Children are usually taken on tour with the docent in groups through the museum. And, although there are "talking narratives" about the exhibits, the vocabulary is too high for kindergarten aged children. Therefore, I acted as docent for Nayun and her father. I father was very interested in the shipping and shipwreck information in the museum. Nayun seem to be most interested in the Paleolithic Indian period of the museum. I suspect the mannequins and the hands-on type exhibits were attracted to her. Although she did not speak, Nayun did seem to be listening closely. When we got to the end of the exhibits and entered the temporary exhibit on NASCAR in the State of Florida, Nayun's mother and her little brother, now fully awake, joined us. Right away, Nayun and noticed the free video driver to, hopped up into the seat, and asked her father if she could play he started the game for her, and she did very well, considering that she has never driven anything in her life. Pretty soon, her mother became fascinated by the game and joined her". She and Nayun took turns driving the "vehicle." Nayun's father was very amused by their reaction to the videogame – – especially, his wife's interest in the game. Nayun's father asked me how I knew so much about Florida history. I was surprised by this, since I felt like I was babbling through most of the exhibits. However, I advised him that in Florida, Florida history is taught in the schools, and if Nayun stays in the USA for a few years, she will certainly encounter Florida history and her school curriculum. He stated he was not aware of this, but said that he expects the family to be in Tallahassee for three or four years while he is getting his PhD. He said now that he knows that the museum exists, he will bring the family back again to review the exhibits, since there were several exhibits that we had to skip through due to our needing to hold the tour time down to one hour for Nayun's little brother's sake.
I asked Nayun's dad if there was anything in particular that he and Nayun's mom wanted me to work on with Nayun. I noted that her reading level seemed to be high. He advised me that Nayun is reading on a third grade level, according to her teachers. However, he said that they felt that her handwriting was not good and they would like me to help her to have a neater handwriting.
Since the family wanted to continue to play the videogame, I left them to it, and we decided to have another lesson next week at the Northeast Branch of the Leon County Library.
Charlene TS #2 Child
Met with Nayun and her father at the North East branch of the Leon County Library. There had been some confusion about where to meet, and Nayun's father initially went to the library downtown. He opted to come back to the North East branch of the library, which was near his home, rather than have this tutor meet him downtown with Nayun.
Upon their arrival, Nayun appeared to me to be a little tired, and it did not say anything initially. Her father waited in the library while she and I went into one of the tutoring rooms that were available. After some initial discussion about today's lesson, and giving Nayun a couple of choices about what to do first, she chose to listen to a story on the computer. The story was The Giving Tree.
After she finished listening to the story, I asked her if she could tell me something about the story. I in just looked at me and did not respond to any invitation to talk. Finally, I decided it was time to move on and pulled out several books. I had a book about a little girl and a dragon and asked if she would read it to me. It was on about a mid to end of first grade level. Nayun read the book to me perfectly. There were some words she did not know but she was able to sound these out. I thought this was pretty remarkable since she is in kindergarten. I asked her if she liked the story, and she said that she did. We went back through the pages and I asked her various questions about the little girl and the dragon. I asked her where they weren't what they were doing during different periods during the story. She was able to answer all the questions.
I then pulled out the flashcards that we had used at her initial assessment and went through all of these again with her. She knew all of the flashcards. I made sure to cover the pictures so she couldn't see what the words were. I asked her several questions from the question flashcards. She answered all but one of these correctly.
I praised Nayun greatly for her ability to read. She said that she liked reading and that she make good grades in school on reading. I then pulled another book from the fact I had brought to begin it. However, Nayun had begun to rub her eyes and Yon quite a bit. She began reading the book but she was clearly tired at this point. Since a considerable amount of time had elapsed, and she had done well on every task after initially failing to talk, I told her that we were done for the day. I handed her the book we had read so she could take it home and read it again to her parents.
I spoke with Nayun's father and told him she had done well and appeared to be reading above her grade level. I asked him if she was having any difficulties in school. He said that he was not really aware of any. I suggested we might want to enrich her knowledge by setting up a visit to a local museum. I suggested a couple of museums (The Tallahassee Museum and the Museum of Florida History). He said that he would talk this over with his wife and they would get back with me about the lesson next week.
Upon their arrival, Nayun appeared to me to be a little tired, and it did not say anything initially. Her father waited in the library while she and I went into one of the tutoring rooms that were available. After some initial discussion about today's lesson, and giving Nayun a couple of choices about what to do first, she chose to listen to a story on the computer. The story was The Giving Tree.
After she finished listening to the story, I asked her if she could tell me something about the story. I in just looked at me and did not respond to any invitation to talk. Finally, I decided it was time to move on and pulled out several books. I had a book about a little girl and a dragon and asked if she would read it to me. It was on about a mid to end of first grade level. Nayun read the book to me perfectly. There were some words she did not know but she was able to sound these out. I thought this was pretty remarkable since she is in kindergarten. I asked her if she liked the story, and she said that she did. We went back through the pages and I asked her various questions about the little girl and the dragon. I asked her where they weren't what they were doing during different periods during the story. She was able to answer all the questions.
I then pulled out the flashcards that we had used at her initial assessment and went through all of these again with her. She knew all of the flashcards. I made sure to cover the pictures so she couldn't see what the words were. I asked her several questions from the question flashcards. She answered all but one of these correctly.
I praised Nayun greatly for her ability to read. She said that she liked reading and that she make good grades in school on reading. I then pulled another book from the fact I had brought to begin it. However, Nayun had begun to rub her eyes and Yon quite a bit. She began reading the book but she was clearly tired at this point. Since a considerable amount of time had elapsed, and she had done well on every task after initially failing to talk, I told her that we were done for the day. I handed her the book we had read so she could take it home and read it again to her parents.
I spoke with Nayun's father and told him she had done well and appeared to be reading above her grade level. I asked him if she was having any difficulties in school. He said that he was not really aware of any. I suggested we might want to enrich her knowledge by setting up a visit to a local museum. I suggested a couple of museums (The Tallahassee Museum and the Museum of Florida History). He said that he would talk this over with his wife and they would get back with me about the lesson next week.
Charlene TS #8 Adult
I had contacted Soon Gyu about being reassigned to another tutor for the term, but she insisted that she wanted to keep this appointment. We met in the lab at CIES. Soon Gyu said that she received an email about her new tutor last night when she opened her email, and said she would contact her this week. She advised that she will be going home to Korea for a visit in August. She is happy about this and looks forward to seeing her sister, who is expecting a baby in a few months--her parents' first grandchild. She up-ended her very successful life to come to Tallahassee with her new husband at the beginning of this year, so I am glad she gets a chance to go home and renew herself.
I have been working on a needs analysis instrument for class, and Soon Gyu agreed to "test out" a few questions with me. I found out that she considers, first, her parents the biggest influence in her life. Coming in a close second, however, is her old supervisor and mentor from her university in Jellabuk-do, Jeonju-si, Korea. She is in fact Dr. Kim, and she credits her mentor with her decision to finish her PhD and teach in Korea. She is considering going through the International TA Program at CIES, but was less clear about whether she in fact wishes to teach in the U.S. I do not know if she has decided for certain.
Following this exercise, we revisited phrasal verbs. Soon Gyu knows many of these, she said, through having memorized long lists in her ACES classes. I came "armed" with a print out from the book, Help Your Kids With Language Arts; J. Searcy, US editor (DK Publishing, NY:2013) on phrasal verbs. Pages 56-57 explain how to form, when/how to use, and how/when to separate phrasal verbs. I reviewed this with Soon Gyu and provided her with a copy of the handout, which was in color and showed lots of examples. After saying our "good-byes," Soon Gyu said she would contact me after she returns from Korea in August so we can catch up on news.
I have been working on a needs analysis instrument for class, and Soon Gyu agreed to "test out" a few questions with me. I found out that she considers, first, her parents the biggest influence in her life. Coming in a close second, however, is her old supervisor and mentor from her university in Jellabuk-do, Jeonju-si, Korea. She is in fact Dr. Kim, and she credits her mentor with her decision to finish her PhD and teach in Korea. She is considering going through the International TA Program at CIES, but was less clear about whether she in fact wishes to teach in the U.S. I do not know if she has decided for certain.
Following this exercise, we revisited phrasal verbs. Soon Gyu knows many of these, she said, through having memorized long lists in her ACES classes. I came "armed" with a print out from the book, Help Your Kids With Language Arts; J. Searcy, US editor (DK Publishing, NY:2013) on phrasal verbs. Pages 56-57 explain how to form, when/how to use, and how/when to separate phrasal verbs. I reviewed this with Soon Gyu and provided her with a copy of the handout, which was in color and showed lots of examples. After saying our "good-byes," Soon Gyu said she would contact me after she returns from Korea in August so we can catch up on news.
Charlene TS #7 Adult
Met with Soon Gyu at Strozier Library. We orally reviewed the minimal pairs worksheet on R v. L, in pronunciation. She was able to identify when R or L were being pronounced more than 80% of the time, and I praised her. She only hears an R-sound sometimes when an L-sound is being said. However, she always hears an R-sound in words using the LL combination. I provided her with some words that she can practice "hearing" and pronouncing with a classmate or friend.
I had prepared a worksheet focused on choosing the prepositions at, to, by, during or "0" prepositions--or so I thought. Soon Gyu found that "down" worked just as well in one instance--which led us into a discussion or phrasal verbs, another one of her recent class exercise issues. She did very well on today's exercise. I asked her to consider the meanings of the prepositions that she is using. For instance, a person can arrive at the airport--going to the airport, with no further movement indicated at that point. If a person begins to move around, the person may be in or within the aiport terminal. Then, the person can travel from the airport to the city located close to the airport. She understood all of this, but apparently had not considered it in this way. We agreed to meet next week at CIES for a follow up on today's lesson.
I had prepared a worksheet focused on choosing the prepositions at, to, by, during or "0" prepositions--or so I thought. Soon Gyu found that "down" worked just as well in one instance--which led us into a discussion or phrasal verbs, another one of her recent class exercise issues. She did very well on today's exercise. I asked her to consider the meanings of the prepositions that she is using. For instance, a person can arrive at the airport--going to the airport, with no further movement indicated at that point. If a person begins to move around, the person may be in or within the aiport terminal. Then, the person can travel from the airport to the city located close to the airport. She understood all of this, but apparently had not considered it in this way. We agreed to meet next week at CIES for a follow up on today's lesson.
Charlene TS #6 Adult
Since Soon Gyu had trouble finding time in her schedule this week, and since we both have to eat, I suggested that we meet for lunch and a lesson at Little Athens. I thought we could discuss the cuisine, especially since there is 19th and 20th history of Greek immigration and cuisine in Florida. Her husband accompanied her to lunch. We had already met, and we had a pleasant conversation. We all discussed the food. Soon Gyu ordered chicken swarma, and tried the grape leaves and baklava. We had a rather protracted conversation about prepositions and had no time this week to discuss the minimal pairs worksheets that I had brought with me. Apparently, Soon Gyu had some trouble with an in-class exercise and wanted a rule about when to use and week, but for now, she accepted my explanations and will continue to memorize when "at" and "to" are to be used in a sentence. I provided her with the minimal pairs worksheet that I had with me and asked that she read over it for next week's lesson.
Charlene TS #5 Adult
Arrived early at the Museum of Florida History at the R.A. Gray Building in downtown Tallahassee. This museum tour is free, and museum attendees are given a free parking token at the end of their tour that allows exit from the parking garage next door. I had texted all of this information to Soon Gyu, along with a map. When she arrived, we signed the guest book and started the tour. Attendees walk through on their own; docent-guided tours are only provided to groups, usually school children. I had not been to this museum for several years, and it has since been renovated. All of the old favorites are here--the prehistoric giant armadillo and the reassembled bones of a giant mammoth--but, much more appears to have been added, and it took well over an hour for us to walk through. We viewed and read the Paleo-Indian period, the Spanish period, the English period, saw tons of shipwreck "booty," The American Civil War, the forestry exhibit, the citrus industry exhibit, a small exhibit devoted to the hurricane and yellow fever epidemic in Port St. Joe in the 19th century--and these are only the exhibits that I can remember. We were both left with the feeling that we had missed a lot, but we never stopped reading and ogling the exhibits. Soon Gyu was most interested in the prehistoric exhibits. She was able to read the posted verbiage with no help from me. Her reading level is quite high. I tried to add what information I knew, e.g., the mammoth was found in Wakulla County; in prehistoric times, a sea covered this part of Florida up to where the Leon County Fairgrounds are now located. The last exhibit is always a temporary one that focuses on some part of Florida's history not found in the museum. Today, there was a NASCAR exhibit. Soon Gyu was not familiar with car racing, but did find it mildly interesting. The "fun" of going round and round in a circle is a hard concept to get across unless you have "been there." And, of course, the length of this visit left us both pretty weary by the time be got to the NASCAR room. Upon exiting the museum, we decided to meet again next week at Strozier Library to discuss some grammar and work on pronunciation.
Charlene TS #4 Adult
Met with Soon Gyu at the Tallahassee Museum, as previously planned. Soon Gyu is an excellent student, who studies almost daily. I could tell from my conversations with her, however, that she has been feeling a bit "burnt around the edges" and could use a break. When I suggested a couple of trips to local museums, she was eager to go. After entering the museum, I asked Soon Gyu whether she wanted to view the Florida History trail or the Florida Wildlife trail first. I did not think we would have time today to see both. She chose the wildlife trail. I provided her with postcards from the museum, which featured photos and brief descriptions of most of the permanent animals on exhibit in their natural settings. I told her that these were her vocabulary words for the day, and she referred to these cards as we visited the exhibits. Ironically, the first exhibit was the guest exhibit and held the Amur leopard that historically ranged throughout southern Russia and Asia, including all of Korea. This was a beautiful cat; we both marveled at it. Soon Gyu told me that the area where this cat is found in the wild today (only in Russia) is very cold. Judging from the leopard's coat, she did not believe it would be comfortable in South Korea. We moved onto the other exhibits that included the full aviary (hawks, vultures, eagles, ducks, screech owls); the birds were not shy. For some reason, the museum's famous white squirrels, that run freely, were no where to be found. We visited the enclosures for Florida panthers and Red Wolves. I was able to tell her that these animals are part of the state and federal captive breeding programs. While we were visiting the panther exhibit, the Red Wolves suddenly began howling. We were never able to find out why this happened, but they were very loudly vocal for some time. We also visited the turkey, skunk, otter, deer, and bear exhibits. I talked with Soon Gyu about the recent resumption of bear hunting in the state, following recent black bear attacks in the state. Until 2015, hunting was banned in Florida. I let her know about the state's admittedly, in-hindsight foolish decision on the part of wildlife authorities to relocate nuance bears from the Ocala National Forest to the Apalachicola National Forest. Introducing new breeding adults to this area is thought to have boosted the local bear population, which in turn exacerbated the nuisance bear problem in this part of Florida. Soon Gyu said she is not aware of her country having to deal with these kinds of issues, but that she lived in an urban area in South Korea. However, she was interested in the local bear issue since she and her husband have camped in Florida and would like to do so again. So, we discussed some area camping possibilities. By this time, we had spent more than an hour at the museum, and it was hot. We decided to meet again next week at he Museum of Florida History, which is downtown, and importantly, inside and air-conditioned.
Charlene CP #6
We had two things on the agenda today, Isik and I. We got together for a general coffee chat at Black Dog Café. But, after this we spent some time planning out the details of the project we are working on together for class. The café is particularly crowded today, and we started out sitting in the center of the room surrounded by children. But the kids were pretty good. The ordering counter was rather crowded. I ordered my usual calorie-laden, carb-laden and latte. Isik spent some time trying to get the inattentive counters staff to understand that she wanted the lowest calorie dairy used to make her coffee drink. She is always health conscious; I am usually not. We sat down for a while and chatted before we began the proportion of our meeting today. We were able to move over to a better table, fortunately, one of patron left. This did a good deal to get rid of the noise in the café that had been bothering me. After we finished the work portion of our get together today, we decided to meet again at the center to finish some things up, since we both had to run due to the length of the meeting. She had a daughter to attend to, and I had to try to figure out what was continuing to be wrong with my garage door.
Charlene CP #5
After spending sometimes trying to get our very busy schedules and sync, Isak and I decided to attend a showing of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2." We had both seen the original one like that a lot. And, since this may be dealt with cultural issues, we both felt it would be really appropriate cueing for this class. I arrived at the movie theater early and waited for Isak. I thought she was late, but she wasn't. She was wearing something other than her usual "teaching clothes" (since she did not teach today), so I did not recognize her, even though she had been sitting on a bench a few feet away from me waiting for me. It didn't matter. We were able to get the tickets and something to drink and eat well before the movie started. Typically, there were trailers from upcoming events shown first. I watched my watch out of curiosity. These trailers lasted for 30 minutes. The movie was really cute. I believe Isak enjoyed it as much as I did based on the amount of laughing I heard coming from her seat. Unfortunately, we both have a lot going on so we didn't have time to do anything further that day. But, I was really glad she had wanted to see this movie, otherwise I would have gone alone. We will set up another time to get together when we see each other in class.
Charlene CP #4
Met Isak at the Cuban Grill, off Capital Cir., North East behind Carraba's for lunch. We both have quite a bit to do, but we figured out we both do have to eat. She drove in from Thomasville after teaching. We initially you were going to try to be at Ricardo's Italian Restaurant. However, I failed to check the time, and by the time she arrived in town that restaurant would be closing. So, I texted her and we switch locations. I was very glad that we did. The owner of the restaurant at the Cuban Grill was working today and he was in a particularly gregarious mood. He talked to each of us for a very long time, and I was really glad that I got to introduce Isak to this place. We both enjoyed our lunches. She said that she would like to bring her family back for a meal. Maybe we can also meet again for lunch. I have never had a bad meal at this location.
Thursday, April 28, 2016
Erika CP #6
I had dinner with Chong Zhang tonight and it was my first experience with Chinese culture! She made a huge dinner for Mitchell and I. We enjoyed a nice home cooked meal and talked about her new experiences living in the US. We spoke about the food and I asked for the recipes. She made pork with vegetables and she taught me that the best way to make the pork tender is by putting the salt on it once it is already cooked.
An interesting phrase we taught her was "we'll see". I explained to her the different contexts in which one can use it in. We showed each other pictures of what other foods are typical to our cultures. It was a great cultural exchange!
An interesting phrase we taught her was "we'll see". I explained to her the different contexts in which one can use it in. We showed each other pictures of what other foods are typical to our cultures. It was a great cultural exchange!
Tyler Lee TS#8 Adult
April 21
For our last session, I decided to use my multi-level listening lesson plan to give In-hwa very focused listening practice and experience with extracting the main points from a spoken text to answer questions. We starting with schema building by listening to Bob Marley's song One More Cup of Coffee, and then we had a conversation about the role of coffee, tobacco, tea, and alcohol as social and culturally accepted substances in the US. Once I felt that we had warmed up the topic significantly, I had In-hwa watch the video of Michael Pollan speaking about plant drugs. We then had a comprehension check so that I could decide which level activity that I should assign In-hwa, and I started by assigning her the intermediate exercise--taking notes on the main ideas of what Pollan was saying the first two times through the video, and then answering short response questions the next two times. I realized that after the second listen, In-hwa's notes were still kind of sparse, so I decided that it would be beneficial to go through some of the true and false questions with her as a comprehension check. She got most of them correct, though at this point I realized that the appropriate activity for her to do at this point would be a close test. In the next two listenings she was able to complete the close test correctly and when we went through the short response questions together, I was able to use guiding questions to help her answer them on her own.
This was a great lesson for In-hwa and even though it really challenged her, it helped her realize what kind of focus is really required to improve her listening skills. It was great working with In-hwa these pasts couple months and it was really rewarding to see that I was able to help her improve her English competency and learn valuable information about how to continue to improve by herself.
For our last session, I decided to use my multi-level listening lesson plan to give In-hwa very focused listening practice and experience with extracting the main points from a spoken text to answer questions. We starting with schema building by listening to Bob Marley's song One More Cup of Coffee, and then we had a conversation about the role of coffee, tobacco, tea, and alcohol as social and culturally accepted substances in the US. Once I felt that we had warmed up the topic significantly, I had In-hwa watch the video of Michael Pollan speaking about plant drugs. We then had a comprehension check so that I could decide which level activity that I should assign In-hwa, and I started by assigning her the intermediate exercise--taking notes on the main ideas of what Pollan was saying the first two times through the video, and then answering short response questions the next two times. I realized that after the second listen, In-hwa's notes were still kind of sparse, so I decided that it would be beneficial to go through some of the true and false questions with her as a comprehension check. She got most of them correct, though at this point I realized that the appropriate activity for her to do at this point would be a close test. In the next two listenings she was able to complete the close test correctly and when we went through the short response questions together, I was able to use guiding questions to help her answer them on her own.
This was a great lesson for In-hwa and even though it really challenged her, it helped her realize what kind of focus is really required to improve her listening skills. It was great working with In-hwa these pasts couple months and it was really rewarding to see that I was able to help her improve her English competency and learn valuable information about how to continue to improve by herself.
Tyler Lee TS#7 Adult
April 18
In-hwa presented about Korean culture in her class yesterday and she wanted to talk me through the presentation for me to learn a little bit more about Korean culture and to give her input on her delivery of the topics. As to be expected, her pronunciation with the sounds that we have been working with like <l>, <r>, <w>, <j>, <z>, and <th> is still not perfect, but I can tell that she has been giving more thought to her articulation and she will correct herself sometimes when she recognizes that she used the wrong sound. Luckily, this is not diminishing her fluency significantly and I feel that she has improved her speaking speed since I have been working with her. In-hwa's presentation was very interesting and I learned a lot about marriage customs and cultural expectations in Korean culture especially. After her presentation, I broached the subject of marriage in the US and we watched a short video clip about the evolving definition of marriage in the US, focusing a lot on gay marriage and the reduced religious significance for many of the US citizens. We had a lot of interesting conversation this session and I think that the best thing I've been able to do for In-hwa's development is facilitate speech production, serve as a model, and help correct any grammatical or pronunciation errors that she may make.
In-hwa presented about Korean culture in her class yesterday and she wanted to talk me through the presentation for me to learn a little bit more about Korean culture and to give her input on her delivery of the topics. As to be expected, her pronunciation with the sounds that we have been working with like <l>, <r>, <w>, <j>, <z>, and <th> is still not perfect, but I can tell that she has been giving more thought to her articulation and she will correct herself sometimes when she recognizes that she used the wrong sound. Luckily, this is not diminishing her fluency significantly and I feel that she has improved her speaking speed since I have been working with her. In-hwa's presentation was very interesting and I learned a lot about marriage customs and cultural expectations in Korean culture especially. After her presentation, I broached the subject of marriage in the US and we watched a short video clip about the evolving definition of marriage in the US, focusing a lot on gay marriage and the reduced religious significance for many of the US citizens. We had a lot of interesting conversation this session and I think that the best thing I've been able to do for In-hwa's development is facilitate speech production, serve as a model, and help correct any grammatical or pronunciation errors that she may make.
Tyler Lee TS#6 Adult
April 13
I started our session off a little differently today and we listened to the Stevie Wonder song "Superstition" while following along with the lyrics to the song, pausing after each verse to explain what superstition is, and the implications of things like the number 13, breaking a mirror, seeing a black cat, and other superstitions in American culture. After we listened to the song, I asked In-hwa if there were superstitions in the Korean culture and had her describe some to me. I thought it was really strange that the reason why the number four was unlucky is because is it the same word as death in Korean. Afterwards, I had In-hwa read a short selection on superstition and answer some multiple choice questions that I found on a TEFL website. We did the questions orally and I found that In-hwa's reading comprehension is good and that she can respond fairly well based on information from the text. After this activity we reviewed listening and production of <l>/<r> and <s>/<z> sounds with some minimal pairs, and introduced minimal pairs with <z>/<j> sounds.
In-hwa usually likes the normal structure of our tutoring sessions but it was good to change it up for today and do some work that was a little less formal and more culturally informative.
I started our session off a little differently today and we listened to the Stevie Wonder song "Superstition" while following along with the lyrics to the song, pausing after each verse to explain what superstition is, and the implications of things like the number 13, breaking a mirror, seeing a black cat, and other superstitions in American culture. After we listened to the song, I asked In-hwa if there were superstitions in the Korean culture and had her describe some to me. I thought it was really strange that the reason why the number four was unlucky is because is it the same word as death in Korean. Afterwards, I had In-hwa read a short selection on superstition and answer some multiple choice questions that I found on a TEFL website. We did the questions orally and I found that In-hwa's reading comprehension is good and that she can respond fairly well based on information from the text. After this activity we reviewed listening and production of <l>/<r> and <s>/<z> sounds with some minimal pairs, and introduced minimal pairs with <z>/<j> sounds.
In-hwa usually likes the normal structure of our tutoring sessions but it was good to change it up for today and do some work that was a little less formal and more culturally informative.
Tyler Lee TS#5 Adult
April 11Because In-hwa had an in-class debate this week on whether coffee or tea was best, we warmed up by debating the topic for a few minutes and I encouraged her to argue her case for coffee against my case for tea, correcting any errors she may have and helping to make any of her arguments more clear. Since I was hungry at the beginning of our session, we started talking about food; I had In-hwa tell me a bit about her favorite foods
from Korea and I shared some of my favorite foods with her. To prime her for the speaking lesson I had prepared for class, I directed the conversation to talk about healthy food choices that are also delicious. After the conversation warm
up, I decided it would be appropriate to have In-hwa make a list of five bits of advice she would have for a foreigner visiting Korea on what to (or what not to) eat and drink in order to develop and maintain good health in the country, foucsing on tips that a foreigner might not already know and might benefit from knowing. Once she finished with this, she gave me her advice, and I responded with some of my own suggestions based on my experiences in the US. I ended the session by giving In-hwa another diagram showing tongue placement to aid with pronunciation of vowel sounds and doing a short minimal pair activity with short and long vowel sounds found in the pair want/went.
Tyler Lee TS #4 Adult
April 6
Like usual, we started our session with a conversation warm up; we talked about our families, how much we miss them, how many siblings we had, and other generalities. Once the topic was primed, I had In-hwa speed write for 10 minutes to tell me as much about her family as she could and after error correction we spoke more specifically about our relationships with family members and recalled specific memories with them. I know In-hwa misses her family in Korea, but I did find out that she actually lives with her oldest sister who is in Tallahassee. I feel that my strategy of getting In-hwa to produce a lot of language in the first half of our sessions is showing its value, and even though she still pauses a lot and is uncertain at times, she is beginning to convey ideas more smoothly and in less time. After this, I gave In-Hwa a printout depicting tongue positioning for consonant sounds to serve as a visual aid to help with her pronunciation. We did listening and production of sounds using minimal pairs with <f>/<p>, <l>/ <r>/<w>, and <s>/<z>. In-hwa's listening for these sounds has improved a lot judging from the listening quizzes that we have been doing every session, and she is starting to be able to articulate some of the minimal pairs clearly so that I can understand which she is using.
Like usual, we started our session with a conversation warm up; we talked about our families, how much we miss them, how many siblings we had, and other generalities. Once the topic was primed, I had In-hwa speed write for 10 minutes to tell me as much about her family as she could and after error correction we spoke more specifically about our relationships with family members and recalled specific memories with them. I know In-hwa misses her family in Korea, but I did find out that she actually lives with her oldest sister who is in Tallahassee. I feel that my strategy of getting In-hwa to produce a lot of language in the first half of our sessions is showing its value, and even though she still pauses a lot and is uncertain at times, she is beginning to convey ideas more smoothly and in less time. After this, I gave In-Hwa a printout depicting tongue positioning for consonant sounds to serve as a visual aid to help with her pronunciation. We did listening and production of sounds using minimal pairs with <f>/<p>, <l>/ <r>/<w>, and <s>/<z>. In-hwa's listening for these sounds has improved a lot judging from the listening quizzes that we have been doing every session, and she is starting to be able to articulate some of the minimal pairs clearly so that I can understand which she is using.
Tyler Lee TS#3 Adult
April 4
To start this session, In-hwa and I spoke about how her debate went; even though she received a B grade for the test, she was not happy with her performance and said that she froze up and forgot what her argument points were. I explained to In-hwa that it is going to be difficult, but the only way to get past this problem is going to be to learn how to think in English instead of translating Korean thoughts into English words. To start building fluency I had In-hwa speed write for 10 minutes about a simple topic-- describe your hometown and what you like to do there. I told her to just write as much as possible in the time limit and don't worry too much about making grammar errors, though I could tell that after years of programming it was a difficult task for her. After reading the writing sample, we spoke about the same topic with the same idea, try to keep it simple and think in English when speaking. I have noticed that the thing In-hwa needs the most is practice with generating speech and building fluency. After this exercise, we worked more on listening and pronunciation using minimal pairs. We reviewed <l> and <r> and then worked on weak vowel sounds <e> and <i>. Showing In-hwa a diagram that depicts tongue position when producing <l> and <r> sounds has helped, but as we know, it will always be a challenge for a native speaker of Korean to produce these sounds like a native speaker of English; she is definitely showing some progress though.
To start this session, In-hwa and I spoke about how her debate went; even though she received a B grade for the test, she was not happy with her performance and said that she froze up and forgot what her argument points were. I explained to In-hwa that it is going to be difficult, but the only way to get past this problem is going to be to learn how to think in English instead of translating Korean thoughts into English words. To start building fluency I had In-hwa speed write for 10 minutes about a simple topic-- describe your hometown and what you like to do there. I told her to just write as much as possible in the time limit and don't worry too much about making grammar errors, though I could tell that after years of programming it was a difficult task for her. After reading the writing sample, we spoke about the same topic with the same idea, try to keep it simple and think in English when speaking. I have noticed that the thing In-hwa needs the most is practice with generating speech and building fluency. After this exercise, we worked more on listening and pronunciation using minimal pairs. We reviewed <l> and <r> and then worked on weak vowel sounds <e> and <i>. Showing In-hwa a diagram that depicts tongue position when producing <l> and <r> sounds has helped, but as we know, it will always be a challenge for a native speaker of Korean to produce these sounds like a native speaker of English; she is definitely showing some progress though.
Tyler Lee TS#2 Adult
March 28
We met at the CIES courtyard again and started the session with some warm up conversation to give me a better opportunity to hear In-hwa generate speech, listening for phonemes that prove particularly difficult for her to pronounce and for errors in grammar. After our conversation warm up, In-hwa shared her debate topic for her speaking test; even though her opinion of the topic is the opposite of what she has been asked to debate, she is to argue that students should be allowed to carry guns on FSU campus. At first I had her argue her true opinion, which is that students should not be allowed to carry guns on campus, and I argued against her, giving her examples of arguments that she could use for her case. I think providing these examples for her helped her to understand how to navigate her use of rhetoric and to think about what counter arguments that she should be ready for. For the last portion of the session we focused on minimal pair pronunciation exercises for the phonemes <l> and <r> and the phonemes <s>, <z>, and <th>.
We met at the CIES courtyard again and started the session with some warm up conversation to give me a better opportunity to hear In-hwa generate speech, listening for phonemes that prove particularly difficult for her to pronounce and for errors in grammar. After our conversation warm up, In-hwa shared her debate topic for her speaking test; even though her opinion of the topic is the opposite of what she has been asked to debate, she is to argue that students should be allowed to carry guns on FSU campus. At first I had her argue her true opinion, which is that students should not be allowed to carry guns on campus, and I argued against her, giving her examples of arguments that she could use for her case. I think providing these examples for her helped her to understand how to navigate her use of rhetoric and to think about what counter arguments that she should be ready for. For the last portion of the session we focused on minimal pair pronunciation exercises for the phonemes <l> and <r> and the phonemes <s>, <z>, and <th>.
Tyler Lee TS#1 Adult
March 21
I met In-hwa in the common room at CIES in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day to be outside so we went out to the courtyard to become acquainted with one another and to begin our tutoring. In-hwa has studied English for many years in Korea, but because of the heavy focus on reading and writing competency and the lack of focus on listening and speaking in the Korean approach to English education, she finds it very difficult to link ideas together fluidly and does not usually think in English; instead, she usually thinks in Korean and then translates what she wants to say into English. In-hwa also communicated to me that she often has great difficulty pronouncing words correctly and wants to work on producing better English sounds. After doing a bit of evaluation orally, I had In-hwa write for 10 minutes about her trip to New York that she took for spring break so that I could see where her errors were and how difficult it was for her to generate written language quickly. For our next meeting we will work on minimal pair pronunciation drills, and work to prepare arguments for debate topics that will be used in her speaking exam next week.
I met In-hwa in the common room at CIES in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day to be outside so we went out to the courtyard to become acquainted with one another and to begin our tutoring. In-hwa has studied English for many years in Korea, but because of the heavy focus on reading and writing competency and the lack of focus on listening and speaking in the Korean approach to English education, she finds it very difficult to link ideas together fluidly and does not usually think in English; instead, she usually thinks in Korean and then translates what she wants to say into English. In-hwa also communicated to me that she often has great difficulty pronouncing words correctly and wants to work on producing better English sounds. After doing a bit of evaluation orally, I had In-hwa write for 10 minutes about her trip to New York that she took for spring break so that I could see where her errors were and how difficult it was for her to generate written language quickly. For our next meeting we will work on minimal pair pronunciation drills, and work to prepare arguments for debate topics that will be used in her speaking exam next week.
Tyler Lee CP#6 In-hwa
In-hwa and I had our last meeting at Korean Barbecue for dinner on Tuesday evening because I found out that she had never been before and because I was really craving some good sweet potato noodles and kimchi. In-hwa was surprised to find out that I am a vegetarian and laughed because I wasn't going to eat meat at a barbecue restaurant, which is fair enough! In-hwa told me that she really likes to cook and that she and her boyfriend like to do so often; I told her that I need some good kimchi recipes but I'm not sure if I'll be getting her cooking secrets any time soon. She ordered the sashimi bowl and I learned that her favorite fish is grouper, so naturally I had to share some of my grandfather's fishing stories with her. I pulled up some old photos that my grandfather had taken in the 60s with enormous goliath groupers that weighed over 500 pounds and In-hwa was incredulous. I still am when I look at the photos, but it's always fun to show the photos to other people. We spent the rest of dinner sharing interesting family stories until it was time to leave. I really enjoyed spending some free time with In-hwa and getting dinner as an informal end to our meetings and am glad to have met her!
Tyler Lee CP #5 In-hwa
I met In-hwa for coffee on Monday
afternoon at the Starbucks across from CIES. In-hwa likes more involved drinks,
whereas I'm more of a black house coffee guy myself.
Although we spent
quite a bit of time together for tutoring sessions, it was nice to just spend some time chatting with her instead of tutoring and helping her do work for classes. In-hwa has been away from home for a very long time and she shared with me that even though she has had a good time in Tallahassee and has a boyfriend here, she is ready to go back to Korea and be with her family and friends. CIES seems like a very good program but also appears to be very demanding for students, academically and emotionally, and I'm sure if I was in her shoes I would be ready to return home as well. When she mentioned to me that she had a boyfriend, I was a bit surprised because I had never heard anything about him before; In-hwa met him at her church and he seems to be a very intelligent and driven Korean man who is doing post-doc research at FSU. I didn't feel like it was appropriate to ask, but I wonder if they will continue their relationship when she leaves.
Tyler Lee CP#4 Do-Jun
I spoke with Do-jun again on Monday at the same time. He had a very long day because inspectors from a Chinese airline company visited the airline company he works at to verify safety standards and other logistics as part of a yearly census. Do-jun told me that because Korea is a popular destination for Chinese tourists, it is to their benefit to meet Chinese standards exactly so as to facilitate a good line of business through the two entities. Do-jun explained to me that he is glad that he is working in aviation because it is what he studied in school but that he wishes that he could take more time off from work to do more traveling. His regret is that he took a job right out of university in stead of studying abroad in the US, but he has hopes to spend a significant amount of time here in the future. He explained to me that even though he has visited the northwest US for business trips, he would much rather visit Florida and enjoy the warm weather and the ocean. Being from Key West, I told him a lot about my hometown and all of the things that I would recommend him to do when he gets the opportunity to make it there. Do-Jun's hometown is Busan and he told me that he has taken several trips to Jeju island, where I should make sure to visit if I am ever able to travel to Korea. It definitely looks beautiful.
Tyler Lee CP#3 Abdullah
I met Abdullah at Black Dog Cafe on Sunday afternoon to have some coffee and meet each other. I had heard great things about him from Mitch and Wonmi so I thought it would be a good idea to contact him and plan a meeting with him. Abdullah's competency is what I would consider to be advanced, and he very rarely had to ask me to repeat a word or phrase. Abdullah is from Saudi Arabia and is an engineer looking to get his master's degree in the US in engineering administration; since I know nothing about engineering and had never met anyone from Saudi Arabia before, I learned a lot from our interaction. Abdullah worked at a desalinization plant on the coast of the Red Sea and informed me that Saudi Arabia has the most sophisticated plant of its kind in the world. I knew that there was not much fresh water in Saudi Arabia, but he really struck the point home when he told me that their desalinization plants have to be very efficient and sophisticated or else people wouldn't have water at all. Even though freshwater scarcity is becoming a larger issue for many places around the world, it seems that Saudi Arabia is at the most extreme of these conditions. I also learned that while much of Saudi Arabia can reach as high as 50 degrees Celsius in the summer, his home, Abha, is in the mountains and maintains comfortable temperatures. If I were to ever visit Saudi Arabia, I would definitely go there, especially after seeing the photos that Abdullah showed me. He is a very kind person and very interesting to talk to.
Tyler Lee CP#2 Do-Jun
I spoke with Do-Jun at 9AM which is 10PM in Seoul, something that was very interesting to me. While I was sipping on my morning coffee, Do-Jun was winding down from his day hanging out with his girlfriend and doing chores around the house that he doesn't usually have time to do during the week. Do-Jun is very friendly and his English is very good, though he denied it when I mentioned it to him in true Korean fashion. I learned that Do-Jun works in aviation at an airline company that services Korea, Japan, China, and a few other locations in Asia, and that he has to communicate with some of these people in English from time to time since it is their only shared language, something I also found very intriguing. We spent a good amount of time comparing and contrasting each other's cultures, and Do-jun was particularly interested in travel and sports, and I found out that he really enjoys baseball and soccer. I was surprised to find out that he was 38 years old, just as he was surprised that my last name was Lee; I told him that he would have his youth into his old age, and he said that I may have that luck too if I could find my Korean family. I think it would be fun to spend time with Do-jun and it's unfortunate that we cannot be in the same location to chat and have a drink, but I enjoyed my conversation with him.
Tyler Lee CP#1 Jaime
I met Jaime at his apartment and I was very surprised when I met him, because for one reason or another I expected him to be a student closer to my age. Jaime is a 75 year-old Angolan man that lives in Portugal and is a very accomplished lawyer and businessman. I took Jaime to Proof to have a couple beers and I learned that the sole reason for Jaime being here is to study English because he has always wanted to do so; his only motivation seems to be internal and he expressed to me that he wants to be an example for his children, to show them that they can continue learning and accomplishing new things well into their old age. Jaime's story inspired me and made me think of all of the older people in our country that retire and slowly stagnate into their older years, waiting for the end instead of filling every moment that they have with meaningful living. Jaime often has to pause for extended periods of time to say what he wants to in English, though most of what he cared to communicate was able to be understood. There were a couple occasions when I had to speak Portuguese with him to explain a concept, like the difference between tipping at a bar and tipping at a restaurant, or to clarify something that he had said, but he is determined to learn English. Jaime loves beer and jazz music, and so do I; I think we're going to be friends.
*I was never able to get back in touch with Jaime, so I guess I thought wrong!
*I was never able to get back in touch with Jaime, so I guess I thought wrong!
Tyler Lee TS#8 Child
April 25
During our last session I decided to focus on travel since Andy will be returning to Korea in June. He is very excited to return and see his family and friends; I am very curious how his time speaking, listening, reading, and writing in English here will impact his further English acquisition in the future. I introduced some vocabulary related to travel and we spoke of different modes of travel--by boat, train, car, plane, and bus. When I asked Andy what his favorite part about coming to Tallahassee was, he responded that his favorite thing about Tallahassee was going to Cancun (this made me laugh). This answer prompted me to find some visuals of Cancun and other destinations, and using photos as a reference, I led him into an activity describing these places and what mode of travel he would use to get to them. Because Andy is only six, he doesn't use many adjectives to describe what he is talking about, so this activity was useful because it gives him an immediate visual to base his descriptions on.
I learned a lot about teaching from working with Andy and even though I enjoyed my time with him and found it to be a rewarding experience, I have found that I prefer tutoring older students.
During our last session I decided to focus on travel since Andy will be returning to Korea in June. He is very excited to return and see his family and friends; I am very curious how his time speaking, listening, reading, and writing in English here will impact his further English acquisition in the future. I introduced some vocabulary related to travel and we spoke of different modes of travel--by boat, train, car, plane, and bus. When I asked Andy what his favorite part about coming to Tallahassee was, he responded that his favorite thing about Tallahassee was going to Cancun (this made me laugh). This answer prompted me to find some visuals of Cancun and other destinations, and using photos as a reference, I led him into an activity describing these places and what mode of travel he would use to get to them. Because Andy is only six, he doesn't use many adjectives to describe what he is talking about, so this activity was useful because it gives him an immediate visual to base his descriptions on.
I learned a lot about teaching from working with Andy and even though I enjoyed my time with him and found it to be a rewarding experience, I have found that I prefer tutoring older students.
Tyler Lee TS#7 Child
April 13
Andy has been learning about space in his science class at school, and since it seems to interest him very much, I thought it would be a good idea to incorporate it into the session. We read a basic book about space, learned some new related vocabulary, and then focused on writing some sentences using the vocabulary that included words like explore, comet, and orbit. I found a short video about space exploration that helped to add some good visual context to what we were talking about and increased Andy's motivation for doing more activities in the session. After this, we played some online space-themed grammar games to start differentiating the concepts of past progressive and past simple tenses and I finished the session by facilitating a conversation utilizing both structures and helping Andy to do so as well. I have found that while Andy hasn't truly acquired productive use of past progressive, he mostly demonstrates that it is in his receptive knowledge.
Andy has been learning about space in his science class at school, and since it seems to interest him very much, I thought it would be a good idea to incorporate it into the session. We read a basic book about space, learned some new related vocabulary, and then focused on writing some sentences using the vocabulary that included words like explore, comet, and orbit. I found a short video about space exploration that helped to add some good visual context to what we were talking about and increased Andy's motivation for doing more activities in the session. After this, we played some online space-themed grammar games to start differentiating the concepts of past progressive and past simple tenses and I finished the session by facilitating a conversation utilizing both structures and helping Andy to do so as well. I have found that while Andy hasn't truly acquired productive use of past progressive, he mostly demonstrates that it is in his receptive knowledge.
Tyler Lee TS#6 Child
April 6
Andy and I continued to work on using simple past tense and continued using grammar games to reduce the affective filter and increase motivation ( I remembered to bring some chocolates too). Two of the grammar games that we played involved story telling. The goal of the activity was to get Andy using his imagination while creating a short paragraph telling a story and to effectively use the simple past tense to do so. I introduced the past progressive form, though only expected Andy to be able to produce past tense phrases and sentences. We did this activity collaboratively and I provided scaffolding and suggestions as to how to make the sentences more descriptive and how to carry the story forward. Andy chose to write about monsters chasing us through a forest. The next game we played was a tic-tac-toe hybrid where each person takes turns and tells a truth or a lie using past-tense verbs; when the other person guesses whether the sentence was true or false, they get to take their turn in the tic-tac-toe match. Andy seems to enjoy these lessons and I feel that I am finally beginning to understand what it takes to teach younger students.
Andy and I continued to work on using simple past tense and continued using grammar games to reduce the affective filter and increase motivation ( I remembered to bring some chocolates too). Two of the grammar games that we played involved story telling. The goal of the activity was to get Andy using his imagination while creating a short paragraph telling a story and to effectively use the simple past tense to do so. I introduced the past progressive form, though only expected Andy to be able to produce past tense phrases and sentences. We did this activity collaboratively and I provided scaffolding and suggestions as to how to make the sentences more descriptive and how to carry the story forward. Andy chose to write about monsters chasing us through a forest. The next game we played was a tic-tac-toe hybrid where each person takes turns and tells a truth or a lie using past-tense verbs; when the other person guesses whether the sentence was true or false, they get to take their turn in the tic-tac-toe match. Andy seems to enjoy these lessons and I feel that I am finally beginning to understand what it takes to teach younger students.
Tyler Lee TS#5 Child
March 30
This session was notably better than the last, and I feel that we were able to get in a lot of meaningful grammar practice and speech production. Kyoungbo had a talk with Andy after our difficulties last week and I came prepared with chocolate for a motivational reward and with several grammar games loaded onto my laptop. Andy frequently makes conjugation errors when using simple past tense to talk about his experiences, so we focused on games that facilitate its use. The games would present a sentence with a missing verb and Andy had to choose the correct multiple-choice answer to fill in the blank with the proper simple past tense verb. Between games we had conversation practice and focused on producing speech using the simple past tense and as long as Andy was attentive and participated, I gave him a piece of chocolate as I had promised him earlier. It's kind of amazing to me how much motivation can be yielded from game-ifying grammar lessons, rewards, and parental intervention.
This session was notably better than the last, and I feel that we were able to get in a lot of meaningful grammar practice and speech production. Kyoungbo had a talk with Andy after our difficulties last week and I came prepared with chocolate for a motivational reward and with several grammar games loaded onto my laptop. Andy frequently makes conjugation errors when using simple past tense to talk about his experiences, so we focused on games that facilitate its use. The games would present a sentence with a missing verb and Andy had to choose the correct multiple-choice answer to fill in the blank with the proper simple past tense verb. Between games we had conversation practice and focused on producing speech using the simple past tense and as long as Andy was attentive and participated, I gave him a piece of chocolate as I had promised him earlier. It's kind of amazing to me how much motivation can be yielded from game-ifying grammar lessons, rewards, and parental intervention.
Tyler Lee TS#4 Child
March 23
This session was distinctly difficult and I'm not sure if it was because Andy had a long day, because he is six years old, or both. When Kyoungbo left, Andy was acting particularly shy and would only answer me with sounds when I asked him a question or tried speaking with him. I was finally able to solicit a response when I suggested that we use his colored pencils to do some of his homework (that did actually require the use of colored pencils). The direction for the homework exercise was to color the picture of every object that started with K and the exercise quickly devolved into color scribbles and sparsely-worded responses to any attempt I tried at coaxing meaningful speech production from him. Eventually, I suggested that we try to write some sentences that use adjectives to describe something, but Andy refused to do anything that resembled work and insisted on drawing only. At this point I stopped Andy and told him that we needed to put the pencils away if he wasn't able to use them and work with me at the same time; the rest of the session consisted of me trying to talk to him and facilitate speech production while keeping him from trying to take his pencils out again. When I suggested we read a book, Andy just wanted to look at the pictures and did not have any desire to attempt to read any words. Needless to say, this session was very frustrating and a bit enlightening for me. I told Kyoungbo about the experience and that it would be best to leave the pencils at home next time.
This session was distinctly difficult and I'm not sure if it was because Andy had a long day, because he is six years old, or both. When Kyoungbo left, Andy was acting particularly shy and would only answer me with sounds when I asked him a question or tried speaking with him. I was finally able to solicit a response when I suggested that we use his colored pencils to do some of his homework (that did actually require the use of colored pencils). The direction for the homework exercise was to color the picture of every object that started with K and the exercise quickly devolved into color scribbles and sparsely-worded responses to any attempt I tried at coaxing meaningful speech production from him. Eventually, I suggested that we try to write some sentences that use adjectives to describe something, but Andy refused to do anything that resembled work and insisted on drawing only. At this point I stopped Andy and told him that we needed to put the pencils away if he wasn't able to use them and work with me at the same time; the rest of the session consisted of me trying to talk to him and facilitate speech production while keeping him from trying to take his pencils out again. When I suggested we read a book, Andy just wanted to look at the pictures and did not have any desire to attempt to read any words. Needless to say, this session was very frustrating and a bit enlightening for me. I told Kyoungbo about the experience and that it would be best to leave the pencils at home next time.
Tyler Lee TS#3 Child
March 16
For this session I had Kyoungbo bring in some of Andy's homework from school so that I could see what he was doing in his classes and hopefully implement some of the material into our lessons. Andy was not very excited to do homework and insisted that we read a book, so I suggested that we read a book of his choice as a reward once we finished an activity. For example, the activity for his English class involved words starting with J, and so I used the different words involved to get Andy talking about his experiences and knowledge about each of the words and related vocabulary and concepts. After completing the homework assignment, we read another superhero book and I brought his focus on adjectives that were used and how they modified the subject that they referred to. Once finished with the short book, I worked with Andy to make sentences using each of the words from his assignment and showed him how to use adjectives to write more descriptive sentences.
For this session I had Kyoungbo bring in some of Andy's homework from school so that I could see what he was doing in his classes and hopefully implement some of the material into our lessons. Andy was not very excited to do homework and insisted that we read a book, so I suggested that we read a book of his choice as a reward once we finished an activity. For example, the activity for his English class involved words starting with J, and so I used the different words involved to get Andy talking about his experiences and knowledge about each of the words and related vocabulary and concepts. After completing the homework assignment, we read another superhero book and I brought his focus on adjectives that were used and how they modified the subject that they referred to. Once finished with the short book, I worked with Andy to make sentences using each of the words from his assignment and showed him how to use adjectives to write more descriptive sentences.
Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Isik TS #8 with Michaella Malone
Tutoring Section 8 with Michaella
Date/Time: April 24, 2016/ 10:00 a.m.-11:00a.m.
Location: Starbucks near the Trader Joe’s on the Thomasville
Road
Topic/Skill: Grammar and Descriptive Writing /The practice
of descriptive writing
Feedback provided to tutee: In the descriptive writing,
reader should be visualizing being in the moment of what I am describing.
-the purpose of describing a person, place, or thing
-must pay close attention to detail and should use your five
senses
-use lots of adjectives!
Example:
The river was a fragile, universe-blue color, like the
subtle sweep of a painter’s brush.
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I
brainstormed for 5-10 minutes, and then I wrote this essay below:
“Jogging in the woods
Jogging is my favorite daily activity. In my busy schedule,
I always find time to go out and the exercise. It refreshes my thoughts and
ideas. It builds my muscles to be strong.
While I am jogging, I observe the nature; long and narrow
pine, cheerful cardinals, playful squirrel, and even dears. The nature changes
by seasons in the woods. The color changes on the leaves are spectacular in the
fall. Some threes have several hues of yellow, red, and brown. I like to watch
them while I am jogging.
In this beauty, when I see a dead squirrel, it is very
disturbing. I start blaming careless and cruel drivers. I lose my concentration
of jogging and worry about the creatures’ future in the wood, because cars are
increasing in the subdivision. “
Isik TS #7 with Michaella Malone
Tutoring Section 7 with Michaella
Date/Time: April 15, 2016/ 9:30 a.m.-11:00a.m.
Location: Starbucks near the Trader Joe’s on the Thomasville
Road
Topic/Skill: Grammar and Informative (direct) writing/the
practice of Beginning Sentence Correction 6 and writing an informative essay for
the article titled; “2 Years After Boko Haram Kidnapping, the Search Goes On
for Nigerian Girls” from the New York
Times: http://nyti.ms/20DylmA
Feedback provided to tutee: During the practice of Beginning
Sentence Correction 6, Michaella gave me an important feedback about the
question of “who is coming to dinner?” I thought for bunch of people I should
use “are” instead of “is.” She explained to me even I am asking for more than
one person I should say or write “is.” Example is who is coming to dinner?”
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: During
the writing section what I learned from Michaella is the importance of first
paragraph in informative/direct writing. This is the paragraph that catches the
reader. We worked on my first paragraph.
Mitch TS #16 Adult
This is my last blog entry. I am writing about a tutoring session I had with Isik quite a while ago, but forgot to log into the blog. During this tutoring session we did just about what we always do. We started out doing multiple choice questions related to writing style and grammar, but today what was different was that after we completed this, we practiced some short writing activities where she wrote a mock recommendation and some other mock writing samples. Although they are not that useful for her writing, I think these mock assignments help her with her speech, because she is speed writing, and makes similar mistakes to those in her speech. In this way, I was able to pick apart her speech and correct her short compositions. As my last post, I will say that tutoring Isik was a great experience for me and I think that it gave me a lot of confidence in tutoring and teaching adults and high school students during my stay in Spain.
Isik TS#6 with Michaella Malone
Tutoring Section 6 with Michaella
Date/Time: April 10, 2016/ 2:00 p.m.-3:00p.m.
Location: Starbucks near the Trader Joe’s on the Thomasville
Road
Topic/Skill: Grammar/Proofreading of Student Project:
Creating a Society
Feedback provided to tutee: Michaella and I get together to
work on my class project for my students. It is a group project for 4-5 students.
Students will create an imaginary society. I brought my written project to
Michaella to work on grammar in use. We
looked at all power points slides and my imaginary society as an example of the
project. She gave me the feedback on my writing style and grammar.
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I
corrected my inconsistent and mismatch headlines of the slides. The explanation
of the topic continued between the slides, so I should give same headline for
each slide. I should be careful if I am writing the dates. For example I should
add nd, rd…, It should be 2nd, 3rd…
Isik TS#5 with Michaella Malone
Tutoring Section 5 with Michaella
Date/Time: April 6, 2016/ 4:00 p.m.-5:00p.m.
Location: French café/pastry: Au-Peche-Mignion
Topic/Skill: Idioms and Opinionated Writing/Writing an opinionated essay for the Article: “Air France Faces Backlash Over Veil Policy on Route to Iran”
from New York Times Web Site: http://myti.ms/1q3IHJN
Feedback provided to tutee: MIchaella brought me idioms:
1. Stick my neck out
Meaning: taking a risk for someone else
Example: Why should I stick my neck out for them? They never
paid me back before
2. All thumbs
Meaning: clumsy and awkward
Example: I’m all thumbs because I’m so nervous for my test.
3. Spilled the beans
Meaning: told someone before they were suppose to know
Example: he was planning on surprising her with a vacation,
but her sister spilled the beans.
4. Hang on
Meaning: to persevere; to not give up
Example: the business had many years of financial trouble,
but somehow they were able to hang on.
5. Money talks
Meaning: Money has the power to influence people
Example: We’ve been waiting 3 months for our delivery, and
people who put their orders in after have gotten theirs. I guess money talks.
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I read the article and underlined information
that I used for my writing, and I wrote my opinionated essay;
“One of the international business strategies is to deal
with cultural requirements of host country. Air France wants to make a business
with Iran; however Iran has a standard dress code for female flight attendance.
Air France accepts it and sent a memo to the employees.
Two opposite views reacted to this decision. The national
Union of Flights Attendances responded to memo as “an attack on freedom of
conscience.” Air France relented, saying
the assignment would be voluntary. Airline also said to le Monde, the French
newspaper “This obligation, which therefore does not apply during the flight,
is respected by all international airlines serving the Republic of Iran.
Women dress code shouldn’t be a business strategy or
competition tool between companies. Union made an effective step up to protect
women employees. “
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Michaella CP#6
Tuesday, April 26th, 2016
Today my friends and I met Maddie for lunch at the Hecht House. We walked to tropical smoothie and enjoyed some time together before making our way back to CIES. We sat outside and talked about Maddie's new classes. She even has Professor Kim for listening class! She did mention that she misses some of her friends from last semester, but hopefully she will make new friends soon. Next, Maddie and I took my friends around the CIES building. We showed them the conference room, the student lounge, and some of the classrooms. It was cool to interact with the other students who were getting ready for class as well. Before we left, we walked Maddie to her Speaking class. She joked that we were like her mom dropping her off at school. I am glad we got to spend part of our day with her, because this might be the last time I get to hang with Maddie before I graduate :(
Today my friends and I met Maddie for lunch at the Hecht House. We walked to tropical smoothie and enjoyed some time together before making our way back to CIES. We sat outside and talked about Maddie's new classes. She even has Professor Kim for listening class! She did mention that she misses some of her friends from last semester, but hopefully she will make new friends soon. Next, Maddie and I took my friends around the CIES building. We showed them the conference room, the student lounge, and some of the classrooms. It was cool to interact with the other students who were getting ready for class as well. Before we left, we walked Maddie to her Speaking class. She joked that we were like her mom dropping her off at school. I am glad we got to spend part of our day with her, because this might be the last time I get to hang with Maddie before I graduate :(
Michaella CP#5
Monday, April 25th, 2016
Maddie and I went to dinner at Taco Republik. We shared guacamole, and we each tried different tacos. It was delicious and the perfect spot to meet! We spent the majority of our time talking about traveling and food, two of our favorite things in life. She told me about these Peruvian chocolate candies called Dona Pepa. Every time she would visit Peru, she would take a huge box back home to Panama and sell them at school. We talked about some of her favorite places she visited in Barcelona as well. I was writing everything down so I can check them out when I am in Spain. Maddie is planning on visiting me while I am over there which would be so fun! We talked about traveling to nearby countries, like France and Italy. Hopefully next year she will have the time to come visit :)
Erika CP #5
I met with Abdullah on Sunday to play pool. We talked about final exams in the US and how I am graduating this week. He told me about how he hasn't been accepted to an American university yet so, he will most likely have to go back to Saudi Arabia by July. It's such a shame. He loves speaking English and I know that he wanted to stay here longer.
We also talked about our favorite shows, 80's music, and I showed him some funny dance moves (the q-tip and the shopping cart).
We played three rounds of pool and there are obviously differences with the rules he plays by and the ones I have learned! By his rules he won all three rounds, but by mine, I would have won once. I'm looking forward to our next meeting!
We also talked about our favorite shows, 80's music, and I showed him some funny dance moves (the q-tip and the shopping cart).
We played three rounds of pool and there are obviously differences with the rules he plays by and the ones I have learned! By his rules he won all three rounds, but by mine, I would have won once. I'm looking forward to our next meeting!
Erika TS #8 Child
I had my last tutoring session with Astin on Saturday. I had printed out a few work sheets for him to work on that tested reading comprehension. There were two short passages (1 paragraph each) and they had questions that followed. We were not able to finish the second one since he was losing focus, so then we talked about his school, friends, and favorite food as a way to practice productive speech. After this short "break" of talking, he read a little more and then our session was over. As closure to the lesson we went over sounds that vowels make when there are two vowels next to eachother (example: 'ou' sounds like 'ow!'). I am really going to miss this little guy!
Erika TS #8 Adult
I had my last tutoring session with In-Hwa on Friday and we covered vocabulary. We went over a list of American phrases I had prepared for her. My mom had trouble understanding these when I was younger, so I figured that they would be difficult for foreigners to understand because they are not literal. The list was the following: 1. A bigger bang for your buck
2. As easy as pie/ piece of cake
3.Between a rock and a hard place
4. Break a leg
5. Catch 22
6. Brownie points
7. Chick flick
8. Close but no cigar
9. In the bag
10. New kid on the block
The first time we went over these, I defined them and gave her an example. The second time, I asked her to give me her own definition of the phrases at random. The third time, I asked her to give my hypothetical scenarios in which she would use these phrases.
Monday, April 25, 2016
Mitch CP #6
Today was my last conversation partner meeting with Abdullah. Abdullah loves to play pool with us now. It is pretty much all he wants to do. So, Abdullah and I went to play pool. I taught him all kinds of interesting things today. I told him about how Americans like fishing and boating as hobbies, I told him about some hobbies that I have. He told me about how he finds it strange that every building in America seems to play music constantly. I thought this was interesting, as I had never noticed this about our country until he mentioned it. There is ALWAYS music playing, in ever store, restaurant and mall. We had more exchanges about the differences in our two cultures, and it was really interesting to hear all that he thought. He told me more about how life is in Saudi Arabia and in other middle eastern cities. I found it all very interesting. This is my last required meeting, but I have made friends with Abdullah and will most likely meet him again before the semester ends. This is another lasting impact that this TEFL program has made on me.
Mitch TS # 15 child
Last Sunday was my last tutoring session with Astin. I did not expect to get so attached while tutoring him these last few weeks, but it was genuinely sad that it was my last time. I kept my promise in making this lesson fun. It was far more relaxed than his other lessons. We went over new vocabulary, and we did some more of his favorite word-searches. We also reread one of his favorite books, and I focused on pronunciation and complete understanding, because he does not have trouble reading this book. After our lesson was over, to our surprise, Astin and his mother had some small presents for Erika and I, and thanked both of us for being his teachers. I can describe this as the moment that made me excited for what I have set out to do. Astin genuinely was going to miss us, and said bye so many times. Seeing that impact I had made on his life was tear jerking, and it was very rewarding. I think it was a good sentiment for the last session. I am ready to go do this abroad!
Mitch TS #14 Child
On Monday the 18th was my second to last meeting with Astin. Astin and I did more or less what we usually do. We started out by going through his English homework and I did not give away any answers, but helped him through the various activities and assisted him where he had issues. In addition to this, his mother asked me to have a conversation with him about what cheating was and why it was bad. It was interesting, he was very sad he got yelled at, but when I was explaining it to him, it turns out he did not understand at all what he had done wrong or why he had gotten yelled at. After explaining it, it seems that he understood and promised me he would not do it again at school. We then read one of the books from his favorite series, and did a series of word search exercises in which I incorporated both reading and vocabulary. I asked him to read all the words, rewrite them, then tell me what they meant, and finally when he was done he could do the fun part: find them! He loves these exercises, and even though he always wants to skip to finding them, I use that to my advantage as intrinsic motivation for him to get through the work part of it first. Astin was sad that he only got to see me one more time, and I told him next time I would make the lesson fun because he had been such a good student.
Isik TS#8 with Mitchell Hudson
Tutoring Section 8 with Mitchell Hudson
Date/Time: April 7, 2016/ 10:50 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
Location: CIES
Topic/Skill: Grammar/ to write a e-mail message to a faculty
member for a job position
Feedback provided to tutee: I was planning to apply to a
job. I brought an e-mail message as a draft. We work on this message.
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: It was a last section of tutoring. I listed my
repeated grammar mistakes that I should take care of in my writings. I should
use an active voice. I should be careful when I write modal verbs in my e-mail
messages such as would, should, could….I can use modal verbs for explaining an
obligation or an advice; “You should see a doctor for your cough.” I can
utilize them for a possibility; “It is better to go to the job fair. They might
hire me.” I can also use them on my e-mail messages as permission: “Could
you let me know about your on-call schedule next week? Then I can arrange mine.
Isik TS#7 with Mitchell Hudson
Tutoring Section 7 with Mitchell Hudson
Date/Time: April 5, 2016/ 10:50 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
Location: Starbucks near the CIES on the Tennessee Street
Topic/Skill: Grammar/ to write a cover letter
Feedback provided to tutee: I was planning to apply to a
job. I brought a cover letter as a draft. We work on this letter.
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I worked on using precise language and active
voice. I wrote “….I have been engaging my student to raise their awareness global
and understand cross-cultural characteristics of societies.” It was a run-on
sentence. I changed to “I encourage my students to raise their global awareness
and understand intercultural characteristics of societies.”
I changed the conjunction “especially’ to “specifically.” I
corrected this sentence; “Especially I have been explaining the connection
between technology and society in global and intercultural perspective.” to “Specifically,
I have been explaining the connection between technology and society through an
intercultural lens.”
Isik TS#6 with Mitchell Hudson
Tutoring Section 6 with Mitchell Hudson
Date/Time: March 29, 2016/ 10:50 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
Location: CIES
Topic/Skill: A Persuasive writing/ to write a persuasive composition
and to continue to diagnostic test
Feedback provided to tutee: Mitchell brought me several questions
to write a persuasive composition. I had chosen the question which is “what is
your opinion about your cell phone?” I wrote the composition. Mitchell read it
and gave me feedbacks.
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I worked on my “topic sentence.” First, I wrote “My cell phone is a necessity
for my daily communication and interaction with people.” Mitchell suggested me
to be specific for the daily communication and interaction. I changed my topic
sentence to “Cell phones are a necessity for daily communication and social
media interaction.” This is using precise language and active voice. I talked about a daily communication in my
first paragraph and social media interaction in my second paragraph.
Isik TS#5 with Mitchell Hudson
Tutoring Section 5 with Mitchell Hudson
Date/Time: March 24, 2016/ 10:50 a.m.-11:50 a.m.
Location: CIES
Topic/Skill: Grammar Rules/ Practice a diagnostic test
Feedback provided to tutee: Mitchell brought me a diagnostic
test. I answered the questions in the test. He explained my grammar mistakes.
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I
practiced to use conjunctions correctly. Examples are “I cannot play in the
game until I practice more,” “I hid in the basement, because my brother
was mad at me,” “Victor erased the
answering machine message so that Nora would not find out, ”and “She
scored a goal and won the game.”
I practiced to revise two sentences into one better
sentence. Two sentences are “The bicycle tire is flat.” and “The bicycle tire
is on the bike.” The best revision is “The bicycle tire on the bike is flat.”
We also worked on purposes of writing a composition in the
diagnostic test. The question has the title:
“Good Reasons to always drive safely” as an example topic of essay writing. Multiple
choices of the question are persuasive, expository, narrative, and descriptive.
This topic is persuasive, because the writer would explain good reasons of
drive safely to peruse the readers to drive safely.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Michaella TS#8 Adult
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Today I had my last tutoring session with Isik. It was bittersweet because Isik has been such a joy to work with. I will miss our time together! We have worked on various aspects of formal writing, and I can happily say that I've seen her writing improve greatly over the last seven weeks. I've given her the basic guidelines for informative, persuasive, and descriptive writing, which we worked on today. Isik expressed her concern for descriptive writing because it often requires a large vocabulary. Once Isik was done writing, we went through her essay together to see how we could add more descriptive language to her writing. We took her sentence, "I observe the trees, birds, squirrels, and even deer" and changed it to "I observe the long, narrow trees, cheerful cardinals, playful squirrels, and misguided family of deer." Overall, it was a very productive session, and I look forward to keeping in touch with Isik in the future :)
Today I had my last tutoring session with Isik. It was bittersweet because Isik has been such a joy to work with. I will miss our time together! We have worked on various aspects of formal writing, and I can happily say that I've seen her writing improve greatly over the last seven weeks. I've given her the basic guidelines for informative, persuasive, and descriptive writing, which we worked on today. Isik expressed her concern for descriptive writing because it often requires a large vocabulary. Once Isik was done writing, we went through her essay together to see how we could add more descriptive language to her writing. We took her sentence, "I observe the trees, birds, squirrels, and even deer" and changed it to "I observe the long, narrow trees, cheerful cardinals, playful squirrels, and misguided family of deer." Overall, it was a very productive session, and I look forward to keeping in touch with Isik in the future :)
Saturday, April 23, 2016
Isik TS # 4 with Michaella Malone
Tutoring Section 4 with Michaella
Date/Time: March 31, 2016/ 9:30 a.m.-10:30a.m.
Location: CIES
Topic/Skill: Grammar and Factual Based Expository Writing/Expository
Writing Practice
Feedback provided to tutee: Michaella gave me the format of expository
writing. The format is:
Definition: process of explaining a subject/topic
Goal: to share information with the reader
Important tips:
1. Must be fact-based and not opinion based
2. Must use third person perspective. Ex: He, she, it, him,
her, its
3. Examples of types of expository essays
-compare/contrast
-explain a step-by-step process
-identify a cause/effect relationship
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I
wrote an essay to identify a cause/effect relationship:
The title of essay is Explaining Sociology.
Attention grabber sentence is: “Under the general education
requirement, sociology is one of the core social science courses in higher
education. “…
The topic sentence for first paragraph: “The reason of this
requirement comes from a contemporary sociologist, Wright Mills. He explains
the connection between social facts in society and personal issues in
individuals lives.” ….
The topic sentence for second paragraph: “The purpose of
sociology courses is students would able to make this connection to their lives
and to raise their awareness about their own social environment.”…
Isik TS # 3 with Michaella Malone
Tutoring Section 3 with Michaella
Date/Time: March 28, 2016/ 3:30 p.m. -4:30 p.m.
Location: Starbucks near the Trader Joe’s on the Tennessee Street
Topic/Skill: Grammar, Persuasive Essay/Persuasive Essay
Writing Practice
Feedback provided to tutee: Michaella gave me the format of
persuasive essay. The format is:
Intro
-attention grabber
-explain topic
-thesis statement (it must support your point of view)
Body (3 body paragraphs):
-topic sentence
-detail support
-possible counterargument
Conclusion:
-summarize key points
-restate thesis
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Persuasive
writing practice which Michaella gave me, has four questions. I choose this
question: “Do you think technology has been beneficial or harmful to our society?”
I wrote an outline, then I composed my writing. Because of a
word count limitation in blogs, I
share with you my attention grabber,
topic sentences for each paragraph:
An attention grabber:
“As an early morning riser, I use my cell phone’s alarm clock
most days.”
Topic sentence for each paragraph:
The technology maintains job expansion……
Technology also is a good way to communicate….
The accessibility of knowledge is very easy with
technology….
Technology is very effective learning tool for education….
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