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!