FSU TEFL 120 Summer 2_2022

 I tutored Alice on July 16th at 6 pm over zoom. We began with reviewing the endangered animals writing homework, where I corrected her on her word choice and grammar mistakes afterward. Then we played a fun schema building Simon says game related to what we covered this session (articles). We watched 2 short videos on what articles are and I had her fill out guided notes as the videos went along. Then we quickly reviewed what was covered before jumping into the lesson activities. The worksheet consisted of 4 parts: fill in the blank for the correct missing article, fill in the blank for the missing articles to the passage, unscramble the sentences, and identifying if the article used was right or wrong and replacing it with the correct word if needed. We would talk it out together on the correct word needed, and I would demonstrate why that it is the incorrect article in some instances. We did some of the questions in each of the parts together and she had to do the rest for homew...

 I tutored Melody on July 16th at 11:30 am over zoom. As always her main focus is preparing for the IELTS exam. This lesson I used both test prep materials, and other activities to practice the skills needed for the test. We began the lesson with watching a clip from the movie scene the Incredibles (I played the scene multiple times for her and we went over vocabulary used in the video). Afterwards, she had to give me a summary of what happened. I had her read me aloud the review of the IELTS tips from last week before moving onto the test prep. Today we practiced part 1 of the IELTS speaking test. On the topics her hometown and time, before each she was given an example of a good answer to the questions she would have to read aloud to me. Finally, we did one more quick listening comprehension from the lyrics to a song about the lyrics she heard. For her homework she would write down her answers to the speaking part 1 practice for the IELTS she does on her own, and we would review ...

 I tutored Henghua on July 13th at 3pm over zoom. We focused every time on fluency and pronunciation. I showed him 2 different pictures, and for each one he had to pick one adjective to describe the picture. Then elaborate on why he chose that word. I first modeled this for him. I noticed this is a great warm-up activity for him to get used to using his own words for describing real world scenarios/places/things. Sometimes he would pick a word solely because he learned it recently and therefore would not be able to use it to describe the picture. When this would happen I would redirect him to either be able to fit the word to the picture, or try to pick a new word and save that one for next time. I had picked 10 sentence starters and his job was to finish the sentence. We wrapped up the lesson with a word association game. I gave him a list of words and he had to say the first words that popped into his head. Then he had to use all the words and tell me a story. I modeled how to do...

 I tutored Alice on July 7th at 7 pm over zoom. The focus of the lesson today was writing and grammar skills. We began the lesson with her free writing warm-up activity for 8 minutes about what she did on her trip. I would provide feedback on how to correct her grammar in her free writing activity. Next, we went over her peer editing homework assignment (she had found almost all of the corrections)! We jumped into the lesson with a YouTube video on verbs. After reviewing what verbs are and how to use them we learned some vocabulary words related to animals and their actions. She then completed the fill in the blank activity matching the animal vocabulary words she learned to the correct sentences. To wrap up the session we went over her homework assignment. She would pick 3 endangered animals and write 1 paragraph each about them. She can use the words we learned in the session when writing her paragraphs on the animals. I provided feedback on her fill in the blank activity in clas...

 I tutored Henghua on July 6th at 7:30 pm over zoom. His main focus in every lesson will be fluency with speaking. We spent the beginning of the lesson reviewing his travel homework and role playing the skit he came up with. This homework role play activity took up the majority of the session. After doing so we did a repeat after me activity with tongue twisters (to work on his pronunciation of similar sounds). I would model how to read the sentences before him. We finished with learning common American slang words and idioms (such as to ride shotgun). I gave example sentences with how each of these words would be used, and then he would create his own sentence using the vocabulary term. I corrected his pronunciation and grammar throughout the lesson right away.

 I tutored Melody on July 5th over zoom at 7:30 pm. As always her main focus is preparing for the IELTS exam. This lesson I used both test prep materials, and other activities to practice the skills needed for the test. We began the lesson with reviewing the idioms homework I assigned the week before. Then I had her take 5 minutes to write as many sentences as she could about what she did last week using these specific words: Fourth of July, firework(s), last week, and the statement I went. Afterwards, she had to read it to back to me. We briefly reviewed what a past tense is and how to use it. After, we watched a clip from the show Friends twice and I asked her comprehension questions about the scene. I followed this up with some helpful tips for the IELTS exam speaking portion. Which led us into our last portion of the day practicing the speaking section of part 1. First, she read me the example listed. Then I would ask her the same questions and she had to respond in her own wor...

 My second meeting with Alice took place on July 7th at 7 pm EST over zoom. We began the session with a warm-up word association game. I gave her a list of words and she had to say the first words that popped into her head. Then I gave her about 5 minutes to write a paragraph using all the words. First, I modeled how to perform this task. For this meeting we learned what peer editing is and how to perform it. We focused on three steps compliments suggestions, and corrections. I gave examples on how she can give feedback on the three aforementioned things. Then I had her give compliments, suggestions for improvement, and corrections for a short passage. We went over the corrections together afterward, and I explained some of the ones she missed and why they should be fixed. For homework she had to peer edit a short passage on rainbows using the steps we learned in class. She is a very quick and eager learner!

 I tutored Henghua on June 29th at 7:30 pm over zoom. With him the main focus is always on his fluency. We began today lesson with a warm-up game of two truths and a lie. I modeled how to perform this little game before it was his turn. I learned that he has a car he shares with his brother. Then I showed him 2 different pictures and for each one he had to pick one adjective to describe the picture and then elaborate on why he chose that word. I first modeled this for him. I would correct his grammar and pronunciation throughout the lesson like he asked me to. Then he performed a free speaking activity where he had to tell me anything he wanted to about his hometown or country. He had exactly 5 minutes to come up with as many sentences verbally as he could. For his homework I gave him a worksheet where he had to plan a trip to any destination in the world. Using this information he would write a script about the conversation between a travel agent and person trying to book this vac...

I tutored Melody on June 28th over zoom for the second time. We began the session with an opening activity of two truths and a lie. This game functioned as both a way for me to get to know her better, and to start to get her brain working with writing and speaking. This lesson we focused on idioms that commonly appear in American society and the IELTS exam. We began with a review on what an idiom is. Then we learned 12 new idioms. I would have her read the idioms and the definitions to me to work on her speaking skills and she would also take notes on the new idioms she learned. With every idiom listed I would give a verbal example and or picture or what it means. She then completed a quiz filling in the correct idiom into the sentence (which she would also read aloud). Afterwards, I went over the correct answers with her and why these words were a better choice for the sentence. For homework I gave her a new list of idioms to learn and a new set of fill in the blank quiz questions to ...

 I tutored Hyo-bin (Alice) for the first time on June 24th at 7 pm (EST) over zoom. Today I focused on understanding where she is academically, what her goals are for her English learning/tutoring, and who she is as a person. I learned a lot about her for example, she is a very active kid who enjoys playing outside both before and after camp, and that she got a Task Master award at school for her hard work. Her mom mentioned that she wanted her to focus on her writing skills. She told me about all the books she likes to read - including the Narnia novels in English - and about the subjects she does and doesn't like in school. For the activity I prepared today we did a free writing activity. I gave her 10 minutes to write as many sentences as she could about South Korea. While we were talking I wrote down her mistakes and we went over how to fix them at the end of the class together. 

 I tutored Henghua for the first time on June 23rd at 7:30 pm over zoom for an hour. Today I focused on understanding where he is academically, what his goals are for his English learning/tutoring, and who he is as a person. I learned a lot about him for example, he is currently a student at FSU majoring in statistics and has already completed a bachelors degree in computer science in China. He is very interested in traveling to Japan one day. His main goal was to work on his speaking and pronunciation skills as he would like to apply to a masters or phD program. I prepared a short lesson on speaking skills ahead of time. I showed him a picture of children in a classroom and he had to pick one adjective to describe the picture and then elaborate on why he chose that word. I first modeled this for him. We didn't have time to do more as he tends to spend a long time talking. I would correct his grammar throughout the lesson like he asked me to.

 I met with Melody for the first time on June 25th at 1 pm over zoom. Today I focused on understanding where she is academically, what her goals are for her English learning/tutoring, and who she is as a person. I learned a lot about her for example, she majored in Chinese traditional instruments and played at the National Music Hall in Taiwan. She also has dual citizenship in Japan and Taiwan. Despite only moving here in February her English is very good and I can tell she has a strong work ethic to improve. She specified to me that her plan is to take and pass the IELTS exam very soon and would like to focus on test prep and speaking skills. After we got to know each other better I prepared a short lesson on conjunctions for her. Where we watched short videos on what conjunctions are and went over the different types of conjunctions with verbal examples on how to use them. Throughout, the session I took notes on her grammatical mistakes and we went over and corrected them at the ...

  I observed Dr. Rios’s Group 4 speaking class on June 29 TH   at 1 pm. I specifically picked this class to observe because two of my tutees are in this class. The skill of today’s class was speaking and the topic they were covering was vocabulary and writing and performing a script for a specific scenario. He starts every class with vocabulary warm-up with the game stop. Dr Rios then explained to everyone what they will be working on tomorrow during class, before they broke out into their group work. The groups were supposed to write a dialogue for a scenario or scenario(s), and each student must have at least 15 speaking lines. During this group work activity Dr. Rios would walk around the room offering advice and listening to what every group was working on and giving feedback on how they could improve. The materials used in today’s class were their alphabet vocabulary game handouts, pens or pencils, and paper. I learned from Dr. Rios a new fun game to test their knowledge ...

  I observed Dr. Flemming’s listening class with group 2 students on June 29 th   at 2 pm. The topic addresses in the class were listening and the skills they focused on were taking a quiz and taking notes on nutrition. The teacher modeled how to take notes during the audio recording. Dr. Flemming timed the post discussion on the listening material on nutrition. The materials he used were the vocabulary quiz handout, pen, paper, speakers, computer, timer, PowerPoint, projector, and listening audio lecture. The students would participate by answering the professor’s questions during the lectures, and having a post discussion with the class on what they retained from the audio. He provided feedback during the lesson on the correct answers in the quiz and during the post listening class discussion. From observing Dr. Flemming’s class today, I learned the type of vocabulary, speed, and short basic sentence structure an ESL/EFL teacher should use when teaching lower level classes. ...

I observed Dr. Flemming’s grammar class at 10 am on June 22 nd .     The topic of today’s class was grammar, and the skill was learning when to use the right verb tense specifically when talking about people. The teacher began the class with going over example questions to the students about his daughter and asking them to fix their grammar if necessary. If the students were stuck on how to answer or ask a question, he would model how to do it. He managed the classroom by timing the activities of the lesson. The materials Dr. Flemming used in class consisted of the website teachthis.com for the worksheet, the projector, computer, and timer. The students participated throughout the entire lecture, as the teacher would constantly ask them to answer questions and they participated in a group activity to share what they wrote. The teacher would provide feedback by writing on a piece of paper and asking them to try and fix the grammar in their sentence. He also participated in the ...

D and I met to review the final essay.  D had made good edits to the essay and used a lot of expressive words to bring life to the story. In reviewing the essay we were able to discuss the different parts of speech and the descriptors used throughout the essay and in some instances identify alternative words. I shared Churchill's writing strategy to use three words to bring his writing to life and we identified two places where D did exactly this! To top it all off, I learned a lot about the K-pop culture. 

Today I met with AK for the final time.  We took this time to work on learning more GRE vocabulary words and to check the memory of words we had already studied.  AK's retention was quite good, there were a few words from the past lessons that were not recalled, but when put in context, memory kicked in.  We concluded our visit by sharing a bit of information about our backgrounds, celebrations, and future endeavors. Finally, we parted with my suggestion to keep speaking, listening and writing in English and my best wishes for the future. I truly enjoyed getting to know AK.   Сау болыңыз! 

Today, AA and I discussed how to work through a dilemma or a big decision. This lesson was different from the others as we didn't focus on grammar or writing or vocabulary, but rather on communication. We created a list for writing pros and cons for the decision.  This was a new concept to AA, so I explained the pros were the good points of a particular choice or issue and the cons the bad or difficult points. AA was able to provide multiple responses for both sides of the issue.  Next we worked through how to present the decision to another person by identifying key issues. This may not have been a traditional lesson, but I can't help and believe it is something that AA may use in the future. 

In today's tutoring session, D presented her final project for Dr. Rios' speaking class. Each student had to conduct a survey about a "critical issue." The issue was determined by the student, surveys were collected and solutions offered.  D had created a very detailed and comprehensive presentation on a critical issue.  I required D to give the presentation as it would be given to the class, standing, speaking,  and working through the slides.  This was good practice and gave D a great opportunity to critique and edit the work. We identified several pronunciation errors, including the common error of saying idear vs idea .  After repeated attempts to properly pronounce the word and multiple error corrections, D got to the point of self-correction! 

Date/Time/Location: Saturday, 23 July at 9:30 pm AEST (Pre-recorded Zoom) Teacher: Dr. Rios (Grammar) Again, Dr. Rios opened the class with music and singing!  😆😂😂 He stopped the music and took attendance.  Dr. Rios briefly set the agenda/grammar topic and began to delve into the grammar lesson.  The lesson focal points were gerunds and infinitives.  For the linguistic framework, he utilized a gerund practice form.  The activity/form appeared to be level-appropriate and easy to understand.  It was cool to hear Dongwoon interact in the class! Dr. Rios clarified the usage rules for gerunds and infinitives throughout the activity.  He asked the students why they either the gerund or the infinitive to assess for grammar concept retention and to reinforce rule usage. One of the students answer: “I chose that one because my heart told me to.”  🤣🤣 From a time management standpoint, Dr. Rios effectively managed time by leaning into this activity to i...

Date/Time/Location: Saturday, 23 July at 8:13pm AEST (Pre-recorded Zoom) Teacher: Dr. Rios (Composition) Firstly, Dr. Rios was playing one of my favorite pop songs by Rihanna (Rude Boy) and then, he pauses to take a call on his cell phone.  Super relatable and funny!  I laughed so hard at this! 😆🤣🤣 After the preliminary shenanigans, Dr. Rios delves into the lecture.  It appeared to be a continuation lesson where he challenged the students to explain the differences between wild and domesticated animals.  The two animals that he used for examples were wolves and dogs.  He asked the students: “Can a wild animal be domesticated?”  There were some very interesting responses!  Dr. Rios used this activity for schema building as the lecture was centered on an article about two wolves.  Not only did Dr. Rios interact with the students throughout the lesson, but he also interacted with Jackson, who was observing the class via Zoom.  I noticed how e...

Today, D and I continued to focus on reviewing the narrative essay.  We began by watching a short video about the past perfect tenses, simple and continuous. Knowing the need to improve this skill seemed to keep D focused. We heard good advice from the video to keep our tenses consistent and that if one was writing a narrative (which we were) to always use the past tense, because the story is a memory that occurred in the past . Following the video, we moved on to applying what we learned.   I read aloud short passages of D's essay. By reading aloud, I wanted to see if D could pick up on the places that needed editing.  D was generally able to discern if something was incorrect, but not always able to know how to correct or improve the writing. D showed solid writing skills, but also the need to expand knowledge of tenses and adjectives.  It seems details catch most of us when it comes to writing, native speakers and English Language Learners alike. 

 As requested, D and I used today's time to work on commas. In preparing for our session, I found the need to step back and be sure some of the 8 reasons we use commas actually made sense. This short tutorial on independent and dependent clauses seemed just the ticket, and it was! D worked through 8 sentences to place commas in correct location and then an entire paragraph to add or delete commas as appropriate.  For this exercise, we discussed how reading a sentence aloud could be a good technique to help determine if a comma could/should be used. It was rewarding to see D grasp the information quite quickly... and I also learned there are 8 reasons we use commas in English! 

Today AA and I focused on learning about the sales tax structure for Florida. This was something AA wanted to understand more fully as it is very different from his home country. We started by gaining perspective of the governmental structure and reviewing the Florida sales tax tables. We found the base Florida sales tax rate, the tax cap, and then reviewed the tax rate for the 67 Florida counties. Next, we reviewed various items to determine if the item would be taxable in Florida. After getting a good idea of what items require payment of sales tax in Florida and calculating the sales tax rate in Tallahassee, we looked at a local grocery circular.  AA worked though the circular identifying each item and indicating whether it required payment of sales tax or not.  The tricky items included shampoo, lotion and a couple over the counter medicines.  Otherwise, AA showed a very good understanding of how sales tax works in Florida... even if it's a bit wonky!  

Date/Time/Location: Friday, 15 July at 7:00pm AEST (Pre-recorded Zoom) Teacher: Mr. Flemming (Speaking) Totally awesome!  “Right off the bat”, it was refreshing to see the professional structure of the class agenda.  Mr. Flemming, immediately started the timer, ensured students were present by  utilizing an Attendance Form, and then communicated the agenda/session expectations.  The agenda involved working on the discussion and timed speaking evaluations.  Side bar:  It was neat to hear Dongwoon interacting in the class!  Additionally, I love how Mr. Flemming outlined the class participation ground rules as it sets the tone for the class. To that end, Mr. Flemming used a tool that I intend to utilize for time management purposes…was not aware that it was available!  The linguistic framework consisted of a PowerPoint Presentation, speaking template, and brainstorming activity handout.  I also observed how the students were being evaluated duri...

This was a Group 4 Speaking Class. Immediately noticeable was the student's capacity for communicating in English. Class started with a "rapid fire" drill.  A topic was given and the selected student had to express their opinion on the topic.  There was a disclaimer in the beginning that the topics could be controversial and direction that this was not a debate, but an exercise to express opinion.  For example,  one topic was to share views on  the use of corporal punishment in schools. The students shared their views with competent clarity and the listening students respected the ground-rules.  After this exercise, the class moved on to the course project which required students to conduct a survey.  The students began work on writing their findings in preparation for an oral presentation and Dr. Rios moved around the room and provided guidance to the students. My takeaway was how this lesson showed the coalescence of listening, speaking and writing....

 D and I began our tutoring session by sharing information about each other. D has a fascinating story to tell and I felt respect for the tenacity and dedication shown to make a difficult move to the US.  D has goals and has already accomplished many of them. D will be a nurse, of this I am confident.   While D's speaking skills are quite impressive, and we determined the focus of our tutoring will be grammar, particularly verb tenses and gerunds. We will also work on writing as D expressed desire to further develop this skill. However, the writing sample she provided revealed a high proficiency in English writing skills. I will use the writing assessment to guide our tutoring sessions and focus on the areas not quite developed to an advanced level.  I look forward to working with D and seeing what progress we can accomplish in the next few weeks. 

Date/Time/Location: Thursday, 14 July at 5:30am AEST (Zoom) Student: Nikita Popov Another great session with Nikita!  He is still determined to improve his writing and grammar skills.  Nikita received some great feedback from Mr. Flemming on the writing sample from our last session. Our sessions have been centered on academic writing which can be challenging for any ESL student; however, Nikita has expressed that he enjoys writing research papers to convey his knowledge in finance.  While reading his writing samples, I pause to challenge him to expound on the concepts written.  Nikita does have a breadth of knowledge and passion to pursue a career in finance.   Further, we take a deep dive into idioms, vocabulary words, scholarly transitions and transitional phrases, and writing cohesively.  He consistently demonstrates improvement in these areas.  I am excited to share Nikita’s blog writing sample: One of the most challenging aspects of English for me...

Date/Time/Location: Tuesday, 9 July at 4:00am AEST (Zoom) Student: Dongwoon Kang I am excited to share about this session!  I cannot begin to express how proud I am of Youngsun’s improvement and increased confidence…extremely noticeable!  This session, I utilized some aspects of my listening exercises, a kin to the Grammar Lesson Plan, where the Top Gun: Maverick movie clip was leveraged to create interactionism.   During this session, we watched a short movie clip of August Rush, which brought back some great memories for Youngsun.  She clearly communicated her approach to music composition and music tutoring.  Additionally, Youngsun effectively conveyed how her experiences with music composition was markedly different from what was demonstrated in the movie.  She asserted that the movie scenarios were unrealistic and clearly articulated points to substantiate her position. For Youngsun’s second “fieldwork exercise”, I requested that she blog here as my co...