I also met with my adult tutee Abdullah on Sunday later that night. We met at Cafe Shisha, considering it was close to both our respective apartment and it has a nice atmosphere. I was actually pretty surprised to get the text from Abdullah, considering he told me last week he was going to be in Miami for the next two weeks. However, he told me that the trip had to be postponed because he was going to take a listening English test on the 26th of April.
He texted me and asked if I would help him with his English listening skills from now until the test. Although he needs help reading and writing, he really wanted me to focus his listening and speaking skills by speaking to him only in English. I told him this would be no problem, considering I need some TP's and I enjoy teaching English to Abdullah!
First we went over the use of however and nevertheless. These are two concepts he has been having trouble with. I explained the difference to him, and we went over some sample problems involving the differing usage of the two words. After this, we began to converse in English, and he asked me to correct his problems while speaking. The main problem Abdullah has is actually using the word "have" and "has" in an awkward context. This is a problem I have encountered with many Arab speaking individuals.
While speaking, he will say, "Yesterday we have party at my friends house." This is an incorrect use of passive voice and it isn't correct. You would say, "Yesterday, we had a party at my friends house." Although this is a pretty simple fix, it is a issue that keeps rearing up. I will continue to work with Abdullah until his test and I hope we progress to a point where he is solid in his speaking!
It's great you are giving him feedback. I would also suggest providing some assessment to see if he can self-correct his mistakes. This will focus and reinforce what he needs to work on.
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