FSU TEFL 120 Fall, 2023

 Date/Time: October 27, 2023 Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Diagnostic Feedback provided to the tutee: I met my new tutee, a friend of my previous tutee. I introduced myself, and had questions to both get to know her and assess her level. I also gave a diagnostic and learned which areas were her strengths and weaknesses. 

 Date/Time: October 20, 2023 Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Present Perfect v. Past Simple Feedback provided to the tutee: I covered the two tenses by discussing the context one would use them and the differences. I then tested his knowledge and he saw that much was understood so I gave error correction feedback along with recognition for what was well done.

Date/Time: October 19, 2023 Location: CIES Building Topic/Skill: Sentence structure Feedback provided to the tutee: I talked about sentence structures such as active versus passive sentences, subject, predicate, object, and punctuation. After I did that I gave him an online quiz as an activity to test his knowledge. I commended him for doing well so I did not have much correction to give. 

 Date/Time: October 4, 2023 Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Idioms Feedback provided to the tutee: I covered common idioms and expressions, many of which he did not know. I modeled some example conversations and also gave him a clip from YouTube of these idioms being used in films.  Learned: It is more difficult or perhaps not level-appropriate to ask a beginner to give their own examples in a sentence and situation. 

 Date/Time: October 11, 2023 Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Speaking Feedback provided to the tutee: We talked about food and culture, so I introduced or made sure vocabulary related to the topic was known or learned. I had a list of questions prepared. A couple of times there was a need to look up words to translate. For example, when discussing classroom culture and family dynamics. For feedback, I commented on grammar errors.

Date/Time: October 6, 2023 Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Conditional Tense Feedback provided to the tutee: I did free conversation at the start and played Would You Rather. Then I explained the conditional tense but not so deeply. We practiced speaking with this tense using "I would prefer" and "If I were you I would." For feedback, I only commented on a few mistakes like the wrong tense because his speaking was more important.

Date/Time: October 4, 2023 Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Idioms Feedback provided to the tutee: I covered common idioms and expressions, many of which he did not know. I also gave him a clip from YouTube of these idioms being used in films. First I asked him what I thought it meant, he would think of what comes to mind literally. Then we read sentences where they are used as an example, and I would ask him to give me his own example in a sentence and situation.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  I learned that it is genuinely difficult to try to guess the meaning of an expression and not all of them will make sense to their figurative meaning.

 Date/Time: September 29, 2023 Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Prepositions Feedback provided to the tutee: I went over some prepositions and the ways they are used. Then as an activity, I gave my tutee some beginner-level paragraphs with missing prepositions. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  I learned that sometimes the best way to fully grasp things such as prepositions is also becoming familiar with them from hearing them often.

Date/Time: September 27, 2023 Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Grammar Correction in Writing Feedback provided to the tutee: I gave my tutee as an activity 2 short stories. Each story had about 3 paragraphs with a few sentences that had a grammar mistake. We read them and I let him try to find where the mistakes were and what the correct way would be/alternative way of phrasing. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  I learned that writing was a strong suit for my tutee.

Date/Time: September 25, 2023 Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Narrating/Spontaneous speech Feedback provided to the tutee: I tried the activity with a different short silent film video on YouTube. I wrote down grammar mistakes and moments where he could not answer as opportunities to use as feedback. I also provided a lot of new vocabulary. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  I learned that it is useful to explain new terminology/slang that is in fashion for certain verbs.

Date/Time: September 22, 2023 Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Narrating/Spontaneous speech Feedback provided to the tutee: I tried the activity with the short silent film video on YouTube and modified it for my lower-level beginner tutee. I gave a bit of an example so he could imitate me and we tried doing this in the present tense. More than narrating, I paused often to ask what was happening or to speak about what was going on. I wrote down grammar mistakes but also moments where he could not answer as opportunities for feedback. I was able to provide a lot of new vocabulary that was high frequency. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  I learned that at a beginner level, seeing a film or a visual is a great way to remember or process vocabulary and seeing a silent film is a great way to test what you know or don't know.

Date/Time: September 20, 2023 Location: CIES building Topic/Skill: Narrating/Spontaneous speech Feedback provided to the tutee: I started the lesson with a short silent film video on YouTube. I gave a bit of an example so he could imitate me and we tried doing this in the present tense and the past continuous. While he narrated, I wrote down grammar mistakes but also moments where he could not speak as opportunities for feedback. I was able to provide a lot of new vocabulary words or better word choices on top of pronunciation and grammar feedback. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  I learned with this exercise that learners sometimes when a learner misses a word or can't come up with the appropriate word, it doesn't mean they don't know it.  I also learned to not assume they know some words you believe to be frequent lower level just because they are in a fluent state and know a lot. 

Date/Time: September 18, 2023 Location: CIES building Topic/Skill: The Conditional Tense Feedback provided to the tutee: I started the lesson with some would you rather questions. Then I explained the conditional tense with examples. I gave examples for him to imitate and we practiced what we learned.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  I learned that explaining the conditional tense can be a little complicated and I should consider what are some common questions to have the lesson run smoother. 

 Date/Time: September 15 Location: Student Union Topic/Skill: Diagnostic Feedback provided to the tutee: I met and got to know my tutee. I corrected a few repetitive 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.

   November 18   , 2023   Date/Time: November 18, 2023. 9 AM - 10:05 AM Tutee: Dojun Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Mardi Gras/ Reading comprehension Feedback provided to the tutee: This lesson was the same one as Sandra's but the post-activity involved more high-level comprehension questions and writing. I gave him feedback when his response was not according to the text (overall his pronunciation was great).  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: This was our last session. I learned that I do like creating fun activities for students and that teaching English to adults will be something I'll enjoy. 

   November 18   , 2023   Date/Time: November 18, 2023. 8 AM - 8:55 AM Tutee: Dojun Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Historic (First Commercial Plane) / Listening  Feedback provided to the tutee: The feedback provided was based on pronunciation. His reading comprehension was perfect, and he understood the article.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: Being one of our last lessons, I learned that I focused a lot on reading and listening comprehension and I should've practiced more writing with Dojun. 

   November 17   , 2023   Date/Time: November 17, 2023. 6 PM - 6:59 PM Tutee: Sandra Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Mardi Gras/ Reading comprehension/ pronunciation  Feedback provided to the tutee: The only feedback provided focused on pronunciation. For example, one of the vocabulary words was "coveted" and the intonation was off, but we reviewed it and I gave her tips on how to pronounce it better (especially when having a Hispanic background).  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: Sandra learned about a new American Holiday located specifically in New Orleans (where the celebrations make it seem out of the US). 

   November 17   , 2023   Date/Time: November 17, 2023. 5 PM - 5:55 PM Tutee: Sandra Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Imagery/ Comprehensive reading  Feedback provided to the tutee: The main feedback provided was pronunciation and some corrections in spelling. The main activity was summarizing the meaning of each paragraph, where Sandra did really good at understanding the message. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: In this session, I learned that when conducting stories or reading comprehension, it is best to pick shorter excerpts.

  November 12   , 2023   Date/Time: November 12, 2023. 9 AM - 9:50 AM Tutee: Dojun Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Advanced Vocabulary/ Context and grammar Feedback provided to the tutee: The feedback provided was based on pronunciation. Overall, this lesson was helping with intonation. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: This lesson was really lengthy. We only got to half-way to my planned lesson. Next time I have to keep time in mind.  

Date/Time: Monday October 30, 3023 / 3-5 p.m. Location: Mina Jo Powell Green & CIES Building  Topic/Skill: Listening & Writing Feedback provided to tutee: We went to the FSU Italian Club's Dante's Inferno reading for about an hour and I had my tutee listen to the people read and write down words and terms she didn't know or understand (ex. limitation and passion). I thought this would be good practice for her listening skills so she could hear different accents and speech rates in a more casual setting, it was also a good way to learn about some Italian culture. After, I helped her create an outline for a PowerPoint she had to make for class, we organized her ideas and I would guide her as she looked for possible resources on her topic.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that it's good to expose students to different accents, speech rates and locations so they don't have to do and listen to the same thing every day. It gives th...

Date/Time: Wednesday October 25, 2023 / 3-5 p.m. Location: CIES Building  Topic/Skill: Reading (review/new vocabulary) Feedback provided to tutee: In the lesson, my tutee read an article about different types of budgeting and how to budget for a student lifestyle. As she read, I would take note of the words she mispronounced and terms she wasn't familiar with such as 'struggle,' 'debt,' and 'loans.' At the end, we went over the vocabulary until she understood and we even went over the differences between Saudi Arabia and The United States school system and how the government helps students regarding school. I also helped my tutee go over the list of vocabulary she had to study for her class, so we went over the definitions and she came up with an example sentence for each of them to help her memorize/understand the words better.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I noticed my tutee usually substitutes letters or skips over letters when s...

 This lesson took place with Youngjune on 11/3/23 Youngjune and I worked on a variety of engaging activities tailored to enhance his language skills and captivate his interests. We began by reviewing and expanding our Quizlet, incorporating new terms for our upcoming lessons. Youngjune's initiative in creating his own Quizlet proved to be a valuable resource, fostering active participation in his learning journey. To challenge his listening and comprehension skills, I introduced a dictocomp exercise, utilizing a speech from President Nixon at the Great Wall of China. The choice of this historical speech not only provided a linguistic challenge but also offered a glimpse into cultural and historical contexts. Transitioning into literature (which is more my specialty), we began reading Dune by Frank Herbert together. Starting from the first page, we navigated through the text, pausing to explore the concept of an epigraph. Our journey continued paragraph by paragraph, simplifying the...

 This lesson took place with Youngjune on 10/30/23. In our initial session, I began with a needs assessment, but Youngjune preferred a more casual discussion over a formal assessment. We explored his goals and preferences, allowing us to collaboratively shape the direction of our lessons. To gauge his proficiency, I had Youngjune take an Oxford English placement test, determining his intermediate level. From there, we embarked on creating a personalized vocabulary resource using Quizlet, focusing on words he identified as unfamiliar. During our conversation, Youngjune shared an interesting anecdote about his girlfriend's son struggling with books beyond his own comprehension skills. Recognizing an opportunity, we decided to incorporate Ms. Kim's books into our lessons, providing a tailored approach to meet Youngjune's language needs. In addition to academic content, we discovered common interests in Minecraft and Star Wars. Recognizing the value of incorporating personal in...

This lesson took place on 10/9/23.  In our session, Yajie and I further discussed her experiences in China with her passion for mountain climbing. This provided a rich context for language learning as I wove her personal experiences into the lesson. To enhance her understanding of English using language she might naturally be interested in, I brought in materials illustrating the diverse mountain ranges in America. We explored not only the names of individual mountains but also the terminology associated with different regions. This included identifying and discussing major mountain ranges, which helped Yajie speak more about American geography and try to sound out many of those strange English words. By incorporating beautiful and inspiring visual aids (the mountains themselves), connected to real-world topics, I tried to make it tangible and relatable for Yajie. The discussion about mountain ranges not only expanded her vocabulary but also fostered a deeper connection between her...

  Date/Time:  November 12, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm Location: Tutee's Apartment Topic/Skill:  Reading/Composition Feedback provided to tutee:  The tutee was having a lot of trouble with a combined reading and composition assignment in which she had to read a 14-page academic article about language learning and write a five-page summary of the article. We continued our study of the article and I proofread the summary she had created for the first half of the article and gave advice on transition words and grammar.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Long and boring articles are not useful learning tools. The tutee was extremely overwhelmed by the topic and it made her extremely discouraged. Additionally, there was hardly any information given on the subject. It is important to give your students background information and vocabulary definitions. 

Date/Time:  November 11, 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm Location: Tutee's Apartment Topic/Skill:  Reading/Composition Feedback provided to tutee:  The tutee was having a lot of trouble with a combined reading and composition assignment in which she had to read a 14-page academic article about language learning and write a five-page summary of the article. I agreed with the tutee that the assignment was much too hard for her level, but told her to try and take notes on whatever you do understand and not to get caught up in the words you don't know. I helped her go through about half of the article and helped with clarification and note-taking. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: She really doesn't like it when she doesn't know all the words. She gets very hung up on each word. It is definitely necessary to teach your students to search for overall meaning, not just the meaning of each individual word. 

 This lesson took place on 10/4/23 with Yajie.  Yajie and I discussed more of the practical aspects of English by focusing on her daily life. We began with an exercise centered around the workplace, discussing where employees can eat and drink during breaks. This including integrating words such as coffee and tea into a sentence using proper grammar for words such as "during." Our conversation extended to Yajie's personal interests, particularly her love for mountain climbing and her experiences traveling around Beijing, where she is from. It was an opportunity to integrate vocabulary related to leisure activities and geographical locations into our discussion. We also talked about Chinese food. Yajie. I coached in the language as she explained the differences between Chinese food as it's popularly known in America and the reality of what she experiences. We touched on the distinct flavors, noting that Beijing food is often described as "spicy," while Taiwan...

 This lesson took place on 10/2/23 with Yajie Ping. The blog is reproduced from my notes about what we did that day: In our recent lesson, I taught Yajie about the silent "e" in English words, focusing on pronunciation and grammar. We practiced with words like "can" turning into "cane" when the magic "e" appears. We also had an exercise about studying in the library, expanding Yajie's vocabulary related to this setting. During the lesson, we discussed the word "colleague," and I helped Yajie pronounce it as "kah-leeg," breaking down the syllables. The emphasis was on practical language skills, and Yajie made progress in understanding and using new words and pronunciation techniques.

Date/Time: Monday October 23, 2023 / 3-5 p.m. Location: CIES Building  Topic/Skill: Listening and Reading (research paper/discussion) Feedback provided to tutee: My tutee had asked for my help on a research paper assignment which consisted on reading an article and listening to a YouTube video about Artificial Intelligence. As we watched the YouTube video, I would pause it every couples of minutes to make sure she was understanding what was being said, if she didn't we would play it back until she understood the overall idea and if needed, I would explain in further detail. After, She read an article on the same topic and I mainly only corrected her pronunciation and explained any new vocab she didn't understand/know. I also gave her some tips on how to organize her thoughts and structure her sentences to get her point across more clearly.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Asking if the student are understanding what they are listening to or doing through...

Date/Time: Friday October 20, 2023 / 12:30 - 2:30 Location: CIES Building  Topic/Skill: Listening (reduced forms) Feedback provided to tutee: We did a listening activity which consisted of listening to a song and having my tutee fill in the blank as she hears the song. The activity took longer than anticipated because my tutee struggled listening for the specific words due to the songs speed (fast paced), so I would repeat the parts of the song that she couldn't understand until she finally understood. I often gave words of encouragement and kept reassuring her that if she couldn't understand we could repeat it as many times as she needed so she would be able to do complete the activity on her own. She really enjoyed the activity and told me it was a great way to help practice her listening skills. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that music is a great way to practice and learn a new language. Fatima explained what type of music she likes in Engl...

 November 11   , 2023   Date/Time: November 11, 2023. 10:55 AM - 11:45 AM Tutee: Sandra Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Dialogue and context/ Friends planning things Feedback provided to the tutee: This worksheet's lesson was a bit difficult, but it was helpful. The feedback I told Sandra was to connect the context to complete the dialogue. Example, Betsy said "I don't like football", so in the future Betsy would not say "Let's go play football instead" based on her previous sentence. Attention to detail is vital to continue a dialogue.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee:  I learned that it's better to build a dialogue instead of doing it from a worksheet from another source. The worksheet was helpful but next time I will build a dialogue myself that uses past vocabualry and grammar lessons we have done together to refresh memory as well and to make it more personalized. 

 November 11, 2023   Date/Time: November 11, 2023. 10:00 AM - 10:50AM Tutee: Sandra Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Reading Comprehension/ Thanksgiving History (Piligrims) Feedback provided to the tutee: Sandra did amazing this lesson. Her pronunciation while reading was great, only one mispronunciation (Plymouth) which is comprehensible. I gave her feedback on her speed of reading (positive feedabck, it was well spaced in the comas and periods).  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: I learned that it is better to have the lesson activities on the presentation. I tried to go to the link and it was not working in the beggining. It is better to have everything pasted because the internet connection might fail. 

 November 4, 2023   Date/Time: November 4, 2023. 6:20 PM-7:10 PM Tutee: Sandra Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Grammar/ Irregular verb and past participles/simple Feedback provided to the tutee: I adviced her to her children/husband (or even alone if she wants), as long as she is practicing her pronunciation and activating the automatic development of sentences with the right grammar.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee:  I learned that the egnlish is not simple, even for a fluent/native speaker. When bulding the lesson I saw the irregular verbs and some verbs were new to me too. This helped me relate to Sandra a build a lesson that was effective to keep up and learn a lot with out being overwhelming. 

November 4, 2023   Date/Time: November 4, 2023. 5:25 PM-6:15 PM Tutee: Sandra Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Listening/ Thanksgiving Traditions (Friends) Feedback provided to the tutee: This session was more about listening and catching up on new American slang, as well as listening comprehension. The only feedback that I provided was on pronunciation. We reviewed how sometimes the "a" and the "i" change sound depending on the previous/following letters (example, live and like). The rest of the feedback was pocitive since she was comprehending the dialogues in the video well. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee:  We both learned that building vocabulary it's best when watching the video. I built the vocabulary but it was words she already new, but there were other words she did not know. So next time I would provide a bsaic vocavulary and we will build out own by watching the video to see what words she needs clearance on. 

    October 28, 2023   Date/Time: October 28nd, 2023. 7:15 PM-8:05 PM Tutee: Sandra Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Writing/ Expressive writing  Feedback provided to the tutee: There was not much feedbakc to provide other than broadening vocabulary. We reviewed words that better express the word "sad" or "happy" depending on the situation. Example, she said "it's a sad day" - she meant the weather. After reviewing the new vocabualry she corrected her sentence and said "it's a gloomy day outside".  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: I learned that writing expressive sentnces is like painting. There are countless amount of words that can be used to talk and wrie just like there are million sof colors that can improve a painting. It was a fun lesson to rephrase sentences with better vocabulary.  [We did 3 session in one day, but giving breaks was vital. I also learned that overwhelming a student with work is not effective. Taking out time an...

    October 28, 2023   Date/Time: October 28nd, 2023. 6:20 PM-7:10 PM Tutee: Sandra Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Grammar/ Tranforming present tense into past tense Feedback provided to the tutee: The feedback I provided was more tangible. We did corrections together and I gave her tips on how to remember the irrational verbs. Another feedback I provided was word order. In spanish the adjective and verb has different order compared to english, so we reviewed sentnce structure. Majority of the lesson was positive feedback. She has imporved a lot.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: I learned that when giving feedback, it is good to provide a clear and borad explanantion on the subject and why he/she responded correctly/incorreclty to the question. Any feedback allows students to learn and lock in a subject.  [We did 3 session in one day, but giving breaks was vital. I also learned that overwhelming a student with work is not effective. Taking out time and revie...

   October 28, 2023   Date/Time: October 28nd, 2023. 5:25 PM-6:15 PM Tutee: Sandra Location: ZOOM Topic/Skill: Robinhood/ Reading Comprehension  Feedback provided to the tutee: The main focus on reading outloud was pronunciation. I asked Sandra that when she struggled to say a word to let me know then. I gave her feddbakc when she pronounced it right eventhough she thought it was wrong. The way I gave her feedback on mispronunciation iwth her noticing was by highlightinh the words and coming back to it at the end  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or tutee: I learned that it is better for Sandra to ask me questions on pronunciation when she is struggling because when we wait to the end os the activty we forget what was the mispronuncaiton. [We did 3 session in one day, but giving breaks was vital. I also learned that overwhelming a student with work is not effective. Taking out time and reviewing everything calmly allowed her to learn a lot more and made us have a go...