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.