FSU TEFL 120 Fall, 2023

Date/Time: September 30th, 2023. 11 AM-12 PM Tutee: Shrouq Saied Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Listening schema building, activity, and comprehension Feedback provided to tutee: I helped her review vocabulary and tested her comprehension through discussion questions Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: I learned that students thrive at listening activities when teachers review the vocabulary and linguistic support right beforehand. Also, students will be much more invested in topics they find interesting, and humor helps too!

  Date/Time: September 29th, 2023. 1:30 PM- 2:30 PM Tutee: Shrouq Saied Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Listening schema building and linguistic support Feedback provided to tutee: I helped her with vocabulary comprehension and evaluated her understanding of the listening topic Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: I learned that the schema building/linguistic support phase of a listening class is incredibly important and should not be skipped! It is the fundamental prep work needed before listening to the material and will set up the students for success in the long run.

  Date/Time:  September 28, 10:00 am - 10:50 am Topic/Skill:  The Past Tense (Quiz) Teacher Presentation:  The teacher started by reviewing any student questions about the past tense. Then, she gave a quiz testing the past tense. The test included four sections. The first section asked the students to write five sentences in the past tense about a past vacation. The second section asked the students to write the corresponding past tense version of a verb provided to them. Additionally, the third section was very interesting. The class watched a movie clip (about 15 minutes) and had to write five sentences in the past tense using verbs that were provided to them that had to do with actions in the movie. The last section tested them on prior knowledge, they had to use the future tense to write five sentences about what they are going to do this weekend. She also allowed them to ask questions about spelling as she was not testing spelling.    Classroom Managem...

  Date/Time:  September 26, 10:00 am - 10:50 am Topic/Skill:  Adjective Clauses and Articles Teacher Presentation:  The teacher started by reviewing the last class' grammar and their homework assignment.  He allowed the students to explain their answers to each other instead of him just taking over. He then went over the expectations for the next class' quiz so students know exactly what to expect. He then started the main lesson on articles, which was a review from previous classes, however, he also introduced what he called "the tricky ten", which were ten rules about articles that are difficult to understand and remember. After explaining each rule he asked students to create examples with him. Additionally, he had the students read the rules aloud so he could test their reading ability and correct pronunciation if necessary.  Classroom Management:  The teacher encouraged student participation and kept everyone engaged.  Materials: Online textb...

  Date/Time:  September 27, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Location: Tutee's Apartment Topic/Skill:  Worked on Grammar and how to write recipes.  Feedback provided to tutee:  I helped the tutee with transitional phrases and the grammar of recipe writing. It came pretty naturally to her, and I can already see improvement since the start of our tutoring. We also went over the past tense of some verbs that were going to be on her quiz tomorrow and I helped her with both the past tense form and the pronunciation. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Having to explain nuanced pronunciation is difficult as there are so many different pronunciations that make no sense. 

  Date/Time:  September 25, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Location: Tutee's Apartment Topic/Skill:  Worked on Composition Feedback provided to tutee:  Writing was good but needed some grammatical fixes which we worked through. Additionally, we worked on brainstorming and organization of her essay.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Teaching organizational writing and the thesis statement is difficult because it is so deeply ingrained in our writing style. However, my tutee appreciates things with a formula so I taught her a simple structural formula. 

 Date/Time: September 27th, 2023. 1 PM-2 PM Tutee: Sujin Yang Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Listening comprehension Feedback provided to tutee: After listening to the podcast, I asked Sujin some extensive comprehension questions, including her opinions and main ideas. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: I learned that having a discussion on the topic, providing listening materials to students and then having a second discussion following that exercise leads to improved schemas and better conversation the second time around. Allow students to form their schemas!

 Date/Time: September 27th, 2023. 12 PM-1 PM Tutee: Sujin Yang Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Pronunciation and listening skills Feedback provided to tutee: Just like last week, most of my feedback was implicit corrective feedback on pronunciation. as well as teaching new unfamiliar vocabulary words/phrases that would pop up in the conversation through context clues. I also taught her some idioms and slang expressions that came up during the conversation. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: I learned that relevance is a big part of learning when it comes to ESL. Students will be more naturally inclined to discuss topics and viewpoints that interest them, and will be more willing to explore new topics once they've discussed their preferences first.

Date/Time: September 24th, 2023. 9:30AM-10:30AM Tutee: Do-jun Kim Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Zero/First/Second Conditional Sentences Feedback provided to the tutee: During our tutoring session I made sure I took notes on the subject we reviewed to send to him in reference to things he mentioned he did not know. For example, something he did study but forgot was infinitive verbs (as soon as I explained he refreshed his memory, but I still wrote it down so he could use it as a reference when studying on his own time). Instead of giving verbal feedback, I decided to take notes that could point to practice as a reference for his own improvement -  this feels less like a classroom setting and more like a helping session.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: It is vital to be prepared nad ask the tutee if he understands. There was a moment I thought I was sharing my Page but I was not sharing my right page. This mistake allowed me to learn that next time I should have the right ...

  Date/Time: September 17th, 2023. 9AM-10AM Tutee: Do-jun Kim Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: First Session Meeting Feedback provided to the tutee: Since this was our first session we talked about what his goals in English were and his intentions of him learning the language. We also had a conversational session so I could see how advanced his level was and what we could improve. This session we got to know each other. Dojun has great grammar, so my feedback was positive overall. Another aspect of my feedback was not directly on his flaws but on his potential to improve pronunciation and speech speed with practice and stepping out of his comfort zone. At first, he was really hesitant to talk, but at the end of the session, he started making jokes and feeling more comfortable.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: Although it is important on focusing in technical skills, this first meeting taught me that first impressions count. Building a connection allowed Dojun to have a posit...

  I attended Ryan Fleming’s Monday 9/25 class on speaking. The beginning of the lesson was spent playing Go Fish, which Ryan explained is a good game to play because it causes you to ask a lot of questions. Ryan teaches with a lot of personality in his body language especially. Before we played the game he pointed to images of the face cards on the board and asked what each meant. That way during the game they could be identified. He went through the instructions to the game very slowly, pointing to the words on the board as he was saying them. He stopped during the game to make corrections. For example, one of the students asked “do you have any six.” He tried to get them to say “do you have any sixes?” Then I helped students by providing answers to some of their questions related to another assignment, which were chosen from a larger list of predetermined questions.

 Session took place on 9/25/23 Today I met with Yajie and I was told she was having a hard time with her classes, specifically her composition class. In the future I will want to do a composition lesson with her, but before that is possible I think she needs to have more confidence. Today Yajie told me she wanted to work on pronunciation and grammar, so I had a lesson where we worked through a list of questions. I told her to answer the questions with as many words as she could. Often she would stare at me blankly and I would give her maybe the first word. Then it would jumpstart some more words, and I would write down her sentence as she spoke it. Then, I wrote down a more correct version of the sentence underneath and asked her to look at both of them. I asked her which one she thought was right, and we kept doing that together with different sentences and running into enough similar problems that she started to see patterns and not repeat her mistakes. 

Session took place with Yajie Ping on 9/18/23 In my first session with Yajie Ping, we got to know each other a little bit. She told me that her English was not good and I made the determination that she probably would not understand the needs assessment sheet as it was given. Knowing what was on it, I was able to get some information about what she wanted to work on. She told me she needs support with her homework for her other classes and that she would like help with pronunciation and grammar. I noticed that her vocabulary was quite low, so when we were going through her homework I was able to get her to pull and use more words. When she pulled those words, I taught her other forms of the word. One example was when we went over candy. I was able to show her that the plural is candies with an ~ies instead of a y . She seemed to understand what I am saying because she was able to reproduce that pattern across other words as well, and updated the sentences she was using. However, I am c...

Date/Time: September 23rd, 2023. 10 AM-11 AM Tutee: Shrouq Saied Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Reading comprehension and pronunciation Feedback provided to tutee: I evaluated her homework and helped her with reading comprehension and vocabulary through context clues. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: I learned that when ESL students get to apply new vocabulary in their own sentences (rather than the ones the teacher gives them), they tend to remember it more. Students want to be active in their own learning, and greatly benefit from praise and encouragement!

  Date/Time: September 22nd, 2023. 1 PM-2PM Tutee: Shrouq Saied Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Vocabulary in-use Feedback provided to tutee: I helped her remember the definition to key vocabulary words before she came up with sentences for each word. I then provided feedback on those sentences. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: I learned that receptive and productive vocabulary are two entirely different categories of knowledge. My tutee could easily define the words for me, but struggled a lot more when it came to actually applying that knowledge in a real-life context.

Date/Time: September 11, 2023 Location: CIES building Topic/Skill: Diagnostic Test Feedback provided to the tutee: I corrected some speech mistakes while conversing and then I made my tutee do a diagnostic test to assess his level. I learned more about his strengths and weaknesses and what to focus on for the next sessions.

 Date/Time: September 13, 2023 Topic/Skill: Speaking skills  Teaching Presentation: Going over advanced vocabulary, example sentences, and discussing their formality. The teacher presented a video lecture on moral philosophy that contained a mix of dialogue and speech. It contained all the vocabulary words. At specific times, the teacher made comments on the vocabulary used and checked the students' comprehension. Classroom management: For a timed activity, students wrote down the definitions of their vocabulary words by memory or by researching them before it was reviewed together as a class.  Materials: PowerPoint, whiteboard, handout of vocabulary words Student Participation: Students shared their opinions on the video lecture of what they believed was morally right.  Feedback Provided: The teacher gave meaningful feedback regarding the students' opinions.  Lesson(s) on teaching you learned: Incorporating interesting knowledge and topics such as philosophy in...

   Date/Time: September 20th, 2023. 1 PM-2 PM Tutee: Sujin Yang Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Pronunciation Feedback provided to tutee: Mostly implicit corrective feedback on pronunciation, as well as teaching new unfamiliar vocabulary words/phrases that would pop up in the conversation through context clues. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: I learned that sometimes it's okay to not follow the lesson plan for one-on-one tutoring if the tutee has individual needs that differ from those of other students. The overall experience should still be student-focused at the end of the day.

   Date/Time: September 20th, 2023. 12 PM-1 PM Tutee: Sujin Yang Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Diagnostic Feedback provided to tutee: Mostly implicit corrective feedback on pronunciation Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: I learned that ESL students are much happier when they can have a say (not the final choice, but a say) in their own instruction and the structure for it. They will have to make compromises in terms of balance but taking their input into consideration can greatly affect their confidence and motivation.

  Date/Time: September 13, 2023 Topic/Skill: Speaking skills  Teaching Presentation: The teacher explained an outline format for students to structure their speech assignment. He gave his own examples for every section and checked to make sure everyone understood.  Classroom management: The teacher started by pairing students to play rounds of Guess Who. Then he discussed some mistakes he heard with them and reviewed helpful vocabulary. He went over the classroom agenda.  Materials: PowerPoint, whiteboard, outline handout, Guess Who games. Student Participation: The students asked questions about their topics and other questions about certain doubts.  Feedback Provided: Complimented and affirmed when students were correct. When a student was wrong, he addressed it by asking what they meant and offering what might be what they were trying to say.  Lesson(s) on teaching you learned: Speaking slowly and being very expressive with hand gestures and facial expre...

 Date/Time: September 11, 2023 Topic/Skill: Speaking skills (organizing a speech) Teaching Presentation: The teacher went over her classroom agenda, the syllabus, and deadlines. The teacher worked with students on brainstorming ideas for their speech.  Classroom management: The teacher provided a scaffold, and every couple of minutes went from student to student. Materials: PowerPoint, handout of outline Student Participation: The students asked questions about their topics and other questions about certain doubts. Feedback Provided: Complimented good ideas students had for their topics. Offered better ways to reword titles or theses.  Lesson(s) on teaching you learned: Letting students pursue, speak on, and research topics they are interested in.  

 Date/Time: September 11, 2023 Topic/Skill: Reading skills (pronunciation, vocabulary) Teaching Presentation: The teacher reviewed vocabulary words and taught some students how to pronounce certain words and differentiate when they should use words ending in -ing versus -ed. Classroom management: The teacher gave students opportunities to ask questions, Materials: PowerPoint, whiteboard, FSUView articles Student Participation: The students answered questions about the meaning of vocabulary words and word usage, they also asked questions. Feedback Provided: The teacher approved of their answers. Lesson(s) on teaching you learned: Using personal examples to motivate students and memorize common English mistakes better. Giving self-learning recommendations such as the website YouGlish to practice pronunciation. 

Date/Time:  September 19, 10:00 am - 10:50 am Topic/Skill:  The Subjunctive  Teacher Presentation:  The teacher started by asking students to error-correct a sentence from the last quiz. Then, the instructor introduced the topic and asked the students what they knew about the subjunctive. He explained the grammar form from the textbook and then proceeded to show examples of subjunctive sentences. These examples were turned into a classroom activity as the students had to guess whether or not the sentence was in the subjunctive form or not and then share whether the sentence applied to their culture. Finally, the last activity was a dictation activity where the students listened to a clip twice and had to try and write down the transcription word for word. They then shared with the instructor and error-corrected together.  Classroom Management:  The teacher encouraged student participation and kept everyone engaged.  Materials: Word doc, worksheet, canv...

  Date/Time:  September 18, 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm Location: Tutee's Apartment Topic/Skill:  Worked on Writing and The Present Tense Feedback provided to tutee:  Writing was good but needed some grammatical fixes which we worked through. Additionally, we worked on incorporating higher-level vocabulary and adjectives.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Teaching writing is difficult because it is hard to express why things are wrong, not just grammatically, but why a certain structure is better. 

  Date/Time: September 18th, 2023. 2:00 PM-2:50 PM Topic/Skill: Dr. Ciappetta's Listening Course, Group 2. Listening comprehension & differentiation between details and main idea Teacher Presentation: The instructor played an audio sample three different times for the class; each time with different instructions. The teacher then assigned an open note quiz. Classroom Management: The instructor encouraged the students to listen to the audio sample by emphasizing that the students would have a quiz at the end of the class on said audio sample Materials: White board, projector, computer, internet connection, VLC media player software Student  Participation: The students listened to the audio the first time without taking notes. Then, they discussed the main idea with among each other for 3-4 min. The second time, they took notes on the main idea, and then also discussed among each other for 3-4 min. The third time, they took notes on the details, and also discuss...

  Date/Time:  September 12, 10:00 am - 10:50 am Topic/Skill:  Talking about Routine  Teacher Presentation:  The teacher started by asking students to explain what was learned last class as this class was an extension of the previous class. She related the grammar lesson to an interesting video about astronauts on the ISS. The students had to watch the video and answer questions as well as come up with sentences and questions relating to routine. At the end, the teacher reviewed their homework and helped each student with error correction.  Classroom Management:  The teacher encouraged student participation and kept everyone engaged.  Materials: Google Docs, Youtube, Printed Handouts Student  Participation:  Everyone gave answers and participated in the group activity.  Feedback Provided: The teacher provided detailed feedback on their responses and their homework. Additionally, the teacher had the students help each other before sh...

Date/Time:  September 17, 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm Location: Student Union Topic/Skill:  Introduction and Diagnostic on Tutee #2 Feedback provided to tutee:  I provided a diagnostic test to assess the Tutee's English skills and then we did overall introductions and talked about scheduling.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: He is very busy so I appreciate him making time to meet with me. He seems to have an OK grasp of English but is definitely less advanced than my other tutee and less invested in his learning. I will need to try and find more intrinsic motivators for him. 

  Date/Time:  September 17, 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm Location:  Tutee's Home Topic/Skill:  Composition and Grammar Feedback provided to tutee:  I aided her in her composition and essay writing skills including grammar and essay organization. We worked together on editing her first draft based on the instructor's comments and my own comments. Additionally, I helped edit her sentences for a grammar worksheet and taught the foundational skills for the worksheet.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: It's hard! She asked me a grammar question that I didn't know the answer to and I had to tell her that I didn't know and would have to answer it next session. 

  Date/Time:  September 14, 7:00 pm Location:  Starbucks Topic/Skill:  Introduction and Diagnostic Feedback provided to tutee:  Independent study is very important! We also discussed meeting times and areas where the tutee feels they need improvement (listening and academic vocab). Additionally, I aided her in her vocabulary studying and reading comprehension. The session was 2 hr.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: She is very committed to English and will ask for clarification when needed, which is a very important quality. 

   Date/Time: September 16th, 2023. 9:30 AM- 10:30 AM Tutee: Shrouq Saied Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Conversational skills and intensive reading activity Feedback provided to tutee: I assessed her spoken English and gave her some implicit corrective feedback. We kept going with the intensive reading article, and I corrected her pronunciation. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee:Intensive reading is something that, with any level other than advanced, can easily take more than one class session, even if that session lasts one hour. There are too many variables for students to be able to successfully complete it in a shorter time span.

 Date/Time: September 15th, 2023. 4 PM-5 PM Tutee: Shrouq Saied Location: Strozier Library Topic/Skill: Writing composition Feedback provided to tutee: We went over some writing samples and proofread them together. I encouraged her to find her own mistakes and helped her with anything she did not understand. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: Writing composition might perhaps be the hardest skill to teach, due to the simple fact that many structure rules are not the most intuitive. With that being said, giving the students the chance to find and correct their own errors helps them remember them much more than if fixing the errors for them.

Date/Time: September 13th; 11am - 11:50am  Topic/Skill: Grammar Teacher Presentation:  Previous class the teacher provided an article by FSView titled "Popping the 'higher education' bubble" and completed the Pre-Reading Task which was a discussion activity and he emphasized the amazing things discussed last class. He then did a fast run-through due to someone missing the last class.  Classroom Management: The class read the article together while highlighting vocabulary. Then the teacher completed the questions about the article along with the students.  Materials: Adobe Acrobat Pro/Worksheet Student  Participation: Everyone answered at least one question about the article. Everyone also participated in the class discussion and asked questions about new words. Feedback Provided: The teacher gave students hints to the questions and helped shorten questions/sentences. He also listened to their opinions and shared his respect.  Lesson(s)...

Date/Time: September 13th; 10am - 10:50am Topic/Skill: Grammar/ infinitive verbs Teacher Presentation:  The teacher explained that infinitive verbs are not used in North American daily grammar. He used Shakespeare's example of "to be, or not to be" to demonstrate that infinitive verbs were used only in formal grammar such as poems, novels, and old English. Then explained how to use infinitives as a subject and other circumstances it is used. Classroom Management: The teacher took a few minutes to give examples of how not to use infinitives. He provides notes on the worksheet (on the computer) "written in red" as he speaks. Materials: Adobe Acrobat/ Worksheet Student  Participation: Everyone gave alternative examples of sentences provided by the teacher in class discussions.  Feedback Provided: The teacher provided a better example when students did not complete a correct example with an infinitive verb. For example, "he is practicing soccer >...

  Date/Time: September 14th; 11am - 11:50am      Topic/Skill: Reading/Vocab  Teacher Presentation:  The teacher started the class with a conversation and reviewed a few answers from the previous worksheet.  Classroom Management: The teacher explained every word that was highlighted in yellow from an article that had a double meaning. Materials: Worksheet/Adobe Acrobat Pro DC Student  Participation: students gave their own comments/examples about the meaning of each word.  Feedback Provided: The teacher gave feedback on important words. For example, "write-off" in the context of the article means "dismissal" and corrected the student's examples if they were not correct. He also gave real-life scenarios of when a phrase or a word would be effectively used. Lesson(s) on teaching you learned: It is important to highlight pronunciation and all meanings of words. Cultural slang can affect the way a non-English speaker interpre...

Date/Time: September 14th; 10am - 10:50am Topic/Skill: Grammar - infinitive verbs/ trigger verbs  Teacher Presentation:  The teacher started the class by reviewing the last class notes/activities. Then he completed fill in the black with class while explaining grammar rules Classroom Management: After explaining what trigger verbs are, the teacher only filled out the worksheet as students participated, he also asked for an explanation for the answer. Materials: Worksheet/Word Document, and background music while students completed the worksheet by themselves. Student  Participation: Everyone provided an answer to the blank Feedback Provided: The teacher corrected any answers that did not belong to the fill-in-the-blank and explained why the transitive verb did not belong in that sentence. Lesson(s) on teaching you learned: When teaching an ESL class it is important to be comfortable with the students and talk to them directly instead of reading off a sc...

  Date/Time: September 14th, 2023. 11:00 AM-11:50 AM Topic/Skill: Dr. Rios's Reading Course, Group 3. Reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition Teacher Presentation: The instructor presented the students with a passage on higher education, and reviewed new vocabulary words and thematic elements throughout the class. Classroom Management: The teacher would address the students with a tendency to participate in class the most, but would also ask open-ended questions so that the entire class had a chance to answer and speak up. Materials: White board, projector, computer, internet connection, Adobe Acrobat software Student  Participation: The students would read out loud and infer the meaning of new vocabulary words as they popped up. The teacher also encouraged them to think of personal examples and ties to their lives when discussing the more difficult phrases and idioms. Feedback Provided: The teacher gave the students lots of positive oral feedback, and...

 Date/Time: September 13th, 2023. 12 PM-1 PM Tutee: Sujin Yang Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Introductions Feedback provided to tutee: While engaging in introductory conversation, I administered both implicit and explicit corrective feedback when appropriate, but tried not to do it too much as to not discourage the student from speaking. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: This session, I learned that ESL students who are anything above a beginner level (I only say this because I have noticed that lower level students tend to be more shy at first) will jump at the opportunity to speak English and apply the knowledge they have learned in real life situations and contexts. In regards to tutoring, I have learned that I need to be more assertive when it comes to assigning different time slots to certain skill practices, in order to provide the tutee with a balanced instruction.

  Date/Time: September 13th, 2023. 2:00 PM-2:50 PM Topic/Skill: Olivia James's Listening Course, Group 3. Listening and communicative skills Teacher Presentation: The teacher introduced an exam to the students, along with modeling and presenting the RASA method through vocal explanation and a video. Classroom Management: The teacher would vocalize out loud everything she was doing. When addressing students, she would project her voice and maintain eye contact in order to be heard and understood. Materials: White board, projector, computer, internet connection, video-playing site Student  Participation: The students got into pairs and practiced using the RASA method of communication in the context of certain prompts. Students would switch back and forth in between being the speaker and being the listener, since both were equally as important to the successful completion of the exercise. Feedback Provided: The teacher gave oral feedback to the student pairs durin...

  Date/Time: September 11th, 2023. 1:00 PM-1:50 PM Topic/Skill: Ryan Flemming's Speaking Course, Group 2. Speaking and presenting skills Teacher Presentation: The instructor introduced a game of "Guess Who?" for the first half of class, and then modeled a presentation for the second half of class. Classroom Management: The teacher kept the students engaged through a cheerful and uplifting attitude, which gradually encouraged the students to speak up more and have more confidence in their English speech. Materials: White board, projector, computer, "Guess Who?" board game, PowerPoint Student  Participation: The students played the board game with one another and filled out a handout sheet with information from the instructor's presentation Feedback Provided: The teacher provided feedback after each round of "Guess Who?" when it came to vocal grammar and sentence structure mistakes. He wrote the students' sentences on the board, and...