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.