TS #15+16

Date: Dec 12th (12:00pm-2:00pm)
Location: CIES Lobby

Today I met with Yunjia and we reviewed idioms by watching beginner level videos on youtube and completing questions together.

Critical incident

Yunjia told me she went to the super market once and only bought $15 because in China the price listed is the total price. This is different in the U.S. because we don't include taxes on listed prices.
She had to put an item back in order to pay for her groceries. She was confused and the clerk explained the situation to her.

TS #14

Date: Tuesday Dec. 10th (2:00pm-3:00pm)
Location: CIES Lobby

Today I met with Yunjia.
We watched an educational video on idioms and wen over the following idioms:

• (To) Hit the books 
• (To) Hit the sack 
• (To be) Up in the air 
• (To) Stab someone in the back 
• (To) Sit tight 
• (To be) On the ball 
• Rule of thumb 
• (To be) Under the weather 
• (To) Blow off steam 
• (To) Look like a million dollars/ bucks 

TS #13

Date: Sunday Dec. 8th (8:00am-9:00am)
Location: Skype

Today I met with Donjun.
We discussed the differences between Christmas in America and Korea.
We talked about Korea's public holidays.
Today's lesson was the differences in words he had confusion about such as sick, ache, pain, and sore.

TS #12

Date: Tuesday Dec. 3rd
Location: CIES Lobby

I met with Yunjia and we created a summary about nutrition for her homework assignment.
We listened to a passage on nutrition. The summary was about the six essential nutrients.

TS #11

Date: 11/21/19 (Tuesday 1:00pm-2:00pm)
Location: CIES Lobby

Today I met with Yunjia and we worked on idioms.
Here is the list of idioms we reviewed and learned about.

Idioms:

• Raining cats and dogs 
• Turn a blind eye 
• Eat your heart out 
• In a pickle 
• Tickled Pink 
• Wouldn't be caught/ seen dead 
• Happy as a clam 
• Goody Two-shoes 

She's picking up on them fast and seems excited to learn them. 

Linzy TS #15 & #16

On December 9th Miguel and I had two sessions. We talked about American Christmas, what his future plans are, and if he plans to come back to America.

Linzy TS #13 & #14

On December 6th, Miguel and I met for two sessions. We worked on TOEFL questions.

Linzy TS #12

On November 29th, Miguel and I Skyped. We talked about Thanksgiving, his plans, and his plans for the rest of the semester. He had to use present tenses and future tenses, as well as recall our earlier conversation about Thanksgiving.

Linzy TS #11

On November 25th, I met with Miguel. We talked about the future, and used future tenses.

Linzy TS #10

On November 22nd, Miguel and I met. He wanted to work on phrases in a restaurant.

Linzy TS #8 & #9

On November 22nd, I met with Miguel for two hours. We talked about American traditions as well as what American Thanksgiving actually is.

Linzy TS #7

On November 20th, I met with Mohanad. He was worried about a project and presentation so we worked a lot on his presentation and how to prepare for it.

Linzy TS #5 & #6

ON November 15, I met with Miguel for two sessions. We worked on speaking an using American idioms. We spent a lot of time looking up idioms.

Linzy TS #4

On November 15th I met with my tutee Jimin. We practiced speaking skills since she is worried about her communication with other English speakers.

Linzy CP #6

On November 15th, I met with my conversation partner Cedric. We talked about American Thanksgiving.

Linzy CP #5

I met with my conversation partner Jimin on November 15. We talked about music since she is planning on studying music therapy.

Linzy CP # 4

On November 8th, I met with my conversation partner Cedric. We talked about friend's game nights in America.

Linzy CP #3

On November 6, I met with my conversation partner Jimin. We talked about Korean culture vs. American culture

Adrianna TS#16

For this tutoring session, Khalid and I worked on his pronunciation and reading skills. I had brought a couple of Architectural Digest magazines from my house to use during our session. I had him read some of the articles aloud, and if he made a pronunciation mistake I would correct him and write down the word(s) he mispronounced to then review once he was done reading. After completing the readings, we talked about popular architectural styles in the US compared to those of Saudi Arabia. He finds certain houses in Tallahassee quite strange and unappealing compared to what he is used to in Saudi Arabia. This was an opinion that did not surprise me, since my conversation partner Eda also said the same about the architecture in Tallahassee.

AdriannaTS #15

For this tutoring session, Khalid and I talked about some new slang words and idioms that he had picked up from his roommate. He was aware that not all of the words are appropriate for everyday conversation, and that many of them are best used in casual conversation with people who you are close to. He practiced using them in context, and we googled the origin of some of the words. I showed him a very popular website, "UrbanDictionary.com", that could help him understand other slang words or phrases that he comes across in the future. He appreciated this lesson and found many of the terms to be absurd and funny.

TS16__/Marisa

December 18, 2019/@2100hrs
Face-time Conversation
Speaking/Listening/Vocabulary/Writing-Spelling

✌
Although, tonight was our last official tutoring session, I'm still hoping that Hongfu is able to find room in her schedule to allow me to help her in anyway that I am able to. For this opportunity we looked at a few of the math vocabulary words that will eventually be encountered as she progresses in her academic pursuits. So we began with a preliminary focus on spelling the specific subject word when pronounced by a native english speaker(me) and then some pronouncing with the intent of obtaining a tad more familiarity with the word.  Next, I hope to integrate more emphasis on her pronunciation and review definitions of the words--may need to apply a more practical demonstration for visual re-enforcement.  This is where I think the "Quizlet" will be most useful.

The single regret I have had with this experience is in the feeling I'm left with in wishing I could have been more effective in assisting her to reaching her next level of language proficiency.

TS15

December 16, 2019/@19:51hrs
Face-time Audio Conversation
Speaking/Listening

This opportunity was to try for a conversation using Face-time.  However, with the help of some technicalities we were only able to make FT-audio.  Anyway, we had a very lengthy conversation.  This call was more focused on finding ways to incorporate more effective daily native english speaking in Hongfu's immediate surroundings.  I have suggested she spend more time looking a
US television, then mimicking phrases. I also suggested listening to and singing songs. I offered to give her some recommendations in the future.  As for other future agenda, we are still exploring ideas on how to proceed in merging in with learning more subject specific vocabulary.  Then naturally, our conversation went onto places to shop for a good asian market or for cuisine in Tallahassee.

TS #16 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #16

For our last tutoring session, I prepared another list of idioms as she had asked. I figured this would be most helpful because she wanted to learn them, and as a level 4 student, she would be challenged by these vocab words. Here is the second list of idioms I prepared for her:

1. Once in a blue moon
2. Piece of cake
3. No pain, no gain
4. Going on a wild goose chase
5. Giving the benefit of the doubt
6. Hitting the nail on the head
7. The last straw
8. Throwing caution to the wind
9. Snowball effect
10. Burning bridges/building bridges

I used example sentences and we researched the origin together to provide a more comprehensive understanding. We both really enjoyed this lesson and ended it by talking about our future plans. I truly hope to keep in touch with Cassie because we had a great relationship.

TS #15 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #15

In this lesson, Cassie wanted me to go over idioms and slang phrases that I found necessary to know while living in the US, especially Tallahassee. I chose a list of 10 to discuss. Here is the list:

1. Bless your heart
2. Bite the bullet
3. Best of both worlds
4. Devil's advocate
5. Cutting corners
6. Kill two birds with one stone
7. Heard through the grapevine
8. Speak of the devil
9. Elephant in the room
10. On the ball

She found these very helpful and asked me to prepare more for the next lesson. I think this is very important for her to know because these are often used in conversation and in class.

TS #14 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #14

In this session, Cassie said I could make up a lesson for her based on things that I believe she could improve on. I chose to focus on phrasal verbs because I noticed that she often did not understand what I meant when I used them. I think this is a very important thing for an EFL student to learn because the verbs are commonly used in conversation with native speakers. Some of the phrasal verbs we covered were look up to, turn down, hit on, come along, break up, bring about, and throw away. She found this very useful and took the visual aid with her to practice.

TS #13 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #13

As I discussed in the last post, this session was meant to be focused on academic critique writing. I explained that the writing should mirror the cultural expectations we talked about last time. I asked her to write a critique and then we would edit together. I gave her a list of vocabulary words that are commonly used in critiques. I know that she knew these words, but I thought this would be a good way to spark her writing process. These words included but were not limited to: improve upon, impressed with, mastery, room for improvement, politely suggest, and continue doing ____ well. She wrote a very good critique and little editing was necessary.

TS #12 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #12

This session was all about writing critiques. She said that she had a critique to work on for one of her classes, so I explained that we should break this lesson into two parts. This session we would cover the cultural expectations in a critique and the next we would cover how to write one for academic purposes. So, to begin I explained that critique should always be constructive. It should start by assessing the things your subject did well. Then, you should follow with things they could improve on. Finally, you should end on a hopeful note. We discussed at length the difference in these cultural expectations, versus what the expectations are in her home country.

TS #11 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #11

For this session, Cassie asked me to go over APA formatting with her. She had to write a research paper for her class and wanted to make sure she was doing everything correctly. I showed her the Owl Purdue resource, but also explained each element of APA. We then opened the document and she tried to format it based on what we had discussed. When she was finished, I corrected her mistakes. The only thing she had messed up was that she forgot to include page numbers. I think this was a successful lesson in academic writing, especially because she is starting her Master's in January.

TS #10 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #10

During this session with Cassie, we discussed that we would cover the past perfect tense which she was struggling with. Although she understood how and when to use it in writing, she often would make mistakes while speaking. I explained that you need "had" + past participle and it should be used when an action finished before another past action, an action happened before a specific time in the past, an action started and continued in a certain time in the past, cause and effect and emphasis on an activity in the past. These seemed like very abstract uses, so we decided to do some practice conversation. I asked her questions about when she lived in Taiwan and corrected her on her beautiful mistakes. By the end of the session, she seemed to have a better grasp of the tense.

TS14_/Marisa

December 11, 2019/@1000hrs
Starbucks
Speaking/Listening/


Today we had "coffee & chat".  Since Hongfu is currently working on building her mathematical vocabulary. So, we looked through Quizlet to find some useful information that could help with this.  We played around with using it for a good portion of the time on today.  Then we continued with a chat about next session in CIES.  We listened to each other talk about our expectations for the next enrollment period.

CP6_/Marisa

December 11, 2019/@1100hrs
CIES Lounge
Speaking/Listening/

Sang Im Lee came to meet with me as I wanted her help and expertise. I had recently participated in a Korean ceremony and as I had video footage on some of the activities.  I was unsure of the dialogue in some of the scenes.  Graciously, Sang Im was willing to translate for me. There were some side stories she was able to add-in to give me more insight. Then we began to talk about some of the differences encountered in coming to live here.

AdriannaTS#14

For this session, I helped my conversation partner Eda with her paper. She is already a very strong English learner, but nonetheless she wanted me to check her paper for any major errors. After going through and correcting some errors along with her, I had her read the paper aloud to me. This was a way for her to practice her speaking and pronunciation skills. I took note of the words that she pronounced incorrectly, and once she finished reading the paper aloud I reviewed those specific words with her and helped her pronounce them properly. She was grateful for my help and I enjoyed reading her paper since she is a very knowledgeable young woman.

AdriannaTS#13

For this tutoring session, I prepared a vocabulary lesson for Khalid. Together, we chose 2 different articles online that seemed to have somewhat challenging vocabulary in them. I had him read the articles aloud, and he would point out words or phrases that were confusing to him and I took note. Then, once he was finished reading both articles, we reviewed the vocabulary and phrases. I had him write down the words and their definitions to aid his learning process. Khalid enjoyed this lesson so I agreed to make a similar lesson for our next session. He also said that he wanted to focus more on pronunciation for the next lesson, and I took that into account.

Adrianna TS#12

For this session, my tutee Renata and I practiced her listening skills. She had previously told me about some American artists that she listens to including Beyonce and Jason Mraz. Before the session, I chose a song from each artist and found the lyrics online. Then, I found youtube videos for both songs with the correct lyrics. I had her listen to the videos first without looking at the lyrics. Once each video ended I had her verbally summarize the songs. The second time around, I let her view the lyrics while listening to the songs. This second time gave her the opportunity to ask me more questions about particular words. She found this lesson quite helpful, and I encouraged her to take time out of her day when not at school to practice the same lesson with other songs.

Adrianna TS#11

For this session, Khalid and I read through a research paper of his. While reading it, I pointed out errors and helped him correct them and understand why they were incorrect. He needed help with rewording some of the sentences and replacing certain vocabulary words with ones that made more sense in the context of his paper. He expressed to me his frustration with overusing certain vocabulary words, so I showed him thesaurus.com to help him find synonyms of words to incorporate in his paper. I told him that thesaurus.com is a website trusted by many students including myself, and that he should use it in the future.

Adrianna TS#10

For this session, my tutee Renata and I discussed some basic small talk topics that are typical in American culture. I told her that people generally ask about the weather, family, work, or upcoming plans during a small talk conversation. When I told her about the "hi, how are you?" element of American conversation she found it to be a bit strange, since "how are you?" is generally a rhetorical question in that context. We practiced some basic small talk scenarios with each other, and I corrected her pronunciation errors. She enjoyed learning about American small talk and asked that I come up with different lessons related to American culture for our future tutoring sessions.

AdriannaCP#6

The final day that Eda and I met was a bittersweet one. She had been suffering from a sore throat for a couple of days, but we still agreed to meet for a bit. She told me that she had signed up to take the TOEFL exam and was both excited and nervous for it. I reassured her that she will pass as long as she prepares for it. I told her about my plans to go to Death Valley over winter break and she did not know where Death Valley is, so I gave her some information on it and she soon became quite excited for me. We promised to keep in touch through social media, and we are both hopeful that our paths will cross again in the future :)

Adrianna CP#5

Eda and I met briefly this past Sunday at a local coffee shop. I do not drink coffee so I had a water, and Eda ordered a simple coffee with almond milk on the side. She told me that she never used to drink coffee, but after living in the U.S. she now drinks it on occasion. We chit chatted about how the semester went for both of us and current politics. I asked her for some advice on some new recipes that I had been trying, and she gave me some great tips. During our conversation, I learned that it is customary for Albanian children to live with their parents far into their 20's. This is so that they can care for their parents as they get older, and save on living expenses.

Adrianna CP#4

Eda and I met this past Saturday. She had never been to Luck'y market before, so I decided to take her. She is a very health conscientious person, so she very much enjoyed the food and various items that are sold at Lucky's. We browsed the chocolate aisle, searching for brands that did not have any added sugar. Eda wished that there was a greater selection of fruits and vegetables, and I agreed with her on that. She very much enjoyed the bulk nuts, grains, beans, and candy section. After visiting Lucky's, I drove her back to her host house and we made plans to see each other again.

Adrianna CP#3

I met with my conversation partner Eda at the CIES building last week during her lunch time. We talked about our individual plans for winter break. We discussed some political issues that are currently happening in her home country, Albania. We shared an equal disinterest in Trump and talked briefly about the impeachment process. She told me how she is planning on moving to Wisconsin where she will continue taking English classes. We talked about my diet and how I should be eating more protein if I wish to gain weight.

TS13

November 21, 2019/@2100hrs
Facetime Conversation
Speaking/Listening

I put a facetime call into Cedric on this evening to give us an opportunity to have a conversation away from the academic setting.  Interestingly, he had just returned home from playing soccer.  So we talked mostly about his game and game results.  We had a nice, brief discussion on soccer in itself.

TS #9 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #9

This session was something a little bit different. Previously, Cassie had told me that she was having trouble with an airline that lost her luggage when she got to the US. They were trying to get her to pay for the shipment of the bag and she knew that this was unfair, but didn't feel comfortable calling the airline because of her speaking skills. I told her I would help with this in a tutoring session because I think negotiation is a great skill to learn as a part of English speaking. Before the call, we covered phrases like "This is unacceptable..." "I should not have to pay for the inconvenience that your company caused me..." Instead of calling for her to negotiate, I told her to call and put the phone on speaker. I would sort of coach her as we went. I knew this was important to her, so I did not want to make her just do it herself. We called the airline and ended up getting the package shipped to her for free. This was a great success, but also a good lesson in speaking.

TS #8 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #8

As I said last time, this session would be another listening/speaking session. Essentially, practicing normal conversation. I told her that this time, I would bring a series of conversation starters and she would pick one out of a bag and start a conversation using it. She found this to be a fun way of practicing her skills. This made her think on her feet because she was not prepared for any of the conversations. One example of a conversation starter was "If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go..." Cassie would then respond to the prompt and we would have a whole conversation based off of this. She seemed to be more comfortable this time and this helped with her fluency. Her affective filtered was lowered because she enjoyed the activity a lot.

TS #7 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #7

In this session, we did a listening/speaking lesson. Cassie told me that she wanted to practice responding more quickly and accurately in conversation with native speakers. Something I noticed, and something she reported about herself, was that she takes a moment to pause and repeat in her head what she heard before responding. I completely understand this process because I often have to do this when speaking Spanish with a native speaker. However, it's important to improve this fluency to achieve a level closer to native speaking. So, I told her a story about my sister and I when we got into an argument. I told Cassie to follow along and make sure the ask questions when I was done. I also told her to interrupt me with questions if she had any because this is how a conversation would normally be. She did this, but still was a bit slow in her responses, so we decided to work on this again next time.

TS #6 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #6

For this tutoring session, Cassie asked me to help her with an email to her professors. She will start her program at FSU in the Spring, but wants to stay in Taiwan for an extra week in order to be able to vote. She explained to me how important the vote is, and that staying to vote would mean a lot to her. Then we started to construct the email. She wrote it and then we edited it together. Her draft was fairly goo, but there were a few grammar mistakes. Mainly using the future tense, she was mixing up how to talk about something that would conditionally happen in the future. So, I explained to her how to express this and she took notes. Once the email was done, we sent it to all of her professors. This was a good lesson in, not only grammar, but formal email writing.

TS #5 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #5

For this session, Cassie said she wanted to focus again on speaking. I know that she is very advanced, but I can tell that she needs to improve in this area. So, we agreed on just having a conversation and I would correct her as needed. We talked all about school and what she wants to do once she has completed CIES. She wants to go into a field similar to mine, having to do with media. As far as her speaking skills, we practiced using the future progressive tense. This really helped her express her ideas better which is the goal of speaking. She said we could continue to improve on this next lesson.

TS #4 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #4

This session with Cassie was to focus on the things she thought she could improve on after her presentation. She told me that she thought it went well, but that she needs to practice summarizing things from memory rather than reading off the slides. She asked me to prepare something that would help her do this, so I decided to make a mini lesson. The lesson would include a short passage that she could read, ask a few questions to me and then quickly present a summary of the passage. I gave her a passage about the book The Great Gatsby and she summarized it fairly well. I told her the most important part of summarizing quickly and precisely is to make sure you know all of the main points and report them in an order that makes sense to the listener. She was trying to use academic words in order to sound more professional, but I told her that this took away from the clarity. She understood and took note on how to improve.

CP #6 Kelsey

Conversation Partner Meeting #6

For our last meeting, Miguel and I met at Starbucks again because I had to study and he likes Starbucks. We sat and chatted while I made a study guide for one of my classes. He was telling me about his exams and I was asking him about his future plans. We had a good time and said our goodbyes which was very sad. I will not be coming back after break because I am graduating so it was a goodbye until we meet again. It was sad, but I am glad to have met him and had him as a conversation partner.

CP #5 Kelsey

Conversation Partner Meeting #5

Miguel and I met on Friday and went to First Friday at Railroad Square. I always enjoy First Friday, so I thought this would be a fun thing to bring him to. I think it is representative of the good parts of Tallahassee - yummy southern food, good thrift shops and live music. He seemed to really enjoy it. We walked around for about an hour enjoying everything it had to offer.

CP #4 Kelsey

Conversation Partner Meeting #4

This meeting was right after we got back from break. As I wrote about in my last post, Miguel had gone to Miami for Thanksgiving break. We talked all about his trip and what he liked and didn't like about the city. He said that his favorite part was hearing Spanish again because it made him feel at home. We talked about the differences between Miami and Tallahassee and how it's crazy that two cities that are so different can be in the same state. He said that Black Friday was more hectic than he had expected and that he spent more time waiting in line than he did actually shopping. I thought it was interesting to hear a perspective of someone who did not grow up with this as part of his culture.

CP #3 Kelsey

Conversation Partner Meeting #3

Miguel and I met this time at Starbucks on Tennessee street. We sat for coffee and talked about what we were going to do over Thanksgiving break. He told me he was planning to go to Miami and I was really excited to hear this because that is my hometown. I told him some great places to eat and fun things to do in the area. He told me his main goal was to go Black Friday shopping. I told him the best malls to go to, but also warned him about the craziness and how many people would be shopping. He had never been shopping on Black Friday, so he was excited. It was a good conversation.

CP #2 Kelsey

Conversation Partner Meeting #2

The next conversation partner meeting was also with Miguel, a little later in the same week. This time, we stayed at Hetch House during the CIES lunch break. I brought some lunch and we sat and talked in the lounge. We talked all about Miami and how it's similar to his hometown. It was really nice to get background about him and learn more about where he is from. He also talked about what he was doing that weekend and invited me to come, but I was really busy so we planned to meet the next week instead.

CP #1 Kelsey

Conversation Partner Meeting #1

My first conversation partner meeting was with Miguel. We went to eat at Popeyes on a week day. We went with a lot of other CIES students so it was a fun lunchtime. We talked a lot about different types of foods in different countries and how the US has big portion sizes. It was a funny conversation because Miguel is so energetic and makes great jokes. I really enjoyed this conversation meeting.

TS12

December 6, 2019/@1100hrs
Dirac Library
Speaking/Listening/Composition

Today Hongfu needed to finish some assignments for her CIES composition class.  We spent time on an email for a letter of request for additional time.  Then we worked on components of the composition. Also we took a look at some of her mathematical vocabulary.

TS11

December 4, 2019/@1500hrs
CIES classroom
Speaking/Listening/Vocabulary/Short Quiz for practice on tenses

Hongfu and I briefly got together.  This time we focused on the end of classes.  Fortunately, she is ready and has no looming issues.  We spoke about my new hair braiding.  She was able to pose some curiosity questions.  Since, I knew that classes were coming to a close, I knew there more than likely would be no homework to offer any assistance with. I prepared a very short practice quiz on tenses.  Afterward, we reviewed the content and I had her read the sentences using the correct verb tenses for added acquisitional value.

TS10

December 2, 2019/@1600hrs
CIES lounge
Speaking/Listening/Vocabulary

I met Honfu in the CIES lounge.
We made general conversation about her travels to Tampa for an exam.  Also we touched on some personal issues.  One thing to note, was while she was on travel, she went to the asian market in the area to buy some snacks. We continued to talk about some of the local asian markets to find nik-naks in Tally.  We also talked about restaurants and planned to do lunch together soon.

Adrianna TS#9

Yesterday I met with my tutee Khalid. We reviewed a few grammar topics that he struggles with including perfect infinitives, gerunds, and adjective clauses. He also finds it hard to understand when to use the words "who" or "whom" in a sentence. I found some online exercises that helped him practice his usage of who vs whom. Fortunately, Khalid was able to answer nearly all of the questions correctly, and the ones that he did miss we reviewed together. We also practiced his usage of "have been", "has been", and "had been". By the end of the session, he felt more confident in his abilities to understand the mentioned grammar elements above.

Adrianna TS#8

On the 22nd of November I met with my tutee Halima. She wanted help with advancing her listening skills so we found various videos, TV shows, and movies that she can watch with closed captions on. She has and Amazon Prime account so I showed her Amazon Video, and she was amazed by all of the television and movie options that are available to her. We talked about her plans for the future and how she plans on applying to graduate school at FSU once she graduates from CIES. I helped her write a personal interest statement that she will use when applying to the Speech Language Pathology Master's program at FSU. I also gave her some essay writing tips and helped her write out a professional conversation that she planned on having over the phone. Hopefully I will be meeting with Halima again this Friday!