CP#6 Rick Shemanski

I met with Jin late on Wednesday night at Starbucks on Tennessee Street.  This was our second meeting so it was less awkward.  I told Jin about my exams this week, and he expressed sympathy for my busy schedule. Jin recently returned from the beach. He said that he likes to go and listen to the waves crash on the beach. The sound is really relaxing for him, and it allows him to clear his head.

I asked him if he had made any progress on his decision to attend TCC. Jin said that he was still thinking about it but is still unsure.  I asked Jin if he saw the news about the NBA banning Donald Sterling, the owner of the LA Clippers, for life. He said that he saw it, but he did not completely understand why.  I told him about the racist comments Donald Sterling made concerning his girlfriend taking pictures with African Americans. I informed him that because of these remarks, the NBA is forcing Sterling to sell his team. I asked Jin what he thought about it. He said that he thinks what Sterling said was wrong, but he thinks that a lifetime ban is too harsh. I agreed, and told him I think this ruling violates Sterling first amendment right.

I told Jin that I am graduating soon, and that my tutoring partners are all away from Tallahassee. I asked Jin if he would be interested in a tutoring session to review any questions he might have. He said that he would like to meet up, and we made an appointment to have a tutoring session.

Matt TP #16

Today I had my fourth and final meeting with Hamad. He seemed a little tired today, and I personally was totally wiped from finals. While we waited for the caffiene to kick in, we talked about finals and a movie I had seen recently, which got us talking about movies generally. Hamad had mentioned before how much he enjoys movies, and how he learns much of his conversational English from watching them. I wished I'd brought a passage on film for us to read together, but unfortunately all we had was the IELTS test prep book. Hamad still hadn't done any of the reading I'd asked him to, and neither of us really wanting to crack into the IELTS, we deliberated over what we should do for our lesson

Eventually I proposed that we follow the cinema theme and try to find an interesting film-related article online. We went to the computers and found a piece on the making of Inception, one of his favorite movies. (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/anatomy-contender-making-inception-47634) I took the computer next to him so that I could read ahead and come up with some questions. The article was short and fairly uncomplicated, but it was taking Hamad some time. I think this was because the article had an informal tone and a lot of colloquial language he wasn't really used to reading. Hamad had to stop and ask for a lot of definitions, but he seemed more interested than he had been in previous lessons and furthermore understood the gist of the article.

Once he was finished, I checked his comprehension with a couple of questions and had him write a short one paragraph response to the question, "Why do you think Inception was such a difficult film to make?" His writing was solid, especially the content of it, but he had a lot of grammatical errors and in particular struggled with prepositions. I corrected some of them, but we were running out of time, so I told him to review and practice his prepositions before writing for the IELTS. Unfortunately this was our last session, so I won't be able to address it any further, but I did feel that in our short time together we made some progress with Hamad's reading abilities. At the very least, he has a better sense of his strengths and weaknesses, and how to focus his efforts in preparation for the IELTS. I wish him the best of luck.

Matt TP #15

My most recent meeting with Jeffrey was a little less productive than usual. I'd woken up early that morning and was pretty sleep deprived, and I found out just how much energy and alertness it really takes to keep a kid that age on task. I was sort of on my back foot for the entire lesson, trying to rein Jeffrey back in from his excited speeches about Taekwondo and the Hulk. I can say that coming out of it, I now have a lot more sympathy for parents: it can be totally exhausting, trying to keep a hyper kid focused. Especially when you're perpetually running on 5 hours a night.

In between speculations on whether dogs can be polite, or which Power Ranger is actually Korean, we did manage to get some work done. I brought a couple of worksheets for us to work on, which I kind of tricked him into doing it by telling him I was in a contest where the tutor with the best and smartest student got a whole treasure chest full of candy, and that I really needed Jeffrey to finish them because I was tied for first and I really wanted to split the candy with him. He did the worksheets (long vowel sounds and basic reading comp) super fast, and I came to realize that this material, which just one month ago was totally stymieing him, was now beneath his level. I can't believe how quickly he's progressed.

From there we tried to read a book about the Power Rangers, but Jeffrey was too distracted by the pictures and I was too tired to keep him focused.  So we finished maybe half of the book, and the rest the time I listened to him and joked around, and every once in a while weakly suggested that we get back to reading.

Overall this lesson wasn't my best, but at the very least it was a good learning experience. I had sort of brushed off the impact of my fatigue on my tutoring, but I quickly learned that you have to stay on your game with younger students if you want to keep things from spiraling out of control. Next time I'll come prepared, mentally and physically.

Matt TP #14

Monday I met with Hamad for our third session. Before we started, Hamad and I got some coffee and he told me that he was very happy today because he had taken an IELTS practice test and had gotten a score that was above the score he needed to pass. I congratulated him on his success, but as he pointed out, there can be a big difference between practice and the real thing. Furthermore, the practice exam couldn't test speaking or writing skills, both of which are critical on the real thing. Regardless it was good to see that Hamad was prepared and confident, and I asked him to bring the test materials for us to review next time.

I gave Hamad the option of either going over a passage from his IELTS prep book or reviewing one of the short stories I had assigned him. Hamad said he had not yet finished any of the fiction so we decided to just do some problems from his workbook. We chose a passage about the effects of air pollution on the environment, so as a schema-building activity Hamad and I discussed environmentalism and our thoughts on global warming. We found that we shared a lot of common ground on this topic, and despite having to explain specific concepts like greenhouse gases, Hamad was pretty well versed on the subject. Perhaps I shouldn't have been surprised, but even in a petrostate like Kuwait, where nearly half of all GDP comes from oil revenue, climate change and alternative energy are important issues - especially among younger generations.

Before letting Hamad attack the passage himself, I modeled how might approach the same article if I was being tested. I employed some basic strategies like highlighting and predicting that would help Hamad parse the text more efficiently. Hamad I think already practices some of these strategies intuitively, but I felt that explicitly outlining them would help him in the long run. Hamad then ran through the article, underlining important points and predicting questions he thought might appear. When we got to the reading comp stuff, not only did he correctly predict 3, but he only missed one on the entire section.

Because we still had plenty of time left, Hamad and I applied the same approach to a second article, this one about productivity in the workplace. He had a little less success here, but he still did well and was able to use multiple strategies to quickly dissect the passage.

Though effective, this IELTS prep can be kind of dry. Next time I am hoping to cover one of the short stories I lent to Hamad

Sarah TP#13

Last week PJ and I started off with some spelling practice. This quickly dragged to a halt when PJ told me he didn't know the meaning of the words on his list. Neither of us wanted to proceed until we went over them. While I was trying to explain the meaning of the word humble, PJ interrupted me, asking, "Did you see the news in Korea?" When I wasn't sure, he got upset. I realized he was talking about the ferry accident in South Korea. He asked me if there were any "humbles" on the boat. Then he asked me why the ship sunk, and if the captain and his crew are bad people. He told me, "I hate it when I ask people if they saw the news and they say no. Because it's a big deal." Wanting to avoid a lengthy debate on morality with this 7 year old future diplomat, I apologized and moved on to the next word.

PJ was able to spell all of his vocabulary words, and even gave me a few pointers for teaching spelling. Next on the agenda was a listening comprehension activity for a short video exploring the lifecycle of a frog. He seemed distracted, perhaps still thinking about the ferry, and needed to watch the video a few times before he was able to answer the questions. He already knew, however, that the video was about metamorphosis. I congratulated him on his use of the word. We ended the lesson by reading a book together--The Three Bears. We were both shocked by how creepy Goldilocks was in this version's illustrations. After we finished the book, I asked a few comprehension questions, such as whose chair did Goldilocks break? and what do you think is the moral of the story?

Isaac CP 6

For our last meeting, Charles and I decided to end where we started, Atomic coffee. We began discussing his romantic endeavors, but I could see his frustration was building. Charles expressed the inability to carry a conversation past a certain depth. Having spent time studying language in Barcelona, I could relate to his sentiments. I explained to him, that in language learning there are mental walls we must break through, after a certain point, it is not vocabulary, grammar, or composition practice that will aid our mental fatigue, but almost subconscious application.  I could see he wasn't really sure what I meant, so I used soccer as an example. When practicing soccer (or any sport) one may practice day in and day out on one "move", I compared the move to the concept of past verb tenses, when practicing this move, or verb tense, repeatedly in a controlled setting, one becomes so familiar with it, they lose interest and motivation to perfect the skill. It is not until there is a game, (or in a linguistic sense, the opportunity, and really necessity, to use the skill) where the new move is applied, that the individual recognizes it's use and regains interest in developing it. Although I'm not certain if Charles followed my abstract comparison, he made me feel as if my efforts were fruitful. Charles will break though his mental wall and regain the confidence to pursue a deeper understanding and application of English.

Isaac CP 5

Wednesday was a follow-up on mine and Charles' lesson on approaching American girls. When immersing oneself in a new environment and culture, there is a curiosity of romantic norms, the infringement of which can be embarrassing and potentially dangerous. In our previous lesson on approaching American girls, I explained context and some basic phrases to use when approaching women in our society. Not necessarily an academic endeavor, the subject drew great interest from Charles. Conversations based on this theme were the most engaged I saw Charles. He told me about his implementation of some of our previous work. He expressed how practicing the basic phrases I showed him helped his confidence. Although he couldn't recall some of the most crucial phrases, he did say that the focus on those phrases helped him read and pronounce other words better, as well as recognizing our learned vocabulary in his classes. I had planned on going over phone etiquette and vocabulary, but our discussion of his experience with the material took precedent.

Isaac CP 4

Charles and I met for lunch last Monday, as both of our semesters were coming to an end we reflected on the semester, our experiences at CIES, our experiences in Tallahassee, and what our future plans would be. Charles and I both were tired from our studies, I explained that with graduation on the horizon, my emotions were volatile. Charles expressed his excitement to return home, he was particularly excited to be reunited with his older brother. He had no significant plans other than relaxing with his family and eating his local cuisine. I asked Charles about his experience with CIES, what he liked, what he didn't like, and what areas he saw room for improvement. Possibly out of perceived obligation, Charles said he really enjoyed CIES and felt that the courses had been very helpful. He did mention boredom, as is expected with any young man. He expressed a lack of social involvement, which can be attributed to one's personality, but in this case I think it has more to do with the lack of opportunity.

CP #6 Jude

Last week I decided to take a break from tutoring Abdullah, and we both decided we would just go to Aladdin's in Tallahassee and talk about our different cultures. I figured that this would be a good exercise because Abdullah really enjoys talking about his home country and I really enjoy hearing about the Middle East.

Abdullah told me that at home in Kuwait, he practices Judo often. He is very good at the sport, and has actually competed in the Middle Eastern Games on multiple occasions. He showed me pictures of himself and his brothers and they all looked like they had been practicing Judo for years. I asked him if he would teach me some Arabic and he told me why not? And taught me the phrase Salam Alaikum, which is a greeting in Arabic that you would use to greet someone you had not yet met. I found this incredibly interesting.

While we were seated outside of Aladdin's, an Arabic woman that Abdullah must have known came up to the both of us. She looked at Abdullah and then she looked at me and Said Salam Alaikum, and I responded Alaykumu Salam, and then she started to ask me more questions in Arabic. I looked at Abdullah and he laughed and started talking to her. It turns out, she thought that I was Turkish and wanted to invite me to the Muslim culture center! Needless to say, I felt pretty honored.

We finished our conversation by talking about family members and houses. It turns out, Abdullah has 8 brothers and sisters, which is a pretty crazy concept for me (Someone who only has one sister), but I guess it makes for a happier family. Either way, It was a great experience talking about our cultures and sharing the knowledge, and I hope for more of these interactions in the future!

TP #16 Jude

On Sunday I had my last tutoring session with PJ. Fortunately both of us have gotten to a place where neither of us is shy anymore, so there is really no need for a formal beginning to the lesson. However, I asked PJ how is week was and if he had learned anything in school that was interesting.

The lesson plan was actually very easy to follow, which helped me a lot. We just had to go over about eight new vocabulary words and then watch a video that broadcasted a book. The words were pretty simple (crayons, chalk), but there was one word (smock) that kind of gave PJ some trouble. He told me he knew what it meant, so I asked him to use it in a sentence. He wrote, "I smocked my friend yesterday." This was really funny to me, but it taught me a lesson as well! Always make sure students understand concepts and words with exercises and don't take their word for it!

Overall, I am going to miss tutoring PJ very much. It was really sad to say goodbye, but I hope to see PJ and Ms. Kim in the future!

Carlton TP #16

Sixth tutee session with DH and MH,  American born of Korean parents. Monday, April 28, 6:30-7:30pm

We all meet at the main Library on Park Street. Mrs. H asked if I could tutor both twins, DH and MH, today. They both have the same homework assignments similar to prior weeks, so I figured that would take the hour. They had different math worksheets, but the same spelling, vocabulary, and a short reading for comprehension. They also had to write a paragraph summary of any new book. When we sat down they already had chosen some books to write about. MH chose a level 3 Star Wars story and DH chose a level 2 Spiderman story. While they read and wrote, I planned the rest of the hour. Knowing that DH was easily distracted, I first searched online for a Spiderman theme learning game I could entice him with. I found an excellent example word game quickly at: http://www.wordgames.com/spiderman-2-web-of-words.html.

The boys both wrote their paragraphs. I prompted them to read to me and self-correct a few spelling and sentence errors in both. I really wanted them both to rewrite the paragraph neatly because they have poor handwriting. They say the teacher does not care, but it is difficult reading. I think they will suffer in higher grades of they do not attempt to write clearer now. But they protested the rewrite, and I let it go to address the other homework.

The reading was about an immigrant woman starting her own business. They read and answered 10 questions independently. When I reviewed the worksheet, they had both missed half the questions. They were able to make corrections working together with a little prompting and discussion. I had previously thought that MH was more attentive to his work, but I think he watches his brother a lot and becomes distracted when they are together. Mom agrees that they need to be separated to learn best, and that is why she requested two tutors.

MH does better with math but I had to review the instructions related to visualizing geometric patterns. They had to draw a picture to understand how to answer the question. Again, if they are more careful they can resolve most mistakes. They seem to have no issues with the concepts, only with the directions and impatient attitude.

Lastly, I made a competitive spelling bee out of the word list. They have all week with these words, so it is more important that they repeat the review each day. So I tried to make it fun by awarding points if one makes a mistake and the other can correct it. They were attentive to this approach. We did not have time to play the Spiderman word game, but I will save that one for later. It is perfect for these two.

Carlton TP #14

Tutee session with TZ and YY, Wednesday April 8, 3:00-5:00 pm

We meet at CIES lounge. YY has returned after a couple of weeks in China where she had to take an exam, check in at work, and had the opportunity to visit family. Before she left we had talked about her husband and young daughter coming to visit America and visiting Disney World. I had a guidebook to the theme parks with lots of tips and planning advice and I had brought that to our meeting to give her and use as a topic. I had already marked some key pages for her situation so she would not have to wade through the entire book. We took some time to read and discuss a few. One recommendation is to reserve an on-site hotel room when taking several days and traveling with small children. For a little extra cost, you gain many conveniences that are very valuable for families. Since she was actively planning this trip and it was important, I could see her motivated to use her English to question me in more detail. Since I had experience with my own children when they were small, I could speak directly and did not need to look anything up or regulate my speech much on this subject.

I was very curious about YY's job that would send her to America to learn English. I asked a lot of questions to understand eventually that she is a recruiter of college students who want to attend foreign universities. She represents specific exchange programs for her province (Hubei) in Singapore and Thailand now and has been very successful recruiting top students. Her boss now wants her to prepare to represent programs in America. This shows a lot of confidence in her marketing ability, but she will need to communicate with the colleges in the future and visit them. So the government (or company) is investing in her English training and exposure to American culture. She will counsel and encourage many more Chinese students in the future to prepare to study in America. At least, that is how I understood her with a little translation help from TZ.

This was our most active 3 way conversation in English since starting and both students were very helpful to each other and to my understanding of jobs and student life in China. I think we introduced a lot of travel vocabulary: "jet lag", "time zone", "customs", "vacation", "terminal", "layover", etc. We also reviewed and added to the directions words. YY takes notes on her phone, TZ has a laptop. We visited a few websites related to planning a trip and talked about the process of making reservations and buying bus tickets online. We talked about the kinds of thinks to bring for a young child like where to find a basic stroller (Wal-mart $15). I want YY to try to read the marked pages in the tour guide and talk about her trip planning next time.

TP# 14 Rick Shemanski

I met with Anton again at his house. He told me last session that he would soon be leaving for a week trip to Miami beach. So we both thought it would be a good idea to include a small cultural lesson, about Miami, for our next lesson. I told Anton that I live just north of Miami, so I know a good amount about the culture there.

First I showed Anton some pictures of the Miami beaches. He had seen beaches before, but was shocked about how close some the buildings were to the beach. I told Anton about the Miami Heat basketball team, and showed him pictures of some of their star players. I told Anton to keep and eye out for them. Anton did not understand this idiom, so I explained it to him, and he wrote a sentence using the idiom. Next I told Anton about the cultural class I am to teach, and although he couldn't attend the meeting, he insisted I teach him some of the material during our lesson. I then thought Anton about typical American greetings and customs. Anton knew most of the formal greetings but was unaware of some of the casual handshakes. I taught Anton some informal greetings, and we performed mock-first impression. I quizzed him by greeting him with question, in which he would have to respond with the appropriate informal greeting. Anton struggled at first because the informal greetings are all very similar, but soon he understood and mastered the topic.

This could of possibly one been one of our last meetings. We said goodbye and wished each other luck. I had a great time tutoring Anton, and I am glad that he has the opportunity to visit Miami.

CP# 5 Rick Shemanski

I met with Sing-jin as a conversation partner. We met at Starbucks on Tennessee street around 8pm. This was our first meeting so we exchanged names and some basic background information. He said to call him Jin instead of Sing-jin. Jin is from South Korea, he has been in America for 8 months. He first studied English at Kieser University in West Palm Beach. I actually live in west palm and he reminisced about palm beach and going to the beach back home.

Jin told me about Korea and that his older sister speaks English and his younger sister speaks Chinese. His dad also speaks Japanese. We both found it funny that they all speak a different second language. We also talked about Korea and the nightlife for young adults. He said that bars in Korea stay open until 7am, and when he goes out in Tallahassee he often goes back home and continues to party. I told him about my plans after college, he seemed very excited for me. He told me that he is either going to enroll at TCC or go back to Korea. Jin is no longer at CIES and has passed the TOFL. His English is very good, sometimes his speech is rocky, when he has to search for the right word. He continued our conversation and we talked about sports and political issues in the USA. We made plans to meet again, and possibly go out to the bars together.

David Sutton TP #16

On Thursday, April 24th, I conducted my last tutoring session with Mohammed.  During this session we tried to review all the major grammar topics that we covered during the previous six sessions together.  Fortunately, I saved copies of all the hand-outs that I gave him from our previous sessions together.  Reviewing each of them, i.e., narrative reading assignments, short grammar quizzes and dialogue passages, turned out to be relatively quick and easy.  The review portion of our previous lessons together served as an excellent warm-up exercise.

After our warm-up portion, we conducted a conversation exercise.  I asked Mohammed to briefly tell me about himself.  Since Mohammed has done this exercise several times during past sessions together, I paid particular attention to his grammar and pronunciation and was quick to correct him when a mistake occurred.  At the same time, I also tried to compliment his work whenever possible to help build his confidence and esteem.  What I was looking for during this self-descriptive monologue was not so much eloquence and big words, but rather an even paced flow of words and smooth transition from one subject to the next throughout his speech.  As often as I do this exercise with students, it is never an easy task.  Nevertheless, Mohammed was able to tell me enough about himself without stumbling badly or completely stalling out.

For the next portion of our exercise, I conducted a grammar lesson with Mohammed that focused on definite and indefinite articles as well as determiners.  As a native French speaker, articles and determiners are somewhat of a challenge for ESL students like Mohammed.  Still he has made significant progress in understanding the appropriate use of articles and determiners. 

As a last lesson, I had Mohammed read out loud from a Florida tour and travel guide book.  The level of reading in the book was just enough of a challenge for him without completely overwhelming him.  We read several passages from the book and I had Mohammed explain in further detail what certain words meant, if it did not appear to be clear enough in the Florida tourist jargon.

In conclusion, Mohammed is an excellent student to work with.  His best attribute is his high level of motivation.  It will serve him well as he continues his CIES studies in the next year.  I wish him all the success in the world.

Bianca TP # 11- Child

I get the feeling that his school is being very proactive and strict about the FCAT process and encourages the parents to get involved. I understand that Mathew is foreign and English is his second language as this may pose a problem for him in school and at home with no native English speakers assistance. However, today he seemed very frustrated with FCAT. I asked him why he disliked it so much and what made him frustrated the most so that he could vent about it and then I could address his concerns. He was quick to express his feelings that quickly escalated to anger and then loss of patience.

Needless to say, I had him start the reading practice but this passage had a short response box. This aggravated him more. I timed him roughly to 45 min to complete the passage and answer the questions. He read the story and then answered all the questions except for the short response. I asked him why he skipped it and he said that he was too tired to write and it wasn’t the real test so it wasn’t required. I loosely translated this to his fear of not knowing the answer and or his inability to express himself correctly in FCAT standards.

As previously stated, FCAT is literally being pushed onto these young students and it can get boring and repetitive. As a student of the Florida public school system I remember going through FCAT at that young age and feeling the same frustrations. I can only imagine what it feels like for a student that can barely speak or understand the language of the test.

As the session went on, Mathew became very irritable and started being rude to me. I tried to give him some sort of reward if he at least tried to complete the short response on his own but he was not receptive to this idea, so I told him I would help him locate the answer and put it into his own words. He snapped at me and told me to leave him alone, so I did. After the 5 min break I asked him to regroup with me and express his concerns with the writing sample. He was still apprehensive to talk to me about his frustration so I just proceeded with the lesson. He eventually answered the short response with the most minimal effort but I couldn’t ask more of him through his anger with FCAT and his frustrations with me.

While I do think Mathew is improving I think the school is definitely taking the test a little overboard and having negative effects on the students.

B

Bianca TP # 10- CIES

 I met with Ahmed at Starbucks. He was a little late to the session and apologized repeatedly and offered to buy me a coffee. I politely refused and asked him to sit down so we could get started right away. Ahmed’s concern for todays lesson was his grammar test the next day about present perfect tense and how to use them in conversation. Most of his confusion stemmed from his ability to say words ending in –ing and –ed and how to use them. I tried using minimal pairs during this lesson with examples, such as, walking and walked and fished and fishing, etc. after about 20 min of having him think of words that correlate to each other in that fashion he had a better understanding of the present perfect tense.

Because he was late I decided to make a quiz for him to complete. His task was to read a small excerpt from the days newspaper and tell me about it. I asked him to read it out loud so that he could practice speaking and also so that I could measure his fluency. I only had to correct his mistakes a couple of times most frequently with words that had P and B sounds. I do not hold this against his fluency or comprehension skill. After reading the excerpt, he was able to tell me about what he read. I did notice that he tried to use the same words that were in the article to build on his own vocabulary so I gave him credit for that and also his ability to tell me the main idea as he was not able to do this just weeks before.

B

Bianca TP # 9- Child

Today, we went ahead and dove right into his FCAT practice reading assessment. We spoke a little about his day and he seemed to be having a good day and really liked the lunch him mom packed for him. Its interesting to see how Mathew has opened up to me and trusts me with his questions and holds me responsible to answer them for him. Moving forward, we read an excerpt from a practice test that he sent home with the students and I had him read a paragraph then summarize it for me out loud to make sure he was understanding the main idea and if he had any questions about the text. Following the story, we answered the 9 questions. It was easy for him to remember certain parts of the story and be able to go back and look for the answers.

Next, we continued with the book that he chose for about 20 minutes: chapter 2 of night of the ninja. As in the previous chapter, I had him read out loud to make sure his pronunciation was and conversation structure were being used correctly. Periodically, I would correct him and ask him questions about what he read to measure his comprehension.

Finally, I felt that he was getting restless during the reading so I asked him if he had any other homework assignments that he wanted to do and he quickly pulled out his math worksheet and we completed it together.

Overall, I’d say that Mathew’s reading skills are improving.

Until next time

B

Carlton CP #6

Conversation Partner #2, A-R and friend, for third meeting on Tuesday, April 8, 9:00-11:00 pm

We meet at the Strozier Library late after I get a text while still in class. A-R shows up a little late but is very happy to be meeting. Within a few minutes as we are getting settled at the Starbucks in a quiet area, a few friends of his appear and greet us both. We all exchange a few words and they depart to other areas in the library. One friend remains with us but he says he will not interrupt us. I said it was OK with me if A-R wanted some native language support.

A-R is very quiet compared to his friends, and less confident speaking. I wish he did not rely on friends so much, because while it was a struggle, I thought we communicated fine one-on-one before. But this time his friend turned out to be quite helpful. He came with a notebook full of vocabulary they both were studying and a good Arabic-English dictionary on his phone. They were quite intent on studying and asked me many questions about word forms and grammar. I had to get my computer out to answer some.

The friend was not much better in English, but was better at forming questions and pronunciation than A-R. But I began asking A-R to repeat the question or word and encourage him to mimic his friend. Then I would answer him, and this seemed to encourage him a bit more, because we could practice asking "what is the meaning of…" and "how do you say…(spell)", etc. I had difficulty modifying my speech to offer good synonyms for some of the vocabulary and they added many to the notebook including words for extended family "aunt", "uncle", "grandmother"; and some contractions of "not" that were confusing.

Our conversation went well over an hour and they were both very grateful for the time. This was more like a tutoring session than a chat, and I was glad they both were able to focus on work for that length of time without seeming bored.

TP #13

Koo and I met at Strozier library in our usual spot. She's begun a habit of beginning our sessions with a series of questions she's gathered during the days since our last session. I feel so lucky to have such a curious and observant tutee. We talked about graveyard jargon. Koo drew a series of diagrams and pointed to each, asking for the equivalents. A coffin is the ceremonial container in which a person is buried. A grave is the place where the coffin is buried. A plaque is a marking for a coffin that is underground, much like a tombstone. A mausoleum is an above-ground grave. More expensive, and sometimes holding more than one person.

We then moved on to our vocabulary and reading exercises. Koo has very high expectations of herself when it comes to perfecting her pronunciation, and doesn't shy away from pronounced a given word or syllable twenty times before she successfully says it. I try to encourage her as well as push her. Her steadfastness has earned her a great deal of progress in such a short period of time. I really love teaching speaking! The learning process is a lot more immediate. We talked about the subtle differences between sinister and other words like bad, or evil. She enjoys developing her precision with vocabulary, as it allows her to communicate with more detail in English.

We ended by talking about the phrase to draw and its various uses. I ended up defining the word as "to make something appear, bring out something." The uses aren't practically related. I think it's an interesting evolutionary track for a phrase.

Julia TP #15

On Saturday, I did a little refresher course on prepositions with Divino. I reminded him, that prepositions had many uses, and that one could not mention all of them in one session, or even in several sessions. However, what I did with him was I gave him a comprehensive list of prepositions as used in common phrases, which I found in an English book for ESOL (and EFL) students. I had sample phrases for the following prepositions (among other things): about, after, at, before, between, beyond, by, for, etc. I asked him to look up each preposition in the dictionary (and I did the same – I had brought a few different dictionaries) to see and understand the different meanings before reading the examples. I wanted him to get (and get it myself) a good sense of how the prepositions are used in English. We discussed many of these sample sentences for a while to see, if he had understood the meaning. I then had a couple of handouts with exercises covering the prepositions we had discussed. He thought we had been pretty productive ;-)