FSU TEFL120 Fall 1_2020

Date/Time: Monday 10/19 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Speaking and reading practice Feedback provided to tutee: a fair explanation of anti-government feelings mixed in with everyday vocab Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: long straight stretches of land are sometimes called "panhandle"

Tutoring session – tutee: Je-won 8, Thursday 10/22, 0800-0900hrs, Zoom. Covered:   continuing from last sessions verbs and auxiliary verbs usage; refresher on new terms               Since last week went well and the setup for this session worked well, this one went fast.   I had the same amount of stuff on the new worksheet and we blasted through it.   Again, it was am, was and will this time with the same pattern of sentences and similar terms for context.   Also, some new and lesser frequency terms.   So, I just tried to get to know him, and I guess there is at least one show on tv we both watch, The Return of Superman (seriously, look up the show, or better yet, look up kocowa.com and click on the variety tab and pick a show and go; just turn on the English closed captions).   I don’t think he knew that this was our last meeting.   I had to let him know and I thanked him for letti...

Tutoring session – tutee: Je-won 7, Thursday 10/15, 0800-0900hrs, Zoom. Covered: verbs and auxiliary verbs usage; some new terms               After last week’s lacking lesson, I was more interested in establishing a pattern for the last two sessions that could reflect off of each other.   I intend to use words such as was, am and will next session as this session I used the words do, does, doing, did, etc.   I kept the additional words used on the worksheet I made up similar across the usage of the verbs, so that my tutee could focus on the words he knows and use them to help establish context.   I also slipped in a few new terms of not the highest frequency.   Je-won responds well now and we have only one more meeting.    

Date/Time: Wednesday 10/21 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Prepositions and grammar tips Feedback provided to tutee: grammar and writing error correction Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Consciousness is key to impressing native English speakers with writing.

Date/Time: Wednesday 10/21 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Speaking fluency and prepositions  Feedback provided to tutee: Proper pronunciation and use of five different prepositions  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Preparation is the key to great lessons

Today I met with Marcia. She talked about how she is working on her applications for different graduate schools. She talked about how she applied to some schools in South Korea and other schools in Canada. She mentioned how it is exhausting to work on all these applications. I then started discussing with her how I always wanted to have a deep southern accent. She was shocked to hear this since she has always tried to overcome her accent in English. I talked to her about how it makes you sound different and adds diversity. After that, we ended up talking about the TEFL internship program and how she thinks Dr. Rios is a really good teacher. She thinks that his ability to understand where the students are coming from really makes him an effective teacher. 

                Today I met with Saad for the last time. We watched a video about the joy of learning a language. I wanted to use it as an opportunity to discuss how important it is to learn a different language. We watched it and then discussed it. We talked about as he learns English it will develop as its own part of his brain and interact with his Arabic-speaking brain. He elaborated on this as he notices in his Arabic writing he has picked up the politeness of English writing. He has also noticed that when it comes to learning English it's not just about learning the language but the culture, customs, and how people think too. I think this was a good way to close our sessions and show the joy he can have from learning English besides needing it for work.  

            Today I met with Hongru for the last time. He wanted to work together on his writing assignment for class. We read through it and I worked with him in making sure his sentences had clarity. I pointed out that in some instances his message is not coming across and he needs to make sure he spends the time explaining what he wants to communicate. Again we also discussed the importance of transition words and how he can use them to improve the fluidity in his writing. After editing the writing, we bid our final goodbyes. I told Hongru that it was a pleasure to tutor him and learn from him. 

                Today I had my last meeting with Marcia. We talked about how everything has been and how her new session is going. We also chatted about the education culture in South Korea. She explained to me about the competitive culture in South Korea and the Korean SAT. It was very interesting to learn this culture and see her input about how it affects the Korean people. We closed with the discussion of how someone should go about adapting to different cultures. She said that she thinks the best thing is to be open and to be willing to actually learn. She elaborated that they should be excited to learn all aspects of a culture, not just the aspects that they can use to improve their own culture. We then bid our farewells.  

                Today I spoke with Marcia. We started off discussing how tired both of us are. She recently submitted all her applications for grad school. She is super anxious now since she is waiting to hear back from all the schools. After a casual conversation about American politics, we ended up discussing the importance of being global. We talked about the common saying that America is the land of opportunity. It was interesting to hear her thoughts about how many international people still feel this way. She also thinks that more people should travel because that will widen their view about culture and how to do things in society. It was really interesting to get her perspectives on these topics.  

                Today I met with Saad and we discussed pronunciation and American accents. We discussed initially the value of an accent and how it helps embrace an American culture aspect of diversity. We spoke about how it is okay to have a different accent since all Americans have various accents. We then watched a youtube video about accents in New Orleans and the diverse history of New Orleans. He really enjoyed the video because he said that for him he was always focused on getting rid of his accent but now he realizes he shouldn’t be worried about that.  

                I met with Hongru to go over his speech again. I gave him lots of corrections on pronunciation and told him to use transitions so that his thoughts flow when he is speaking. I was very nitpicky with the errors so that he knew where to focus on improving his speech. We also used a thesaurus to change words that were just too difficult for him to pronounce. I also gave him a link to a thesaurus and showed how to use it that way if he is noticing that he just can’t pronounce a word he can find other words with the same meaning that are easier to pronounce. It was a very intensive focused meeting that way he can get very well prepared for his final speech with Dr. Kennell.

                I met with Saad today and we tried to mix it up a little. Today we focused on some useful skills for graduate school and reading academic articles. We discussed a short article I found that gives some tips on summarizing an article. We also talked about skills to use for skimming and scanning a text. How to manage your time properly was also something he wanted to talk about and the importance of organization. I closed our discussion on the importance of making sure you understand the main ideas of an article. That rewriting the main idea in your own words will really challenge your comprehension of an article and it will help down the line when you have to write a paper using the article.

                I met with Hongru today. We discussed his speech that he has been working on for Dr. Kennell. I had him read through it for me to figure out what his biggest issues in the speech are. Overall I told him to work on his pronunciation, that there are many words he is mispronouncing and I pointed them out to him and pronounced them for him. I outlined to him that it's important to pronounce words correctly since it can affect the meaning of a word or idea. I then showed him a TED talk about public speaking and connected it back to the importance of pronunciation in conveying his intended idea. I then closed that accents are fine but he has to ensure that his pronunciation does not affect the meaning of a word. I also gave him some practicing tips like taking short pauses to make sure he refocuses on his next ideas.

                Today I met with Marcia. We actually started off discussing the debate and the US election. We talked about voter turnout and how will that affect the election and also if trump has another chance of winning. She thought it was pretty interesting because she was shocked that Trump did nothing about coronavirus and just let people get sick. After that, we discussed her critical incident. It was about how when she first came to Tallahassee she went to McDonald's and someone held the door open for her. She was surprised and assumed that the person wanted something from her instead of being nice. She compared it to brazil in that no one in Brazil is nice and that typically people don’t try to help other people. So she liked that in America it feels other people are less selfish and that it is easier to be friends with people whether they are your boss or a stranger.  

  I met with Saad tonight and we practiced listening. I gave him some background on crime films and what they focused on. We discussed popular themes in crime films and how important a director's role is in a film. I also introduced low-frequency idioms that he would need to know for the film scene we watched. We then watched a scene from the film Pulp fiction. We discussed what the film was about, what he liked about the film, and discussed the closing question about evil in the world and trying to be the Shepard that helps others. This session was good for him since he knew the actors in the film and learned more about American culture and idioms to use in conversation.

 Today Abdulazziz and I went over his personal statement on the phone. We talked a lot about what specific edits he thought were appropriate and a lot about how the application process works. He seems excited about getting everything in and had a lot of questions for me about the process itself. We spoke about the GRE and the best ways to prepare for it. He seems to have become far more confident with his English and I am happy for him. We also discussed plans for the next few months and how he could best prepare for this next phase in his life. We also talked about the cultural differences between Saudi Arabia and the States when it came to applying for college programs. Finally, he told me about his host family and how much he was enjoying Tallahassee. I asked if he wanted to continue doing some sessions with me and he said he would. I look forward to continuing tutoring sessions with him going forward.

  Date/Time: Friday, Oct 9th 2:00 Location: ZOOM Topic discussed: Conversation practice and reading along to NPR articles Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: Ahmed and I learned about business news and current events together Critical Incident response from Ahmed: I remember when I got my driving license in the US. they ask me whether I'm willing to donate my body part in case I die, using a tagged question. I answered in a way they understood that I was going to donate. I learned about tagged questions and how to answer tagged questions after months of that moment I feel lost and until this moment I do not know how to fix that, but now I should be careful and I should ask for a clarification if I do not understand something.

  Date/Time: Saturday, Oct 3  Location: ZOOM Topic discussed: Following alone with an American TV Show Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: Network comedies are good to use because they're usually short and appropriate for all audiences

Date/Time: Friday Oct 2nd 2:00 Location: ZOOM Topic discussed: Conversation Practice and reading NPR articles. Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: Explained briefly and fairly the definition of white supremacy and the role it continues to play for domestic terrorist groups.

 I had grown concerned because I had not heard back from Abdulazziz for several days. He finally got back to me and told me he hadn't been feeling well and had just been busy. We took the time to talk about his plans for graduate school and about how he was feeling. We discussed differences between Saudi Arabian academia and American academia. I really enjoy these conversation settings because it gives me great insight into other cultures. Abdulazziz has been using a lot of idioms ever since Paul and I did our lesson which is so nice to see! We talked about how his classes were going and about his plans for time off. We spoke a lot about cultural differences and I asked him a lot of questions because Saudi Arabia has always been a place of interest for me. I look forward to continuing our conversations and sessions even after this class has finished. I really have enjoyed my time with him, he's a great student and wonderful guy. 

 Today Sanghun and I spoke about his weekend trip to Panama Beach. He told me about where he ate and what he did. I asked him if he enjoyed it and he seemed to have had a good time. He said he likes to travel and enjoyed going for there for the night. We went over some of the things he did and what he hoped to do next time he goes. Obviously, with COVID a lot of things were restricted but he said he and his wife still enjoyed themselves. We also talked about his plans for the week and he mentioned he hoped to go to Destin, Florida soon. Finally, we had a brief discussion about dreams and whether or not dreams serve as premonitions for things to come. That was a new vocabulary word for him but once I explained it he actually feels that dreams can give you some insight into the future, which I found interesting. I am not a fan of dream interpretation so we had a good conversation where we each explained our own views on the topic. Finally, we briefly discussed current events but Sang...

 Sanghun and I spoke about our daily lives after we finished our lesson. He told me about this plans to go to Panama City with his wife for the weekend. We discussed his favorite beach activities and what he was hoping to do while there. Sanghun has become far more open and speaks with more confidence now. He told me about his plans after he completes his research in the United States and why he is having issues at work with comprehension. Overall, it seems like Sanghun is happy in Tallahassee but definitely works a lot. He told me his only free time is really on weekends. He also told me about his friends from South Korea and what they do. In our lessons we have talked a lot about South Korean culture but in this conversational setting we got into far more details about his hometown and family. I found it very interesting. He also went into details about his research which quite honestly was well over my level of science understanding! He is a great guy and is really working hard ...

Sanghun started the session by telling me about his favorite baseball player. His favorite player is a South Korean pitcher who plays for the Toronto Blue Jays. We also discussed his favorite soccer player, another South Korean who plays for Tottenham. Ironically, I had just watched the Tottenham game a few days before so we had a good dialogue about soccer, tactics and the general lifestyle of professional athletes. I asked him about what he thought about athletes and how they are paid. He engaged in a good dialogue and asked me questions about what I thought. This was a good sign to me because it shows he is really getting comfortable and able to get out of his shell more. This was his goal from the beginning so I feel like our sessions have really helped him improve his confidence as well as his speaking ability. Sanghun and I discussed his research and how it was going and he and I discussed some of the vocabulary he uses on a day to day at his job. He told me that he feels better ...

 Julia and I spoke between her classes and she told me about her day. I asked her if she was interested in American politics and she said she was but also found it hectic and stressful to follow. I asked her about politics in Brazil and to have her elaborate on where she grew up. We discussed her plans to study for the GRE and her goals to take it in January or February. She seems excited to finish the semester and take two months off before returning back to the CIES program. We talked about how she would study and what else she would do in her free time. The main topic of our conversation was how she enjoys spending her free time outside of school and studies. She told me about her dog and how much she enjoys spending time with it! She seems very excited about the prospect of having two months off and is definitely excited to take the GRE exam and get into a masters program! I feel like speaking with her is beneficial because she does not practice much of her English outside of t...

 I spoke with Julia for the first time and we introduced ourselves to each other. We spent the time discussing her background and my own as well. I asked her to elaborate on various things including where she grew up, how she came to America, why she is studying clinical psychology and what her future ambitions were. She seems like a really girl and told me that she lives in Jacksonville but commutes to Tallahassee in order to to the CIES course. We discussed her background and I asked her to assess her own level of English. As most students who are shy tend to do, she downplayed her abilities but I told her she speaks well and we will work on things going forward. She said she wanted to work on pronunciation and using words in conversation more frequently. She mentioned she lives with her husband who is also from Brazil so as a result does not practice much English outside of the classroom...I will be her practice going forward. It was a pleasure to meet her and an enjoyable conve...

 Today we started with some minimal pairs. Abdul seemed tired today so I didn't want to do anything too over the top. We discussed minimal pairs and he used them in sentences. I have noticed an improvement in his ability to pronounce and use the minimal pairs (practice makes perfect). He is definitely getting more confident, similar to my experience with Sanghun, Abdulazziz is opening up more and more confident when speaking to me. Our guided conversation topics today were: food from his culture, academia in Saudi Arabia versus the United States, favorite pastimes and hobbies and finally travel goals. Each topic had about 12-15 questions that I would ask him. He would then answer and elaborate. Today I wanted him to focus on using transitions between sentences and seemed to feel better about it. I would only correct him if his mispronunciation led to a complete distortion of the word or meaning of the sentence but this rarely happened. He is definitely speaking clearer over time. W...