Mary_CP8

For my next meeting with Nimah I took her shoe shopping at Shoe Station, since I saw that she had recently broken a pair of her favorite sandals. She was astounded by how cheap the shoes were and I taught her some of the basics of bargain hunting in America. We both only paid $5 for our shoes! They weren’t half bad either. . . On the way back to her house we talked about driving. She said that in Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to drive, and the only possible way to do so would be to go out in the desert and practice hoping no one sees you. I thought that was a little ridiculous and encouraged her to try to learn while she was here in America; it seems like a useful skill to have.

Mary_CP7

My last meeting with Michelle was bitter-sweet. I’m amazed at how much her English has improved; her vocabulary has expanded four-fold. Her pronunciation is still slow-coming, though. I think a factor of this is that she lives with her uncle, a French speaker as well. The immersion really does make a difference in a students ability to communicate, but for me it has been good practice considering I will most likely be teaching English as a foreign language when I go abroad. We were able to talk about a variety of topics. We talked about her church, Spongebob Squarepants, and handsome men to name a few. We also exchanged Skype names so hopefully we can keep in touch!

Mary_CP6

Nimah and I went to Sahara for our next meeting! I was so good, even Nimah thought it was comparable to her native favorites. When she walked into the restaurant the Lebanese waitstaff immediately began speaking Arabic with her, it was interesting to her Arabic being spoken. I’m more impressed with the Arabic students at CIES hearing how different our two languages are. Nimah spoke to me about how dating works in Saudi Arabia, evidently she gets a lot of pressure to get married from her friend because she “has a pretty face.” She said a man will approach her father with the idea and if he looks promising will arrange a marriage when he wants. I asked if this arrangement bothered her at all and she said it didn’t because romantic relationships was not something she wanted to be bothered with; she’d rather focus on studying, which made sense to me.

Mary_CP5

My next conversation with Michelle was a lot of fun. I found she responds well to my humor, even with the language barrier. I thought it would be a problem that Michelle and I don’t go off campus and immerse ourselves culturally, but the one-on-one conversation in a relaxed environment like CIES is the best possible practice for her at the moment. We talked about a lot of interesting things. She said she likes to wear makeup and nice clothes but her parents think it doesn’t makes her look respectable. That kind of surprised me, considering in America when we want to look respectable we try to cover up with makeup and designer duds.

Mary_CP4

For my next meeting with Nimah we took a walk around campus and decided to eat at Pitaria. She says it’s the closest thing to her native cuisine she’s encountered since coming to Tallahassee. I insisted she has to try Sahara and we decided to have a pre-Ramadan dinner there within the next few days. Her brother wasn’t able to pick her up, so I offered her a ride home. Her family lives in Southwood; I’m amazed at the commute some of these students have to make! She said it is sometimes stressful, but that it is worth it to have her family with her during the holy month.

Mary_CP3

My second conversation with Michelle was at CIES. She expressed to me that it was most convenient for her to meet immediately after her English classes. Her English has already improved after just a week from last talking to her. I can really see how teaching lower levels can create a greater sense of gratification for the teacher. Sometimes I find it extremely difficult to understand Michelle’s accent. I usually try to get her to speak more slowly, but if that doesn’t work I have her write it. I was pretty shocked to see how excellent her writing and composition is! I can only imagine how frustrating it must be to understand a language so well, but not be able to use it effectively in conversation.

Mary_CIP

Demet's uncle jammin'

For my cultural immersion project I was invited over to my Turkish friend Demet’s house for a traditional dinner. Her uncles had come in from Turkey and were staying for the month. This was there welcoming dinner, and it was quite a feast. Although Demet is not a devote Muslim, she said her uncles were, and that they probably won’t shake my hand when I meet them, which I thought was interesting. It seemed the women were busy at work preparing the meal while the men conversed in the foyer. As a guest I was allowed to relax, but I felt more comfortable helping the ladies out (not to mention I can’t speak Turkish). The meal was delicious, it seemed like there were endless amounts of courses, hummus, yogurt, rice, meat, lentil soup, these awesome little sweet doe balls, etc. I was beyond stuffed. Everyone was very considerate and kind and I felt very welcomed. The uncles had brought some of the families favorites back from Turkey with them. One of which was a case of fermented carrot juice (it’s as nasty as it sounds). One of Demet’s uncles brought a traditional Turkish instrument (like a guitar) and played for us; it made beautiful music. Overall, it was a new, interesting, and fun experience.

Mary_TP12

A lesson was learned the hard way today, unfortunately. This was the last session David and I had before he took the TOEFL, and what was supposed to be just a brush-up review, turned into a four hour all out cram session in reading! David had told me previously that he didn’t have trouble in any of the other sections of TOEFL except for the speaking, but in reality he had the most trouble with reading and had such an aversion to it that he didn’t want to practice it. We spend most of this extra long session concentrating on one essay and its practice questions. I had him skim it once; he could discern that it was about ants. I asked him what about them? This time I had him read the whole thing encouraging him not to get discouraged by the words he did not know (it was admittedly difficult vocabulary). We then started answering the questions, there were only ten, but it took about two hours to get through them all. I did my best to not give him any of the answers, but instead guide him to what the text can explain. It was an extremely long process, but the point I was trying to get across was that he is capable of finding the answers on his own. The moral of this story for me is when tutoring or teaching you need to find a balance between topics and don’t rely on your students acknowledging their shortcomings. I understand the rationale behind diagnostic tests now.

Mary_TP11

It’s two days until David’s TOEFL exam, and we’re just now getting to other areas of the test! David told me today that his English teachers suggested he stay and continue with CIES a little longer before he TAs for chemistry, but of course, David’s impatience and self-confidence makes him determined to TA next semester. This session we did dictation. I would tell a longer story while David took notes and afterwards ask him questions about the main ideas. He did very well at this. I made the story up off the top of my head about what I did that day, he didn’t understand everything, but he definitely got the main points. I wish I could say the same for the dictocomp. I prepared a three sentence narrative for him to copy word-for-word. I tried to keep it straightforward although realistic for an adult to say. David gets stressed out by words he doesn’t know, and unfortunately his vocabulary is more limited than it appears when first speaking with him. I tried my best to explain vocabulary as best I could which lead to us practicing words that end in “t” which he evidently has trouble saying.

Mary_TP10

I came into this practice session intent on helping David in areas other than speaking. I thought a good transition would be dictation, which could lead to reading in the future. First though, we continued work with speaking. I wanted to make sure he was at a level at which he could comfortably pass the speaking portion. I went online and found some sound files of other people asking the prompt and examples of good responses. I would play the question for David, he would answer, and then I’d play the example answer. I’d then explain the differences and ways in which he could improve his answer. This required note-taking on my part. I was surprised with how much he had improved since our last meeting. I’m not sure if it’s the pressure of the fast-approaching exam or the fact that he’s really improving, but it’s rewarding for me as a teacher to see, and I feel comfortable moving into practicing other areas of the test.

Mary_TP9

David responded really well to my more authoritarian approach. I tried to replicate what the TOEFL would be like the best I could. When speaking practice began I wouldn’t answer any of his questions; I’d only say the prompt and when time was up. I didn’t respond to his stalling questions either. He tends to like to ask questions which require a long answer from me, which would be fine to practice his listening, but he’s not actively engaged in the conversation. Which brings me to my next realization: Up to this point, we’ve really only been practicing speaking. I can tell he’s improving (although I’m not sure if it’s the practice or the fact he feels more comfortable around me) but he can’t possibly be perfect in the other portions of the test. I think next time I’ll bring something else to practice for a different portion of TOEFL.

Mary_TP8

Overall, my experience with David has been a good one, but I’ve run into some problems. I mentioned before his wandering mind. Well, I wasn’t kidding. Often I’ll say something or ask him a question and he’ll go off talking about something else. I think it’s his unconscious deflection tactic, but it’s hard to keep him on track. Up to this point our relationship has been very amicable and low-key. I think he’s using this as a means to put off tough practice. For instance, instead of listening and answering the prompt, he’ll ask me a question. I’m not sure how I’m going to do it, but I think I need to take on a more authoritarian role.

Mary_TP7

David’s TOEFL exam is in less than two weeks! He seems to think our tutoring sessions are a big help, so I agreed to meet with him almost everyday here on out. I think the consistency is best thing I can do for him. He has a wandering mind, so keeping him focused outside of CIES will be a good thing for him. I found a website that has TOEFL prompts and a timer for speaking, so now we can simulate a real test-like experience. I could tell he was trying much harder this session to follow the model I told him to practice last session, but in order for him to do well, we’re going to have to really hunker down this upcoming week!

Mary_TP6

The reading materials I prepared for Ahmed for our second session finally got put to use this time! It’s actually the story I used for my reading lesson plan. Since I had some time from last session to plan it out, I wanted to see if my lesson plans had practical application. I’ve noticed a difference between my tutoring partners. David, with his Spanish background, has a much easier time figuring out the meanings of words. Ahmed however, needs context. Which is a more difficult and frustrating method of figuring out a foreign words meaning. I found a lot of this session was spent encouraging him to allow mistakes, and as a teacher I had to allow some mistakes slide to help encourage him.

Mary_TP5

In my second session with David I got a better idea of my role in his studying. Although he is immersed in English at CIES, his living situation is in the home of fellow Colombians who out of home-sickness request he speak only Spanish with them. I asked if he would like to be conversation partners, and he said he would like that but not until after his TOEFL exam. We then practiced the speaking portion of the TOEFL with prompts I had found off the internet. I gave him a strategy for most of the speaking questions. I told him to say his general answer in one sentence (ex. “My role-model is my father.”) and then explain generally why in one sentence (ex. “He is intelligent, kind, and brave”) and then give a specific example (a memory, an instance, etc.). I told him to practice explaining things in this way in his head and out loud for practice.

Mary_TP4

I didn’t anticipate how frustrating it would be have a tutee not show up for a session. This happened last week when Ahmed and I agreed to meet later in the week to study relative pronouns. It’s not easy for me to get over to campus (it’s about a 30 minute drive) and to find time between work and school to get out there. I had gone online to do research and found worksheets, and thankfully those came into use at our next session. Ahmed apologized and I said I would text him from now on to make sure we could meet up. I found that when it comes to difficult subjects, like relative pronouns, it is best taught in the simplest of terms. We checked the worksheets together and I would ask, “Is it a subject, object, or possessive?” He usually got that first part right. Then I would ask “Is it a person, thing, place, time, or explanation?” I had to describe some of those terms, but once it got the hang of it he could get most of them right and correct his own mistakes.

Mary_TP3

My second tutoring session with Ahmed was focused more on grammar than reading. He was having a lot of difficulty with relative pronouns; namely, when to use which ones. I have to admit I was a little blindsided. I had prepared reading materials for this tutoring session and researched ways to help teach reading (intensive, extensive, skimming, etc) but he was intent on getting this concept down. So, I’ll save the reading materials for another day. The problem is, I haven’t given much thought to relative pronouns myself. I had to read his notes, which were good but incomplete. I did the best I could to explain which are more commonly used for what, but I told him I’d bring material for relative pronouns next week.

Mary_TP2

My second tutoring partner was David. He has a huge personality and gregarious nature. We met in the lounge and he explained to me that he was studying to improve his scores on the TOEFL in order to TA a chemistry class this year. He said the odds were against him and he really needed my help. I don’t know much about TOEFL, specifically what it’s standards are and what it looks for in the student responses. I asked him what his biggest weakness was, and he told me it was the speaking portion. I was surprised, because conversationally he could speak very well. I asked him the standard way in which the speaking is administered and he said it is usually a response to a prompt. I ran a few prompts off the top of my head: “Explain your favorite hobby” etc. His responses were broad and repetitive. Looks like I need to do a lot of research so I can help!