Jackson TP10

I met with my tutoring partner Jasem for our last session together. He informed me that, since Ramadan has begun, it is just too exhausting for him to meet for an additional hour each day for tutoring, especially because he has already passed his TOEFL! I had promised him previously that this would be the lesson would be the most fun of any we had done yet, so I decided to focus the lesson on listening. During our first session Jasem had told me that his lowest score on his TOEFL test was his listening so I figured I would base the lesson off of this. So, as part of this, I asked Jasem what his favorite music was to listen to in America. Every category he listed I would choose a song on YouTube that I found appropriate with regards to speed, pronunciation, degree of difficulty in vocabulary, and content and then discussed with Jasem what he did and didn't understand about the song. Jasem first mentioned that he liked American rap & hip-hop. I introduced him to a song by Atmosphere called "yesterday" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FJUD0rEPWM . Even though the song was fast paced, it didn't take Jasem long to figure out that it was about the singer reflecting on his past with another person. Next he said he liked rock - we then went on to listen to Led Zeppelin's "Going to California" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IZ-jATBq9A . With both songs we followed along with the lyrics (which were provided in both videos) pausing every 20 or so seconds. I would ask him if he had any questions about any of the lyrics which he did. I had to explain to him that in music (at least music with lyrics sung in English) the singers take liberties with the structure of the language. He said that he understood. After these two songs we just went through taking turns showing each other songs that we liked. I showed him my favorite band - Modest Mouse. It was a good, relaxed lesson to end our tutor/tutee relationship on. I told him that if he ever needed any help with anything or even felt like just hanging out to contact me any time!