Ben TP #2

Today's tutoring session with Fumie was very constructive, as it built on concepts we had discussed during our first meeting and it moved us forward into our next. I was very encouraged right off the bat because Fumie had done all of the assignments (granted, there were only two, but still) I had given her and she was looking forward to my feedback. We went over the writing assignment I had given her, which involved a short paragraph detailing why she enjoyed a certain trilogy of films. Overall, Fumie is quite good at writing, she constructs her sentences well, she uses transitions often and effectively, and she has a good variety of vocabulary. Her weakest skill when it comes to writing is her grammar so we spent some time going through mistakes she had made. I focused on recurring mistakes as opposed to going through and correcting all of her mistakes, I figured that lent itself to a more economical use of our time. I also offered Fumie alternatives in her word choice, not because she used a word incorrectly but because I wanted to give her more options. I believe Fumie is strong enough in her English that she is definitely ready for some more advanced vocabulary options.
I realized in the middle of our session that that I had not been focusing enough on her speaking, which was something I had been meaning to do as we move forward. So instead of finishing the corrections, I asked Fumie to read some of her sentences aloud to me and, if they were wrong, I asked her to come up with alternative ways to say what she was trying to say. If she needed extra help I was happy to offer support but for the most part she was able to come up with alternatives on her own. After that exercise she expressed how helpful that was, so it is definitely something I plan on building on moving forward.
For our next session I asked Fumie to work on taking what she had written and applying it in her speech. We will be conducting a sort of meet and greet so that Fumie can have the chance to apply her knowledge of the film and analysis of it in practical English speaking. I think it will be a good measure of where she is at and how she has grown in terms of her speaking skills.