Peter TS #6

Abdullah for some reason stopped communicating with me, and I had to find a new adult tutee. Raul, thankfully, agreed to participate in my remaining tutoring hours. On Monday 24 April, Raul and I met at Strozier library. He bought along a binder containing material from his CIES classes. He told me that he was having trouble with verb tenses, specifically the present-perfect. I sat with him and explained what the present consists of: a past participle with "has" or "have." It designates action which began in the past but which continues into the present or the effect of which still continues. We thought up example sentences together. One was, ‘Peter has lived in Tallahassee for four years.’ He seemed to have trouble with the –ed suffix, and was wondering why he couldn’t use –ing. The reason you use –ed, I said, is because this is not the present perfect continuous, in which case, one would say, ‘Peter has been living in Tallahassee for four years.’  

Peter TS #5

On Thursday 13 April, I met with Abdullah for the third time. I asked him what he was up to. He told me that on Friday, he would travel with a few of his friends to the beach. He seemed excited by this excursion, and told me about the beaches in Kuwait. He cannot swim, and is afraid to enter the water. This fear is the result of a negative experience as a child. He told me about the time he almost drowned and had to be saved by a lifeguard. As he was speaking, I paid close attention to his pronunciation. When he mumbled, I asked him to repeat what it was he had said. I asked him if he would try to go swimming at the beach that weekend, and he said that, no, he was afraid to. I suggested that he take a class at the local swimming pool, or see a therapist, because such fears are unhealthy and emotionally harmful. 

Nicole CP #2

Gloriana says one of the main differences between here and Costa Rica is the people and the way they act.  I didn't really understand what she meant by this so I asked for more details.  Eventually we reached the point where we understood each other.  She said that people basically aren't as warm or as friendly.  Here, if you pass someone on  the street you say hi but in Costa Rica she says you say hi and then ask if they want to get coffee or something.  We chatted about why there may be such a stark difference.  I think it has to do with population size.  Costa Rica is much smaller and people are much more connected.  In America, you pass 100's of strangers a day.  People in America area also much more adamant about sticking to their busy schedules.  I shared with Gloriana the concept of "island time".  This is something I've learned about from traveling to many islands.  Island time is more or less whenever the people on the island want things to happen.  Many times something will be set to start at 3pm but it really won't begin until 3:45pm - because it's "island time".  Things are much more laid back and easy going in the islands.  Gloriana understood this concept and did see the legitimacy in the concept.   Gloriana is leaving town to play soccer internationally in the next few weeks and she's looking forward to that trip!

Nicole Tutoring 2

Today Harry and I worked on his writing.  He has the WOH paper so we used that as a writing topic.  He needs to choose a side of the Industrial Revolution and then defend it.  To help him decide I had him use the white board wall in my office (a wall that functions as a white board) to lay out his options.  He listed the positions and underneath them the details of the position.  After he chose his side we had to formulate a thesis.  Harry was not familiar with what a thesis is so I explained it to him and also provided him a handout on writing a thesis statement.  He then worked on crafting his thesis.  We went through a few different sentences until he created the strongest option.  Today was a material heavy day for Harry.  I can see the exhaustion he feels from focusing so much on this topic.  He tried very hard though and is leaving with something tangible.  The goal for next session is that Harry will have written his paper and we can go through and edit the paper together.

Claire TS #16

Date/Time: April 28, 6:30-9:30pm

Location: Tutee’s home in Sienna Square Apartments and Tallahassee Senior Center

Topic/Skill: Review books and contra dancing activities

I met with Damarce and her sisters for the eighth time on Friday. I had them finish filling out and coloring the remaining pages in the books they made about themselves. Then all the girls changed into dresses and we went to the Tallahassee Senior Center for contra dancing. At the end of my lesson for several weeks, I taught the girls different contra dance moves and invited their family to come to a dance together at the end of April. Their parents decided not to come along, but one of the girls' former TEFL tutors (who works for the IRC) and I drove the girls to the dance and had a great time with them. The girls did a good job following the caller's instructions and learning the dances. I think they had fun and had a positive cultural experience interacting with lots of friendly Americans there. I was glad that the other tutor was there with me as well as a few other friends I invited. Otherwise, it could have been really chaotic and difficult to keep an eye on all the kids! When we got back from the dance, the mother had prepared dinner for us. I ate as much as I could, but I could not finish the portions she served me. The girls have had a couple of tutors who have kept working with them beyond their 8-week commitment, so the girls don't seem to recognize that my time teaching them is done. I really enjoy working with them, so I feel conflicted about whether to continue or not. I will try my best to make up my mind and communicate clearly with them about my availability in the future.

Nicole Tutoring 1

Today I met with Harry, Harry is from Zambia.  Harry has been in the United States for the past two years (at a junior college) but his English language abilities are in the intermediate range.  Harry and I reviewed his to-do list  for the week.  Harry just took a math exam that did not go well and I helped him compose an email to his professor to meet with him.  Harry did not quite understand the concept of office hours so we reviewed what they were and their purpose.  This math class will be very challenging for Harry as it is a course that utilizes English in math, so lots of word problems.  Harry also has an essay due in two weeks for WOH, we reviewed those requirements.  Harry struggles to read and comprehend course materials.  In order to help him, I read through the information and had him summarize what I said back.  He understood most of the information but it was not all clear.  So we then I wrote down the main areas of the paper and had him go through and fill in the details.  While he did this I watched and then asked leading questions to keep him on the right track.

Harry cares about his school work and wants to do well.  I believe he is putting forth his best effort and he does stress when things don't go well.  He is battling quite a few challenges and I'm hoping he can work through those in order to be successful.

Nicole CP 1

I met with Gloriana as my conversation partner.  Gloriana is from Costa Rica, in her first semester at Florida State.  She is 18 years old and this is her first time away from home for an extended period of time.  Her English is fairly advanced.  Gloriana is hoping to study Sports Management but her current classes consist of liberal studies courses.  Gloriana has traveled all around the world playing soccer so she has a unique perspective of things in life.  One of the hardest things for her being away from home is missing her family, she has a twin back in Costa Rica  and she misses him very much. Gloriana really would like to just focus on working to assimilate into life in the States and plans to use our meetings to ask any questions she has about new things here.  Gloriana is in the middle of her Spring training for soccer  so she's learning how to balance school, soccer and college life.  She has a teammate from Venezuela on her team and they are very close friends.  It's nice for her to have someone to speak Spanish with and just feel a little closer to home.  I'm excited to learn more about Gloriana and share more about the US with her!