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!

TS9

November 25, 2019/@1600hrs
CIES lounge
Speaking/Listening

Today Alvin seemed a lot more relaxed  We continued exploring his preferences and interests.  By keeping him engaged in talking about his hobbies and friends/relatives that are from his country and living in the United States, this seems to contribute to him freeing up in his conversations.

TS8

November 25, 2019/@1500hrs
CIES classroom
Speaking/Listening/Writing/Vocabulary

Hongu Wu and i used this time to consult on an email she needed to send.  She composed this email and according to guidelines provided to her by her Composition instructor.  The instructor advised as a general note to not use certain over-used word-phrases.  For example, like using "I need to" and "I want to".  So we pursued using a slightly different approach to make the request at question.

TS7

November 20, 2019/@~1730hrs
Dirac Library
Speaking/Listening/Writing/Reading/Vocabulary


Hassan Khormai and I spent some time doing an assignment he had to do.  It consisted of him reading an paragraph with the purpose of exchanging some of the word with a different word without changing the meaning of the paragraph.  We went back and forth searching to find the most appropriate substitute words to complete this task.  It was quite involved.

CP5

November 20, 2019/@1600hrs
CIES lounge
Speaking/Listening/Vocabulary

Sang Im Lee and I were able to chat.  On this day we did a quick review on pronunciation for words that might be troublesome for Korean language speakers. However, for her, they were no trouble at all.  She took the note of them on her own for further review. We continues our time conversing about many other general subjects.

TS6

November 20, 2019/@1500hrs
CIES lounge
Speaking/Listening

Today Hongfu Wu more or less focused on having a casual conversation.  We conversed about what has been happening in day-to-day activities.  We commented on the things that were taking place in the CIES lounge during our time together. One thing that was really advantages was that there was some cooking going on at here home recently, because there are relatives from China visiting.  She promised to bring in some fixings for me to taste.  Next day, she did. Yum.

TS5

November 18, 2019/@1500hrs
CIES classroom
Speaking/Listening

Finally! I was able to sit and chat with Mr. Compaore.  Despite this being our first sitting together, we have spoken on a few other occasions.  But on today, I had an opportunity to personal- ize our conversation. For this time I was able to learn more about the him. He told me about his future plans and personal interests.

Adrianna TS#7

Today I met with my tutee Renata and we went over some grammar that she recently learned in class. She needed help with understanding adjective clauses as well as passive vs. active voice.  I used the internet to help me better explain both adjective clauses, and passive vs. active voice. I had her write out multiple example sentences that included adjective clauses, as well as sentences that were written in the active voice and then the passive voice. We broke down the sentences into subject, verb, object of the verb, and extra "fluff". This process of breaking down the sentences definitely seemed to help her better understand the grammar concepts. At the end of the session, Renata and I chatted a bit about our plans for the rest of the day and then made plans to meet again this Thursday.

TS #10

Date: 11/19/19 (Tuesday 10:00am-11:00am)
Location: CIES Lobby

Today I met with Yunija and we did homework together for the first time!
She had homework from her listening class. Her assignment was to listen to a part of a lecture about the war on drugs and three types of drugs introduced. The three types of drugs introduced were stimulants, opioids, and cannabis. I helped her during the listening part to figure out what content to use in order to write her summary. She did a wonderful job writing her summary once we were able to get the content in order.

CP #6

Date: 11/18/19
Location: Leach Center

Today I met my conversation partner Futa at the gym. He bought Nick and Miguel with him to play basketball. We played a few games together on the same team. Futa was so tired after we were done playing. I had a great time with them. I hope we can all play basketball again soon.

TS #9

Date: 11/17/19 (Sunday 9:00am-10:00am)
Location: Skype
Topic/Skill: Idioms and Casual English

Today I tested Dojun on all of the idioms we have covered so far.
We also practiced talking casual English to each other throughout our conversations.
To conclude our session for today we covered some new idioms.

List of idioms I tested Dojun on:

• (To) Hit the books 
• (To) Hit the sack 
• (To be) Up in the air 
• (To) Stab someone in the back 
• (To) lose your touch 
• (To) Sit tight 
• (To) Pitch in 
• (To) Go cold turkey 
• (To) Face the music 
• (To be) On the ball 
• Rule of thumb 
• bail
• text me
• chillin
• for real
• it's on the house
• text me
• night owl

New idioms covered: 

• (To) Get over something 
• (To) Keep your chin up 
• (To) Find your feet 
• (To)  Cut to the chase
• (To) Look like a million dollars/bucks
• (To) Blow off steam 
• (To be) Under the weather 

CP #5

Date: 11/16/19 (Saturday 7:30pm-8:30pm)
Location: Florida State University (Longmire Recital Hall)

Today I attended Yunjia's piano recital!
She played piano while her partner Samantha played violin.
They played one of Beethoven's pieces. It was amazing. She's so talented on the piano.
I really enjoyed the show.

TS #8

Date: 11/15/19 (Friday 1:30pm-2:30pm)
Location: CIES Conference Room
Topic/Skill: Past Perfect Tense

Today I met with my tutee Yunjia. We watched a video on the past perfect tense. We also completed three worksheets primarily focused on grammar. Yunjia told me that our sessions are really improving her grammar. I'm excited that I can help make a positive difference in improving her English. Next session we are going over multiple tenses to see if she can distinguish between them. Overall I see her confidence building as we continue to go over the english verb tenses.

Adrianna CP#2

This past Wednesday I met with my conversation partner Eda during her lunch time on campus. We hung out on the bottom floor of the CIES building where we talked about various things. Eda is a very health conscientious person, so she was encouraging me to base my diet off of my blood type just how she does. We also talked about the food in America and how she really does not enjoy eating here compared to when she's home in Albania or anywhere else in Europe. Apparently, the goat cheese that she has tried in America tastes nothing like what goat cheese is supposed to taste like, and she is baffled by it. She despises all of our cheeses actually, and that is something we laughed about. We talked about what our plans are for Thanksgiving and Winter break as well as small talk about classes and her boyfriend. I enjoyed getting to know Eda more, and I look forward to our next meeting :)

Adrianna TS#6

Yesterday, I met with my tutee Halima at the CIES building. For the first hour, I reviewed a final paper of hers and pointed out grammatical errors that needed to be corrected. The context of her paper was perfect, and she did not have an excessive amount of grammatical errors so I was pleased about that. Once we were finished editing her paper, I helped her with some homework that she had. The homework assignment required that she journal about a song from her country that cannot be found on any platform other than Youtube. This topic was difficult for her, because she does not listen to or enjoy listening to music. Once I helped her with that, we ended our session and made plans to contact each other soon about a future tutee session. Linzy was also there playing sequence with some of the CIES students, and they invited me to join so I did! The CIES students are very welcoming and fun to be around, so I really enjoyed meeting and playing sequence with them. I guess Linzy is pretty fun too ;) ;)

CP #4

Date: 11/13/19 (Wednesday 4:00pm-5:00pm)
Location: CIES Lobby

Today was a lot of fun. I played card games with Futa, Redda, Mohamed, and a few other of the CIES students. We played Uno together for majority of the time spent. We also hung out with Linzy and her conversation partner while they played Sequence.

Futa and Mohamed explained how to identify an individual's race by their physical features.
Today we discussed the American tip system and the rule of thumb for tipping. We compared the American tip system to their countries. We discussed how Saudi and Japan don't have a tip system like America because tipping isn't apart of their culture. 

CP #3

Date: 11/8/19 (Friday 3:00pm-4:00pm)
Location: CIES Lobby


Today I met up with Futa!
We spent majority of the time discussing the NBA and some of our favorite players.
I helped him on his homework which was about American culture and politics.
We also hung out with Redda and talked about American style, fashion, and trends.
I hope next time to learn more about Japan!

TS #7

Date:11/12/19 (Tuesday 1:00pm-2:00pm)
Location: CIES Building
Topic/Skill Covered: Past Continuous

Today I met with Yunija and we covered the past continuous tense. We watched a video on the past continuous tense to being the lesson. We also completed two worksheets on the past continuous tense.

Past continuous tense:

• was/were -ing 
• created sentences (interrogative)
• tested on irregular past tense verbs  
• past continuous fill in the blank worksheet 
• past continuous quiz (correct or incorrect) 

TS #6

Date: 11/12/19 (Tuesday 9:00am-10:00am)
Location: Skype
Skill/ Topic: Idioms and Casual English Language
Major: Aviation/ Air Traffic Control

Today we covered more idioms. We discussed him memorizing the idioms as the best possible study method. Idioms have unexpected meanings and can be very difficult for a non-native speaker to understand. We also covered formal and informal casual English such as the proper titles to address bosses and professors with.

Idioms we practiced:

• (To) Hit the books 
• (To) Hit the sack 
• (To be) Up in the air 
• (To) Stab someone in the back 
• (To) lose your touch 
• (To) Sit tight 
• (To) Pitch in 
• (To) Go cold turkey 
• (To) Face the music 
• (To be) On the ball 
• Rule of thumb 

TS# 5

Date: 11/11/19 (Sunday 9:00am-10:00am)
Location: Skype
Skill/ Topic: Idioms and Casual English Language
Major: Aviation/ Air Traffic Control


Today I met my tutee Dojun for the first time. He currently resides in South Korea. He works for an airline company in the flight technical support department.
He desires to work on his English for two reasons; job situations and communicating with the pilots.
He told me he doesn't want to speak Konglish ( Korean English). I thought that was hilarious.
During our lesson we covered idioms and contractions.
I believe through listening and speaking he will learn casual English phrases. It's important to learn casual English because it's what native speakers use often to communicate.

Idioms we practiced:

bail
text me
chillin
for real
it's on the house
text me
night owl

TS #4

Date: 11/8/19 (Friday 1:00pm-2:00pm)
Location: CIES Building
Topic/Skill: Review of Tenses

Today I met with Yunjia and we did a review of everything we have been learning so far.
We also watched videos about casual english language. We practiced using casual english language and talked for a bit before we wrapped up the lesson. 

TS #3

Date: 11/5/19 (Tuesday 1:00pm-2:00pm)
Location: CIES Conference Room
Topic/Skill: Simple Past

Today I met with Yunjia and we went over the simple past tense. We watched a song for the simple past tense on Youtube and completed three worksheets together.
The three worksheets covered different areas of the simple past tense.
After today

Worksheets:

• Grammar Worksheet: Past Simple Irregular 
• Practicing Past Simple Form of Irregular (-ed, -d, ied, double consonant -ed) 
• Simple Past Interrogative 

I made sure to include a worksheet on interrogative because that's an area she struggles with. 

CO #3

Date: 11/5/19 (Tuesday 2:00pm-2:50pm)
Class: Room 302 Listening Group 4A
Teacher: Felicia Ciappetta

Students watched two interviews and took an open comprehension quiz on the topics.
Students are being tested on the ability to listen and identify bias. The students are being challenged to use critical thinking for this exercise. 

Youtube Videos:

• The Young Black Conservatives of Trump's America (Vice) (Left wing)
• An Interview with Brandon Straka (Right wing)

University dialogue can go anywhere so I believe this type of exercise prepares students to engage in all hot topics. The students can also learn how to approach controversial issues from a healthy place. 

Linzy TS #3

On November 6th I also tutored Mohanad. Mohanad wants to work on writing and grammar but for this tutoring session we exchanged introductions and worked on his reading homework about watermelons.

Linzy TS #2

On November 6th, I tutored Jimin. We started the session with introductions and worked on speaking. She is mostly concerned about speaking and grammar so I will work that into the tutoring sessions.

CO #3 Kelsey

Class Observation #3

Reading 1A with Dr. Derrick Pollock

Today I observed the Reading 1A class with Dr. Derrick Pollock. There were only two students in the class so the teacher modified the lesson from what he had planned. The first activity was for one student to stand with their back to the board and have another student describe the vocabulary word on the board to the first student without using it. I noticed that the words were slightly above their level. This reflects the i+1 theory. Then, Dr. Pollock did an extensive reading activity where he read a level-appropriate novel to the students as they followed along. This seemed to interest them. Something that I took note of is that he would stop and review the past few paragraphs for comprehension. I think this is a great way to teach them strategies for reading comprehension and to check that they are following along. Then, he moved on to a reading skills lesson. They were learning about context clues. He referred to the textbook and read the concept of context clues slowly and clearly. He then looked at examples and had the students find the context clues. This was a helpful way to teach them a new skill.

CO #2 Kelsey

Class Observation #2

Grammar Group 2A Olivia James

Today I observed the Grammar 2A class with Olivia James. She started out by reviewing what will be on their upcoming exam. She said that there will be two sections including "used to" with a fact, "used to" with a routine, and the past continuous. As she went through each section, she asked the class to remind her what each meant and how they previously learned it. One thing I noticed is that the past activities they were referring to were very interactive including conversations and writing about movies using the verb forms.  She then walked around and read student sentences aloud. This allowed for corrections to be made as a class. The environment felt lively and free of pressure. James also helped form sentences by writing on the board and asking for words from the class. It was a very interactive, group lesson. Then, James put on two movies in separate rooms that they had to write more sentences about saying that they would form teams and compete for points. I thought this was a great way to make the students participate in the lesson because the movies were both very interesting and turning it into a competition made it more exciting.

Adrianna TS#5

This morning I met with my tutee Renata for the second time. She is an absolute delight and we had a very successful tutoring session. She recently learned complex prepositions in class, and needed more help with understanding them. We went over prepositions including "until", "beneath", "underneath", and "for the next". In order to help her understand these words in context, I asked her to form and speak multiple sentences including these words. By the end of our session she was able to use these prepositions correctly, and she did so with a smile on her face. It is apparent to me that she struggles a lot with pronunciation, so for our next tutoring session I will help strengthen her pronunciation skills. After leaving our session, she texted me a very sweet message thanking me for my help and claiming that she now understands complex prepositions! Receiving that text message definitely made my day and gave me immense motivation :)

CO #1 Kelsey

Class Observation #1

Composition 4B with Felicia Ciappetta

Today I observed Professor Ciappetta's composition class. As she explained to me at the beginning of the class, the students are working on a research paper. Half of the class has already finished their article reviews, so they have started writing their papers. The other half is learning how to paraphrase and summarize their articles. Ciappetta introduced the program, TurnItIn, to explain that this is a way to check for plagiarism. Students were worried that they had a score that was too high to be acceptable. In order to address this, Ciappetta made suggestions about how to avoid plagiarism. These included using a thesaurus, changing from an active to a passive voice and taking out details that did not seem important. She then asked me if I had any suggestions for the class. I said that sometimes, I will switch around the sentences in a way that still makes sense put forces me to put it into my own words. I also said that TurnItIn will often give you a high plagiarism score if you include the citations in your check. By turning this feature off, you get a lower score and are more encouraged that your work is your own because citations are not part of the plagiarism score. Students were still a bit worried about high scores and Ciappetta explained that for this paper, they are still learning so she will not be as harsh as normal professor would be, but that they need to learn these techniques for the future. For the rest of the class, they continued to work on their papers, asking for assistance when they needed it.

TS #3 Kelsey

Tutoring Session #3

My third tutoring session involved helping Cassie make her powerpoint for her presentation of the literature review we looked at in the previous session. I noticed she was repeatedly using "affect" and "effect" incorrectly. We went through and I explained the rule for which one to use in what context. She seemed to really grasp the difference and by the end, she could use the rule herself. Additionally, she was not understanding complicated technology vocabulary so I helped her by explaining real life examples. At the end of the session, she presented the article to me with the completed powerpoint. I corrected her pronunciation and gave her example audience questions. It was a good session and I improved my skills of explaining grammar rules.

CP4

November 6, 2019/@1930hrs
Off-campus, Coffe Shop
Speaking/Listening

This evening, Abdullah and I met and our usual focus was on speaking and conversation.  This is one thing that Abdullah has said he wanted to direct his efforts for our meetings. Therefore, when we are together, we don't have a specific agenda.  We randomly discuss whatever comes to mind. Normally, I  am cognizant of allowing him to do most of the talking.  However, during this session, he asked me about being in CIES.  So, I went on to give him a nice, detailed explanation.  This notably was a very good opportunity for his listening.

CP3

November 6, 2019/@1600hrs
CIES classroom
Speaking/Listening

Today Sang Im and I talked about her experience in moving to the U.S. She told me about how she was able to find a place to live.  Then, she told me about how she got a licence for driving in the U.S. We continued on this subject, and talked about some of the driving similarities between Korea and the U.S.

One other thing we briefly touched on was English vowel pronunciation. We decided to take a more in-depth look into vowel pronunciation in our next session.  SangIm wanted to provide some examples of areas where she specifically would like to concentrate on.

TS4

November 6, 2019/@1500hrs
CIES classroom
Writing/Speaking

Today, in this session with Hongfu we focused our efforts into fine tuning a class presentation.  Actually, the presentation didn't require very much revising. It only needed minor adjustments, along with a few recommendations for smoother transitions.  This seemed to help with some of the phrasing within the presentation, thus giving it a more English tone to it. Finally, after we'd gone through everything, she gave the presentation to me.

TS3

November 4, 2019/@1500hrs
CIES classroom
Writing/Speaking

I got together with Hongfu today. Hongfu's command of English continues to be very impressive in not only speaking, but her writing and penmanship is also very good.  For today, we spent time on her class assignment in writing. Her assignment consisted of writing an email message to her instructor. She had already put in the main ideas needed for the message. The only thing we had remaining to do was to minimally tweak the language to make for a smoother read.

During our time together we had a brief chat about China, and living in a big city versus a small town.

Adrianna TS#3

This past Tuesday, I met with my tutee Halima. She is from Saudi Arabia and currently lives in Tallahassee with her husband and two sons. She has only been at CIES for three weeks now, but she says that she is enjoying her time her so far. Her biggest challenge is finding time to study, since she is also a mother and does not like to stay up late. She is planning on getting her masters degree in speech language pathology in the future, and believes that the CIES program will help her reach that goal. Halima struggles the most with listening so she wants to work on improving her listening skills during our tutoring sessions, and also improve her vocabulary knowledge. I am looking forward to our next tutoring session together! :)

Adrianna TS#4

I just finished my first tutoring session with Renata. She is a 28 year old young woman from Brazil, and she hopes to get her law degree from FSU in the future. She has been at CIES for almost a year now and absolutely loves the program. She is level 3 in all of her classes, and her favorite class is composition. During our future tutoring sessions, she told me that she wants to focus on improving both her pronunciation of words and her conversation skills. After getting to know a little bit about her, I helped her study for her gerunds and infinitives quiz that she has tomorrow. She seemed very grateful for my help, and I think that I definitely made it a bit easier for her to understand the differences between gerunds and infinitives. I'm looking forward to our future tutoring sessions! :)

Adrianna TS#2

This past Monday I met with my tutee Khalid. He previously had told me that he was having trouble learning gerunds and infinitives, so I had gathered a few online resources to help him during our tutoring session. I also showed him the website Quizlet.com, with the hope that he would use it to help him study English vocabulary. He completed a couple of online gerunds and infinitives activities, and I reviewed each question with him. We agreed that he is going to have to memorize certain trigger words that will help him understand when to use gerunds and when to use infinitives. We ended the session and planned on meeting up sometime next week so that I can help him with writing a research paper.

TS #2 Kelsey

Kelsey Scholer Tutoring Session #2

On Tuesday, Cassie and I met again at Starbucks for a tutoring session. We planned to go over her research paper reading assignment and prepare for her upcoming presentation. In class, she has to teach the rest of the students what she learns about the article she is assigned. Because she is a very advanced speaker, this went very well. Cassie read the paper aloud to me and I corrected any pronunciation mistakes - which were minimal. I do notice that she has trouble pronouncing the letter L. I also clarified some difficult vocabulary that we came across in the reading. I asked her to then take notes on what she read so that we can discuss. By the time she was done with the notes, the hour was over so we agreed to discuss the main points at the next session.

CP #2

Date: 11/4/19 (Monday 6:00pm)
Location: House
Major: Law

Today I met with Ibrahim. We worked on a packet of homework and readings that were Easter themed. He asked questions about vocabulary and I defined the words for him. He has a beautiful daughter and a wife. I look forward to hanging out with him and getting to know him better. He's from Saudi Arabia and has been in the states for about two months.

<TS2>
Date/Time: October 30, 2019/3pm
Location: CIES room

Hassan and I were able to chat on Wednesday. I learned that has a self-imposed, regimented english study schedule.  Everyday after he finishes for the day at CIES, he heads over to the library to continue with using many helpful tools, reading sites, apps, and videos until 6:30pm.  He is an avid fan of airshows and airplanes.  In as such, he expressed his desire to become a pilot.  Another activity, which seems to stimulate his social preferences, is his participation in going to FSU football games.  And as a fan, he finds enjoyment in showing his support by appearing with face paint, so there is no doubt who he is cheering for.

<CO3>
Date/Time: October 28, 2019/2pm
Kim Ah-young

Class session was opened by introducing visitor's to the class.
-Intern Bella
-Myself(TEFL student, Marisa)

Instructor spoke about a future off-campus visit to a museum on the upcoming Friday. She apprised the class, that the museum curator will not adjust her speaking for them, because they are advanced speakers.

She then played a video clip from the sitcom show "Friends".  Then did a review and scene analysis.  Groups were, then form to do a "reproduce the scene" acivity.  Each group, when called to do so, went to the front of the class and re-enacted the scene through role play.

This strategy was based on:
<Lesson Plan>
-Listening
-Vocabulary(Pair Activity)
-Listening
-Reproduce the scene!(group activity)

<CO2>
Date/Time: October 28, 2019/ 1pm
Topic: Speaking
Sana McHarek

Class opened by discussing NEW vocabulary terms.
-CORPORAL PUNISHMENT,  -NAUGHTY, -among others.

Groups were formed to match words with meanings by using context clues=guess meaning by way it is used in a sentence.

Then, they moved on Timed-Presentations from students. the presentations need to be 7-8 minutes.

Next, with a partner, discover mistakes in sentences that are written(these are from the presentations).
-When I was a child, they take my phone
-I was disobedient child
-It's between the China and Japan
-There are international building

<CO1>
Date/Time: October 28, 2019/10am
Topic: Grammar
Teacher: Olivia James

Instructor began by reviewing subject/verb and CVC relationship with the sentence.  After this brief discussion and review, She preceded to present the FSU Film School produced move, "Interrogation".  The instructor fully explains the synopsis prior to showing the film.  She then, plays the film and pauses film and reviews dialogue within the scenes.  She thoroughly provided detail to any nuances for interpreting or rather analyzing scenes, to capture delivery of the message.

<CP2>
Date/Time: October 30, 2019//04:00pm
Location: CIES room
Topic: conversation partner_Sang Im Lee took the opportunity to introduce ourselves.  Our conversation centered around Sang's pursuit to learn english.  We, of course talked about what city each of us is from. Recently, she traveled to a community in Atlanta, Georgia which has a high percentage in Korean population. During here visit there, she shopped in the Korean market. Admirably, I listened to her explanation of how she had to prepare more than the usual amount of kimchi with the bargain purchase she got on the visit.

_CP1_

On Tuesday, October 29, I had the pleasure of meeting Abdullah Bahmed.  We met at an off-campus Starbuck's coffee shop at 7:30pm.  For this initial meeting, we began with an immediate rapport between the two of us.  In fact, we planned to only spend an hour for the session.  However, we were so engrossed in our conversation, that when we looked at the time, we were surprised to discover that we'd talked well beyond an hour and a half.  Abdullah, shared with me many fascinating details about himself. Although, I had not realized prior to our meeting that day, he had given a presentation on the foods of his country in his speaking class.  He graciously, presented it to me as an audience of one. He was able to speak thoughtfully during our conversation.

Linzy TS # 1

Today I tutored Miguel. We started with introductions and talked about what he wants to work on most throughout the semester. We plan to meet at the same time next week.

Linzy CP #2

Today I met with Jimin, my conversation partner from South Korea. We started by introducing ourselves and brainstorming some ideas of things we can do throughout the semester.

Linzy CO #3

Today I observed a low level listening class. I was able to observe a listening and writing activity and see how students who do not know our alphabet can struggle to write even simple words. I also learned that it is important to let students learn to fix their own mistakes and that you can help guide them to the right answer without giving it away.

Linzy CP #1

Today I met with my first cultural partner Cedric. We started with introductions and I learned about his home country in Burkina Faso. I also learned that he has been living in Paris and that he loves scary movies.

Linzy CO #2

Today I observed a CIES speaking class. The instructor spoke about how memorization won't help you to learn the language, but that you need to practice and you need to practice with someone who can help correct you. It really relates to conversation partners and how we can help our partners improve on their fluency and pronunciation.

Thomas CO #2

Date: 10/31/19 ( Thursday 1:00-1:50pm)
Class: Speaking Group 4A
Teacher: Olivia James

The students were working on outlines for speeches that must persuade or inform the audience on a topic that they came up with from a conflict or past challenge in their life. A few of the students expressed the same conflicts about fathers and older brothers being very traditional. They seem to not want the students to be modern or adventurous. I helped a student named Yugi Zhang with finding a few articles on repairing relationships with parents. We also discussed her conflict and came up with solutions on how to improve her situation. The students will present their speeches next week. I'm excited for Yugi's presentation.  I learned a lot in terms of interaction with the students from Professor James. She really breaks down the information for them and helps them understand empathy, feelings, emotions, and universal human needs.

Lesson Plan:

• Worksheet with 3 points of speech (hook, intro, conclusion) 
• Outline for first speech 
• Reviewing requirements for first speech 

Thomas CO #1

Date: 10/29/19 ( Tuesday 2:00-2:50pm)
Class: Listening Group 4A
Teacher: Felicia Ciappetta

I really enjoyed Professor Ciappetta's lesson and involvement with her class.
The class actively listened to a Ted Talk about five essential ways to listen better.
The class did various activities based around what they had learned and obtained from this video.
Professor Ciappetta's methods were impressive especially with all the different skills she had the students use in order to interact with her and one other.
I was impressed with the students in terms of how much information they retained from the video and how they were able to analyze the data. I also noticed the students love to participate and throughly answer questions.

Lesson Plan:

• Listen to Ted Talk ( 5 Ways to Listen Better)
• Students actively write notes while listening 
• Summarize main points with a partner/ small groups
• As a class summarize points 
• Close eyes for three minutes and discuss what you hear 
• Tell partner about a conflict you are experiencing in life currently and summarize partner's conflict tomorrow in class

Thomas CP #1

Date: 11/1/19 (Friday 1:30pm)
Location: CIES Lobby
Major: Sports management (completed BA)

Today I met with Futa Kuroki! He's from Japan!
He's a really chill individual and loves to laugh a lot.
We both completed the "Who are you" icebreaker which helped us to get to know each other better.
One really cool thing we did together was listen to Japanese hiphop music. He has no specific favorite American music. He just really enjoys Japanese hiphop music. He told me the only things he really misses about Japan is the food and the trains.

I discovered we both love to travel. He's been to multiple countries. His favorite place he's traveled to is Amsterdam. He's also travelled to France, Germany, United Kingdom, Philippines, Belgium, Italy, Thailand, Taiwan, and the US. He plans on moving to Australia for adventure and fun. I'm able to relate to him because I've travelled to multiple countries and have lived abroad.

I learned so much personal information about him this session. I look forward to watching some sports events with him and learning about Japanese culture.

Thomas TS #2 Blog

Date: 11/1/19 (Friday 2:30pm)
Location: CIES Conference room
Topic/Skill: Simple Present Tense, Present Perfect, Present Perfect Continuous, and Simple Past

Today we began our session by reviewing what she learned last session and completed a fill in the blank worksheet. She expressed to me she has difficulty with question sentences. This is something I'll integrate more of in our sessions together so she can improve. We also went over a few of the other tenses. We practiced simple past tense vocabulary and went over the verb form "to be" in the positive, negative, and question forms. I thought she did very well during our session. Sometimes she has trouble explaining questions she has but she works calmly and diligently with me so I can understand what she needs help on.

Thomas TS#1 Blog

Date: 10/30/19 (Wednesday 10:00am)
Location: CIES Conference room
Topic/Skill: Introduction to each other and Simple Present Tense

Today I met Yunjia and she is very kind and intelligent. She is from China and speaks Chinese, English, and Korean. She's been living in the US for about a month and a half. She lives with her fiancé who's a music student at Florida State. Yunjia loves to play piano! She taught piano in China for about seven years. She also enjoys drawing, yoga, and swimming. She likes Tallahassee because of its country attributes that includes the green trees and the random mix of hills. She's studying English because its a skill and she feels she has to be able to speak it. She enjoys learning English because she likes to know what native speakers are saying and she wants to be able to reply well. One thing she doesn't enjoy about learning English is the spelling of words and the vocabulary. She doesn't speak English often outside of class but uses English in the school setting and to self study. One of her long term goals is to prepare for the post graduate exam. After we completed getting to know each other better we went over the simple present tense. Together we played a game based upon learning the simple present tense and then we completed two worksheets. She is open to learning whatever I want to teach her. She also believes our lessons together will help her speak better English overall.

Adrianna CP#1

Last night, I took my conversation partner Eda, to First Friday at Railroad Square, where we wandered through the different shops and learned a lot about each other. I learned so many pleasant things about her and am very excited about building our friendship. Eda is 26 years old and she's from Albania. She's a gifted language learner, considering the fact that she already speaks Albanian, French, Spanish, Italian, and English. She is in group 4 of every CIES class other than Grammar. I learned that she loves hiking, as do I, so I am going to take her hiking in Georgia along with some of my other friends before winter break! We also talked about going to the beach together, exploring downtown Tallahassee, and going to an FSU basketball game. I could not have been assigned a better conversation partner :) !

Adrianna CO#3

This past Wednesday (the 30th), I observed a Group 2A listening class taught by Patrick Kennell who was substituting for Hunter Pelt. Right off the bat, I really enjoyed Professor Kennell's enthusiasm and his methods of interacting with the students. After having some class discussion about just the general challenges of learning American English, he talked about the importance of incorporating music into lesson plans and how helpful it can be when learning a new language. He asked the students to pick a song (they chose one by Shawn Mendes), and then he played the music video with closed captions on. He would pause the video repeatedly, and ask the students what they thought a specific lyric meant, such as "she pulls me in". I think that this method is a fantastic way to teach students not only basic American English, but also the many idioms found in the language.

Adrianna CO#2

This past Wednesday (the 30th), I observed a Group 1A Speaking class taught by Ryan Fleming.  Professor Fleming began the class with a few homework announcements, and then taught from a powerpoint. He focused on one activity the entire class time, and I think that it was definitely skill level appropriate. The students were asked to guess the professor's "secret place" by looking at various images in the powerpoint and listening to him speak about the place. Then, they were asked a few true or false questions to evaluate the information that they had interpreted. I like this activity because of it's use of visual aids paired with auditory information. Considering the difficulty of teaching students of such a beginner skill level, Professor Fleming did a good job at answering the students questions, and speaking both slowly, and clearly.

Adrianna CO #1

This past Tuesday (the 29th), I observed my first ESL class. The section that I observed was Reading for group 3A. Similar to teachers that I have had in the past, Professor McHarek wrote the class itinerary for the day on the whiteboard. I think that this is helpful to both students and the professor so that they are aware of what to expect during class time. The class was then instructed to break up into groups and answer discussion questions based on the reading that they had for homework the night before. I respect the fact that during the entirety of class, Professor McHarek made an effort to walk around, observing and taking notes on the students discussions. Unlike the other two professors I observed, she also stayed after class to work one-on-one with a few of the students. The technique of working one-on-one with students after class is one that I will definitely implement during my future experience as an ESL teacher.

Adrianna TS#1

This past Tuesday I met with my tutee, Khalid. We got to know each other a bit by asking each other many questions, including those found in the "Tutoring Guidelines" handout. Khalid told me what his group levels are for the various CIES classes that he is taking. I learned that he is 19 years old and has been studying at CIES for 5 months now. He considers Saudi Arabia his home, and is currently here thanks to an accounting scholarship. Once he is finished with his time at FSU, he will go back to Saudi Arabia where he will work as an accountant. Khalid struggles the most with reading and speaking English, but he considers writing English as manageable. During our tutoring sessions he wants me to focus heavily on English grammar, and he said that worksheets, as well as repetition by writing are most helpful to him. Hopefully, throughout the remainder of our tutoring sessions I will learn more about Saudi Arabian culture and he will do the same with regard to American culture. I look forward to meeting with him again this coming Monday!

Linzy CO # 1

Today I observed Dr. Rios' level 4 reading class. The students had read an academic article and then had a class discussion over it. I learned that it is important to let the students try to find the answer on their own before helping them. I also learned how to keep the discussion going and that one good tool of evaluation is having each student prepare a question for discussion.

TS1
On Monday afternoon of October 28, I was able to meet with tutee Hongfu Wu. We had a conversation in a classroom in the CIES building.  Despite this being our initial meeting, Hongfu spoke rather clearly.  She expressed her desire to improve in speaking fluently and more effortlessly.  Our conversation explored many ideas and exchanges.  Hongfu is from Guangdong Province, China.  Her goal is to apply for a Master's Degree in Accounting.  Although, she is far away from home and misses it, she has a brother who is also enrolled in the university.  Since she would like to focus on speaking that will help her proficiency for business concentration. She is interested in getting together more frequently to have more opportunity for practical practice. And she wants to expand her vocabulary.  This was my recommendation, as well.

TS #1 Kelsey

Kelsey Scholer Tutoring Session #1

Thursday evening, I met with Cassie, my tutee. Prior to this session, we discussed that she would like to focus on speaking and I wanted to learn more about her personal and academic life. We began by introducing ourselves and talking about where we are from. Then, I referred to the Needs Assessment handout to ask questions about her level of English. I could already tell that she is very advanced in her English. She makes some grammatical mistakes, but knows when to correct herself. She told me that she is very interested in vocabulary, but doesn't think it's as useful as other skills such a listening and speaking. She asked me about the culture in the US because she only came here about 2 months ago. Specifically, she asked about celebrations and we talked about how they are different than in her hometown in Taiwan. She found it strange that sometimes, we allow strangers (friends of friends) to come to our parties because she usually only hangs out with people she already knows. I found this first tutoring session to be very informative for both of us. She practiced her conversational speaking as she had hoped, and I learned how I can help her as a tutor in future sessions. I am excited for more tutoring sessions with her.