Catalina - TP #6

Meeting with Jia and Hanan was what I would call tutoring, whereas Tony, Alberto and Emma’s get-togethers are more of a class. Hanan is the one that decides in this threesome and her intention is to go over all the grammar lessons they are being taught. She seems to think that because the grammar features they are going through are not explained in a seer-way, she is not really learning them. So I find myself in a position where they are asking me to teach them exactly how we are learning not to! I guess, however, that, as a tutor, I should do what they ask me to. After all, my role in this class is one of support and not leading.

Wednesday was going to be our first class but it ended up happening on Thursday, since Hanan’s son was sick on Wednesday. The first thing that surprises me is that after five hours of class these people still want to get more out of their English learning! I don’t even know if I could think straight! Jia is from South Korea and Hanan is from Saudi Arabia, so there is no possibility of translating any concepts or vocabulary in this class. This is very useful for me and keeps me on my toes!

Their first request was present simple and present progressive. I had to go over my own grammar before going to class, so those grammar logs came in handy! I tried to make the tutoring as classical as I could: explanation first with examples of each to make sure they understood the differences through contrast followed by lots of exercises: some fill in the blanks, some Q&A, some interviews. It was very interesting to see, even though we were focusing mainly on the grammar, how they also got some vocabulary, reading and speaking out of the class. Let’s be honest, you can’t really fill in the verb tense of a sentence correctly if you don’t polish your comprehension skills!

I do feel very responsible about these tutoring hours in a different way. With my Salvadorian friends I have more or less freedom to move the class in whatever direction I want. It is my task to keep classes coherent and cumulative. However, with this tutoring I feel like I am expected to make their understanding better of those grammar lessons they don’t quite grasp in class and I don’t know if I can!