Sunday, October 31, 2010
J. Myrick-CP#2
This past Wednesday, Onur and I had our 2nd meeting. He seemed a bit more as ease this time around. We walked around campus and just talked about his time here in America so far. we then went to the SLC to play Chess. We had a disconnect because they play it differently in Turkey. We finally got on the same page, and This was the hardest game of chess I've ever paid because we came blocking each other. The game was about 45 minutes, and we finally called it even. During the game, we talked about his life in Turkey and how it compares to America. I told him about my time New Jersey and Jacksonville. We're supposed to catch a movie at the SLC within the next week or so.
J. Myrick CP #1
I met my Conversation Partner, Onur, who is from Turkey, last Tuesday during the Tea time and it was interesting. He seemed hesitant to begin talking but after awhile, he started to give me the history of Turkey and how he became the country it is today. He told me that he just got to America the first week of October, and wants to travel around the United States. He's been speaking english for 6 years, but he could use some help in grammar, and vocabulary.
C. Smith - TP # 3
Yesterday I drove over to Mohammad's house to give an English lesson. I'd tried to estimate his level of English ability the previous time we met at Tea Time at CIES. He hadn't said much, and I worried that he wasn't able to understand what I was saying. It turns out that much of the reason for his lack of understanding had to do with the background noise and crowd instead.
I had made a simple lesson teaching articles, prepositions, and counting from 1-100, but when I got there he asked me to help him practice pronouncing words for the upcoming quiz on Monday. We did that and then took a break to have lunch. He made a spicy dish with chicken, cashews, and rice, and we also ate the potato and carrot and raisin salads I brought over. After having some coffee, I then gave him some advice on how to prepare four paragraphs for an essay about himself. We used google.com's translation service to translate between Arabic and English when there was a word I could not explain clearly.
He has had some training with writing English but hasn't had much of a chance to speak it. When we were writing the paragraphsI drew his attention to the mistakes in his sentences and explained why they were mistakes, and then taught him a correct pattern to use instead (e.g., "I live [in] Tallahassee"). He was very appreciative and asked me to continue helping him on the weekends,which I will be very happy to do. Next week he informed me he wants to practice present continuous, so I'll prepare a lesson to teach that grammar point. I still have an old copy of American Streamline, so I might draw upon a lesson from that for inspiration.
I had made a simple lesson teaching articles, prepositions, and counting from 1-100, but when I got there he asked me to help him practice pronouncing words for the upcoming quiz on Monday. We did that and then took a break to have lunch. He made a spicy dish with chicken, cashews, and rice, and we also ate the potato and carrot and raisin salads I brought over. After having some coffee, I then gave him some advice on how to prepare four paragraphs for an essay about himself. We used google.com's translation service to translate between Arabic and English when there was a word I could not explain clearly.
He has had some training with writing English but hasn't had much of a chance to speak it. When we were writing the paragraphsI drew his attention to the mistakes in his sentences and explained why they were mistakes, and then taught him a correct pattern to use instead (e.g., "I live [in] Tallahassee"). He was very appreciative and asked me to continue helping him on the weekends,which I will be very happy to do. Next week he informed me he wants to practice present continuous, so I'll prepare a lesson to teach that grammar point. I still have an old copy of American Streamline, so I might draw upon a lesson from that for inspiration.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Taylor Class Observation #1
Bright and early Wednesday morning I sat in on Ron Garren's beginning grammar class. The class began immediately at 9:00AM however, many people began to trickle in the next ten minutes. Mr. Garren wrote the agenda for the day on the board and also the topic we would be learning, Pronouns. He began the class by going over the previous nights homework and what I thought was helpful was he projected the homework on a screen so students had it in front of them and on the board. He started the review by calling on students to read the sentence and their answers aloud. If a student was incorrect, he had the class verbally decide on what the answer was and then confirm it himself. After the homework, we split up into partners and read a passage in our groups. Our instructions were to find and circle all the pronouns in the passage. I got to work with a student on this, and unfortunately I was a little rusty on the topic. (Now, I really know what pronouns are) He then went over the activity by again, projecting it on the screen and highlighting all the pronouns so we could check our own work.
Then came my favorite part of the class, pronoun BINGO! He passed out BINGO charts and read sentences that contained a pronoun. Students must listen for the pronoun and then cover it on their BINGO board. Many students at my table were getting "our" and "hour" mixed up and would look at me for help. I pointed to my wrist every time it was "hour." The students played two rounds of that version then Mr. Garren made it more challenging: He wrote sentences on the board and they had to guess the correct pronoun. For instance "This is the dog's house." The dog would be replaced by "its."
This version of BINGO was a great idea for the class because he was able to lead the students into finding the answers themselves and whenever someone yelled BINGO it perked up the class, especially since it was 9:00 in the morning.
Then came my favorite part of the class, pronoun BINGO! He passed out BINGO charts and read sentences that contained a pronoun. Students must listen for the pronoun and then cover it on their BINGO board. Many students at my table were getting "our" and "hour" mixed up and would look at me for help. I pointed to my wrist every time it was "hour." The students played two rounds of that version then Mr. Garren made it more challenging: He wrote sentences on the board and they had to guess the correct pronoun. For instance "This is the dog's house." The dog would be replaced by "its."
This version of BINGO was a great idea for the class because he was able to lead the students into finding the answers themselves and whenever someone yelled BINGO it perked up the class, especially since it was 9:00 in the morning.
Lindsey TP #2
I met with my Korean TP, "Y," for the second time this morning. I picked her up and we went to Starbucks, a place she rarely visits here, but used to a lot in Korea. I tried to let Y order, even though she was very hesitant, but it wasn't very successful, because as soon as the barista looked at her, she began to stumble on her words, and very quickly both she and the barista looked at me to do the talking. I know she knows the correct words, but she isn't very confident yet and is easily flustered when put on the spot. I later explained to her that at Starbucks, one barista will take your order to start your drink, while a different one requires you to repeat your order to ring you up. I'm hoping that now that she understands the system, she'll feel more comfortable ordering herself next time.
Overall, Y was very chatty this week. Not sure if it was because we were in a casual, "real world" setting, or if she is more comfortable now that we've met more than once. In our first meeting last week, Y had asked if she could read aloud to practice her pronunciation. Based on a suggestion in our textbook, I brought along today's Tallahassee Democrat, and printed copies of 3 articles from today's paper. I had her read aloud first, while I read along and marked words or sounds she struggled with. Then I read aloud a bit and she read along. It went fine, but I think it won't be necessary every week.
Y says she reads about one Korean book per week. Since she's already a reader, I brought up the idea that we could choose an appropriate book for both of us to read and talk about. That way she can work on her English outside of our lessons. I'm also going to prompt her to talk more about her life in Korea, because she seemed very interested in explaining their system of government, for instance.
Overall, Y was very chatty this week. Not sure if it was because we were in a casual, "real world" setting, or if she is more comfortable now that we've met more than once. In our first meeting last week, Y had asked if she could read aloud to practice her pronunciation. Based on a suggestion in our textbook, I brought along today's Tallahassee Democrat, and printed copies of 3 articles from today's paper. I had her read aloud first, while I read along and marked words or sounds she struggled with. Then I read aloud a bit and she read along. It went fine, but I think it won't be necessary every week.
Y says she reads about one Korean book per week. Since she's already a reader, I brought up the idea that we could choose an appropriate book for both of us to read and talk about. That way she can work on her English outside of our lessons. I'm also going to prompt her to talk more about her life in Korea, because she seemed very interested in explaining their system of government, for instance.
Taylor TP# 2
Today I met with Cynthia for the second time. She told me that pronunciation, speaking, and listening were the three key things she wanted to work on with me. In the spirit of Halloween, I went on the census site and worked with her on this mini article:
http://www.census.gov/multimedia/www/radio/profile_america/profile-even-22.php
First I read the article aloud to her and asked her to write down as many words as she could that she recognized. After that, I went over them with her. A many of them were numbers and some were parts of sentences. From now on, I will not give articles with numbers because it is a give away haha. After reviewing the words that she wrote down, I gave her the script and had her read it aloud and circle any words she was unfamiliar with. I also had my own script in which I highlighted all the sounds and words she had trouble pronouncing. Overall, Cynthia did very well with only minor problems with the th- sound and -ow sound. We also went over all the words and phrases she circled such as "...tipped the scale..." and "satisfy."
Afterward, I made two sentences with many th- and -ow sounds such as "The Halloween art show will have one thousand carved pumpkins." She read them and we corrected the sounds together. It was funny with all the faces we were making trying to exaggerate the -ow and th- sounds. Finally, Cynthia brought out her vocabulary book and I had her pick out five words she had problems remembering. This exercise caught me off guard because some of these words were hard to explain such as cohesion or homogeneous. At the end of the hour, I wanted to surprise her with a fun activity with a popular song by Taylor Swift so that she can learn more about pop culture however, my internet stopped working. Perhaps we can do a day of songs and lyrics. Anyway, Cynthia said she would like more help pronouncing th's and -ow so the search is on for articles and passages or tongue twisters with those sounds!
http://www.census.gov/multimedia/www/radio/profile_america/profile-even-22.php
First I read the article aloud to her and asked her to write down as many words as she could that she recognized. After that, I went over them with her. A many of them were numbers and some were parts of sentences. From now on, I will not give articles with numbers because it is a give away haha. After reviewing the words that she wrote down, I gave her the script and had her read it aloud and circle any words she was unfamiliar with. I also had my own script in which I highlighted all the sounds and words she had trouble pronouncing. Overall, Cynthia did very well with only minor problems with the th- sound and -ow sound. We also went over all the words and phrases she circled such as "...tipped the scale..." and "satisfy."
Afterward, I made two sentences with many th- and -ow sounds such as "The Halloween art show will have one thousand carved pumpkins." She read them and we corrected the sounds together. It was funny with all the faces we were making trying to exaggerate the -ow and th- sounds. Finally, Cynthia brought out her vocabulary book and I had her pick out five words she had problems remembering. This exercise caught me off guard because some of these words were hard to explain such as cohesion or homogeneous. At the end of the hour, I wanted to surprise her with a fun activity with a popular song by Taylor Swift so that she can learn more about pop culture however, my internet stopped working. Perhaps we can do a day of songs and lyrics. Anyway, Cynthia said she would like more help pronouncing th's and -ow so the search is on for articles and passages or tongue twisters with those sounds!
Lindsey Class Observation #1
On Thursday I observed Debbie's IN-HI Speaking class. I was most struck by the following:
- She started by assigning the class group work while she called up individual students to give them feedback on a presentation they had given the day before. I felt this was a good use of time.
- She was very strict regarding classroom management - laptops and cell phones were prohibited and she "berated" students who hadn't completed the homework or had missed class the day before. She was surprisingly firm and blunt with the students - really didn't pull any punches.
- The day's lesson required the students to discuss the pros and cons of a given topic (e.g. use of drugs in sports) in groups of 3-4, and then present the topic to the class. I was impressed with the high academic level of the prompts, which Debbie said was more common once students reached the intermediate level.
- Debbie very specifically evaluated students on their (Western) presentation and speaking skills, not just their English language ability. That surprised me, but it makes good sense.
- Finally, I really like that each lesson/assignment within the course - whether a speech, debate, or panel discussion - is repeated more than once. The first time students are given feedback, and only the second time are they given a grade.
- She started by assigning the class group work while she called up individual students to give them feedback on a presentation they had given the day before. I felt this was a good use of time.
- She was very strict regarding classroom management - laptops and cell phones were prohibited and she "berated" students who hadn't completed the homework or had missed class the day before. She was surprisingly firm and blunt with the students - really didn't pull any punches.
- The day's lesson required the students to discuss the pros and cons of a given topic (e.g. use of drugs in sports) in groups of 3-4, and then present the topic to the class. I was impressed with the high academic level of the prompts, which Debbie said was more common once students reached the intermediate level.
- Debbie very specifically evaluated students on their (Western) presentation and speaking skills, not just their English language ability. That surprised me, but it makes good sense.
- Finally, I really like that each lesson/assignment within the course - whether a speech, debate, or panel discussion - is repeated more than once. The first time students are given feedback, and only the second time are they given a grade.
Taylor CP #2
Yesterday (Thursday) at tea time, Victoria and I tried to hunt down our conversation buddies. She found out hers went home sick, and another CIES student helped me hunt down mine. Eventually, I met my conversation buddy Jose Miguel who is from Venezuela. Victoria, Jose Miguel and I sat down at a table with Baha and talked about stuff we like to do in our spare time and what they wanted to see or do in Tallahassee. Of course, Jose Miguel said he wants to go to the clubs which, I thought was pretty funny. I told him that there was not much talking involved when going to a "disco" because the music is so loud.
It was easy to keep the flow of the conversation going with a Spanish speaker since I am more familiar with the language. When Jose and I were talking, sometimes he did not know how to say the word in English, for example "violence." I told him to tell me the word in Spanish and I would tell him it in English. Although this did not happen frequently, it helped save a lot of time for explaining what a word means and kept the conversation moving. We also talked about his home town and that right now in Venezuela it is very dangerous and that three of his friends were robbed and killed. I thought about last class when we were discussing how people would say some place was dangerous when it really was not and I assumed that Venezuela was one of those places. However, after he told me about his recent experiences, it really put things into perspective.
We are supposed to meet next Thursday at tea time to talk however, I want to show him more of Tallahassee instead of just saying in one room. I think maybe going to karaoke night one Thursday would be a good laugh and something more laid back than a club.
It was easy to keep the flow of the conversation going with a Spanish speaker since I am more familiar with the language. When Jose and I were talking, sometimes he did not know how to say the word in English, for example "violence." I told him to tell me the word in Spanish and I would tell him it in English. Although this did not happen frequently, it helped save a lot of time for explaining what a word means and kept the conversation moving. We also talked about his home town and that right now in Venezuela it is very dangerous and that three of his friends were robbed and killed. I thought about last class when we were discussing how people would say some place was dangerous when it really was not and I assumed that Venezuela was one of those places. However, after he told me about his recent experiences, it really put things into perspective.
We are supposed to meet next Thursday at tea time to talk however, I want to show him more of Tallahassee instead of just saying in one room. I think maybe going to karaoke night one Thursday would be a good laugh and something more laid back than a club.
Lindsey CP #1
I haven't been able to meet up with my CIES CP yet, so I'll be blogging about my time at the English Conversation Club at the Center for Global Engagement (http://cge.fsu.edu/interculturalprog/ecc.cfm). I basically show up in the CGE lounge every Wednesday afternoon, ready to speak English with whoever shows up that week. The English Conversation Club is open to all international students, visiting scholars, spouses, etc.
This week only two people were able to attend - one an intermediate level, native-Hindi speaker, the other a beginner, native-Korean speaker. For the period of time that both were there, we carried on a 3-way conversation, despite the two different speaking levels. Fortunately, the Korean woman had a high receptive listening knowledge and could follow the conversation, even if she did not have enough productive vocabulary to contribute often. Once the other person left, she and I had a one-on-one conversation which went very well. She especially opened up when I asked her questions about her life in Korea. In future, I plan to use ideas from Appendix B of our textbook - "Culture-Topic Activity Ideas for Oral Skills Classes" to lead attendees in conversation.
This week only two people were able to attend - one an intermediate level, native-Hindi speaker, the other a beginner, native-Korean speaker. For the period of time that both were there, we carried on a 3-way conversation, despite the two different speaking levels. Fortunately, the Korean woman had a high receptive listening knowledge and could follow the conversation, even if she did not have enough productive vocabulary to contribute often. Once the other person left, she and I had a one-on-one conversation which went very well. She especially opened up when I asked her questions about her life in Korea. In future, I plan to use ideas from Appendix B of our textbook - "Culture-Topic Activity Ideas for Oral Skills Classes" to lead attendees in conversation.
Matthew Class Observation # 1
Tuesday, I met with Jerry at 9:00 AM for Intermediate (level 3) Grammar. I arrived with roughly half of the students there already at 855 while the others dragged in for the next 10 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised at the eagerness of a few students. If not for the clock on the wall, for the level of energy, 9 AM seemed about 230PM. Of course there are always a few students who, literally, just got out of bed and have one eye open.
Jerry entered the class on the dot of 9 and got the ball rolling. He handed back quizzes that the students took last week on connectors. It was clear that the class had dedicated ample time for the material on the quiz and he stressed the importance of being present in class to improve grades. It seems that most of the students had performed well. One student had a question on the connector "therefore" and watching Jerry explain the need for an action to occur before the word to be taken in context was entertaining. It seems that he knew how to connect with that student well.
The last 20 minutes or so of the class period was dedicated to what the students would like to learn for the the next three weeks. Jerry turned the power over to the students and they were allowed to tell him what they would be interested in learning, or re-learning. It seems that vocab for the TOEFL is a general need. Other topics of interest included phrasal verbs and adj clauses. Touching on phrases, Jerry liked to explain that the English language really like to use the word "up" in slang. At about 8 minutes left of class, Jerry assigned some vocab for independent learning. He reinforced the studying with having to utilize the vocab in a sentence and, if possible, use more than one new vocab in a sentence. This was presented as a mini challenge that might ignite the students to further their drive.
Overall, considering at 9AM, the class environment was jovial and exciting. The students seem interested when Jerry allows them to speak and get involved in the lesson. Cheers.
Matthew TP # 1
This past Tuesday I met my tutoring partners. Their names are Fatwan and Nasser and they are both from Saudi Arabia. I learned that they have only been actively studying English here at CIES for roughly 8 months and I was astonished by how well they both communicated.
As we dived into our brief histories, I learned from them that Arabic speakers seem to be able to communicate in English rather quickly in comparison to other cultures. They both showed interest in being tutored in grammar as well as listening for different accents. I was having a good time with them; attempting to do different accents from around the country. Fatwan seems to have a good southern accent down and Nasser does an Australian accent to the T. Apparently in Saudi Arabia, Nasser does a lot of business with British and Australian people, so he emphasized that learning accents is a high priority to him. This is something we can work on with the right resources and I feel considerably equipped with the tools to help him comprehend more and more each session.
We exchanged personal information and I look forward to contributing to their education. We have decided that the next "real" lesson will consist of them bringing information on grammar that they are struggling with, their black book of words that I asked them to write down when they do not understand the meaning, as well as a short audio lesson on accents. I believe having a few different practice techniques will assist both Nasser and Fatwan to further develop their skills.
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Dallas Class Obersvation 1
Yesterday I had a classroom observation for the beginner grammar class. The class began at 9:00 am so some of the students still appeared to be waking up. I was really able to notice the similarities of student behavior between students here and abroad. While the majority were focused and awaiting the days lesson, there were some students (one or two) whom appeared as if they could have used another hour of nap time. Does anyone else feel like scientist with these observations? Lol! Statistics on international education gave me the perception/expectation that international students were extremely discipline. Maybe it's just the system. Now that perception hasn't change; I think I was just able to identify a little more with the student rather than a concept after this experience. Let me give you a little more context behind this statement. There was an student that missed class yesterday, and the instructor asked; "Where were you?" he simply replied "I was at home." and then class continued. Goodness! I had to refrain from laughing. I think the instructor was kinda tickled too. We shared a glance that I think implied, "Yep, that's a part of the job too".
The lesson covered the present perfect. Class began with students presenting their homework assignments. They had to interview their partners, and write at least five statements about what they enjoyed about their lives. After students read their assignments aloud they were critiqued by their peers. The class determined if the speaker spoke clearly and wrote using correct grammar. Initially when entering class the students didn't seem enthused to interact using English. Once the presentations took place they were more engaged and even eager to correct one another, in an assisting manner of course.. Mrs. Radman having only taught for two years, teaches as if shes had twenty years experience. I've never considered myself a strong English student, what can I do to attain her level confidence and expertise of English teaching?
Catalina - TP #5
This last tutoring session has, once again, seen my admiration develop towards my students. And I call them students now because, although my original SST learners didn’t really know what going to class meant; they have grown to expect work, pay attention, bring something into each class hour and take as much out as they can. Actually now I find myself going through a second set of uncomfortableness (and if this word doesn’t exist, I just made it up). Because the first class was such a disaster, I have modified the classes to be directed and organized and it has been working very well. However, I now would like to be able to teach them faster and better, including more useful stuff for their day to day basis. And they are actually doing their homework but I wonder if I am asking too little of them precisely because I assumed that they didn’t know what studying is all about. Or if I just would like to magically teach them faster but need to take things one at a time. So this week their homework is a bit more complicated… and we’ll see what comes out of that.
The class again started with dinner. I am guessing it’s their way of ‘paying’ me for the classes; however it was also because Alberto was going to be late and that was a way of making time. Tatiana really likes me and I love her. She’s always laughing and fidgeting. I do think she has a communication problem, though. She doesn’t speak good Spanish or English but she gets her message across by giggling, pointing and being adorable. I wonder how things will be when school gets serious, though, and I worry. During dinner I hear about the story of Katia, the oldest daughter, and her trip to the US. Again, I look at these people with true admiration.
After dinner we started the class with their homework which was to write down what they were wearing every morning since the last time we met. It was really interesting to see how Tony learned from the correction of Emma’s mistakes and applied it directly to the board… Their spelling is still pretty bad, but those words that we’ve been over more than once are starting to stick. We then proceeded to work out a Q&A exercise and I am wondering how much I should explain about just plain grammar to them so they understand the construction of these questions and answers. Through repetition they are getting the gist of the structure, but don’t really understand some of the theory… basically because I don’t think they’ve ever really conceptualized language parts, so how can I say the adjective goes in front of the noun or the third person uses an ‘s’ if they have no idea what I am talking about? I try to work out examples and a communicative use, but I wonder how far this takes me. The classes are always at least one hour and a half long and I leave them hungering for more. We were going to work out some hypothetical phone conversations and this will be a challenge because I think it might be too difficult for them… but Friday will tell. The alphabet still needs some polishing so we always end up singing it. And their homework is to build an interview of at least five questions of those they’ve been practicing in the last classes, ask someone these questions and write down the answers. The spelling is going to be interesting to see. I hope none of them comes with a broken nose to class the next day for asking the wrong person!!
The class again started with dinner. I am guessing it’s their way of ‘paying’ me for the classes; however it was also because Alberto was going to be late and that was a way of making time. Tatiana really likes me and I love her. She’s always laughing and fidgeting. I do think she has a communication problem, though. She doesn’t speak good Spanish or English but she gets her message across by giggling, pointing and being adorable. I wonder how things will be when school gets serious, though, and I worry. During dinner I hear about the story of Katia, the oldest daughter, and her trip to the US. Again, I look at these people with true admiration.
After dinner we started the class with their homework which was to write down what they were wearing every morning since the last time we met. It was really interesting to see how Tony learned from the correction of Emma’s mistakes and applied it directly to the board… Their spelling is still pretty bad, but those words that we’ve been over more than once are starting to stick. We then proceeded to work out a Q&A exercise and I am wondering how much I should explain about just plain grammar to them so they understand the construction of these questions and answers. Through repetition they are getting the gist of the structure, but don’t really understand some of the theory… basically because I don’t think they’ve ever really conceptualized language parts, so how can I say the adjective goes in front of the noun or the third person uses an ‘s’ if they have no idea what I am talking about? I try to work out examples and a communicative use, but I wonder how far this takes me. The classes are always at least one hour and a half long and I leave them hungering for more. We were going to work out some hypothetical phone conversations and this will be a challenge because I think it might be too difficult for them… but Friday will tell. The alphabet still needs some polishing so we always end up singing it. And their homework is to build an interview of at least five questions of those they’ve been practicing in the last classes, ask someone these questions and write down the answers. The spelling is going to be interesting to see. I hope none of them comes with a broken nose to class the next day for asking the wrong person!!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Chris: Update on Everything
I'll try and update you all on everything so far, which my sound like a lot. As of right now, I'm in contact with my tutee, although we didn't get to meet each other last Tuesday at CIES. During that lonely time, Tony and Hunsoo took me under their wings and we all had an interesting conversation. We talked about anything from Korean music to tricky English topics. The three of us ended up going to eat at a Korean restaurant later that night. I'm excited to meet my TP and get to know him. His name is Pete and that's about all I know so far.
I also haven't met my conversation partner, Asier, yet. I know that he's from Spain and I'm sure I'll get to meet him very soon. During tea time last week, I talked with Adal (Emin) from Turkey, who was in need of a CP too. We talked for a bit about Turkey, which was interesting to me because my sister's boyfriend is from there and I have a good friend on exchange there this year. I was surprised at the number of Turkish students at CIES.
On Monday, I started the week off right, with a class observation bright and early. I sat down in an Intermediate Grammar class, only to get right up again. It was a quiz day, so everyone went a couple rooms down into the computer lab. The quiz format was impressive and I took a lot of notes on it. Ross, the teacher, let me actually take the quiz (lucky me!), although I got the feeling I had an unfair advantage. The first part consisted of some sentences with grammatical mistakes in them. Ross told me that they were actual mistakes that the students had made in class. The students had to correct the mistakes. There were two speaking parts; one utilized the past tense and the other was about plans in the future. The cool part was that the students then had to listen to the clip they recorded on their computers and transcribe what they said (without correcting mistakes). Ross told me that this not only helped the students hear what they are saying incorrectly, but also made it easier to grade the quizzes. The last part directed the students to follow a link to a youtube video and answer some questions about it. So, I went into the class expecting to observe a grammar lesson, but I learned a lot about the evaluation aspect regardless.
Great things to come: meeting my TP and CP and more class observations!
I also haven't met my conversation partner, Asier, yet. I know that he's from Spain and I'm sure I'll get to meet him very soon. During tea time last week, I talked with Adal (Emin) from Turkey, who was in need of a CP too. We talked for a bit about Turkey, which was interesting to me because my sister's boyfriend is from there and I have a good friend on exchange there this year. I was surprised at the number of Turkish students at CIES.
On Monday, I started the week off right, with a class observation bright and early. I sat down in an Intermediate Grammar class, only to get right up again. It was a quiz day, so everyone went a couple rooms down into the computer lab. The quiz format was impressive and I took a lot of notes on it. Ross, the teacher, let me actually take the quiz (lucky me!), although I got the feeling I had an unfair advantage. The first part consisted of some sentences with grammatical mistakes in them. Ross told me that they were actual mistakes that the students had made in class. The students had to correct the mistakes. There were two speaking parts; one utilized the past tense and the other was about plans in the future. The cool part was that the students then had to listen to the clip they recorded on their computers and transcribe what they said (without correcting mistakes). Ross told me that this not only helped the students hear what they are saying incorrectly, but also made it easier to grade the quizzes. The last part directed the students to follow a link to a youtube video and answer some questions about it. So, I went into the class expecting to observe a grammar lesson, but I learned a lot about the evaluation aspect regardless.
Great things to come: meeting my TP and CP and more class observations!
C. Smith TP #2
Today I went over to the library to teach Radka again from 11-12:00. At the end of our last lesson, she specifically requested a lesson teaching her how to use the bus. Our lesson covered vocabulary and phrases such as "exact change", "how much is the bus fare to [place]?", and various ways to ask questions related to riding on the bus. This included how to ask about prices and any available discounts.
I covered how to make one-way and round-trip reservations for bus rides, and also taught her how to ask the bus driver to tell her when they reached [destination]. Once we had finished with that, I discussed shuttle bus services that hotels sometimes offer, and how to take advantage of those.
The above activities used 45 out of our 60 minutes. Once we had exhausted the above, I briefly mentioned prepositions because another of our teachers will be covering that in a future lesson. At the end of our lesson, Radka asked me to teach her how to ask for directions and asked me to bring in a map for her to practice describing how to get from A to B, so that will be our activity for next Wednesday. We will also be switching to a twice per week (Wednesday and Friday) schedule for our lessons starting next week.
Catalina - Class Observation #1
This past Monday I sat in and intermediate group 3 listening class with teacher Ryan. At arrival he was already in the classroom, checking some things out in the computer and greeting students that were coming in. It made students change their attitude when entering the classroom, since the teacher was already there. I think it helped them focus more on the starting class.
The class hour started on the dot even though some students were missing. He mentioned it in a joking way, but it made the other students conscious of how it can be detrimental to come in late (they’ll be missing the introduction to the class, they will be interrupting other students). Ryan posted the outline of what was going to be happening during the following hour on the projector and briefly went over it. I think this is a very good idea (like Ramin does with us every class!). It prepares you for what’s coming up and helps students realize how much they are getting done in each class.
The first activity was feedback of the quizzes they’d taken the previous day. In the meantime, a student that had missed the exam had to be taken to another classroom and be given the quiz. Ryan gave another student the quizzes to hand out while he’s out of the classroom. This is a simple action that he might have done without a second thought, but I think it demonstrated trust in the students. It’s good that students feel that the teacher finds them reliable, especially taking in account that many of the homework assignments in CIES (reading log, speaking log, listening log, etc) are based on the honor system. He came back into the class and gave the students a short time to check the feedback and answered some personal questions. He then mentioned the homework that was due the following day (never pick up projects on a Monday!). With a short overview he could see where the general doubts had been, so he used the board to write out the main doubts on the quizzes and go over them as a group.
The following activity was a new text. He reads the instructions instead of having students read over them which I think is a clever way of getting some listening happening in listening class! The students are grouped and need to discuss some of the themes of the reading. He actually times each discussion with his stopwatch… this I need to start doing, since I always end up spending more time on each point that I should! During the time each group is interacting, he attends to them individually to make sure they understand the activity and are developing it. This I have seen done before in all the classes at CIES: it is the students’ time to be active in class, but the teacher can be relied on to give input. He gathers answers from different students, asking some of the ones that seem to be less concentrated. After all, it’s the last hour of the school day and some of these students are overwhelmed! It’s difficult to keep them paying attention after so many academic hours.
From there on they move to listening to a speech of a class on the video projector. Ryan explains a little the speech’s structure and theme. He mentions that he wants to use this speech as an example of a normal university speech. They need to take notes of the lecture’s outline in a way that will be useful for them to remember. They will be tested on the speech a week from now, with their notes, as they would be in a university environment. The lecture talks about the different meanings one single sentence in English can have. Ryan follows the speech and stops it with the introduction of each new sentence. He implicates his students in giving ideas of the meaning. He also draws one of their vocabulary doubts on the board (ax), which he immediately looks up in the dictionary when one of the students asks him if it can also be written with as ‘axe’. I am impressed at how he reels the doubt in, mentions that he is not sure, looks it up casually, adds it on the board and then tells a student to put it into the ‘Black Book’. This I am guessing is a sort of general vocabulary log of the class’ doubts that have been drawn out on the board: drawing and name. He manages to take on the vocabulary doubt in a fast and precise manner without pausing the energy in the class.
The lecture is long and very difficult, including conceptual vocabulary and new ideas. Ryan tries to help the students find the cues that the lecturer will be using to change or introduce new subjects, and makes the students try to figure out the new concepts as a group. The lecture will go on the following day and Ryan has managed to keep them awake and focused until the last minute!
The class hour started on the dot even though some students were missing. He mentioned it in a joking way, but it made the other students conscious of how it can be detrimental to come in late (they’ll be missing the introduction to the class, they will be interrupting other students). Ryan posted the outline of what was going to be happening during the following hour on the projector and briefly went over it. I think this is a very good idea (like Ramin does with us every class!). It prepares you for what’s coming up and helps students realize how much they are getting done in each class.
The first activity was feedback of the quizzes they’d taken the previous day. In the meantime, a student that had missed the exam had to be taken to another classroom and be given the quiz. Ryan gave another student the quizzes to hand out while he’s out of the classroom. This is a simple action that he might have done without a second thought, but I think it demonstrated trust in the students. It’s good that students feel that the teacher finds them reliable, especially taking in account that many of the homework assignments in CIES (reading log, speaking log, listening log, etc) are based on the honor system. He came back into the class and gave the students a short time to check the feedback and answered some personal questions. He then mentioned the homework that was due the following day (never pick up projects on a Monday!). With a short overview he could see where the general doubts had been, so he used the board to write out the main doubts on the quizzes and go over them as a group.
The following activity was a new text. He reads the instructions instead of having students read over them which I think is a clever way of getting some listening happening in listening class! The students are grouped and need to discuss some of the themes of the reading. He actually times each discussion with his stopwatch… this I need to start doing, since I always end up spending more time on each point that I should! During the time each group is interacting, he attends to them individually to make sure they understand the activity and are developing it. This I have seen done before in all the classes at CIES: it is the students’ time to be active in class, but the teacher can be relied on to give input. He gathers answers from different students, asking some of the ones that seem to be less concentrated. After all, it’s the last hour of the school day and some of these students are overwhelmed! It’s difficult to keep them paying attention after so many academic hours.
From there on they move to listening to a speech of a class on the video projector. Ryan explains a little the speech’s structure and theme. He mentions that he wants to use this speech as an example of a normal university speech. They need to take notes of the lecture’s outline in a way that will be useful for them to remember. They will be tested on the speech a week from now, with their notes, as they would be in a university environment. The lecture talks about the different meanings one single sentence in English can have. Ryan follows the speech and stops it with the introduction of each new sentence. He implicates his students in giving ideas of the meaning. He also draws one of their vocabulary doubts on the board (ax), which he immediately looks up in the dictionary when one of the students asks him if it can also be written with as ‘axe’. I am impressed at how he reels the doubt in, mentions that he is not sure, looks it up casually, adds it on the board and then tells a student to put it into the ‘Black Book’. This I am guessing is a sort of general vocabulary log of the class’ doubts that have been drawn out on the board: drawing and name. He manages to take on the vocabulary doubt in a fast and precise manner without pausing the energy in the class.
The lecture is long and very difficult, including conceptual vocabulary and new ideas. Ryan tries to help the students find the cues that the lecturer will be using to change or introduce new subjects, and makes the students try to figure out the new concepts as a group. The lecture will go on the following day and Ryan has managed to keep them awake and focused until the last minute!
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Taylor TP #1
Today I met my tutee, a twenty year old girl named Si Jing He. Si Jing He, or Cynthia, her American name is from China and has been studying at CIES for about two months. Almost immediately after the meeting began, she told me what she wants help in: her pronunciation, speaking and listening skills and expanding her vocabulary. By improving these skills, she told me she will be better in her major, international business.
Honestly, I feel a little nervous about tutoring her because I really want to be an effective tutor and make the sessions worth her time. I tried to ask her what topics she wanted to know more vocabulary in (such as sports, travel, etc.) but she was not sure. Luckily, she told me that she has a vocabulary book with many words and some of them she has trouble remembering the definitions. So, I guess this will be a good start. On Friday she is going to bring a list of words she can't remember and we will work on those. I also asked her what her interests were (photography and traveling) so that I could find some radio programs or articles about those topics. Cynthia also wants to learn about American pop culture, so maybe some slower songs with subtitles would be a fun listening exercise?
Towards the end of the session, I thought it would be fun to explain what a tongue twister was and eventually she was saying "Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore." It was cool to because she did not know what a sea shore was, so hopefully she learned a new vocabulary word. On Friday we plan to meet again and I plan on showing her where the library is located. She also told me she isn't very familiar with the campus, so maybe one day we will take a tour and she can practice her listening skills.
Honestly, I feel a little nervous about tutoring her because I really want to be an effective tutor and make the sessions worth her time. I tried to ask her what topics she wanted to know more vocabulary in (such as sports, travel, etc.) but she was not sure. Luckily, she told me that she has a vocabulary book with many words and some of them she has trouble remembering the definitions. So, I guess this will be a good start. On Friday she is going to bring a list of words she can't remember and we will work on those. I also asked her what her interests were (photography and traveling) so that I could find some radio programs or articles about those topics. Cynthia also wants to learn about American pop culture, so maybe some slower songs with subtitles would be a fun listening exercise?
Towards the end of the session, I thought it would be fun to explain what a tongue twister was and eventually she was saying "Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore." It was cool to because she did not know what a sea shore was, so hopefully she learned a new vocabulary word. On Friday we plan to meet again and I plan on showing her where the library is located. She also told me she isn't very familiar with the campus, so maybe one day we will take a tour and she can practice her listening skills.
Victoria TP 1
I promise this is my last post tonight. Sorry to spam up the blog with my stories. I'll end this one with a bang, promise.
Today my tutee was assigned to me and shocker! its Latifah. Well this was my second meeting with her but my first meeting with her alone. The first time we sat down she had her friend Hannah with her and she would tell Hannah to tell me what she wanted me to know. So this time I made sure that she didn't have an easy way out. She needs to talk and try to form sentences. We talked about all kinds of stuff today. Her english is very fragmented and she uses a lot of hand gestures which is fine. Whenever we get really stuck she translates the word in the dictionary she has on her phone, which I am very grateful for because I don't know two words in Arabic. Next time we meet will be in a conversation partner setting and I plan on asking her what she needs help on specifically so that I can separate the tutoring sessions from the conversation sessions.
I am really glad that Latifah tried today because I was really worried that she would clam up like she did the first time we met. Talking with her has made me more aware of the terminology I use and how I can breakdown what I think is simple english into what is actually simple english.
Well I'm signing off for now but here is that Fern Gully video I was talking about in class. The part I was referring to start at minute 7 and 20 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_GIJMPmIl0&feature=related
Ciao!
Today my tutee was assigned to me and shocker! its Latifah. Well this was my second meeting with her but my first meeting with her alone. The first time we sat down she had her friend Hannah with her and she would tell Hannah to tell me what she wanted me to know. So this time I made sure that she didn't have an easy way out. She needs to talk and try to form sentences. We talked about all kinds of stuff today. Her english is very fragmented and she uses a lot of hand gestures which is fine. Whenever we get really stuck she translates the word in the dictionary she has on her phone, which I am very grateful for because I don't know two words in Arabic. Next time we meet will be in a conversation partner setting and I plan on asking her what she needs help on specifically so that I can separate the tutoring sessions from the conversation sessions.
I am really glad that Latifah tried today because I was really worried that she would clam up like she did the first time we met. Talking with her has made me more aware of the terminology I use and how I can breakdown what I think is simple english into what is actually simple english.
Well I'm signing off for now but here is that Fern Gully video I was talking about in class. The part I was referring to start at minute 7 and 20 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_GIJMPmIl0&feature=related
Ciao!
Victoria Class Observation 1
On Monday, October 25 I observed a beginning writing class with Marilyn Sohan. I wanted to observe a beginning class to help me with my CP/TP Latifah who has difficulty speaking. Watching the way in which the teacher conducted the class was very helpful and gave me a lot of ideas for how to proceed. The way that she spoke to that class was helpful. She rephrased the question a few times and gave them time to answer. They took a quiz that day and I realized that the older the student, the more likely they were to cheat. A few of the older gentlemen really liked using their cell phone dictionary capabilities. I think that it is a good idea to have that available, I don't think it should be used during a test. Marilyn caught him and told him that she was not going to give him points for the ones he cheated on. I also liked that she did not respond to him in an angry tone but more of a disapproving one. Also after students finished their quiz, she collected the quiz and handed out books to keep them busy and quiet while the rest of them finished.
After the quiz they started going over chapter 1 in their textbooks and reviewed SQ3R. I had never heard of this before but I liked the idea of it. I have seen similar ideas. Marilyn wrote questions on the board like what is SQ3R? and the first letter SQRRR so that they had to fill in the rest. She then asked different people around the class to answer the questions. After the words that are associated with SQ3R were filled in she had students explain the meaning and purpose of each of the steps.
Next time I want to observe a more advanced class so that I can see a broad range of classes.
After the quiz they started going over chapter 1 in their textbooks and reviewed SQ3R. I had never heard of this before but I liked the idea of it. I have seen similar ideas. Marilyn wrote questions on the board like what is SQ3R? and the first letter SQRRR so that they had to fill in the rest. She then asked different people around the class to answer the questions. After the words that are associated with SQ3R were filled in she had students explain the meaning and purpose of each of the steps.
Next time I want to observe a more advanced class so that I can see a broad range of classes.
Victoria CP 2 Field Trip
So.. It is time to catch up on the blog since I was sick all weekend and needed to rest.
I met Edda last Thursday and we got on the subject of the arts. I personally love everything that has to do with the arts and she shared this ideal. As part of my very special ballet for non-majors class I had to attend the fall MFA performance so I invited Edda so that she could take advantage of what the FSU campus has to offer. She ended up bringing her husband and her little girl, who got the most out of the show. There really is nothing like hearing an 18-19 month old baby ooh and ahh at ballerinas. It was a good opportunity to talk about what was going on in the show. Of course there was not a lot of time for talking since it is rude to talk through a performance but it was a lot of fun to share the opportunity of seeing a wonderful show for free. The FSU card can really get you far on campus and I feel like these events should be more publicized at CIES since it makes the theater tickets free or at least cheaper and there are dance performances and even events like the Artbrary. Latifah, my CP and TP is an artist and it would be wonderful to have some CIES students submit their art to be shown in the library. Just a thought.
TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)
I met Edda last Thursday and we got on the subject of the arts. I personally love everything that has to do with the arts and she shared this ideal. As part of my very special ballet for non-majors class I had to attend the fall MFA performance so I invited Edda so that she could take advantage of what the FSU campus has to offer. She ended up bringing her husband and her little girl, who got the most out of the show. There really is nothing like hearing an 18-19 month old baby ooh and ahh at ballerinas. It was a good opportunity to talk about what was going on in the show. Of course there was not a lot of time for talking since it is rude to talk through a performance but it was a lot of fun to share the opportunity of seeing a wonderful show for free. The FSU card can really get you far on campus and I feel like these events should be more publicized at CIES since it makes the theater tickets free or at least cheaper and there are dance performances and even events like the Artbrary. Latifah, my CP and TP is an artist and it would be wonderful to have some CIES students submit their art to be shown in the library. Just a thought.
TTFN (Ta Ta For Now)
Monday, October 25, 2010
CP- Radka and Tuba
Over the last week I have been able to meet with two women for tutoring and for conversation partners. Tuba, a student from Turkey was assigned to me by CIES as a conversation partner. She is 23 and preparing for her TOEFL exam so that she can go on for her masters in sociology. Right away, we seemed to get along and dove into recording new vocab words into her notebook and talking about her concerns for the exam she will take on the 3rd of December. She has trouble putting together sentences but is able to communicate what she wants to say so that we are able to focus on the missing parts of her phrases. Today, we met for the second time and we talked about her faith, weekend, family and friends. We seemed to be able to pull out a lot of simple lessons from our conversations. Articles and prepositions are difficult for her, she tells me so I will try to bring some work sheets to review with her. She is eager to talk and share her opinions with me and will plan and consider her responses as well as talk with out much second thought.
Radka is from Prague and was assigned to me by the International Center. She is staying in Tallahassee for three months with some friends who are studying at FSU. We met on Friday at All Saints and talked for about an hour and a half about her life in Prague and what she likes to do with her free time. Claude from our class is also tutoring her at the library and she told me he is a wonderful teacher and I believe her. We agreed that our time will be more easy going with vocab and conversation but I will give her homework sometimes and prepare little lessons for any pressing topics. I gave her an assignment for next week to teach me some words in Czech in English. That helps her consider and prepare a topic to talk about in English and gives me to learn some more about her language.
Radka is from Prague and was assigned to me by the International Center. She is staying in Tallahassee for three months with some friends who are studying at FSU. We met on Friday at All Saints and talked for about an hour and a half about her life in Prague and what she likes to do with her free time. Claude from our class is also tutoring her at the library and she told me he is a wonderful teacher and I believe her. We agreed that our time will be more easy going with vocab and conversation but I will give her homework sometimes and prepare little lessons for any pressing topics. I gave her an assignment for next week to teach me some words in Czech in English. That helps her consider and prepare a topic to talk about in English and gives me to learn some more about her language.
Catalina - TP #4
This class started with dinner 'cause food brings people together, right? I tried ´pupusas´ for the first time and drank some great cebada while keeping on a good conversation that we´d started in the car about current El Salvador issues. If only they could tell me all this in English: politics, environment, their vision of the consumerism world… maybe one day! The class was later than ever. These guys really work tons of hours and it seems to fit better in their schedule if we can meet at night. Good for me too, so it all works out!
The after-dinner event was polishing some English. Alphabet song as a warm-up that they still really need to go over and then, once again, we started with their doubts. The knowing we´ll go over their doubts keeps them motivated to actually use their vocabulary log and gives me a better idea what they are interested in. Then we proceeded to dress the naked person we´d been going over the day before. I drew the first thing on the body, the underwear, which actually became a laugh when they understood the meaning of each part of the word and then the board was passed around the room. Each of them painted a different piece of clothing and tried to write its name down on the board… Alberto draws wicked shirts, with pockets and buttons included! We corrected some of the writing and accumulated tons of vocabulary that we had to proceed to put into use.
We tried out a dos and don’ts activities, where I asked them on what part of their body they wore what cloth item, and they had to say if they did wear it there or if they don´t, and if they don´t, where they actually wear it!
After that each of them came out and got a picture from a magazine. They had to describe what the characters in the picture were wearing. After getting them to talk for a while we ended up adding some extra info on how to describe clothing: patterns, colors, etc. The awesome adjectives! And then it came down to them: Emma had to describe what Alberto was wearing, Alberto had to describe Tony, Tony had to describe Emma. It was pretty funny and Alberto really proved how much he has learned. If I can only get him to speak a little slower, he is good! He walks around with a small dictionary he bought after the first class and is really taking advantage of the free classes opportunities.
Their homework is to write down what they are wearing every day until we meet again and that will hopefully train them a bit in writing and becoming less scared of pen and paper, since I want to introduce more reading and writing activities in the next class.
The drive back home was enlightening. Tony was telling me how he really wants to learn. I spoke to him about my impressions on his speaking – which I mentioned in the prior blog entry – and he said, ‘Se que me va a costar mucho, pero voy a aprender ingles esta vez, pase lo que pase.’ Whatever it takes…
The after-dinner event was polishing some English. Alphabet song as a warm-up that they still really need to go over and then, once again, we started with their doubts. The knowing we´ll go over their doubts keeps them motivated to actually use their vocabulary log and gives me a better idea what they are interested in. Then we proceeded to dress the naked person we´d been going over the day before. I drew the first thing on the body, the underwear, which actually became a laugh when they understood the meaning of each part of the word and then the board was passed around the room. Each of them painted a different piece of clothing and tried to write its name down on the board… Alberto draws wicked shirts, with pockets and buttons included! We corrected some of the writing and accumulated tons of vocabulary that we had to proceed to put into use.
We tried out a dos and don’ts activities, where I asked them on what part of their body they wore what cloth item, and they had to say if they did wear it there or if they don´t, and if they don´t, where they actually wear it!
After that each of them came out and got a picture from a magazine. They had to describe what the characters in the picture were wearing. After getting them to talk for a while we ended up adding some extra info on how to describe clothing: patterns, colors, etc. The awesome adjectives! And then it came down to them: Emma had to describe what Alberto was wearing, Alberto had to describe Tony, Tony had to describe Emma. It was pretty funny and Alberto really proved how much he has learned. If I can only get him to speak a little slower, he is good! He walks around with a small dictionary he bought after the first class and is really taking advantage of the free classes opportunities.
Their homework is to write down what they are wearing every day until we meet again and that will hopefully train them a bit in writing and becoming less scared of pen and paper, since I want to introduce more reading and writing activities in the next class.
The drive back home was enlightening. Tony was telling me how he really wants to learn. I spoke to him about my impressions on his speaking – which I mentioned in the prior blog entry – and he said, ‘Se que me va a costar mucho, pero voy a aprender ingles esta vez, pase lo que pase.’ Whatever it takes…
Daniel Fletcher, CP #1
After meeting with my conversation partner Ohnurhan last week, we decided to meet two times a week to converse. He expressed an interest in seeing different locations in Tallahassee, so I decided that we would go somewhere nearby every Saturday afternoon. Yesterday I picked him up at his apartment, and we went to the Mission San Luis. Upon arrival, I gave Ohnurhan a short history lesson by saying that the Spanish were at this very place during the 17th century, and that some of the buildings have been reconstructed to reflect the time period. We first inspected the gallery, which he found very interesting. He took pictures with his phone, but admitted that he really needs to buy a camera. We listened to a woman dressed in period clothing talk to us about a reconstructed Spanish house. I knew it would be difficult for him (he said that he understood ‘so-so’). We saw the Apalachee tribal meeting building, the Spanish house, the fort, the friars’ house, and the monastery. After some time, I realized that this would be an excellent opportunity for him to learn some new vocabulary. As we passed the different sites and objects, I told him the different words in English, then he wrote them down on paper. He learned words like, fort, cannon, moat, cucumber, blacksmith, oak, acorn, chandelier, cross ect. He will have an easier chance remembering the different objects after seeing them and writing them down on paper. After bringing him back to his apartment, I gave him a very simple home work assignment to learn three new words for the next time we meet, just to keep him thinking about vocabulary.
For any of you who have not yet gone to Mission San Luis, especially those of you learning Spanish, I recommend it. A time warp for only five dollars is an excellent deal!
Missionsanluis.org (850) 487-3711 2100 West Tennessee Street, Tallahassee FL
For any of you who have not yet gone to Mission San Luis, especially those of you learning Spanish, I recommend it. A time warp for only five dollars is an excellent deal!
Missionsanluis.org (850) 487-3711 2100 West Tennessee Street, Tallahassee FL
Sunday, October 24, 2010
CP #1
So Thursday at tea time I was unsuccessful at finding my conversational partner. I was a little disappointed because I have some many questions to ask about the school systems in Spanish speaking countries (although, I know they all differ). Anyway, I decided to crash Cati's party where she was sitting with a girl and guy. It is kind of embarrassing to admit but, I forgot their names (I know better next time). Also it was unbelievable how well they spoke English with only studying it for two weeks!
Anyway, Cati mostly was talking to the girl from Saudi Arabia so I began speaking with the guy who was from Kuwait. He explained to me that he came to Tallahassee to learn English for a year then transfer over to TCC to study computers. He then proceeded to show me his iphone with all the cool applications and he even changed it to English so that he can practice with text messaging. I could tell he really like computers because he was so enthusiastic about showing me his iphone and all the things it could do.
We also began talking about Tallahassee, and he told me that Kuwait was smaller than the FSU campus and that he gets lost all the time (I told him that was normal at first). He explained that he took about five planes to get to Tallahassee, and that a few days ago his mother left after helping him settle here. It is pretty cool how someone can just get off a plane not speaking a word of English and somehow manage to get an apartment, and navigate through Tallahassee trying to find the things you need to survive in an apartment and on your own.
We also talked a lot about things to do in Tallahassee. He told me that he was a "sports man" and plays basketball, soccer, baseball and well, basically everything. Since I'm in the rowing club, I tried to explain to him what rowing was and drew a picture but it was not working until he started singing "row, row, row your boat." Again, he surprised me that with only two months of studying English he knew some songs! (And nothing pop culture related) I don't remember any songs studying Spanish except for "Happy Birthday" or "La Cucaracha." Anyway, it was really cool meeting someone from a culture I am very unfamiliar with and plan on meeting up with everyone again on Tuesday.
Anyway, Cati mostly was talking to the girl from Saudi Arabia so I began speaking with the guy who was from Kuwait. He explained to me that he came to Tallahassee to learn English for a year then transfer over to TCC to study computers. He then proceeded to show me his iphone with all the cool applications and he even changed it to English so that he can practice with text messaging. I could tell he really like computers because he was so enthusiastic about showing me his iphone and all the things it could do.
We also began talking about Tallahassee, and he told me that Kuwait was smaller than the FSU campus and that he gets lost all the time (I told him that was normal at first). He explained that he took about five planes to get to Tallahassee, and that a few days ago his mother left after helping him settle here. It is pretty cool how someone can just get off a plane not speaking a word of English and somehow manage to get an apartment, and navigate through Tallahassee trying to find the things you need to survive in an apartment and on your own.
We also talked a lot about things to do in Tallahassee. He told me that he was a "sports man" and plays basketball, soccer, baseball and well, basically everything. Since I'm in the rowing club, I tried to explain to him what rowing was and drew a picture but it was not working until he started singing "row, row, row your boat." Again, he surprised me that with only two months of studying English he knew some songs! (And nothing pop culture related) I don't remember any songs studying Spanish except for "Happy Birthday" or "La Cucaracha." Anyway, it was really cool meeting someone from a culture I am very unfamiliar with and plan on meeting up with everyone again on Tuesday.
Dallas CP-1
Well Thursday I meet with my conversation partner Nasser. Nasser is from Saudi Arabia. He's an older gentleman that lives here with his wife and kids in pursuit of (I think) an Admin. Master in Engineering. It was somewhat difficult at times to hear him. It could have been a combination of the noise and the fact that he may have spoken a bit low. I was extremely excited and I found it to be such a growing experience exchanging cultures. I was suppose to meet with my other CP June but we happen to miss each other and are scheduled to meet this week at tea time. Fortunately we were joined by Man "Mandy" Wang. Mandy resides from China and is pursing her Ph.D in Chemistry. I found that the three way conversation was a perfect ice breaker because I didn't really know what to expect or say. We all laughed and shared rounds of our personal experiences with what is was like to learn English. I inquired as to what they might have felt was the most difficult part of learning English. They replied that having confidence that they're speaking what they actually were thinking was a main concern. Within this exchange of culture we briefly discussed various religions. We commented on how China was similarly open to the practice of certain religions such as Islam and Christianity.
I am looking forward to meeting with June. Mandy said that this would probably be her last time there, but after discussing her desire to learn to cook we may see each other again. I think that this week we may change the venue a bit. I will most certainly keep you posted!
Friday, October 22, 2010
C. Smith TP #1
Today at Claude Pepper library I met Radka, a Czech student from the Czech Republic who is studying English here in America. Karen Gotti arranged for the two of us to meet, so we went into one of the conversation rooms and talked about her experiences studying English and her life in the States. It turns out that Radka has studied English for four years, but that was a long time ago and she has not had to call upon her knowledge for some time.
Upon learning that she was looking for a job, I guided the conversation into discussing present perfect, because that is a structure we use to talk about our experience ("I've [worked] for [Company X] for [# years], etc.") We also discussed where we've been around the globe. Her grammar and vocabulary were both not as high as they could be, so I ended up teaching her simple words as we went along like state, country, etc. I also got her to talk about her feelings concerning movies/books so I could teach her the difference between interesting/interested, scary/scared, etc. I wrote down sample sentences for each thing that I did and wrote out vocabulary words for her to use later. Because she likes traveling, I told her how to reserve seats on an airplane or bus.
We also talked about some words that look similar but have different meanings, such as founder and the past tense of find. These words came up as we were discusssing her home and what the Czech Republic is famous for. Radka is able to follow along with what you say provided you speak slowly and clearly. It is easy to teach her because she will ask you if she doesn't understand a word. She also helped me by giving me a topic for our next lesson: to discuss what bus drivers say and how to ride the bus.
Upon learning that she was looking for a job, I guided the conversation into discussing present perfect, because that is a structure we use to talk about our experience ("I've [worked] for [Company X] for [# years], etc.") We also discussed where we've been around the globe. Her grammar and vocabulary were both not as high as they could be, so I ended up teaching her simple words as we went along like state, country, etc. I also got her to talk about her feelings concerning movies/books so I could teach her the difference between interesting/interested, scary/scared, etc. I wrote down sample sentences for each thing that I did and wrote out vocabulary words for her to use later. Because she likes traveling, I told her how to reserve seats on an airplane or bus.
We also talked about some words that look similar but have different meanings, such as founder and the past tense of find. These words came up as we were discusssing her home and what the Czech Republic is famous for. Radka is able to follow along with what you say provided you speak slowly and clearly. It is easy to teach her because she will ask you if she doesn't understand a word. She also helped me by giving me a topic for our next lesson: to discuss what bus drivers say and how to ride the bus.
Sam - CP -1
Yesterday, I met my conversation partner, Hasan B. from Turkey, for the first time. Well, for the first time in person. The night before, he had added me on Facebook, where we chatted for a while until finally he said, "We should stop chatting, or we'll have nothing to talk about tomorrow!" Luckily, when we met for teatime at CIES, we still found things to talk about. Actually, we found PLENTY to talk about-- I almost missed TEFL class, we were so busy talking!
What did we talk about? Well, first Hasan told me a little about Turkey. He was amazed to find that although I aim to teach English there, I know little about the country and came to be interested in it through mysterious means, still unknown to me. "You woke up one morning and said, 'I must go to Turkey'?" Hasan asked. "Pretty much!" I said. We both laughed. He's been all over Turkey and even drew me a small map, pointing out the different climates and historic sites as he led me on a paper tour of his homeland. Hasan came to the United States on a scholarship from his government and will study genetics at Penn State this January. He told me about the work he's doing (fascinating... he's working on an alternative to chemotherapy using genetically modified microorganisms). I also found out that we both like to play music and sing, and we share a similar disappointment in the fact that clubs in Tallahassee close at 2 a.m. (in Turkey, as in Miami, where I'm from, the clubs stay open 'til dawn... Did I mention I want to live in Turkey?).
Hasan has been studying English for a few years and he is an excellent speaker; he makes few mistakes and is easy to understand. He wants to experience American culture and asked that I show him some of the things I get up to around Tallahassee. I think I might invite him and Nihan, a funny and sweet Turkish girl who joined our conversation, to come to the First Friday art walk and Grand Opening of Bread & Roses, a food co-op I'm involved with. Both of them are so friendly that I think we all felt at ease right away.
All in all, it was a great first meeting and I look forward to seeing Hasan (and Nihan!) again. On Tuesday I'll be meeting my tutoring partner for the first time. I arranged the meeting through Karen Gotti and my learner is a Turkish woman. It's going to be a very Turkish semester for me, and I am so excited!
C. Smith TP #1
I arrived at the site of the tea party ahead of time, so I had some time to kill before the time came for me to meet Kei. The place was crowded, so I went off with Kei to a less crowded room so that he'd feel more comfortable.
This was our first time speaking together, and he was a little guarded when we spoke. People from Japanese culture tend to be even more reserved and proper than the British, so that is to be expected. I learned that his father was an international currency trader, and that Kei had a lot of respect for his father's command of English. Kei told me he wanted to learn English in order to improve his chances of finding work after college. I also learned of his interest in soccer and baseball.
We ended up discussing Japanese history for a short while. Kei was surprised to find that I liked Miyamoto Musashi, claiming that Musashi was a tricky sort who overcame opponents through a combination of guile and skill. Kei was also a big fan of the Warring States period of Japanese history and elaborated on other heroes of the time.
He's a little homesick, so we ended up discussing how much we both miss Japanese food. Our interests/tastes don't always overlap, so that'll give us more to discuss later on.
Kei has studied grammar passively in school for a long time but now is tasked with bringing that training into active use. His vocabulary is acceptable but he needs to be taught more idioms and expressions, and he needs to have more speaking time in general. I will attempt to talk to him about things he is interested in in order to help him have more chances to speak.
This was our first time speaking together, and he was a little guarded when we spoke. People from Japanese culture tend to be even more reserved and proper than the British, so that is to be expected. I learned that his father was an international currency trader, and that Kei had a lot of respect for his father's command of English. Kei told me he wanted to learn English in order to improve his chances of finding work after college. I also learned of his interest in soccer and baseball.
We ended up discussing Japanese history for a short while. Kei was surprised to find that I liked Miyamoto Musashi, claiming that Musashi was a tricky sort who overcame opponents through a combination of guile and skill. Kei was also a big fan of the Warring States period of Japanese history and elaborated on other heroes of the time.
He's a little homesick, so we ended up discussing how much we both miss Japanese food. Our interests/tastes don't always overlap, so that'll give us more to discuss later on.
Kei has studied grammar passively in school for a long time but now is tasked with bringing that training into active use. His vocabulary is acceptable but he needs to be taught more idioms and expressions, and he needs to have more speaking time in general. I will attempt to talk to him about things he is interested in in order to help him have more chances to speak.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Victoria CP 1
So today I met my two conversation partners for the first time. Edda is from Puerto Rico and wants to be a veterinarian again, since that's what she did in PR. She is pretty good with conversation but has a lot of grammar mistakes and mispronunciations. Back home in Miami she would be labeled as advanced or even perfect. Everyone speaks like that at home. Its more common that people don't speak that well. She is very comfortable with speaking and isn't afraid of making mistakes. I'm taking her to the MFA ballet performance tomorrow night since she expressed an interest in the arts. My other conversation partner is Latifah from Saudi Arabia. This one I am a little confused about because I don't know how to help someone who won't try. She says that she understand when people speak slowly. I think she needs more grammar and verbal practice. She expressed to me that she did not like one of her teachers because she thinks that he gets angry or frustrated when she makes mistakes. I wish I could speak her language so that I could bridge the gap of understanding because sometimes I feel like we are at a stand still. I'm meeting with her on Tuesday and I am observing a beginning grammar class on Monday so hopefully I will be better prepared to speak with her.
Well that' all folks
Well that' all folks
Lindsey TP #1
I contacted Karen Gotti at the downtown public library last week about their ESL tutoring program, and on Tuesday I had my first meeting with "Y." Y is South Korean, and the wife of an international student at FSU. They moved to Tallahassee in March, but because they live off campus and she doesn't drive, she rarely uses English in her daily life. Y studied English at school, so she has a good foundation, but she is very shy and has minimal confidence in her English ability.
Tuesday's meeting was simply an introduction. We met at the downtown library, and used one of the cubicles on the third floor reserved for the ESL program. I'm not really sure what to plan for next week, because I sense her understanding is pretty high and she really only needs practice and encouragement. Maybe a game to keep her talking? The only thing Y requested was to be able to practice her pronunciation. She wants to bring in a newspaper next week and read aloud to me. I'm thinking that would be an ok idea for the first 10 minutes or so of every lesson, at least at first, but obviously she can't read aloud forever, and it's also not very communicative. But as it's the only thing she's asked for, we're going to give it a try.
Y is also newly pregnant and is worried that at her upcoming doctors appointments she won't be able to follow what the doctor is telling her. I'm going to try to think of ways we can work on this problem in advance, but I don't know how much help I'll be because, a) Y was a health care administration official in the S. Korean government, so her health terminology in English is actually one of her strengths, and b) her biggest problem will be following what the doctor says, and I imagine - whatever it is - it'll be pretty involved. I told Y it was totally fine to ask the doctor to speak slowly and repeat things, and that it was likely much of the information the doctor covered would be available in writing, and she should be sure to ask for that. Any suggestions on ways to help, re doctor visit? I'll be looking into it.
Finally, I spoke with Aleks at the Globe (where I am also looking into volunteering) and she gave me contact details for an informal association of international students' spouses, which I can pass along to Y. I think it would be great for Y to meet up with them at the park or something. As the spouses are from all different countries, English is the lingua franca and Y would have an opportunity to practice her English!
Tuesday's meeting was simply an introduction. We met at the downtown library, and used one of the cubicles on the third floor reserved for the ESL program. I'm not really sure what to plan for next week, because I sense her understanding is pretty high and she really only needs practice and encouragement. Maybe a game to keep her talking? The only thing Y requested was to be able to practice her pronunciation. She wants to bring in a newspaper next week and read aloud to me. I'm thinking that would be an ok idea for the first 10 minutes or so of every lesson, at least at first, but obviously she can't read aloud forever, and it's also not very communicative. But as it's the only thing she's asked for, we're going to give it a try.
Y is also newly pregnant and is worried that at her upcoming doctors appointments she won't be able to follow what the doctor is telling her. I'm going to try to think of ways we can work on this problem in advance, but I don't know how much help I'll be because, a) Y was a health care administration official in the S. Korean government, so her health terminology in English is actually one of her strengths, and b) her biggest problem will be following what the doctor says, and I imagine - whatever it is - it'll be pretty involved. I told Y it was totally fine to ask the doctor to speak slowly and repeat things, and that it was likely much of the information the doctor covered would be available in writing, and she should be sure to ask for that. Any suggestions on ways to help, re doctor visit? I'll be looking into it.
Finally, I spoke with Aleks at the Globe (where I am also looking into volunteering) and she gave me contact details for an informal association of international students' spouses, which I can pass along to Y. I think it would be great for Y to meet up with them at the park or something. As the spouses are from all different countries, English is the lingua franca and Y would have an opportunity to practice her English!
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Catalina - TP #3
Second time around was so much better. First of all I think they are getting more used to the idea of having a class, and secondly I think they also feel more comfortable around me. The class started a little later and the three year old actually sat through the entire class with her mom without interrupting. She got really into in when we ended the class singing the alphabet song. She´s going to be my new token student.
My activities were better organized and a lot more structured. I didn´t want to be taken by surprise if they decided not to collaborate, but wanted to be able to present activities where they could be active if I managed that to happen. We started with their vocabulary log and it went really well. It took up more time than I was planning, but this is stuff that interests them and is catching their attention on a day to day basis, so I was willing to put in that extra space for these answers. I am also introducing some translation here, but always after my dorky acting out of what stuff is, and only if they are still gaping at me as if I where some sort of alien. Alberto had gone through his phone and asked me all about missed calls, outgoing , incoming and so forth. Tony had a little bit of everything including ‘I like my food spicy’ and Emma ended up with a question about ‘bon voyage’ – where I had to explain that English also likes to introduce foreign expressions to sound cooler.
Then we went to lesson two and I need to add some extra info here: having a book really helps. It can give you a large amount of ideas that you can change as best needed. And having visited a CIES class that is more or less at a similar level as my current students also gave me really go input on how things are done in general. I had all sorts of games with the body parts, starting with a drawing of a body on the board (definitely not as cool as Antony´s ones...) where they had to fill in the names of the different parts. This gave me a great idea of their spelling and let´s just say it's… um… lacking. Inexistent may even be a better adjective. They don´t really know how to spell in Spanish either. So it´s good! They are never going to catch my spelling errors! And it means that I am going to focus on speaking production since I think they´ll be able to apply it faster, and keep writting a slow but continuous goal.
We then went to asking questions about what actions one can do with different body parts and that went very well. Controlled but well. Much better that a game we´d tried the previous day in which I had discovered they didn´t know who Will Smith, Angelina Jolie or David Beckham are! So much for pop culture! I am very impressed on how Tony reacts to having to speak. He is the person that´s in control of the group, the one that organized the class, the coordinator of his construction company, the smooth (Spanish) talker of the three. Yet when he has to speak in English he gets very flustered and stumped. He just looks at the word and gets scared. He thinks English is the enemy. He tries to make up in his head how it should sound before saying it and it takes him very long to actually say anything out loud since he thinks he´s going to fail at it. It´s amazing to understand how much effort it’s taking him to actually work out the will power to speak in English. I just hope I can help him out in actually making it happen!
We ended up spelling out some stuff they had questions about and that´s when I realized their spelling wasn´t great. So it´s alphabet time and little Tatiana helped me out to not feel excessively dumb singing the alphabet song! Their homework for this week is to know it by heart for Thursday and I hope they create an army of alphabet singing Salvadoreños in their work area. I am planning on uniting all these activities with a role playing game of a doctor visit or doctor phone call – so they can introduce their new body vocabulary and then go for dressing that naked person with all these interestingly called clothes items.
My activities were better organized and a lot more structured. I didn´t want to be taken by surprise if they decided not to collaborate, but wanted to be able to present activities where they could be active if I managed that to happen. We started with their vocabulary log and it went really well. It took up more time than I was planning, but this is stuff that interests them and is catching their attention on a day to day basis, so I was willing to put in that extra space for these answers. I am also introducing some translation here, but always after my dorky acting out of what stuff is, and only if they are still gaping at me as if I where some sort of alien. Alberto had gone through his phone and asked me all about missed calls, outgoing , incoming and so forth. Tony had a little bit of everything including ‘I like my food spicy’ and Emma ended up with a question about ‘bon voyage’ – where I had to explain that English also likes to introduce foreign expressions to sound cooler.
Then we went to lesson two and I need to add some extra info here: having a book really helps. It can give you a large amount of ideas that you can change as best needed. And having visited a CIES class that is more or less at a similar level as my current students also gave me really go input on how things are done in general. I had all sorts of games with the body parts, starting with a drawing of a body on the board (definitely not as cool as Antony´s ones...) where they had to fill in the names of the different parts. This gave me a great idea of their spelling and let´s just say it's… um… lacking. Inexistent may even be a better adjective. They don´t really know how to spell in Spanish either. So it´s good! They are never going to catch my spelling errors! And it means that I am going to focus on speaking production since I think they´ll be able to apply it faster, and keep writting a slow but continuous goal.
We then went to asking questions about what actions one can do with different body parts and that went very well. Controlled but well. Much better that a game we´d tried the previous day in which I had discovered they didn´t know who Will Smith, Angelina Jolie or David Beckham are! So much for pop culture! I am very impressed on how Tony reacts to having to speak. He is the person that´s in control of the group, the one that organized the class, the coordinator of his construction company, the smooth (Spanish) talker of the three. Yet when he has to speak in English he gets very flustered and stumped. He just looks at the word and gets scared. He thinks English is the enemy. He tries to make up in his head how it should sound before saying it and it takes him very long to actually say anything out loud since he thinks he´s going to fail at it. It´s amazing to understand how much effort it’s taking him to actually work out the will power to speak in English. I just hope I can help him out in actually making it happen!
We ended up spelling out some stuff they had questions about and that´s when I realized their spelling wasn´t great. So it´s alphabet time and little Tatiana helped me out to not feel excessively dumb singing the alphabet song! Their homework for this week is to know it by heart for Thursday and I hope they create an army of alphabet singing Salvadoreños in their work area. I am planning on uniting all these activities with a role playing game of a doctor visit or doctor phone call – so they can introduce their new body vocabulary and then go for dressing that naked person with all these interestingly called clothes items.
First Session
Today, I sat with BJ, a man from South Korea who is a visiting scholar here at FSU. We spent most of the session talking about his family, where he lives in Tallahassee, what he does at the university and other getting to know you questions. He is so friendly and so talkative although he struggles with his pronunciation and listening skills. When talking about goals he made clear that he needs practice communicating with others, especially those in his department.
The challenge with BJ for me is that his vocabulary and grammar knowledge is so advanced and as I said he is very friendly and willing to speak, but he frequently makes syntactical and pronunciation errors. He isn't used to speaking in English! We are going to spend a lot of time talking and listening to each other and we have an agreement to stop the other if I speak too fast (oy!) or if he makes mistakes. By listening to him I hope to notice a pattern of mistakes and address them in later sessions.
For our next meeting, I will prepare a small lesson on prepositions. He already has grammar knowledge but there needs to be reinforcement with this topic.
Another issue is dealing with the phonetic mistakes that he makes common with folks from Korea. They really do muddle his speech even when he is making accurate word choices.
I enjoyed meeting with him and my follow up time with Karen Gotti. I spoke with her about my frustrations and she gave good insight on how to prepare for my next sessions.
I'm out.
The challenge with BJ for me is that his vocabulary and grammar knowledge is so advanced and as I said he is very friendly and willing to speak, but he frequently makes syntactical and pronunciation errors. He isn't used to speaking in English! We are going to spend a lot of time talking and listening to each other and we have an agreement to stop the other if I speak too fast (oy!) or if he makes mistakes. By listening to him I hope to notice a pattern of mistakes and address them in later sessions.
For our next meeting, I will prepare a small lesson on prepositions. He already has grammar knowledge but there needs to be reinforcement with this topic.
Another issue is dealing with the phonetic mistakes that he makes common with folks from Korea. They really do muddle his speech even when he is making accurate word choices.
I enjoyed meeting with him and my follow up time with Karen Gotti. I spoke with her about my frustrations and she gave good insight on how to prepare for my next sessions.
I'm out.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Catalina - TP #2
Oh dear, what a challenge this will be!
Tony picked me up a little late at CVS. I had everything I though I would need: I had planned out the activities for the day and printed them out so they had them (these I was planning on using to see their level), bought three small booklets for them to start a vocabulary and reading log, got a magazine for their reading to start and a blackboard to write some stuff out. And I had my teacher sheet that laid out the class for me to more or less follow.
We arrived at his trailer house – which is actually larger than my apartment in Valencia – and did the entire introduction thing with his children and the girlfriend. Then we more or less sat in a circle in the living room and proceeded to start the class. First drawback: these are not students. These are people that want to learn, yes, and that have a vague idea of what to expect from a class and a teacher. But the last time they were in a classroom was probably in eighth grade. I not only have to teach them English but am going to have to try to teach them how to learn, the different ways of learning and what to expect from a class. Second drawback: there is no external motivation. They don´t have tests or grades, they only want to learn for themselves, yet don´t really know what learning is. I am forseeing complications!
I started the class explaining what my goals were: how I want to teach them how to use english on a day to day basis and give them some extra input on what they might need for the future in their jobs. After today I´m thinking… I might not even get to the first goal! We picked up some the activities on the sheet, starting with introductions. There I was able to see that:
1. - It is very difficult to get them to interact with each other. I´m going to have to try a way for them to speak to each other (and pottentially other North americans) without them thinking I am the only person that they can practice their English with. Actually, having sat in Andrea´s first level speaking class today has made me conscious of that fact that this might be a general drawback that happens with basic levels.
2. - They expect a sage teacher, someone that will offer them a very disciplined and controlled class, with books and spectacles and a bun on her head. I don´t think they concieve that part of learning implies they have to be active in class. They have a vague notion that they need to be introducing English more into their day to day basis but I think they sort of expect me to funnel it into the classes without them having to really change anything.
3.- They don´t take notes, don´t really follow and structure of the class and don´t write down any of the answers I gave them in class. Their only positive reaction was at the end of the class, when I literarly translated some expressions and words for them. These are expressions that they´ve been hearing around and haven´t been able to grasp correctly in composition or meaning.
My intention as tutor was to see what their level was and try to organize their knowledge of English. Recreating situations of a day to day life could motivate them, since it would be something that goes into immediate use, teaching them grammar structures as a plus. However, I think I will need to organize a lot more each activity and the time spent in class and lay it out as easy as possible so they can keep the most ammount of material to go over. I don´t want to give everything chewed out, but I also don´t want them to simply forget a structure they can check in a paper and go over because they are not writing it down.
I am also confused about their level. They are not at complete zero, but what they have learned is a collection of words, some vague expressions and some wrong concepts. How can I start building on top of this without making them feel like I am discarding everything they´ve got?
SST chapter one has been a very humbling experience… I might need to start calling it DSST (Difficult Super Sketch Tutoring), it´s been giving me a constant headache to try to find the answers to a better teaching. Hopefully I can come up with some answers soon!
Tony picked me up a little late at CVS. I had everything I though I would need: I had planned out the activities for the day and printed them out so they had them (these I was planning on using to see their level), bought three small booklets for them to start a vocabulary and reading log, got a magazine for their reading to start and a blackboard to write some stuff out. And I had my teacher sheet that laid out the class for me to more or less follow.
We arrived at his trailer house – which is actually larger than my apartment in Valencia – and did the entire introduction thing with his children and the girlfriend. Then we more or less sat in a circle in the living room and proceeded to start the class. First drawback: these are not students. These are people that want to learn, yes, and that have a vague idea of what to expect from a class and a teacher. But the last time they were in a classroom was probably in eighth grade. I not only have to teach them English but am going to have to try to teach them how to learn, the different ways of learning and what to expect from a class. Second drawback: there is no external motivation. They don´t have tests or grades, they only want to learn for themselves, yet don´t really know what learning is. I am forseeing complications!
I started the class explaining what my goals were: how I want to teach them how to use english on a day to day basis and give them some extra input on what they might need for the future in their jobs. After today I´m thinking… I might not even get to the first goal! We picked up some the activities on the sheet, starting with introductions. There I was able to see that:
1. - It is very difficult to get them to interact with each other. I´m going to have to try a way for them to speak to each other (and pottentially other North americans) without them thinking I am the only person that they can practice their English with. Actually, having sat in Andrea´s first level speaking class today has made me conscious of that fact that this might be a general drawback that happens with basic levels.
2. - They expect a sage teacher, someone that will offer them a very disciplined and controlled class, with books and spectacles and a bun on her head. I don´t think they concieve that part of learning implies they have to be active in class. They have a vague notion that they need to be introducing English more into their day to day basis but I think they sort of expect me to funnel it into the classes without them having to really change anything.
3.- They don´t take notes, don´t really follow and structure of the class and don´t write down any of the answers I gave them in class. Their only positive reaction was at the end of the class, when I literarly translated some expressions and words for them. These are expressions that they´ve been hearing around and haven´t been able to grasp correctly in composition or meaning.
My intention as tutor was to see what their level was and try to organize their knowledge of English. Recreating situations of a day to day life could motivate them, since it would be something that goes into immediate use, teaching them grammar structures as a plus. However, I think I will need to organize a lot more each activity and the time spent in class and lay it out as easy as possible so they can keep the most ammount of material to go over. I don´t want to give everything chewed out, but I also don´t want them to simply forget a structure they can check in a paper and go over because they are not writing it down.
I am also confused about their level. They are not at complete zero, but what they have learned is a collection of words, some vague expressions and some wrong concepts. How can I start building on top of this without making them feel like I am discarding everything they´ve got?
SST chapter one has been a very humbling experience… I might need to start calling it DSST (Difficult Super Sketch Tutoring), it´s been giving me a constant headache to try to find the answers to a better teaching. Hopefully I can come up with some answers soon!
C. Smith - TP Post #1
Today I drove over to the Leroy Collins library on Call Street to witness
a volunteer ESOL class. I arrived early, so I proceeded to kill
time by leafing through a paperback until it was time to go up
to the third floor.
Upon reaching my destination, I walked into the office, signed
in, and had my ticket endorsed so I would not need to pay for
parking on the way out. The staff was very polite.
I entered the classroom. A rectangular table, longer than it
was wide, sat in the center of the room surrounded by comfortable
chairs. I was told the instructor was a volunteer named Doug,
who taught the class during his lunch break. Although I was
the first to enter the classroom, others soon followed.
The next to arrive was a Taiwanese student named S________, who was here to practice pronunciation and improve her listening comprehension. She confessed she had some troubles when it came to understanding long lectures or the kind of rapid-fire idiomatic
English heard in movies. As she talked a little more about herself, I noted that she had some troubles with pronunciation, present perfect, and occasionally confused similar words such as
exploration and explore. Like everyone else in the room, she was either engaged in the honorable profession of teaching or in training to be a teacher. S________ was currently training to teach Special Education and taught at a middle school back home in Taiwan.
We were next joined by Doug, who introduced himself and asked S________
some questions about herself and her background, much of which was
explained in the previous paragraph. We were then joined by a Korean
woman named H_____ who was a volunteer at several elementary schools
in the Tallahassee area. She came in with specific questions, such
as how the word might is used and the difference between would and
should.
Doug gave concrete explanations, noting that might can either refer to
considerable physical strength or be used to say that something may
or may not happen. He went on to note that may can give people
"wiggle room", allowing them to not make firm commitments if they
find doing something to be difficult or disagreeable. The class
then covered should have vs would have. I pointed out that should
can be used as a way to give suggestions or advice ("It's raining
outside. You should take an umbrella.") We also pointed out there
was another word, "wood", which was a homonym with would and had
a different meaning.
Doug had prepared well for the class, and supplied material that
tested their mastery of sounds such as th, puh, vuh, pr, ih, ee, and fr.
He taught words to reinforce this point (rebel and revel, bitch and beach, etc.) The class also received an explanation for how to tip at a restaurant and where to leave the money.
Doug observed that many people have their own way to tip.
I had a very nice experience at the class and am looking forward to the
next time I can attend one at the library. I hope that I can find someone
at these classes who would like to have volunteer tutoring sessions.
a volunteer ESOL class. I arrived early, so I proceeded to kill
time by leafing through a paperback until it was time to go up
to the third floor.
Upon reaching my destination, I walked into the office, signed
in, and had my ticket endorsed so I would not need to pay for
parking on the way out. The staff was very polite.
I entered the classroom. A rectangular table, longer than it
was wide, sat in the center of the room surrounded by comfortable
chairs. I was told the instructor was a volunteer named Doug,
who taught the class during his lunch break. Although I was
the first to enter the classroom, others soon followed.
The next to arrive was a Taiwanese student named S________, who was here to practice pronunciation and improve her listening comprehension. She confessed she had some troubles when it came to understanding long lectures or the kind of rapid-fire idiomatic
English heard in movies. As she talked a little more about herself, I noted that she had some troubles with pronunciation, present perfect, and occasionally confused similar words such as
exploration and explore. Like everyone else in the room, she was either engaged in the honorable profession of teaching or in training to be a teacher. S________ was currently training to teach Special Education and taught at a middle school back home in Taiwan.
We were next joined by Doug, who introduced himself and asked S________
some questions about herself and her background, much of which was
explained in the previous paragraph. We were then joined by a Korean
woman named H_____ who was a volunteer at several elementary schools
in the Tallahassee area. She came in with specific questions, such
as how the word might is used and the difference between would and
should.
Doug gave concrete explanations, noting that might can either refer to
considerable physical strength or be used to say that something may
or may not happen. He went on to note that may can give people
"wiggle room", allowing them to not make firm commitments if they
find doing something to be difficult or disagreeable. The class
then covered should have vs would have. I pointed out that should
can be used as a way to give suggestions or advice ("It's raining
outside. You should take an umbrella.") We also pointed out there
was another word, "wood", which was a homonym with would and had
a different meaning.
Doug had prepared well for the class, and supplied material that
tested their mastery of sounds such as th, puh, vuh, pr, ih, ee, and fr.
He taught words to reinforce this point (rebel and revel, bitch and beach, etc.) The class also received an explanation for how to tip at a restaurant and where to leave the money.
Doug observed that many people have their own way to tip.
I had a very nice experience at the class and am looking forward to the
next time I can attend one at the library. I hope that I can find someone
at these classes who would like to have volunteer tutoring sessions.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Catalina - TP #1
So, I officially started my tutoring process today. It's going to be baptized as my super sketch tutoring, from now on to be known as SST. It started out with me asking my flatmate if she knew anyone that wanted to learn English. She´s that type of amazing person that everybody just gravitates to and ends up talking about whatever; the endearing old lady that tells tales about her youth or the crazy drunkard that rambles on about jazz in the streets. It’s a talent and I think she should get paid for listening. It worked perfectly for studying abroad, which is how I met her, and, let me tell you, she definitely is one of the people that got most out of language learning while in Spain.
She currently works at Best Buy´s photo department and has already told me tales of her wondrous encounters: an old guy that wants to photograph stars with a small camera and a young designer that asked her for her e-mail to send her his ´space art collages´ …. She´s planning on getting them in contact with each other! She is also the only resource Best Buy has to speak to Spanish people, so when Tony walked in wanting to buy a computer, they called her to help him out. She sold Tony the computer and, obviously, got his number and e-mail in case she could help him out in learning about English classes or computer courses. So this is the phone number she hands to me with no other description than ´he seemed pretty normal´. Of course, I called him!
I spoke to Tony and tried to explain in a coherent way why I wanted to give him free classes. Free just always sounds suspicious, or like some sort of religious nut, so we decided to meet the next day and clear things out. I told him I would text him the location as soon as I figured something out that was a neutral place to meet. I asked around and Starbucks – however much I normally avoid it – sounded like a pretty good idea. So I texted him with a question… Starbucks at such and such 7.30pm? He never answered.
… and there I am, with my bike chained to a handicapped sign pole, waiting in front of Starbucks at 7.30pm not knowing if Tony will show up or not. And at exactly 7.43pm my landlady decides to call me to see how things are going. More or less when I wanted to call Tony to see if he was coming or not, of course. And there I am, standing in front of Starbucks, and my phone, which I´ve had for about a week, starts making weird noises and I don´t know if it means that someone else is calling me or calling my landlady and I´m getting nervous while trying to keep up a more or less coherent conversation… and a white pick-up truck pulls in with a guy on the phone that calls my name… Stress!! So, I tell my landlady to wait for a sec, tell Tony to park – that I´ll get him a coffee –, say good bye on the phone and I am ready to meet my new estudiantes!
Tony, my SST student number one has come with a friend, Alberto. They are very interested in learning English but a bit skeptical about my motivations. They are both from El Salvador and are very reassured by the fact that I can speak Spanish. I pull up a generic sort of conversation about how long they´ve been here, what they work at, etc to try to make them feel that I am a normal weird human being that strangely enough, wants to give them free classes. Both of them work in the construction industry and have been in Tallahassee for a large number of years but say that they speak almost no English at all. The only word I heard Tony say in English at all during the conversation was ´scaffolding´. Claude, this has to be some sort of sign.
The first issue is where to give them the classes. It will be at least three of them taking them: Tony, Alberto, and Tony´s girlfriend. I throw around some possibilities, but don´t have too many resources. So we decide that Tony´s living room might not be a bad idea. He only has three kids (that he can send to their rooms to watch TV, of course) and lives in a trailer. But he can come and pick me up, so it works out! (if you don´t see me next week, call the police)
Second issue is exactly what they want to learn. They seem to think they know basically no English whatsoever, but I am skeptical. Therefore I plan on doing some evaluation activities to start out. Taking in account that the first class is tomorrow at 4.00pm, I don´t have exactly too much time to organize those. Tomorrow morning I await divine inspiration. I am planning on trying to combine things that they think will be useful for their life as business men (polite e-mail writing, ordering materials, phone conversations, etc) with general everyday situation activities since they say they know neither (supermarkets, restaurants, hairdressers – since Tony wants to get highlights one of these days…)
We end up staying in Starbucks with our white chocolate frappe mochas (or something of the like) for about two hours and end up talking about relationships between men and women. These are now mis amigos!
Tomorrow at 4.00pm will be the big day! Will I be able to make adults speak to me in English even though they will feel embarrassed and they know I understand their Spanish? Will the three and a half year old decide she wants to join the class? Next chapter of SST to be read soon here… at TEFL class 2010!
She currently works at Best Buy´s photo department and has already told me tales of her wondrous encounters: an old guy that wants to photograph stars with a small camera and a young designer that asked her for her e-mail to send her his ´space art collages´ …. She´s planning on getting them in contact with each other! She is also the only resource Best Buy has to speak to Spanish people, so when Tony walked in wanting to buy a computer, they called her to help him out. She sold Tony the computer and, obviously, got his number and e-mail in case she could help him out in learning about English classes or computer courses. So this is the phone number she hands to me with no other description than ´he seemed pretty normal´. Of course, I called him!
I spoke to Tony and tried to explain in a coherent way why I wanted to give him free classes. Free just always sounds suspicious, or like some sort of religious nut, so we decided to meet the next day and clear things out. I told him I would text him the location as soon as I figured something out that was a neutral place to meet. I asked around and Starbucks – however much I normally avoid it – sounded like a pretty good idea. So I texted him with a question… Starbucks at such and such 7.30pm? He never answered.
… and there I am, with my bike chained to a handicapped sign pole, waiting in front of Starbucks at 7.30pm not knowing if Tony will show up or not. And at exactly 7.43pm my landlady decides to call me to see how things are going. More or less when I wanted to call Tony to see if he was coming or not, of course. And there I am, standing in front of Starbucks, and my phone, which I´ve had for about a week, starts making weird noises and I don´t know if it means that someone else is calling me or calling my landlady and I´m getting nervous while trying to keep up a more or less coherent conversation… and a white pick-up truck pulls in with a guy on the phone that calls my name… Stress!! So, I tell my landlady to wait for a sec, tell Tony to park – that I´ll get him a coffee –, say good bye on the phone and I am ready to meet my new estudiantes!
Tony, my SST student number one has come with a friend, Alberto. They are very interested in learning English but a bit skeptical about my motivations. They are both from El Salvador and are very reassured by the fact that I can speak Spanish. I pull up a generic sort of conversation about how long they´ve been here, what they work at, etc to try to make them feel that I am a normal weird human being that strangely enough, wants to give them free classes. Both of them work in the construction industry and have been in Tallahassee for a large number of years but say that they speak almost no English at all. The only word I heard Tony say in English at all during the conversation was ´scaffolding´. Claude, this has to be some sort of sign.
The first issue is where to give them the classes. It will be at least three of them taking them: Tony, Alberto, and Tony´s girlfriend. I throw around some possibilities, but don´t have too many resources. So we decide that Tony´s living room might not be a bad idea. He only has three kids (that he can send to their rooms to watch TV, of course) and lives in a trailer. But he can come and pick me up, so it works out! (if you don´t see me next week, call the police)
Second issue is exactly what they want to learn. They seem to think they know basically no English whatsoever, but I am skeptical. Therefore I plan on doing some evaluation activities to start out. Taking in account that the first class is tomorrow at 4.00pm, I don´t have exactly too much time to organize those. Tomorrow morning I await divine inspiration. I am planning on trying to combine things that they think will be useful for their life as business men (polite e-mail writing, ordering materials, phone conversations, etc) with general everyday situation activities since they say they know neither (supermarkets, restaurants, hairdressers – since Tony wants to get highlights one of these days…)
We end up staying in Starbucks with our white chocolate frappe mochas (or something of the like) for about two hours and end up talking about relationships between men and women. These are now mis amigos!
Tomorrow at 4.00pm will be the big day! Will I be able to make adults speak to me in English even though they will feel embarrassed and they know I understand their Spanish? Will the three and a half year old decide she wants to join the class? Next chapter of SST to be read soon here… at TEFL class 2010!
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
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