On Tuesday, March 11, I conducted my first tutoring session with Saoud. In this first session, Saoud explained to me his goals for learning/improving his English. He is hoping to improve his English language level in order to pass college entry exams and attend a college or university here in the United States.
After our brief introductions, I began the session with some warm-up drills. I had Saoud pronounce all the vowels in both short and long form, several times over. Then we used these vowels in simple words which effectively stressed the vowels' pronunciation in both forms. Following this drill, Saoud read several passages aloud from various news and entertainment magazines. I chose simple passages first and then attempted to challenge him with more difficult passages. This exercise gave me a clear view of Saoud's reading comprehension and pronunciation abilities. In my experience, having a student read out loud improves language skills on several levels.
Once we completed the reading session, I worked with Saoud on his listening and writing skills. First he listened while I read some news passages aloud. I did this first listening drill to gauge his listening comprehension. Next I read simple sentences aloud and had Saoud write them down. This exercise gave me the chance to evaluate his writing and spelling abilities as well as his listening comprehension.
Overall I felt this was a good first session, however there are several areas which need special focus for Saoud to get to the level where he wants to be. I plan to introduce new vocabulary and grammar rules to him in our next session.
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