Jenna- TS#10

Date/Time: 1/29/2016, 3:30-4:30 PM
Location: Starbucks on Tennessee Street
Topic/Skill: Timed Speaking  

Feedback provided to tutee: My tutee wanted to practice timed speaking for class, so I gave her a topic and 30 seconds to plan her speech. Then she had 45 seconds to give two reasons for why she had a certain opinion. She speaks pretty well when we have casual conversation but when she was timed she stressed out and could not think of ideas to say. We practiced a couple of timed speaking sessions, but then I decided to give her a topic for us to discuss casually. When we did it this way she was able to speak with less mistakes and better ideas. I think she will be able to speak better under stress after practicing more timed speeches.
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that positive reassurance and encouragement is essential when tutoring someone. I did provide feedback on her mistakes, but I tried to say negative comments followed by a genuine positive comment. I think this made her feel like she was doing better than she thought she was, and boosted her confidence which can help her have more confidence while speaking.

Jenna- TS#9

Date/Time: 1/27/2016, 8:30-9:30 AM
Location: Skype
Topic/Skill: Listening Comprehension
Feedback provided to tutee: The tutee wants to improve his listening comprehension, so I played some practice TOEFL listening exams for him and then we reviewed the comprehension questions together. We listened to dialogues as well as lectures. He was able to listen and understand the general idea of most of the sessions, but sometimes it was too fast for him and I had to play it a couple of times. He can listen to advanced level sessions and mostly understand, apart from a few words. 
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that being patient is key while tutoring. It is important to realize that this is very difficult for people, and it takes time and patience from tutors in order for a tutee to learn a language.

Jenna- TS#8

Date/Time: 1/25/2016, 3:30-4:30 PM
Location: Starbucks location on Tennessee Street
Topic/Skill: Practice writing three paragraph essays
Feedback provided to tutee: The tutee wanted to practice writing a three paragraph essay for class. I picked out a topic for him to write on and we worked through writing an outline together. I only helped when he was stuck on something, but he was able to write out reasons and supporting examples mostly on his own. If he started to stress out because he had writer's block, we would instead discuss the topic out loud until he was able to figure out what else to write. 
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned if a tutee begins to feel stressed out from something it is better to back off and discuss the subject casually, versus pushing them to do something they are uncomfortable doing. Although he would eventually have to write this essay on his own in a certain amount of time, we were just practicing ideas and I felt it was better to make him feel comfortable to say his ideas out loud instead of forcing him to write them out quickly. He can work up to the timed writing.

Jenna- TS#7

Date/Time: 1/22/2016, 3:30-4:30 PM
Location: Starbucks location on Tennessee Street
Topic/Skill: Vocabulary and reading comprehension
Feedback provided to tutee: The tutee had a list of vocabulary words she wanted help on so we went through each one and she provided the definition and a sentence using the word. If she did not know or understand the meaning, I would provide her with sentences using the word until she understood. We then read through one long news article and we stopped after every paragraph so she could explain the meaning. 
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that it is better to help the tutee figure out the answer to a question through hints but not by you directly providing the answer. She learned the vocabulary words better when I provided context clues for the word instead of telling her the exact definition. 

TS #12 - Paige Dabney

Date/Time: 01/30/16, 2-3:30pm

Location: Strozier Library

Topic/Skill: Vocabulary

Feedback provided to tutee:
We discussed listening activities that she can try and tv shows that she can watch for practice. I helped her learn her new vocabulary in context and gave her plenty of examples. I showed her diagrams and pictures to help imprint the ideas in her mind. The only thing I have asked from her more is to be more clear with me when she doesn't understand a word. I've told her I will send her additional material afterwards about it if she does not.

Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:
I learned that she is very enthusiastic to practice with modern materials- watching tv shows and reading material online. If I send her links and practice sites, she gladly uses them. Also, she also learns best with pictures and lots of examples. We have started comparing some words in Russian so that we can address any confusion. Some seem similar but actually mean something different, while others mean the exact same thing.

TS #11 - Paige Dabney

Date/Time: 01/29/16, 1:45-3:15pm

Location: CIES

Topic/Skill: Pronunciation of verbs in the past tense, Organization of ideas for presentation on GMO/Organic Foods

Feedback provided to tutee:
She needs to work a lot on knowing how to pronounce the "ed" endings of verbs in the past tense. I brought her worksheets for practice, but it takes her a significant amount of time to think through each questions. I emphasized the reasoning for why there are different forms (voiced d for voiced endings, voiceless t for voiceless endings, additional syllable to make pronunciation easier). Emphasizing the utility of these rules seems to help her. Her presentation seems to be going well. She and her partner just really needed to consider their organization and not giving such a biased view. It makes discussion much more difficult.

Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:
She really enjoys humor and is open to personal questions. Getting to know each other here and there really helps her open up and ask more questions. I could see that when her presentation partner came in. She also appreciates my patience, because she needs time to think many things through in English.

TS #10 - Paige Dabney

Date/Time: 01/29/16, 12:30-1:30pm

Location: CIES

Topic/Skill: Pronunciation, Conversational Skills/Vocabulary on themed topics, Presentation

Feedback provided to tutee:
He has excellent pronunciation of most words and speaks very clearly. He just needs to review a few rules to improve his pronunciation. More importantly though, we worked on his speaking skills. He has many great ideas on themes I give him, as well as for his presentation. He is very excited to voice them to me but has trouble formulating the sentences. We are working on matching phrases better to what he wants to express and fixing word order when necessary.

Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:
He is proud and loud when he speaks, but is not confident that he knows how to say his ideas. My tutee simply needs some encouragement. If I ask "what do you mean by that?" or "Tell me more", he easily elaborates. He does not realize until then that I do not understand everything in his head.

Caitlin CP #3

Date/Time: January 29, 2016, 12:30-1:00pm
Location: In the back of Hecht House

1) What did you learn and share with your conversation partner(s)?

  I got to know Nhan a little bit since it was our first time meeting. I also learned a lot about Vietnamese culture. I shared my hobbies, my schooling history, and aspects of American culture with him. We talked quite a bit about sports and transportation in both America and Vietnam.

2) How did the CP session inform your awareness of other cultures?

I honestly have never had any contact with anyone from Vietnam before or consciously experienced anything from Vietnamese culture. So today I learned a lot from Nhan and tried to show him my interest so that he would not be too shy to communicate with me. I learned many of the similarities and differences between America and Vietnam as well.

3) How did the CP session inform your awareness of your culture?

  I really became aware of how easy it is to go to school here in the United States. Nhan would spend an hour each way on a motorbike in heavy traffic in order to go to school while here most college students live fairly close to the campus, some even driving themselves instead of relying on car pools or buses like Nhan does here. This session also brought to my eyes how little America spends on acknowledging cultures that are not one of 'the big ones' like China, Japan, Britain, France, and Australia for example.

4) How could you apply what you learned to your teaching practice?

If I end up teaching in another country, I definitely need to communicate with my students to find out the difficulties of getting and leaving school. I need to be an understanding person who listens to the students to learn more about their lives. If I am living somewhere else, I will need to adapt to their culture not the other way around and I think that today I had a great chance to practice how to ask questions and properly listen to someone talk about their culture and customs.

Caitlin CP #2

Date/Time: January 28, 2016, 1-2pm (Cultural Workshop)
Location: CIES Lounge

1) What did you learn and share with your conversation partner(s)?

  In today's Cultural Workshop, we discussed stereotypes and generalizations in our own and other cultures. I learned that Americans get stereotyped in other countries just as often as Americans stereotype other people. I also was able to share some (hopefully helpful) insight with my partners on aspects of American culture they didn't understand.

2) How did the CP session inform your awareness of other cultures?

  This session informed me that there are so many cultures that I have no information on whatsoever. The only information I have is based on media stereotypes instead of actual facts. Getting to talk to people from these cultures face to face allows me to replace these stereotypes with a real person and adjust my schema accordingly.

3) How did the CP session inform your awareness of your culture?

  I realized that I don't know the reasoning behind many of the aspects of my own culture. Yue asked me why a lot of American men wear their pants so low that everyone can see their underwear. I have spent my entire life in America and to this day, I still have no idea why guys wear their pants like this! I felt bad because I couldn't give Yue an answer but it certainly made us both laugh.

4) How could you apply what you learned to your teaching practice?

I think that this session could be used in my future teaching practice by making sure to incorporate American culture in my lessons to address the American stereotypes with facts in other people's minds. It also reminds me to be aware so that I don't find myself treating a student unfairly or differently than everyone else because of my own bias. Being open and listening to how other cultures live and why certain stereotypes exist is a very important step in the process of eliminating internalized racism as well. 

Caitlin TS #9

Date/Time: January 27th, 2016 5-6pm

Location: Leroy Collins Leon County Library

Topic/Skill: Homework and Reading Skills
 
Feedback provided to tutee: At first, Astin was very excited to show me his new book. He had gotten a gold star in his class and was telling me about how great his in-classroom reading skills were. I didn't even need to prompt him to get his book out and it all started out great. By about page 14, Astin stumbled upon a word that he didn't recognize and he had no desire to sound it out. At this point he lost all motivation and it was extremely difficult to bring his attention back to his work. He really just wanted me to tell him the word instead of making him sound it out like we both knew he could. It was a bit of a struggle but he did sound out his words and when he did, he would immediately recognized what it spelled.

Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned a lot about myself today. I had no idea how much patience I had until this session. I also learned that when a child gets frustrated with something, it seems to be better to have them work on something completely different for a little while before having them attack it again. Having Astin work on his written homework after getting annoyed by his book, allowed him to put almost ten minutes back into the book at the end of the session.

Caitlin TS #8

Date/Time: January 27th, 2016 3-4pm

Location: In the back of Hecht House

Topic/Skill: Pronunciation and Culture
 
Feedback provided to tutee: In today's session, In-hwa showed me her last speech test. She was very concerned about her mistakes. She had missed points on a few things and she was confused because she thought she had been saying exactly what the corrections said that she needed to fix. Several sentences were written on the paper and so I has In-hwa say the sentences back to me. One of the sentences along the lines of, "My family always supports me." But when In-hwa would say the sentence, it sounded like, "My family always support me." Each time, I would correct her and she got a bit frustrated at one point. She couldn't hear the difference between what I was saying, "supports," and what she was saying, "support." We had to discuss it a bit but we really just discovered that she was saying the word correctly but when she made the 't' sound in the word "supports," the last 's' got swallowed up. In her mind, she could hear it but even to a native speaker, it was impossible to pull the 's' away from the 't' sound, making it seem as if it wasn't there at all. We then practiced saying words and then sentences using the 'ts' combination. I would say the word or sentence and In-hwa would repeat it. After we did that for a bit, I started asking her questions that, "What does your mom want for her birthday?" which prompted her to use the present tense of 'want' and using 'wants' to practice her pronunciation of the sound in some context. It pretty much took the whole session and several examples for her to hear the difference and lots of patience from both of us but by the end, she really started getting the hang of it. In-hwa would even start to hear her mistake as she was speaking and self-correct.

Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Today, In-hwa asked me a few questions about American culture. First, she asked me what drugs I have tried. I found this absolutely hilarious because she is not the first Korean to ask me this exact question! This led to a bit of discussion about the American stereotypes in Korea. She also explained to me that her college friends wouldn't go out to eat with her very often and when then did, they usually didn't buy much or bought something cheap. She wanted to know why because she had thought all Americans were basically rich. She was very surprised when I told how poor most Americans are (although in perspective since our culture is rich compared to much of the world), especially college students. Another thing I learned was how important it is as a tutor or teacher to have abundant patience. Whenever In-hwa got frustrated, she would look at me and sort of regroup before throwing herself back into our partner work. I think that the more calm you are as a tutor/teacher, the easier and faster it is for the tutee or student to also calm down and resist the urge to shut down.

Anne - TS #12

TS #12  

Date/Time:  Friday, January 29 2016, 10:00-11:00

Location:  Lyon Country Library

Topic/Skills:  Review of “TH”; Vowels – short a, short e

Teacher Presentation:  We reviewed the pronunciation of the voiced and unvoiced TH.  It was obvious that some students had practiced!  We made up sentences mixing the two sounds (“This thing that they threw over there was thick.”).  I then introduced two vowel sounds, the short a (“bat”) and the short e (“bet”).  We practiced a list of “a” words, then the “e” words, then the minimal pairs together.  Students worked on “silly sentences” in pairs (sentences that are grammatically correct but nonsensical, the purpose of which is to use the sounds) as I moved from pair to pair correcting pronunciation.  Finally, the students wrote their own silly sentences to read to the class.

Feedback provided to tutee:  The group is small enough so that I can still hear individual voices when we do “choral” repetition, so I was able to correct pronunciation without singling any one out at first.  Once I heard largely correct pronunciation, the students took turns one at a time, and I corrected them as necessary.  (They seem to appreciate this little 1:1 even though it’s in front of everyone else.)  I also provided feedback during my moving from small group to small group.  The ending activity – reading of their silly sentences – was a final opportunity to correct pronunciation.

Lessons learned:  The volunteer who is a speech therapist and who had visited my class last week (Debbie) returned this week.  She was very helpful to all students and working with one who has having particular difficulty.   She was also very helpful to me with her feedback.  She emphasized the value of repetition, even though students think they are ready to move on.  It was good to have spent 15 minutes on reviewing what we had done last week.  Several students  had made marked improvement, but there were still errors to correct with others’ pronunciation.   I'm enjoying teaching pronunciation.  My experience with pronunciation/phonetics courses in my second language has given me ideas of how to go about it, and following the model of those teachers is helpful.

Anne - CP #6

CP #6

Date and Time:   Thursday, January 28, 2016

Location: CIES Student Lounge

1) What did you learn and share with your conversation partner(s)?

Today, as a large group, we talked about stereotypes and generalizations, and the kinds of beliefs people of one culture have on another.  We then did an activity in which we were to write questions about what we’d like to know of someone’s culture and what we’d like them to know of ours as a way of breaking up our stereotypical beliefs.

2) How did the CP session inform your awareness of other cultures?

In one conversation, the student asked me why Americans have babies when they are so young as women wait until in their mid to late 20s to have children in her culture.  I told her that there is a wide range of childbearing age and that most people did the same – wait until their education was finished, until they were in a job and somewhat settled down.  But I talked about teen mothers and how pregnancy rate in that group is highly correlated with income, educational support, etc.

In a second conversation, we talked about how and when kids leave home.  My partner wondered why parents “kicked their kids out” at 18.  I explained that most parents don’t force their kids to leave after high school, but they do expect their children to become independent.  College and military service are one way of building independence.  I also talked about how the job situation and the economy influence the separation process.  He talked about how children often never leave home, especially women unless they marry.  Even some men bring their wives to live with his parents.  The whole family together can be enormous.  But he says this is changing, that more young people are leaving home when they find work and can afford it.

3) How did the CP session inform your awareness of your culture?

There is a push for independence in our culture, both from the outside (social expectations) and from the inside (establishment of the self in the world). 

Anne - CP #5

CP #5

Date/Time: January 28, 12:00-1:00
Location: Student Lounge
Topic discussed:  We talked about the similarities and differences in the educational systems of the US and Burkina Faso. 

Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned:  It takes a whole lot more effort for a student to succeed in her educational system than in ours!  There are many “gateway tests” students must pass to move from level to level.   It makes me appreciate the persistence and the effort I see in foreign students here.  My partner gets hungry while we’re talking because it’s lunchtime.  Next week we’re going to get something to bring back to eat.

Anne - CP #4

CP #4 Culture Exchange

Date and Time:   Thursday, January 21, 2016

Location: CIES Student Lounge

1) What did you learn and share with your conversation partner(s)?

Todays workshop addressed how parts of culture can be observed while other parts are harder to see from the outside.  I talked with a woman from Saudi Arabia about dress standards and modesty.  It’s an “open symbol” of religious devoutness, but also a personal symbol that is a signal in the culture.  It’s not all just about modesty, but something deeper and more cultural than religious that my partner has difficulty explaining.  My other partner and I talked about how Americans seem to her to have two faces – lazy and hardworking.   We either sit around and do very little to earn what we have or we work, work, work all the time.  In her country that is not the case.  According to her people pull their weight, do what they can, and don’t hope for a lot more. 

2) How did the CP session inform your awareness of other cultures?

People in other cultures want to develop their talents and skills and abilities, just as we do, but at least in this case, there is not a compulsivity in their manner of going about it.  Education is an honor, a privilege earned by very hard work, not a right that everyone has.

3) How did the CP session inform your awareness of your culture?

The “work hard and get ahead”, the “race to the top,” the “gotta win at all costs” mentality is part of the American dream that is largely hidden until you enter into some system like a university or a business setting.  Furthermore, It is puzzling to foreign students to see students take college so blithely in hand, not seeing it as a privilege, but a a right.

4) How could you apply what you learned to your teaching practice?

I’m an achievement-oriented person, always striving for something.  It helps me to realize there are other ways to arrive at a goal than to go about getting compulsively.  I need to recognize that our foreign students are here to learn and that the energy and care they put into their work may look different from mine.