Nicole Will TS#1

Adult tutee, October 28, 2pm at Starbucks with Arzu
Topic/Skill: Needs Assessment

Today's meeting was mainly focused on the needs assessment and some goal setting for our time together. I noticed that Arzu tends to leave out articles at times in speech and occasionally needs to pause to recall vocabulary but her confidence level is high and she does not hesitate to ask when she cannot produce the word she is looking for. In future meetings, Arzu wants to work on her vocabulary and to continue to practice speaking. During our next meeting, we will talk about some current events with the goal of introducing new vocabulary in context and focusing on building her conversational confidence when confronted with topics for which she does not yet have a solid vocabulary. 

For the past four years, Arzu has been a stay-at-home mother to her daughter. She was an engineer in Turkey prior to moving to the US about 5 years ago. Her daughter started pre-school this year and Arzu is excited to have time to get back out into the community and find more opportunities to practice her English speaking skills. She has several family members who teach English back home in Turkey and had a friend who took the TEFL course here previously. These two factors drew her to the program and though she is unsure if she will use the certification immediately after the course, she is excited to have it on her resume specifically in case she and her husband decide to return to Turkey to be closer to family in the future.

Rebekka Flam CP#2

Date/Time: 10/30/15 2:00-3:00 PM
Location: CIES Building
Topic Discussed: Introductions, Kuwait, Family Life
Cultural and/or Linguistic Topics you and your partner learned: It was great meeting my second conversation partner, Fadia. Fadia recently moved to the US with her husband and three children. Her work and the Kuwaiti government are supporting her education here (she plans to study English for a year and then apply to the FSU School of Engineering). I was very impressed with Fadia's conversational English. Although she is a Foundations-Level student and has trouble forming full sentences and using proper grammar, she wasn't afraid to speak for the full hour and she clearly expressed her thoughts. We talked about her family, linguistics, culture, and our future goals. I look forward to meeting her again in the future!

Lauren Gibson CP #3

Date/Time: 29 October @ 12PM

Location: Chick-fil-A on campus

Topic discussed: Amal and I discussed the book that I was reading for my French Women Writer's Class, which was a graphic novel about a girl's life during the Iranian Revolution. She discussed with me more Saudi Arabian culture, and how she even wants a belly piercing and she would like to go with me.

Cultural and/or linguistic topics you and your partner learned: I learned that the way Amal dressed, even with her arms and legs covered, would still be considered as "a slut" in Saudi Arabia. She told me again that the Saudi girls at CIES do not want to talk to her, and she thinks it is because she does not cover her whole head. We also talked about Saudi Arabian men, and how one of them is her friend, but she cannot talk to him with other Saudi Arabians around because they will think that they are dating. Saudi Arabians are apparently really great at creating rumors.
Apparently her first "culture shock" was the way people dressed in the US. She thought everyone would be wearing designer clothes, but instead girls were work out clothes to class and boys were lazy pajama pants. 

Lauren Gibson TS #2

Tutee: Boram Kang
Date/Time: Thursday, 29 October 2:00 - 3:00 PM
Location: CIES computer room tables
Topic/Skill: Writing
Feedback provided to tutee: Boram Kang has a great knowledge of English. She speaks very well, only making a few mistakes. She told me that she does not like to read in English very much, but she is going to apply to the masters program for English Learning at FSU so she needs to read more and be able to write essays in English. After her short paper on why she was applying to FSU English Learning masters program, I helped her with some grammar points. Such as, she did not "account" for years as being an accountable noun, and so she wrote: "During high school years/ during college years".
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned how to actually grade papers better. After Boram wrote for 13 minutes, I reviewed her work by having her read it out loud, and we would go over each sentence. She made her own marks on her paper which made me realize that everyone has a different way of looking at things so it would be best not to completely mark up a paper in how I see it. I also really liked the writing assignment because she included some thoughts about her schooling in Korea (mentioning how much they focus on grammar !!) I really enjoyed learning about these cultural aspects. 

Lauren Gibson CO #2

Date/Time: 29 October @ 1PM with Marilyn (substitute for Kyle)

Topic/Skill: Speaking 2C

Teacher Presentation: Since she was just a substitute, she started to go over what was the day before's homework. The topic was on the pros and cons of working while going to school. She asked people to repeat what they said, read what they came up with aloud, and give examples to words that were in their vocabulary sheet. She enunciated a lot and 

Classroom Management: She managed the classroom by making the students who were sitting far away, move the half-circle tables to the center table so everyone would be in the center area. She let students talk, at least in English, but she made sure that they did not speak in their native language. If they did, they had to explain it. She even made a check mark next to student's names in her book on who participated or not.

Materials: White board, timer

Student Participation: She told the students that their grades depended on classroom participation but she did not force any students to participate. 

Feedback Provided: She never really said "good job" to students if they said a word correctly. She would just introduce a new word for everyone to understand and learn. After the set timer for talking on a specific topic, she would tell some students what they made mistakes on, and wrote it on the board.

Lesson(s) on teaching you learned: I learned not to always call on people to speak in a classroom setting. She encouraged the students to speak and even introduced some words to ask people for their "opinion" when discussing a topic, but she relatively let the students speak and allow them to talk with each other. I also learned that a controversial topic like should husband and wife have the same educational level can tell a lot about student's cultures. So I think she introduced topics that people have some experience in and can talk about. 

Lauren Gibson CO #1

Date/Time: 27 October @ 2pm w/ Candace

Topic/Skill: Listening

Teacher Presentation: She started by reminding the students that there would be a quiz the next day. She used the projector to show a list of the vocabulary and asked anyone if they had any questions and went over some of it. 

Classroom Management: She managed the classroom by asking everyone to speak in English and work on other work when she wasn't working individually with people.

Materials: Projector, white board & markers

Student Participation: Students participated when she called on them, asking them questions.

Feedback Provided: When everyone was writing from their notes in the post-listening exercise, she went around to each individual student and read their work. She asked questions like, "what do you mean here?" and provided answers to grammar terms that were useful for the students in this speed writing portion. 

Lesson(s) on teaching you learned: I learned to not let students do "nothing" in class. Candace reminded the students that once they were done with their composition, that they could do the multiple choice on the next page

Rebekka Flam TS#1

Date/Time: 10/28/15 3:00-4:00 PM
Location: Dirac Library
Topic/Skill: Introductions, Needs Assessment Questionnaire
Feedback provided to tutee: We spent the majority of our time asking each other questions and going through the needs assessment. Now that I have a general idea of his proficiency, I will begin planning lessons for our next meeting. His goal is to improve his grammar, vocabulary, and speaking. I gave him advice on ways to improve his speaking: joining the student organization InternatioNole and attending International Coffee Hour at the Globe.
Lessons about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned a lot about Abdullatif, which will be useful in planning future lessons. He came to the US about eight months ago, but just moved to Tallahassee a few weeks ago. His long term goal is be fluent in English and become a pilot. I learned about his hobbies, such as music and sports, and plan to incorporate those in my lessons.

Rebekka Flam CO#1

Date/Time: 10/27/15 9:00 AM Sana' Grammar Class
Topic/Skill: Modals
Teacher Presentation: Sana began the class by asking students to explain modals. She reviewed the basic modals: can, should, and must.
Classroom Management: The instructor walked around the room to observe students, take notes, and offer feedback. She had command of the class by showing respect and enthusiasm for the subject.
Materials: Whiteboard, two paper handouts
Student Participation: The students worked in groups of three for several activities. They used modals to describe their home country (Ex. You can visit the capital city in Bolivia. You must try the national dish.) The students also worked together on the worksheets and answered Sana's questions when they were called on.
Feedback Provided: Sana collected "beautiful mistakes" and reviewed them after the speaking activity. She provided positive feedback, individually and to the entire class.
Lesson(s) on teaching you learned: I learned that it is extremely beneficial to plan a number of small activities. Sana kept the class engaged by writing on the board, doing worksheets, and facilitating speaking activities all within 50 minutes. I learned that it's good to call on students randomly and also encourage/require students to work with classmates from different countries and cultures.

Rebekka Flam CP#1

Date/Time: 10/27/15 7:00-8:00 PM
Location: Starbucks Coffee
Topic Discussed: His arrival to the US, geography, Kuwait, travel
Cultural and/or Linguistic Topics you and your partner learned: I was very excited to find out Ali is from Kuwait. Ahmed, my conversation partner last year, is Kuwaiti and we had a lot of fun exploring Tallahassee together. Ali is only seventeen years old. He came to the US three weeks ago to study English. He will then apply to a school in southern Alabama to study engineering. We talked quite a bit about geography and travel. He pulled up a map on his phone and showed me which part of Kuwait he is from. I then showed him where I was born in Finland and we talked about our different cultures. Ali's English is at a beginner level but he wasn't afraid to speak and make mistakes. I learned that his favorite food is Kuwaiti (he doesn't like American food) so I'm planning to bring him to a Middle Eastern restaurant next time we meet. I also learned that in Kuwait (according to Ali) you don't necessarily need a driver's license to drive. Ali said when he was fifteen he drove to Saudi Arabia and back.

Nicole Will CO#2

Date/Time: October 27; 2pm w/ Andrew Wilson

Topic/Skill: Listening

Teacher Presentation: The class began with a "Word of the Day" which was soul. The students were asked to define the word. Next, Andrew's TA presented some new vocabulary and the class talked about definitions for each. The students received a worksheet with blanks and were asked to listen to a song and fill in the blanks with the missing words...the words were all of the new vocabulary they had just reviewed. Next, Andrew passed out small slips of paper with words and had pairs of two come up with a dialogue using the words. The students shared the dialogue and corrections were made in the moment.

Classroom Management: Andrew wrote the day's agenda on the board so students knew what to expect. When a student took out a cell phone, he made a joke to point it out casually but insisted that the student put it away. There were tons of small conversations happening among students throughout the class but Andrew didn't seem to mind. At one point, though, he did have two people switch seats and it could have been either to prevent some of the side conversations OR to have some students work with different partners in small group exercises.

Materials: You Tube song video; fill-in-the-blank listening worksheet; word cards; projector; white board

Student Participation: Students participated in vocabulary definitions and in small groups to create dialogues. Because Andrew and his TA were still learning student names, they had some Popsicle sticks with student names written on them and they would randomly pick a stick from the group so they could be sure to call on students randomly while helping themselves learn the names.

Feedback Provided: In this class, I observed very little in the moment feedback though there were a few moments in which Andrew corrected pronunciations.

Lesson(s) on teaching you learned: Because the TA and Andrew were co-teaching, it was interesting to see the difference in their styles and confidence level. It was incredible to see how quickly Andrew could command the room while there were noticeably more side conversations when the TA, who was obviously not as confident yet, was presenting. I think confidence will be a huge issue for me when I begin teaching and it was nice to know I am not alone!

Nicole Will CO#1

Date/Time: October 27; 1pm

Topic/Skill: Speaking Class w/ Kyle Kaminski

Teacher Presentation: The class began with a student presentation on the life of a friend he interviewed from his home country. Afterwards, Kyle had the class give feedback on the performance based on the specific rubric he uses to evaluate the presentations. When the students were hesitant to speak up, he prompted them with questions and called on specific students to get the conversation rolling. Next, he had the students look over a page in their class book and explain ways we can talk about the future. He wrapped up the class with small group discussions.

 

Classroom Management: Had to ask one student to put his phone away and did so by asking him if he thought playing with his phone would help him learn English. He held the class' attention well and called on students randomly to keep them all engaged and participating.

Materials: work book, white board/markers

Student Participation: Each student will give a presentation similar to the one I saw today. After each, the class as a whole is asked to provide feedback. Throughout the lesson, Kyle had students read from the book, asked questions to prompt discussion, and broke the class into two small groups at the end to talk about the "rules" of discussions in different situations.

Feedback Provided: Kyle gave only positive feedback on the student presentation and explained that he would provide constructive feedback one on one. This seemed to put the students at ease in regards to presenting in front of their peers. He did give "in the moment feedback" on pronunciations or grammar mistakes in student speech throughout the class in a very matter of fact way and had the class fix each error as a group.

Lesson(s) on teaching you learned: I learned more about creating a class culture. It seems Kyle has created a relaxed culture but one in which he has still earned a lot of respect. The students seemed at ease but he also made sure to tell them several times that he expected their best. He was a few minutes late and apologized when he entered the classroom saying he has high standards for them and wants to hold himself to those standards as well. He seemed to earn even more respect for holding himself accountable.