TS #9

This tutoring session with Sore was particularly enjoyable. We met at the CIES lounge, for it of course was easy for us to do so. Sore had come prepared again with material for us to go over. She brought a couple of vocabulary worksheets and notes from her class. Sore is really interested in bettering her vocabulary and pronunciation, so for this session we focused on that. I would again listen to her while she read some sample sentences or short paragraphs, correct her pronunciation, and then go over new sample sentences with words that she had pronounced incorrectly. We would also try to create some new sentences with the new vocabulary words that she had learned. Again, this session was very casual and more conversational, for I feel that this is beginning to become my tutoring style. I always thought that the best way to learn how to have real conversations with others in a foreign language was to learn how to speak that language in a conversational, casual way. And when specific problems arise like with grammar, then those will be corrected along the way. Sore and I always enjoy our time together, and she seems to be grasping new vocabulary and pronunciation.

Salah TS #16

29/4/15 (19:30 - 20:30)

Starbucks (W.Tennessee St.)

Topics: New vocabulary words, pronunciation of words and syllable sounds, reviewing countable vs non countable nouns.

I tutored Mohammad Alrashidi again for this final TS session and it followed on from our hour of conversation (see: Salah CP # 6).  

Mohammad told me he had struggled with a few new vocab words in his IELTs test last week.  We reviewed a few tougher vocab words, such as: fraud/fraudulent; complicated; evidence; shortcut; hippopotamus, commonly etc.

Some of these were high frequency words Mohammad had heard before, for example in the phrase: ‘commonly used words’.

I explained meanings of words such as: trauma/traumatically, rely/reliable, etc.  

We then worked on pronunciation of words and I encouraged Mohammad to break the words up into their syllable sounds ex: Ac-a-dem-ic, En-thu-si-as-tic and Acq-uain-tance etc.  I also tested his ability to spell the words correctly, by writing them out on paper. 

Lastly, I noticed Mohammad had a tendency to say 'slangs' instead of 'slang', so we reviewed the difference between countable and non-countable nouns and I explained that the word slang was treated the same as the word 'information' ie: it would be wrong to say 'informations'.

   

Salah CP #6

Date/Time: 29/4/15 (18:30-19:30)

Starbucks (W.Tennessee St.)

For this CP session, I got to learn a bit more about Mohammad Al rashidi (who I have tutored before).  Mohammad told me he had 11 siblings - 7 brothers and 4 sisters and that he was 4th in the pecking order.  

He explained that he has been a CIES student for almost 1 year (since last August) and is also enrolled in the summer session that just started.  He was happy he has progressed from a Group 1 to Group 3 student, in a relatively short time.  

To my surprise, Mohammad told me he was glad not to be a Group 4 student yet, as they have a lot of work to do (writing and presentations) - almost at university level.  He wanted to have a work/life balance and enjoy his time with friends here, whilst studying English. 

Lastly, he told me that he took the IELTs test last week and will know his results in about 2 weeks’ time.  He feels that he should pass this time.  Ultimately, he wants to move onto study Civil Engineering. 

 

TS # 8

In this tutoring session with PJ, our reading material that Ms. Kim had given me in advance had revolved around bald eagles in Mongolia. I would have never guessed that such a topic would be so interesting. Specifically, the story we went over was on the ancient tradition in Mongolia of the Mongol people working with bald eagles as hunting partners. Our story revolved around a young girl who had been hunting with the same eagle for a few years. She had become very talented, and as a female in this culture, her talent and accomplishment was significant. I really wanted PJ to engage fully with this story and topic, so we spent quite a bit of time watching schema-building videos of Mongol hunting sessions and then later reading the story in parts very slowly. I definitely feel that PJ best applies himself to reading material when he fundamentally understands each part of the story or concept, rather than having surface-level understandings. In this case, it seemed to work! He answered comprehension questions a little more successfully than previously.

Mernelle TS#16

4/27/2015
3-4 PM
Johnston Building



              Today I met with my adult tutee, we spoke about the issue that is happening in Nepal. It was very interesting to hear how he felt about it. It is sad that the people of Nepal suffer such a faith. I also shared about the earthquake that happened in Haiti a couple of years back and how it effected the people of the country still to this day. It was a great tutoring session.

TS #7

This tutoring session with Ahmed was held at the Starbucks on Tennessee St. I had been having a hectic week and wanted to meet somewhere more exciting, but Starbucks was a 2 minute walk from my house. I had gone to meet with Ahmed in between writing a paper and studying for an exam. I explained my busy week to Ahmed, and he was sweet enough to buy me a Mocha Latte! We then got to going over more vocabulary that Ahmed has heard around and wanted to understand more. For this session, I tried something a little different. For each word, I would explain it as simply and clearly as I thought I could, then I would write out multiple example sentences using the words, and then I would use visuals to further explain them and which contexts they are used in. I'm a horrible drawer, but drawing images as well as going over contextual use and example sentences proved to be extremely effective! Ahmed definitely seemed to enjoy it, for it brought on some silly drawings and conversations.

CP #6

This conversation partner was originally meant to be with Sore again, but there was a pleasant surprise about a quarter of the way through! I met Sore's classmate and friend Luna while we were at the CIES lounge. Sore and I spoke alone briefly before inviting Luna to come sit and chat with us. Luna showed us a music video that she was watching and listening to. Then we got to discussing Latin music and music in general. I got to learn names of new musicians that both Luna and Sore liked. I shared as well names of some Brazilian musicians that I think they would enjoy listening to. We all really enjoyed ourselves!