Chloe TS #1 (adult)

I met my adult tutee Haiqiong on campus for the first time. We had been corresponding by email and text, and she was very excited for the opportunity to work on her English. Haiqiong is a graduate student at FSU as well as an internationally renowned musician. She plays the zheng, a traditional Chinese string instrument. She already obtained her Master’s degree in Ethnomusicology at FSU and is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Musicology. I’m so amazed by all of her accomplishments! Haiqiong speaks English very well, but she needs help writing her academic papers. Doctorate-level writing requires a very advanced grasp of English and the ability to make careful, nuanced decisions about word choice, sentence structure, and much more. I completely understand why she needs help from a native speaker! She receives help from her advisor and colleagues in the music program, but they don’t have the time to work with her intensively on her papers. It’s so fortunate that we found each other because I consider academic writing my greatest strength, and I would love to help her.

Chloe CP #2

I had another coffee date with Fahd for our second meeting. For Spring Break, he had visited Pensacola and Houston, Texas, where his brother lives. He loved Pensacola- the laidback atmosphere, beautiful beaches, and great weather. We talked about the places we’ve traveled, and I told him about visiting South America and Europe. Like me, Fahd loves to travel and wants to visit many countries. I showed him photos of a friend’s trip to Uganda, and he showed me a photo of his father’s hawk! His father owns a beautiful hawk that is trained to hunt small animals. He said that’s very common in Kuwait. They hunt rabbits, birds, and other animals. I thought it was really cool- I’ve never met anyone in the U.S. who practices falconry. I asked him if girls hunt too, and he laughed and said no. This doesn’t surprise me from my knowledge of Arab and Muslim culture. I feel that women are restricted in much of the Middle East, but Fahd treats me very respectfully and equally. I’m excited to continue meeting with him and learn more about his culture.

Chloe CP #1

I met my conversation partner Fahd for the first time at Starbucks on campus. He had texted me over the weekend and seemed very eager to meet, so I was excited but a bit nervous. I tried to dress more conservatively than I usually do, since I knew he was probably Muslim and didn’t want to offend him. Thankfully Fahd was very friendly and we got along right away. We talked about many different things, mostly about ourselves. Fahd is from Kuwait. After the CIES program, he wants to study mechanical engineering- maybe in the U.S. He has an older brother studying in Texas right now. We’re both the youngest child in our family, but I only have 2 siblings whereas Fahd has six! Seven children seems like so many from my perspective, but to Fahd it’s very normal. That is the norm in Kuwait and other regions of the Middle East. Fahd has many friends in the CIES program, but he does not socialize a lot with American students, so I’m excited to spend time with him and help him practice his English. I plan on introducing him to some of my friends as well.

Sabrina TS#8

March 30th, 2017 @ 9AM - 10AM

Skype- So Young 

In this session, So Young and I read a short story together. We read, “The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry. It is a classic story that I thought would be appropriate for So Young’s advance level. We read the story out loud. I would read a few paragraphs and So Young would read the next few. While reading, I paused in certain places and asked her questions like, “What do you think will happen next?” or “Why do you think she did that?” 

After reading the story together, I gave her a list of 10 comprehensive reading questions. They were short answer questions, but instead of writing them out, we answered them together. I then gave her a chart that had three categories about the theme of the story. The categories were named: “Love, generosity, and wealth” which describes the essence of the story “The Gift of the Magi” really well. The instructions for this chart was to fill it with three scenarios from the story that fit the themes. I let So Young work on this herself. 

After she completed the chart, we went over any writing errors she made. The next part of the lesson was to go over new vocabulary words. The vocabulary this time were low frequency words. I found these words fitting since So Young has a strong knowledge on the high frequency words of the English language. We reviewed the words together, going over the definitions. We each came up with 2 example sentences. I prepared two worksheets in relation to the vocabulary words, but we did not have enough time to get to them. 

I felt like So Young really enjoyed reading the “Gift of the Magi” together. I also think she had fun playing with the new vocabulary words. When I would come up with an example sentence, she would use that as a model to come up with hers. We plan to continue mastering these vocabulary words more in our next session.