FSU TEFL 120 Certificate course Spring 1, 2021

 I met with Julia again on Wednesday, the 24th. We talked about critical incidents. Julia told me about an incident she had with one of our professors. We also talked about an interview she had with one of her prospective graduate school professors. Julia doesn't have anyone to really talk to in English, so she was nervous about not having the vocabulary to talk about the degree she's pursuing and her career goals with her professors, so we also talked about that, too. 

 On Thursday, the 25th, I met with Arwa again. This session, we went over adjectives, what they mean and what they do. After we did this, we did MadLibs, where she practiced using adjectives. I wanted to do something fun with Arwa to keep her engaged in our sessions. Our past few sessions we've been doing mostly reading and reading comprehension. I think this worked well because it focused on the stuff we were working on but also kept her attention and allowed her to be creative and fun. 

 I met with Arwa on Saturday, the 20th. We did more reading comprehension work, with her answering questions at the end of the passage. During our session, Arwa got distracted many times and went on lots of tangents telling stories. It's probably really easy for her to get bored, especially at her age, if we keep doing the same kinds of activities every session, so I have to come up with new ways to keep her engaged. 

 I met with Sanghun on Saturday, the 20th. We've been focused on speaking in our previous sessions, so this session we worked on some listening skills. I used audio from Randall's ESL Cyber Listening Lab. I played the audio twice before I showed the corresponding questions. Sanghun did really well on the listening questions. After the questions, I showed Sanghun the transcript and replayed the audio, and then answered any questions he had. I learned that reading the transcripts with the audio is really beneficial for the student. 

Date/Time: Thursday, February 25 at 9 pm   Location: ZOOM Topics discussed:  We discussed his weekend trip to Miami, critical incidents, religion, and the difference between British and American English Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned:  Hossam and I spoke about the aforementioned, all of which are related to the U.S. and Saudi Arabia. We spoke about the different cultures in America, i.e. the difference between Miami, Orlando, and Tallahassee.

(Dojun session #5) Date/Time: Wednesday, February 24th at 9am  Location: Skype  Topic/Skill: Amelia Earhart, intensive reading Feedback provided to tutee: verb choice and pronunciation  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I think this was a great way to introduce new vocabulary to Dojun. He was able to figure out meaning from context and the article was fairly interesting. He said he is not well versed in aviation history even though he works in aviation, so he enjoyed the article! Because of time limitations, I chose to explain who Amelia Earhart was rather than a video for schema building. This worked well because the article was interesting, but without knowledge of her story it would have made no sense. Instead, I sent the videos that I thought were interesting to him. I realized today that the Buzzfeed Unsolved Mysteries channel is actually quite convenient for english learners because they often break from the camera footage and only show a text d...

 Date/Time: Tuesday, 02/23/2021, from 6:45 to 7:45 Paola Bruzual  Topics: Critical incidents, reiteration (further discussion) Cultural/linguistic topics: for our previous conversation, we talked about how teachers differentiate in Venezuela and the United States. I wanted to continue our conversation by leaning towards communication patterns in Venezuela. Paola shared a story of when she was in Panama for vacation. The Panamanian restaurant she went to considered it rude when she inquired a pitillos (straw in Venezuelan Spanish). Pitillos , in Panama, refers to a serious cuss word. Paola was not familiar with this, and felt quite embarrassed.  We talked about the importance of doing research before immersing into a different country. Learning about the cultural patterns from another country is crucial to help you fit in. Great conversation this evening! Super amazing learning about Paola! 

Time/Date: February 22, 10AM  Location: Zoom Topic Discussed: controversial topics Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: We talked about topics that are controversial all over the world such as abortion and disability. I've learned that Hang-ah and I have very similar values and love for food throughout our sessions. Hang-ah and I were able to be really open with each other and I have loved our conversations. I have learned so much! I'm really going to miss talking to her! 

 Date/Time: Monday, 02/22/2021 Dojun Kim      Location: Zoom Topic/skills: critical thinking, hypothetical thinking in context with the Nasa Perseverance Mars landing.  feedback: Overall, wonderful conversation. We had a conversation about the possibilities of biological life on Mars and what that would mean for aerospace exploration. Dojun did not have such a hard time giving me his opinions about extraterrestrial beings existing outside of our planet.  Lessons learned: I learned about the various opinions South Koreans have when it comes to space exploration. Dojun was able t form a concise argument in proper English to convey that he must be shown proof of outside existence before believing (which is amazingly fair). Today marks our last zoom tutoring session. I am really happy with Dojun's progress, he has become less shy about making mistakes while speaking and writing. I would also state that he has improved his vocab intake. I am tremendously thankfu...

Time/Date: February 19, 5PM Location: Zoom Topic Discussed: completion of Hang-ah's CIES course and food Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: Hang-ah completed her time at CIES and I think she is going to miss it a lot. We talked about CIES and how the same dish is a completely different food in certain countries. For example, Hang-ah said the pizza in the US is usually very simple compared to South Korea. We also defined some words that she didn't know. 

 Date/time: Friday, 02/19/2021 Paola Bruzual Location: Zoom Topics: Critical incidents, how teachers differentiate from one another.  Cultural/linguistic topics: We had a great conversation about how in the US, some teachers tend to either be more lenient, or more strict than others. We talked about how COVID has effected teachers as well as students everywhere. We also had a conversation on the effects COVID has on teacher's abilities to effectively create a classroom environment. Technical difficulties also became more frequent as COVID enveloped the education system. 

D ate/Time: Friday (2/19) Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: American serial killers | listening Feedback provided to tutee: Explained several common American idioms such as "white whale" and "getting rocks off" Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: This session was particularly long and by the end it seemed difficult to concentrate for the both of us, especially after listening to so many documentaries in succession, so I think incorporating a small break or low stress activity between a long tutoring session or class would be very valuable, especially when working with lower level or young students who have shorter attention spans. 

D ate/Time:Friday 2/19 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: American music history | reading, listening, and culture Feedback provided to tutee: Pronunciation corrections and clarification of American traditions like Saturday fish fries and Mardi Gras Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that separating text into smaller chunks and using interactive or visually pleasing formats like animated webpages helps students process and remember the material much better. I also frequently repeated vocabulary my tutee found difficult to pronounce (e.g. "genre") and she was able to better pronounce it after a few times hearing it and saying it herself. Practicing proper pronunciation is just as important as hearing the proper pronunciation. 

D ate/Time: Friday 2/19 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Critical Incidents & "Life in the Dark" (critical thinking and listening) Feedback provided to tutee: New vocabulary, how to understand new vocabulary based on context clues and prefixes/suffixes, and how to work through the critical incident method to better prepare for future situations Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: While preparing for this tutoring session, I learned a lot about the critical incident method and how it is used by ESL teachers. There are many helpful examples and resources online. My tutee described her experience asking for a refund in English where she said typing with customer service online rather than having a phone call so that she had time to properly translate things she did not understand was helpful for her and, in the future, she would carefully read the policy and warranty of the company instead of assuming it would be the same as in Korea. Hearing her experience rem...

 Date/time: Friday, 02/19/2021 from 1:30 to 2:30 Mariama Yoshiko Skills/topic: Writing + speaking activity in context with the Perseverance rover landing in Mars. "Would life outside of earth exist? If yes, where would you think aliens live?" Feedback: great work today. We read several articles about the Mars landing and had an opinionated conversation on whether or not there is life outside of earth. Minor spelling errors, as well as syntax. Overall AMAZING!!!!  Lessons learned: We both learned about our opinions in alien life outside of earth. Apparently I am the one who believes that there might be life out there. We both wrote a short paragraph about our opinion, then shared them one by one out loud during our session. I learned how to participate with the tutee in an assignment, as well as properly execute a debate on whether or not there is life out there.  Great session, this marks as the culmination of the zoom sessions with Mariama Yoshiko. Thank you for this ama...

Date/Time: Thursday 02/18 at 9 pm  Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: email conventions Feedback provided to tutee: Feedback was provided after Paola wrote her own email. We discussed what was done well and what needs to be improved  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee learned: Paola and I talked about the conventions of emails. We focused on formal situations like sending an email to teachers. We also talked about critical incidents. She shared that in her country, no one did drugs publicly or frequently. She noticed that people in Tallahassee are rather open about their drug use and will walk around smelling like marijuana. 

 I met with Fahad on Saturday, the 13th. We did some more listening activities during this session. This time, however, I wanted Fahad to listen to more casual, conversation style English than we did during our first session with just the CNN student news and the tefl listening recordings. For this session, I had Fahad listen and watch clips from The Office. After watching the clips, I asked Fahad questions about the dialogue and he seemed to understand a majority of what was said by the characters. 

 I met with Arwa again today. For the last few session, we have been working mostly on her reading skills and getting her comfortable with reading aloud and sounding out unfamiliar words. Today I wanted to ensure that she was not just reading the words, but also comprehending as well. She practiced some reading comprehension today. I had her read short passages out loud and answer questions. Her reading still needs some improvement but I was really happy with her comprehension. Even with passages that were longer and took a long time to read, Arwa did well on the comprehension questions. 

 Date/Time: 2/17/2021 Location: Starbucks Topic: New verbs and using is, at, and he/she conjugation Thing learned: I thought that Meeshal and I made some progress today and that he understood the difference between some important prepositions. I learned again as I've said before to go at an appropriate pace. I also learned that he expects me to nitpick at his sentences and make corrections. I want to focus on fluency rather than nitpicking because he is at such a beginner level, but because he does a lot of listening and repeating, I think accuracy is also important, especially if that is the feedback that he expects.

 Date/Time: Wednesday 2/17/2021 Location: CIES Building Topic: Idioms ands some passive voice grammar Thing learned: I had another tutoring session with Hussam today, where again he brought up some challenging grammar questions that I had to make sure I was teaching him correctly. I learned that I have to understand what I am explaining to him and make my explanations clear. We had a lot of fun talking about the idioms and cultural expressions, he caught on very fast to their meanings. 

(Je-ah session #8) Time/Date: February 17th, 10PM Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: comparative adjective practice and new vocabulary (grammar) Feedback provided to tutee: irregular spellings and indirect correcting of pronunciation Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Je-ah caught on very quickly with the concept today. She was able to conjugate all of the adjectives into their comparative forms and after the lesson we were able to talk about the questions that she completed. I learned that Kahoot works over zoom and she enjoyed the mini competition. I think Kahoot worked best as a fun warm up/review, I wish I had used it before the last session!

Date/Time: Wednesday, February 17 at 5 pm   Location: ZOOM Topics discussed:  We discussed what he did for his birthday, popular cuisine/fruit/juice in America/Cuba/Saudi Arabia, slavery Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned:  Hossam and I spoke about the aforementioned and spoke in-depth about slavery. I gave a quick history lesson and we talked about racial relationships, what he heard about George Floyd in the media, and his stance on recent protests 

Date/Time: Wednesday 02/16 at 8 pm  Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: gerunds, prepositions Feedback provided to tutee: Feedback was provided when reviewing practice questions and sentences  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee learned: Paola and I reviewed what she's been learning in grammar class. I used my grammar lesson plan to teach her gerunds and we reviewed prepositions as well

 Date/Time: 2/17/2021 Location: Starbucks Topic: Listening and speaking Thing learned: Today was a difficult lesson with Meeshal. The language barrier was more difficult than it has been in the past, even with the help of my limited Arabic knowledge and google translate. It is difficult when we speak different dialects of Arabic, so the words that I do know do not always translate, or when google translate translates something imperfectly into English, but it is difficult to explain this. I think that I tried to do something too difficult and outside Meeshal's level, which ended up being frustrating and challenging for both of us. I learned once again the importance of level appropriate material, and of not trying to rush Meeshal into a level that he just has not reached yet. 

 I met with Arwa again on Saturday, the 13th. Since we did so well with the subject and predicate activities on Thursday, we did an activity where Arwa had to rearrange jumbled sentences. Knowing that the subject normally comes at the beginning of the sentence, Area did a really good job of making sense of the first part of the sentence. When it came to the predicate, however, Arwareally struggled with arranging the sentences logically. For example, sentences like "Jamie's rides his bike everyday," came to her really easy, but more complex sentences like, "Jamie likes to eat ice cream when it's hot outside," she struggled a lot with. I wondered if this was level appropriate. Next session, I plan to work on her reading comprehension. 

I met with Sanghun on Saturday, February 13th. We focused mostly on speaking, as that was the area he said he said he wanted the most help with. I started with an activity where I would show him a picture of an object, then he would identify the object, explain what the object is and what its used for, and then share a past experience with an object, basically use it in a sentence. I noticed last session that sometimes my directions for activities were unclear and Sanghun misunderstood. So this time, I made sure to model the activity beforehand. I think this really helped a lot. 

 Last Thursday, February 11th, I met with Arwa again. This session, we worked on subject and predicate. Her mom told me that they were working on that in school during our last session so I thought that would be a good place to start. I started by explaining the definition of a subject and predicate, and then the difference between the two. We also worked on verbs. Identifying a verb in a sentence makes it a lot easier to identify the subject. We started with simple sentences. I had her read the sentences out loud to me. I tried to stay committed to not reading the words she struggled on for her, so when she got stuck, we sounded out words together by syllable. I think getting over words she couldn't read by herself helped her confidence. Many times, she tried to sound out the word without my help. After reading the sentence out loud, I had her identify the verb. After identifying the verb, I had her identify the subject. I think she did really well on this. 

  D ate/Time: Monday 2/15 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Korean v.s. American schools and life for Korean-Americans (listening and reading) Feedback provided to tutee: Explanations of new vocabulary or cultural beliefs and pronunciation corrections Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that some words, particularly ones of foreign origins, may be pronounced different in English compared to the tutee's own language even if the word and spelling are exactly the same (e.g. "sriracha") so it may be important to explain the American pronunciation so that the listener is able to understand what the speaker is saying as the pronunciation is something indecipherable. My tutee also shared some of her perspectives of American culture and the American public school system based on Korean beliefs while I was able to clarify some things and answer her specific questions.

D ate/Time: Monday 2/15 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Idioms and expressions Feedback provided to tutee: Explanations of new vocabulary and idioms Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned how to complete worksheets and quizzes virtually over Zoom and about what idioms of expressions exist in both the U.S. and Korea or how the same sentiments may be expressed in different cultures with different wording.

 Date/Time: 2/15/2021 Location: Starbucks Topic: Practicing for the TOEFL speaking questions Thing learned: I had tutoring with Maher again today and we practiced speaking for the toefl exam. I learned that at Maher's level he really needs repeated practice and exposure listening to native speakers and talking at a fast pace. I taught Maher's class afterwards, and Maher seemed a bit unengaged, so I'm not sure if the content in the class was above or below his level, but I think that in our next tutoring session I will try to bring up topics that we talked about in class to see if he was engaged or not. 

 Date/Time: Monday 02/15/2021, from 8:00 to 9:00 Dojun Kim Topics/skills: Conversation, critical thinking. Argument about "what art is" according to opinion. We looked at the various cultural and artistic differences from different parts of the world.  feedback: Dojun did purely AMAZING today! We had a deep conversation about the art style from the Renaissance, and how much we both agree that contemporary art is less beautiful than art from the Renaissance.  Lessons learned: I learned so much about Korean culture as well as its art form. Dojun seemed to have a firm knowledge on that!

 Date/Time: Friday, 02/12/2021, from 2:30 to 3:30 Mariama Yoshiko Topic/Skills: Essay writing (wrap up activity) + exercise on active listening.  Feedback: Mariama did a fantastic job in her essay writing! It was so well done. There were a few minor syntax and grammar errors (awkward wording, spelling, period usage and preposition usage), but overall, a fantastic job! For the active listening activity, she seemed to have a firm understanding on the subject. A really good session today! lessons learned: We talked about how active listening is a sign of respect in American culture. That is quite important for CIES students to understand how to properly communicate in every-day life. 

D ate/Time: Friday 2/12 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Listening Feedback provided to tutee: Explanations of American culture Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  This was my first time not using closed captions for a listening lesson and I was surprised to find my tutee was still able to understand and follow along with minimal difficulty. I believe it differs on a person-by-person basis, but some students may actually understand English speech better without the distraction of text. 

Date/Time: Thursday (2/11) Location: Zoom Topic discussed: American security (NSA, CIA) Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: My partner and I discussed Edward Snowden and his impact on American peoples' opinions about national security.

Date/Time: Thursday (2/11) Location: Zoom Topic discussed: technology and advertisements Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: My partner and I learned about some new social media algorithms and how sites like Twitter use peoples' most recently used emoji to market to them. We then discussed American and Venezuelan advertisements and commercials.

Time/Date: February 11, 2021 at 7:15PM Location: Zoom Topic Discussed: Cell phones and hospital systems in the USA Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: We went way past an hour today talking about our experiences in hospital systems in the USA vs. South Korea. We also talked about how technology has evolved and become somewhat of a requirement in both countries. 

(Je-ah session #7) Time/Date: February 10th, 10PM Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Reading an adapted Aesop's fable and introduction to comparative adjectives  Feedback provided to tutee: pronouncing -est with adjectives (e.g., fastest); easier way to sound out words with suffixes is to break the word up.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Today's lesson was listening heavy on Je-ah's part and she did a great job. The fable we read was rewritten to be a bit easier and used the vocabulary we had incorporated in the past few sessions. Even though this reading activity increased teacher-talking time, unexpectedly, it kept her focused and was still interactive. She has trouble sounding out words that have two consonants next to each other such as the "sc" in "scary". 

Date/Time: Wednesday 02/10/2021, form 4:00pm to 5:30pm Paola Bruzual Location: Zoom Topic: "How does social media help/hurt individuals?" Cultural/Linguistic topics: we talked about how social media is viewed in Venezuela. We got sidetracked due to a new conversation about driving patterns. Do American drivers drive safer than Venezuelan drivers? it was an interesting discussion about personal experiences as well as personal opinions. 

 Date/Time: 2/11/2021 12-1pm Location: Starbucks Topic: Places Thing learned: It is important every lesson to reenforce the vocabulary that Meeshal has. Since he has a limited amount of words, introducing too many new words can overload him easily and he won't remember any. It is important to introduce a couple of important words and then have him implement them into sentences with words he understands already. 

 Date/Time: Thursday, 02/11/2021 from 8:00 to  Dojun Kim Location: ZOOM Topics/skills: Speaking exercise/ listening exercise all in one. Argumentative conversations about the effects (or consequences) of social media.  feedback: Good conversation today. Dojun needs to work on his ability to have a natural conversation. Overall though, his ideas were concise! Great session today. Two more to go... It's been a really awesome couple of weeks.  lessons learned: I learned a lot about South Korea's usage of social media, apparently they use as much as we do in the US but they have a more refined opinion on how it is supposed to be used. I believe that Dojun is familiar with how intense social media is in the US. 

 Date/Time: 2/10/2021 3-4pm Location: CIES Topic Discussed: Common Phrases, error correction, short game Thing learned: As I noted last week, when tutoring Hussam it is really important to have specific examples for the things he is asking a question for. He is very advanced, but is sometimes still confused about certain grammar explanations, so it is very important to give him specific rules that he can understand and apply. 

Date/Time: Wednesday 02/10 at 4 pm  Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Present tense, yes/no questions, pronounciation Feedback provided to tutee: Went over yes/no questions, I gave feedback after Jairo wrote his own sentences then explained any errors. Repeated words he mispronounced after he finished reading the whole line  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee learned:  Jairo and I reviewed auxiliary verbs, yes/no questions, present tense, and sentence structure. He needed help understanding grammar content covered in class so we reviewed it. We also practiced reading two poems he was given in class. We practiced pronunciation and discussed the meaning of the poems. 

 Date/time: 2/10/2021 Location: Starbucks Topic: TOEFL speaking agree/disagree questions  Thing learned: I learned that it is important for me to speak clearly to my tutees. Often, I speak very fast and use the word like a lot. I need to be much clearer in my speech so that I can be a good example to them. I think modeling speech is really important to improve their accuracy. I also noticed that Maher knows the grammar very well, and he seems to grasp English, but speaking and listening quickly are difficult for him. I think I want to work on more open ended speaking questions in the future so that he has to think and answer quickly. I also saw that it it is hard for him to develop ideas and speak them quickly. 

(Dojun session #4) Date/Time: Wednesday, February 10th at 9am  Location: Skype and google docs Topic/Skill: Review talking about the weather and free writing Feedback provided to tutee: grammar correction and word choice Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: The video I showed today was challenging for him, which was expected. He did a great job with the free writing exercise. His writing uses transition words and flows. I also got to hear about his honeymoon in the Maldives! 

 Date/Time: 2/10/2021 8:15 am Location: Zoom Topic: Chinese New Year and other celebrations Thing learned: I learned that about different wedding traditions in China, and traditions for holidays such as giving a red pocket full of money to people. We also talked about the difference between living at home and at school. 

 I had my second session with Arwa on Saturday, February 6th. Last time, when Arwa had trouble reading words, she only tried for a little to sounds them out and then gave up, so I read the words she couldn't pronounce and had her repeat after me, but I noticed that if the word came up again, she'd still have trouble reading it. At the beginning of this session, Arwa and I went over syllables. I explained what syllables were and we counted the syllables in a list of words. After a few tries, she seemed to understand this. After that we moved into reading passages, and I encouraged Arwa to try sounding out the words by syllable instead of asking for help when she couldn't read them. She was able to get through a lot of words she couldn't read by sounding them out, and I think it helps that the words are already in her vocabulary. I noticed the words she struggled the most with were words where a consonant cant have more than 1 sound, like page or decide. When trying to so...

 I had my first tutoring session with Sanghun on Saturday, the 6th. We started my introducing ourselves. I first noticed that Sanghun speech was very slow and careful, as if he was putting a lot of effort into choosing his words properly. When I asked him what he would like to spend the most time on, he told me he was most concerned about his speaking and listening. We started off with some conversation exercises. A worksheet online had a conversation activity that I really liked, and I used it during my session with Sanghun. In the activity, there are a set of phrases used in casual conversation. I tasked Sanghan to use at least 6 of the phrases in a conversation with me. There were different variations of the worksheet for different types of conversation, so we completed a few worksheets. After that, we did a timed speaking exercise that I observed in Dr. Rios’ class. 

 I had my first tutoring session with Arwa last Thursday, February 4th. Arwa is 9 years old, she was refereed to me by Mae’s conversation partner. I think Arwa is very smart. When speaking to her, her English is good and she seems very well adjusted. Her mother said she needs the most practice in reading and writing, which I could see because she struggles to read at her grade level. I think her biggest problem is in the phonetics. She knows and understands the word when it is said aloud to her, but when reading it off a page she struggles to pronounce words properly. For our first session, we read through short stories and passages. I explained a few rules of phonics after each one. For example, after the first passage, we went over the pronunciation of words with one vowel and two vowels. I explained to her that words with two vowels are typically pronounced with the first vowel getting the long sound and the last vowel stays silent (e.g “take” or “lame”). After that, when moving...

Date/time: Friday, 02/07/2021 from 1:30 to 2:35 Mariama Yoshiko Location: ZOOM Topic/skills: Essay writing, piece by piece: thesis statement, transition words, sentence structure+organization feedback: Overall, Mariama would need to ameliorate her ability to produce concise and coherent sentences. The words are there, and the ideas are clear, but writing them down may be challenging for Mariama.  Learned: I learned how to correct mistakes after she's done writing, so that I don't interrupt. I am still working on my abilities to give constructive feedback.

(Je-ah session #6) Time/Date: February 8th, 10PM Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Review of everything she has learned  Feedback provided to tutee: reinforcement of any new word pronunciations Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Je-ah did such a great job today! I think she is more comfortable with the mini introduction she helped write about herself. This was the first time I heard her speak in a fluent sentence! She was able to fill in the description of her dad and complete the review activity without any help. I had a major learning experience today which was always have a backup in mind. The website I had prepared for our full review of everything we have covered the past 5 sessions did not work (I think the session expired), so everything I had typed into it disappeared. I was able to recover, but then the website stopped working on her end. Thankfully, I realized we could do the activity through Zoom whiteboard. It was just a bit less exciting and not convenien...

Date/time: 2/8/2021 12-1pm Location: Starbucks Topic: adding ing to verbs Thing about tutoring learned: Today both Meeshal and Maher came to the session. Since I have been meeting one on one with Meeshal, it was difficult to try to work with both of them at the same time because they are at very different levels, and Maher does not seem as eager as Meeshal. I know that I have to prepare something that will be beneficial to both of them. 

 Date/Time: 2/7/2021 Location: Panera Topic: We talked about ourselves, our holiday traditions, and edited a few application questions together Thing learned: I learned that Halima originally was going to school to be a dental hygienist before she started doing speech pathology.  

D ate/Time: Friday 2/5 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: grammar (adverbs) and reading Feedback provided to tutee: Explained the rules and some examples of adverbs like "especially" and helped my tutee with pronunciation while reading as well as explaining any new vocabulary encountered. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  I learned a more effective way of explaining grammar points by using linguistic forms a student who has spent years learning English in classroom settings would more easily understand. I also included many examples to reinforce the new information.

Date/Time: Friday 2/5 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: listening and American technology culture Feedback provided to tutee: explanations about American history mentioned in the film and new vocabulary Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  I learned some of the similarities between societal beliefs about technology between the U.S. and Korea.

 Date/time: Friday, 02/05/2021, from 1:45 to 2:35 Mariama Yoshiko     Location: ZOOM Topic/skills: composition = dream job topic sentence, practiced using "I would like to become...." sentences as well as talking about FUTURE goals.  Feedback: Mariama's English is flawless, she understands even more than the basics, but I must say that sometimes, she mixes French grammar with English grammar: "I asked many questions amazing" instead of "I asked many amazing questions". Repetition will help Mariama crystalize the rule. Lessons Learned: I would say that I have acquired a lot more patience, as well as familiarity with both of my tutees (Dojun and Mariama). It is discomforting to know that I only have three more sessions left with each one...

Date/Time: Friday, 02/05/2021, from 12:30 to 1:26 Location: ZOOM/WhatsApp call Topics: How formal and informal language affects how people see you. Cultural/linguistic topics: We compared and contrasted how in Spanish, formal speech is completely different from English formalities. It is amazing that the slightest change in speech can affect how people view you in a setting. We compared and contrasted how two phrases sound alike but have different formalities. 

 Date/Time: Friday, 02/05/2021 from 9:00 to 10:25 Dojun Kim Location: ZOOM Skills/topics: informal vs formal language usage. "How we use it, and why we use it" Feedback: Dojun had some trouble forming his own formal/informal sentence for practice even with examples I provided. No other issues though, today was a lecture-heavy session.  Lessons learned: I had a hard time trying to help Dojun with the informal and formal differences in speech. After a while though, he started understanding the differences as well as the MODAL usage in formal language. Great session today!  

Date/Time: Thursday 02/04 at 8 pm  Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: University vocabulary, Florida State campus and resources Feedback provided to tutee: I corrected her grammar every now and then and tried to nudge her to work on her answers. For example, when she was describing GPA she couldn't explain the average part. I would describe it in different ways instead of giving the answer. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee learned:  Paola and I revisited the vocabulary from last week. We also learned new vocabulary by discussing FSU's campus. I used an online map to show her dining locations, dorms, buildings, popular areas, etc. I also talked to her about getting around Tallahassee and common student hangout spots. We revisited her writing from last time and decided to continue writing more next time. 

Date/Time: Thursday 2/4 Location: Zoom Topic discussed: pastries in Venezuela vs. the U.S. Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: I learned about the importance of tres leches cake in Venezuelan traditions (birthdays, weddings, etc.) and showed my partner a video on traditional American birthday cakes and baking practices.

 I had my first meeting with my conversation partner Julia today. It went really well. We started off talking about ourselves with the worksheet Joshua sent us. Julia told me about her family and her life. We walked about what Brazil was like, the culture and the food and the differences between her experiences in Brazil and America. After that we talked about the TV shows that we've watched/are watching on Netflix. Julia said she likes to watch American TV shows to get better at speaking English. We both really like the Queen's Gambit. Julia said she's been watching Shameless sometimes to get better at speaking colloquially. I told Julia that she should start watching Bridgerton and she told me that she's really been like Lupin, so I think I might watch that. Finally, we read the story Joshua sent to us and talked about how it's kind of like how we perceive our own cultures and other cultures. 

 Date/Time: 2/4/2021 12-1pm Location: Starbucks Topic: I have/I want and conjugation Thing learned: Again with Meeshal, as I learned yesterday, I realized that it is much more important to focus on the important verbs than it is to nitpick at his correct use of to, at, etc, if it doesn't affect the ability for him to communicate his ideas. 

(Dojun session #3) Date/Time: Thursday, February 4th at 9am  Location: Skype and google docs Topic/Skill: Talking about the weather Feedback provided to tutee: When to use windy vs. wind, It vs. there when talking about the weather Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: We had a fun conversation before we went into our material. I learned a lot about his job. He also talked about his experience crossing the U.S./Canadian border and how it was funny being able to cross it so easily. He wants to become better at producing sentences (fluency).

(Je-ah session #5) Time/Date: February 3rd, 10PM Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Talking about Family Feedback provided to tutee: Possessive pronouns, using His instead of He  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I spoke too soon in the last blog post, it was a difficult session today. It was hard to keep her attention. I thought the layout of the lesson worked better, but maybe I need to put the example and fill in the blanks right next to each other and then remove the example later. To make things a bit more positive, we are slowly seeing the words we used in the past few sessions become reinforced.

Time/Date: February 3, 2021 at 5:15PM Location: Zoom Topic Discussed: Hang-ah's practiced her presentation  Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: We discussed funny idioms such as "break a leg" and "hold your horses." We tried to make sense of idioms like "cut to the chase." 

 Date/Time: 2/3/2021 3-4pm Location: CIES building  Topic: Active/passive voice and adjective phrases Thing learned: Hussam is very advanced in grammar, and as we discussed in class, sometimes it is difficult for me to explicitly explain grammar rules that come naturally to me. I want to go into the next session more prepared with the terms, so that I can provide better reasoning and examples for him. 

Date/Time: Wednesday 02/03 at 4 pm  Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Yes/No Questions, Dictation, Sentence Structure  Feedback provided to tutee: Jairo practiced pronunciation and spelling. I corrected his grammar and pronunciation after he wrote and spoke. I explained everything he had doubts about thoroughly. For example, I would say a sentence, correct his spelling, explain sentence structure, and verb conjugation.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee learned:  Jairo and I reviewed a worksheet he completed in class. He wanted further clarification on how verb conjugation and sentence structure changes when converting a sentence into a yes/no question. We discussed patterns in yes/no questions, and I explained how the verb is affected. We also practiced writing and listening comprehension through dictation. I made up my own sentences and reviewed spelling errors. We also analyzed the sentence structure and the verb conjugation in the examples. 

 Date/time: 2/3/2021 12-1 pm Location: Starbucks Topic: want, eat, drink  Thing learned: For very beginners, it is important to go at a slow pace with a lot of reinforcement. If you try to introduce too many things at once, nothing will stick. It is very important to do one thing at a time. 

 Date/Time: Wednesday, 8:15 am Location: Zoom Topic: Introductions Thing I learned: I learned that Miao is in her Phd program, and that she is doing it remotely from China. I also learned that everything is opened back up where she lives, but she still has to be online because her program is not open in person at FSU yet. When she comes back to Tallahassee we plan on hanging out!

  Date/Time: Tuesday 2/2 Location: Zoom Topic discussed: fashion in Venezuela vs. The U.S. Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: I showed my partner a video showcasing the history of U.S. fashion in the past 100 years and my partner told me about the common fashion trends in Venezuela. 

(Je-ah session #4) Time/Date: February 1st, 10PM Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Review and game of 20 Questions  Feedback provided to tutee: Emphasizing communication with full sentences and minor pronunciation error (indirect correction) Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Like I've mentioned previously, Je-ah is a beginner and very young, so I am careful with when and how I correct her. Korean people have trouble pronouncing "f" and "th" sounds. Something I find interesting is that her pronunciation of the 'f' sound in "fast" is fine, but "friendly" is harder. She has really warmed up to me! 

Date/Time: Monday, February 1 at 8:30 pm   Location: ZOOM Topics discussed:  We discussed his current involvement in volunteer programs and the scuba club. He will be volunteering to teach students in Tallahassee about STEM. He is very excited to meet the other volunteers and interact with others face-to-face. We also talked about our travel history and future plans. He said he wants to visit as much of America as he can. We are considering mapping out some potential states and cities of interest.  Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned:  Hossam and I spoke of the nature available in America and Saudi Arabia. We share screened with each other to show different mountain ranges and interesting places. We also talked about how we felt about America and he said he loves America because it is a place with many cultures and different environments. We also talked about the systems of measurement.

   Date/Time: Monday 2/1 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Speech Feedback provided to tutee: Pronunciation corrections Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  My tutee asked me to record myself reading her presentation so she could practice later which I found interesting as it is something my Japanese professor would do for us as students when we had to give speeches. I feel this reinforces the importance of modelling and showing ESL/EFL students how to do something so they may emulate and remember better. 

  Date/Time: Monday 2/1 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Grammar & Writing Feedback provided to tutee: Grammar correction and writing advice Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  When I was unable to explain why something was correct or incorrect, I found it useful to search online for examples of it being used in academic writing or news articles. As a student I was always told people learn best by example so I try to use examples as a tool when tutoring, especially with grammar and writing. 

 Date/Time: 2/1/2021 3:00 pm Location: Zoom Topic discussed: Children's education Thing I learned: I learned that it is very difficult for some bilingual children to learn at school and at home in two different languages. Halima's son speaks both Arabic and English, but only English at school. She is preparing him for international school when her family returns to Saudi Arabia, and she wants to begin teaching him another language as well. 

 Date/Time: Monday 02/01/2021 from 8:00am to 9:15am Dojun Kim Location: Zoom Skills/Topic: dictation exercise, as well as listening comprehensive, vocab exercise+defining.  feedback: Some spelling errors, as well as unknown vocabulary words. Went through each one with ease and understanding. Very good session today! Lessons learned: Dojun learned how to properly execute an English dictation exercise. I learned how to be patient while I dictate, giving Dojun enough time to type the words at a steady speed that worked for him. Really good session today!!!