Anthony TS #3

     Following the first hour we spent in Strozier, Ahmed and I decided to do a second hour of tutoring. This hour revolved around the topics of spelling and writing. We performed a small diction, where Ahmed wrote down the sentences I said aloud, and then we reviewed them together. I utilized a bottom-up approach in providing feedback on Ahmed's sentences, because he is very interested in the grammatical structure of the sentences. In addition, there were many spelling errors, and I used those spelling errors to create quick, on the spot lessons for spelling and pronunciation trends in the English language. For example, he struggled to find the difference between "quite", "quiet", "and "quit". In addition, he hasn't acquired the knowledge of an "e" at the end of a word influencing the prior vowel sound. There were many patterns in English pronunciation and spelling that we covered, all of which stemmed from the diction sentences. It proved to be a very valuable lesson. After discussion, I had Ahmed rewrite the diction, being sure to watch for previous mistakes he had made.

Anthony TS #2

     I met with my second tutee on Monday. His name is Ahmed, and he is from Jedha, Saudi Arabia. We went to Strozier Library, and I asked him all of the diagnostic questions outlined in our tutoring guidelines worksheet. This took longer than expected, not because of Ahmed's struggle with the questions, but quite the contrary. He is a very advanced level speaker and listener, and he wanted to have a long discussion on each question, and with myself being very inquisitive, our conversations trailed into different subjects surrounding our meeting (i.e. English learning, tutoring, hobbies and interests, etc.). He told me he studied computer programming in Saudi Arabia, and therefore enjoys to play video games in his free time. He is here learning English because the opportunity presented itself when his sister got a scholarship to FSU. He decided to tag along. He also enjoys going to the gym and learning about eating healthy, something he says he has taken up since he arrived in America. While his speaking and listening is advanced, his reading and writing is still in the low/upper intermediate level. He struggles with spelling and writing, which was the topic of our second hour of tutoring.

Dana CP #7

I met with my conversation partner today, and I took him out to lunch.  He got into my car and I extended my hand asking him "How do we shake hands in America?"  He had gotten that lesson from our meeting last weekend.  He was so grateful I had taught him how to shake hands in America.  He totally grasped the concept. ar, ar, ar.  He explained that the limp handshake is how it is done in his country.  He demonstrated it.  He was so thankful that I had showed him this custom.
     It was session number 7 for us, and the last of the compulsory sessions for me.   That said, I will probably continue meeting with my CP on a tutoring basis.  We did some lesson work today while waiting for our meal to be served. 
     I asked him yesterday to think about where he wanted to eat lunch today.  He told me he would think about it.  He surprised me today by telling me that since he chose last time, it was my turn to decide.  We went to lunch at a Mexican food restaurant nearby.  It was his first time eating Mexican food.  He reminded me that he cannot eat pork.  So we discussed other options.  He ordered chicken tacos.  We discussed tortillas and the difference between the soft and crispy ones.  He had reached his decision, (a word he learned in our last session) it was going to be soft tortillas--street tacos.  I ordered the shrimp tacos and we both munched on the crispy tortilla chips while we waited for our food the arrive. The waiter came over to inform us a little later that the order ticket had fallen on the stove and partially burned, so there was going to be a slight delay.  No worries.  My CP and I  just kept talking.  We had plenty to talk about.  We talked about American football and the Superbowl coming up on Sunday.  We did a little geography lesson too. He said he was having a little trouble with the future perfect and the future continuous tense.  I went to the car and got my grammar cards just to be sure I informed him correctly. 
     Another bit of good news, my tutee got 100% on the quiz we prepared for. 

Jully CO #1

Classroom Observation #1

January 22, 2020

Grammar

Group 3B

Dr. Angel Rios

Today, I observed Dr. Rios's Grammar class. They started the class by going over the schedule for the next few days, as well as the quiz that is coming up soon. He went over what will be tested and providing study activities they can use such as Kahoot.

Then, they reviewed what was taught yesterday on defining and non-defining adjective clauses. Dr. Rios walked around as he was asking the students what the differences are between the two. While some of the students were able to state some differences in one, they were having a hard time with the other. He provided some simple questions to guide them into the answer. As he was doing this, he complimented the students even though they weren't sure of their answers and instead of just calling on a student to answer, he will ask if "someone" or  "anyone" could answer the question. 

Afterward, he put up some practice exercises. As the students work on the questions, Dr. Rios would walk around and look at the students' work. If he sees any mistakes, he'll first compliment them on trying, but still, point of the mistake without telling them what is wrong. This way, the students are able to figure it out by themselves, but if they are having a hard time, he'll point out some clues. He also made sure to back to the students who were having a hard time and making sure they have revised their mistakes.

After everyone is finished, he would have everyone read their sentences aloud, stating that some of them are good and some have little mistakes that they can discuss as a class. Through this, he stresses the importance of using past lessons into use. He also wrote students' mistakes on the board just so everyone can see what was wrong with the sentence.

I really enjoyed observing this class, since it really let me see how an instructor can provide the scaffolding theory into a teaching method. It also helped me see how one can correct mistakes without just pointing them out, but providing questions to lead them into the correct answer.

Dana TS #5

I met with my tutee today for an hour.  She is preparing for a test today.  She wanted some help reviewing for the test.  We went over an exercise about idioms.  Of course I knew them all except one:  "I am beyond my compass."   With context clues I was able to figure it out. 
Her vocabulary practice-exercise topic was about the LA Riots and some criminal justice concepts. I guess you could say that I have some schema in that area. We also worked on pronunciation and single and plural forms for nouns in our conversation.  I think she will Ace the test.

Michael TS #3

Michael Venci

TS#3

I met Renata for this tutoring session in CIES after her classes were done for the day. Renata let me know that she scored the highest in the class on adjective clauses the same day which made me very happy because that's what we went over in our last session! In this tutoring session I helped Renata understand the differences between noun clauses and adjective clauses. I created a worksheet with explanations on what both clauses were and how they're used, along with examples that we went through together. While working through the examples she showed me some of her writing that she has been working on and she's doing fantastic! Throughout the session I had Renata read the examples out loud because she also said she wanted to work on pronunciation. I noticed certain sounds and words were a little harder as her native language being Portuguese uses different sounds in Rs and Hs when compared to the English language. Renata seemed super ready for her quiz on Tuesday at the end of our session. I am meeting her again on Friday!

Caroline: TS #4

Tutoring Session #4

Abbas Alnakhli

January 27, 2020 at 11:30AM

This past Monday, I met with Abbas for our second tutoring session at 11:30AM. Given our discussion on writing the week prior, I chose to focus this session on the practice of forming compound sentences. Before we met, I typed up a 'cheat sheet' of notes for him explaining what a compound sentence is and how coordinating conjunctions play a role in their formation. We discussed FANBOYS and broke down, word by word, what each conjunction means and the best way to use it in practice. I had included example sentences for each conjunction, so we practiced combining the sentences as well as writing new ones. I also had Abbas complete a compound sentence worksheet in which he was asked to use FANBOYS to write one compound sentence using the two sample sentences provided. After the first few, he really seemed to get the hang of it and by the end, had gotten the last several correct. He expressed to me that he really enjoyed having a physical copy of the grammar subjects we cover in our sessions, so from now on I will write up summaries for him each time. Finally, we concluded the session by correcting some of his grammar and structure mistakes on a composition he was working on in the computer lab. For our next session on Wednesday, I am hoping to continue working on compound sentences and expand on his skill through the writing of unique sentences using the FANBOYS framework. 

Caroline: TS #3

Tutoring Session #3

Abbas Alnakhli

January 22, 2020 at 11:30AM

I met with Abbas for our first tutoring session this past Tuesday at 11:30AM. We began our initial discussion with a verbal needs evaluation; fortunately, he was extremely candid about the areas in which he needed the most assistance. Abbas explained that he felt his biggest struggle was listening and that often people spoke too quickly or used vocabulary words he did not understand. He said this made note taking and transcribing especially challenging, since he often found himself focusing on one portion of the lecture and missing critical information in the process. He also emphasized writing as an area of improvement as he wishes to craft longer sentences in his composition in an effort to more fully elaborate on his thoughts. Abbas is an extremely motivated student and wanted to get to work right away, so we brainstormed a list of connecting words he can use to write more complex sentences. We also briefly touched on the concept of adverbs, but given my lack of knowledge on that grammar topic I tried to keep the discussion brief so as not to confuse him further. However, given his interest I am hoping to craft that into a lesson plan for the future. Overall, our first session was extremely productive and I am excited to work with him again in the upcoming weeks. 

Caroline: TS #2

Tutoring Session #2

Abdulaziz Ajeeli

January 24, 2020 at 12:30PM

This past Friday, I met with Abdulaziz for our second tutoring session at 12:30PM. Given our discussion the prior week, I came prepared with a TEDTalk and a list of common idioms for us to define and discuss. Our first activity was watching an educational TedTalk on the scientific benefits of getting good sleep. I chose this TedTalk for Abdualziz for two reasons: first, given his more advanced skill level I felt that he could comprehend most of the lecture and second, it was good practice for his upcoming IELTS exam. We watched the video together and took notes along the way. Every 2-3 minutes I paused the lecture and we discussed unknown vocabulary and topics. Some of the vocabulary we defined included words like dementia, cardiovascular, cognitive, and physiological. After the conclusion of the video, we moved on to discussing common idioms and idiom phrases. Instead of just telling him what it means from the get go, I had Abdulaziz look at the phrase and try and guess the meaning from his prior knowledge of the word meanings. We broke down phrases such as "Call it a day", "So far, so good", "Under the weather", and "Your guess is as good as mine". For this upcoming week, I asked him to practice using these phrases in conversation in an effort to help place these phrases in context. For next week, we will continue to practice note taking in an academic lecture context and hopefully learn some new idioms as well. 

Caroline: CP #1

Conversation Partner: Meeting #1

1/27/20

3:00-4:00PM

This Monday, I had the pleasure of meeting with my conversation partner Soojin Song for the first time (scheduling conflicts had prohibited us from meeting sooner). From the initial pleasantries, we immediately hit it off. She told me she had been living in Tallahassee for about five months and was in the CIES program not because she wanted to obtain higher education in the States (as is the case with many students in the program) but because she wanted to become a flight attendant back in Korea. Before deciding to teach English abroad, I too had considered becoming a flight attendant after graduation so we immediately connected over a shared love of travel and new experiences. I learned that the process to become a flight attendant is much more difficult in Korea than it is in the United States. Soojin explained to me that potential applicants must make it through four rounds of interviews in order to obtain a position, with one of those rounds being judged solely off physical appearance. Through our conversation, we also discovered how small the world truly is. I learned that one of my good friends was her tutor last semester and that her brother is in the same major as I am (urban and regional planning). Her brother and I even shared a class together last semester! She had visited my hometown of Atlanta, Georgia, over Christmas break so we discussed our mutual love for the city and I elaborated on many cool activities the state had to offer. We concluded our conversation by agreeing that we would treat our upcoming meetings more like 'bookclubs' since she was extremely interested in widening her vocabulary (both in breadth and depth) and loves to read. My goal for this week is to find a  level appropriate book for our next meeting in the hopes that we can kick off our 'book club' in the upcoming weeks. 

Seaborn: CP #3

Ahmad and I met for our 3rd time on Sunday, 1/26, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. We met at The Bark, a local vegan restaurant off Gaines Street.

Ahmad explained to me the political and cultural differences between the United States and Saudi Arabia (e.g., how in the U.S., there is a taboo around adult children living with their parents, while in Saudi Arabia, it is considered the norm). We also discussed my reasons for being vegan (and my eleven-year history as a vegetarian), as well as the differences between his diet and my own.

Ahmad told me that in his country, were the people to protest the actions of their government (as we frequently do in the United States), there would be negative ramifications for the protestors. Likewise, there are many benefits for peacefully following the dictates of the government. I left our meeting with a newfound appreciation for the personal freedoms we have here in America, as well as a deeper understanding of a country very different from my own.

Casey TS #4

During our 4th tutoring session on January 23rd, 2020, Indira and I focused on continuing working on her presentation assignment. Based on the work we had completed during our last session and the work Indira did at home, I focused on helping Indira with the technical side of putting her information into a powerpoint presentation which she wasn't too comfortable using. I wanted her to focus on creating correct sentence structures as well as using strong words to get her point across. We spent some time using a Spanish to English dictionary during our editing stage to see if there was any words that could be changed for maybe a stronger synonym. I also helped Indira decide between photos that best depicted her points for equal education, equal job opportunities and equal pay. I showed Indira the feature for speaker notes so she could remember all of what she wants to say during her presentation and assisted her in writing down what all she wanted to remember for the presentation and afterwards checking it for proper spelling and structure. We will see each other again January 28th, 2020 to continue working on this project.

Casey CP #2

For our second conversation partner meeting, Dakhil and I met at Starbucks again on January 28th, 2020. To begin our conversation we made casual talk about what kind of Starbucks drinks we like to have which led us into a deeper conversation about drinking coffee, having sugary food and beverages, and fast food are all a part of the American diet. Dakhil told me about some of the popular foods eaten in Saudi Arabia, especially in his city Riyadh, like Kabsa. We talked about how there is little Arab cuisine to choose from in Tallahassee which is disappointing but not surprising. In our first meeting, Dakhil mentioned how he had lost a lot of weight over the last few years which he explained today was from him getting a gastric bypass surgery in his country. He recalled his past health and believes he is much happier now than before.  He felt encouraged from seeing his own brother have the surgery done and to see him as a much happier person. This conversation led us to discussing the healthcare system in Saudi Arabia and just how advanced their social systems are for the citizens. It is amazing to me how fast the Saudi citizens can have surgery done all at little or no cost out-of-pocket. I learned a lot about the technology used by the government to track all services offered by the government through one "portal". Even attendance documentation at the religious capital Mecca is listed under this portal. Dakhil told me people were even beginning to get married over a facetime-like system with officiants that process marriage licenses online. I was shocked to hear this and thought it was quite amusing. Dakhil and I set up our next meeting for February 4th, 2020.

Casey CP #1

For our meeting on Tuesday January 21st, Dakhil and I met at Starbucks Coffee. We began our conversation introducing ourselves and what we were doing during our time at CIES. Dakhil began explaining that he has been learning English for many years now, since 2014. He is a 27-year-old from Saudi Arabia who is working in a cyber security corporation here in the United States. Dakhil is the only child of his 7 brothers and sisters that has ventured out of Saudi Arabia and has studied abroad in England for a short time and now the United States. Dakhil enjoys traveling and learning about new cultures just as much as I do. We spent some time looking at a map where he showed me his home city Riyadh the capital of Saudi Arabia as well as many of the prominent places in Saudi Arabia such as Mecca, Medina and Jeddah. He told me much about the political and religious culture of Saudi Arabia and explaining how the political power of the kingdom operates which was so interesting to learn about. I was so fascinated learning about how tech savvy Saudi Arabia is and how advanced their medical system is as well. I learned briefly about some of Dakhil's hobbies such as playing video games and exercising which he gave an interesting backstory about how he became "skinny". We spent the second hour conversing about my background, American political and religious culture, and the medical system here in the states. I told Dakhil of my family life and we went on a tangent talking about the history of polygamy in Saudi Arabia compared to the anti- polygamy laws in the United States. Dakhil has such a large family primarily due to his grandpa having several wives and he enjoys the connection and support he has in such a large family. I spent some time showing him what city I am from called Amelia Island, Florida which he had never heard of. I showed him photos of the beach and the nature I took while living back home. Dakhil said he had visited Jacksonville briefly which is about 30 minutes from Amelia Island but he plans on making a trip to visit the beach on AI. We spent some time talking about medical care and the need for more services to help homeless people in the United States, especially here in Tallahassee. Homelessness is a very rare occurrence in Saudi Arabia because most families will care for the needs of their members if they need food and housing as well as a social service that provides jobless Saudis with a monthly stipend for housing and basic needs. We briefly spoke about parts of American culture that Dakhil did not know about before coming to the US as well as other topics. We set our next meeting for Tuesday January 28th, 2020.

CO TS #3

During our 3rd session on January 21st from 12pm-1pm, Indira had an assignment for her 3a Speaking class she wanted to focus on during our time. Her professor gave out an assignment for her class to find a topic they were passionate about and create a powerpoint to give a presentation on in front of the class. Indira had her topic picked out which was Women's Rights. The first step in creating this presentation was brainstorming and planning her outline. We started off by Indira creating her hook for the presentation which she wanted to include photos of women experiencing discrimination worldwide in many different cultures in which she planned to ask her classmates a question to provoke their interest in the topic. I wanted Indira to think about what she wanted to ask her class since it would set the mood for the rest of her presentation.While she was talking aloud about what she wanted to say during her presentation, I was typing down word for word what she was saying in a word document so we could not only focus on finding evidence to back up her points but to review her speaking and how to make her sentences more fluent. I assisted Indira in how to conduct research on the points about Women's Rights that she wanted to focus on which were equal education, equal opportunity for jobs, and equal pay. We found several resources that would strengthen the points she wanted to make during her presentation. After focusing on brainstorming the main points of the presentation we focused on the conclusion which Indira already planned to use the image of Rosie the Riveter from the World War 2 campaign to boost women's work morale which turned into a symbol for feminism.

CO TS #2

During the last hour of our 2 hour tutoring session, Indira and I went over some of the lessons she was working on in her grammar workbook on prepositions which Indira had stated she needs to work on most. The grammar workbook she is working in is something she bought for herself to work in when she has no work from her CIES classes which showed me how motivated she is to learn English. We went over some of sheets which focused on the prepositions focused around time which were fill in the blank. When we finished a sheet of her workbook I focused on having actual conversation using those same prepositions we just worked on to see her grammar in practice. Indira struggles with the difference between the use of "at" and "in" which I found when we conversed about being a student at Florida State University. I agreed to find more practice examples to further her knowledge in these prepositions.

Christopher CP #1

I hung out with Abdulrahim on Saturday, January 26th. This was my first time meeting him so I must say I was quite excited. He had a little difficulty getting to my apartment, but I got on the phone with his brother, who was dropping him off, and we coordinated. I had no idea Rahim was 17 years old! I felt so responsible for making sure he had a good time and that people were nice to him. He walked in, he met my roommates, and we played each other in FIFA. Thank God for FIFA, the universal game. He beat me twice and with that result I had to get out of there so we headed over to a potluck-movie-party that Jessica from class was hosting. It was going to be cool because there were other people from CIES there. When we got there we all chatted and I think Rahim had a good time. Ji cooked up some good Korean food and I was very happy to indulge in that. I spoke to Ji a little more and he and I agreed we'd play FIFA together one night with Rahim. I really hope that happens soon. Overall it was great to meet Rahim, I'm excited to learn more about him and continue our conversation. He showed me a little bit of music he likes to listen to but I cannot wait to learn more about it. Hopefully soon!

Christopher CO #3

I observed Ryan Flemming's listening class on the 26th. He introduced me to the class and as usual, people were very nice and welcoming. It seems that they had been working on a certain audio assignment for a while because he started off with a little review. Then he announced the two quizzes that were to be taken that day and everyone seem quite prepared. There were a vocabulary and a comprehension quiz. He gave both of them to me and I, fingers crossed, did well on the vocabulary quiz. The comprehension quiz was difficult because I had not heard the text, but I tried to answer the questions that seemed obvious. The class finished with the quizzes and I got to speak to some Korean people because they wanted to learn a little more about me going to Korea. It turns out that some of them were going to be at a group hangout I was attending to that Saturday!

Christopher TS #4

Do Jun and I had our fourth tutoring session on 01/23. As promised, he was at his parents' house in Busan. We talked a lot about flying given that he had taken an airplane home to see his family. I asked him what airport culture was like in Korea and he had a lot to say about the matter. We discussed the differences in airport security, me complaining that TSA agents are so rude and him complaining that Korean travelers are rude. We did conclude that it is a tough job, that of the traveler and security agent and that we should all be friendlier to each other. He talked to me about how when he was in Seattle his fellow travelers were non-problematic when there was a flight delay announced. That shocked him to his core because he has distinct memories of people in Korea getting extremely agitated to that sort of news. I told him that it might be a thing of the West because I most certainly have witnessed angry customers in American airports. This lead me to theorize it was because people are more Hippie-esque over in those parts. This lead me to explain what a hippie was and to describe American culture in the 1970s. I gave him a homework assignment that is made up of him listening to Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floyd. I hope he did!

Anthony CP#1

     I met with my conversation partner, Abdulaziz, inside of the CIES building during his lunch break. We decided to walk over to the Subway on campus for lunch. On the walk, we talked about ourselves and the various things we are interested in. He is a fascinating guy; he is from Jazan, Saudi Arabia, and he has been at CIES since November. He made me laugh when he said he likes how cold it is here, especially in relation to Saudi Arabia. I told him to wait for the summer, when it is hot and humid! I asked why he chose to attend Florida State, and he said he did research and found the FSU ESL program to be one of the best in the country (Hats off to the CIES folks!). He was particularly interested in why I wanted to complete the TEFL program, and I delivered my answer of wanting to be involved in the language learning process as an instructor, since I myself had such good teachers.
     In Subway, we ate and talked some more, although the meeting took a humorous turn when Abdulaziz spilled his orange juice all over the floor! He was so embarrassed, but we cleaned it up and had a good laugh. He told me a bit about what he does in his free time, and here we really hit it off. We discussed some of the same video games we played, and he told me he loved to walk around in nature. I've been to most of the nature parks surrounding Tallahassee, and I enjoyed bestowing my knowledge of all the cool outdoors locations upon him. We have already talked about making plans to visit these places, as well as some of the really great food joints in the Tallahassee area! After lunch, we walked back to CIES, and parted ways, as he had more class that day.

Anthony CO #4

Last week, I observed a grammar class instructed by Professor McHarek. The class activity was centered around building complex sentences using adjective and noun clauses. Class began with examples out of the textbook, and students worked in pairs to complete sentences with an adjective clause. After the students worked, the professor asked for example sentences and provided feedback on their grammatical structure. Following this, the students were handed out a worksheet that, for each problem, included two sentences. Students were instructed to combine them into one using adjective clauses and to identify them as defining or non-defining. The professor then asked for example sentences once the students were finished, and she naturally provided feedback to each.

Following the adjective clause activity, students were given time to brainstorm a topic they discussed the prior day: the place where I grow up. They were expected to create a short speeches that used a variety of sentences and parts of speech. After preparation, Professor McHarek only asked for three students to share their childhood experiences. During the speeches, the professor took notes on students' beautiful mistakes, and she later wrote them on the board for discussion. Students learned a lot from this discussion, because they were able to see their own mistakes in reading and writing and receive good feedback on why they made those mistakes.

Michael TS # 2

I met Renata again on Saturday, January 25th to help her with the subject of noun clauses. We met at Starbucks and actually stayed for about two hours! I created a word document beforehand, going through some exercises on how to identify and create a noun clause in a sentence. We both went through this document together and did some of the activities/examples on paper.  This seemed to help Renata but the most useful approach to learning about noun clauses seemed to be the creation of her own sentences, which we then went over. She is preparing for a quiz on Tuesday, so we also looked at some of her notes and worksheets on the subject, and focused on some of the elements of noun clauses that she is a little confused about. Renata is very eager to learn about this subject and is very much focusing on her productive output in speaking and writing in English. We are supposed to meet on Monday again before her quiz to go over both adjective clauses and noun clauses before her quiz on Tuesday. 

Dana CP #6

I drove with my conversation partner on the west side of town.  I let him direct me in English to the first destination-Target.  We were in search of a computer cable.  We talked about various landmarks along the way and I queried him about vocabulary words for some of the high-frequency nouns one would expect to know about the street, cars, buildings, parking lots, traffic etc. I had him practice some of the new words he was learning.  A homeless person came up to me and asked for money.  My CP asked me if she wanted money.  I told him yes.
     We went into the Target looking for the cable. In retrospect, I probably should have had him ask the sales attendant for the item.  They did not have it.  We left and my CP gave me the verbal directions to WalMart. As we approached,  he was looking at Google maps.  I know from our conversation that he has been to this place several times. I told him to look around at the landmarks instead, and tell me if he thought we were getting close.  He did as I suggested and saw the signs, saying " turn right here."
     We went into the store and he said he thought he knew where the item could be found.  I followed him as he led the way.  Voila, they had the item I needed. I paid and we left.
We then had a long discussion about food, his favorite restaurants and deciding where to go for lunch. He didn't know the meaning of "decision" but I explained it and told him the decision about where to go for lunch was a decision he was going to have to make.  It came down to Chipotle or ChickFilet.
He decided upon ChickFilet mostly because he likes the ChickFilet sauce on the fries.  He directed me to that place.  He ordered, I ordered and then we got a seat.  I began a conversation about American football.  He had been to a college football game at Doak Campbell stadium.  He explained that with his student ID he could go to FSU  sporting events for free.  I was unaware of this. We then had a discussion about Superbowl Sunday, the teams, the fact that many of the big cities in the USA have professional football teams.  I used my phone to show him photos of some of the different team helmets and jerseys.  We then looked at some of the FSU team jerseys hanging on the wall at ChickFilet. We parted ways, agreeing to see each other at CIES next week.

Michael TS #1

Michael Venci TS #1

I met my tutee Renata Moreira for the first time on Friday, January 24th from 3:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M.  Renata is around my age and comes from Brasilia, Brazil! We got to know each other but we actually met beforehand in one of the classes that I observed a few weeks before. Renata is quite advanced in speaking the English language as she is in Group 4. We talked about some of her hobbies and how she likes Tallahassee before getting into the tutoring session. On this day Renata wanted some help with adjective clauses, a subject that she is studying in her grammar class currently. We went over a worksheet and some of the notes that her teacher assigned her, and we also created some examples, talking about the different part of adjective clauses. Adjective clauses can be a tricky subject and she was a little confused on some things at first but she seemed to have a good understanding of how they look, what they're used for, and some identifiers to look for when talking about them or examining them. Renata is very motivated and was eager to learn more! The tutoring session went fantastic and we scheduled a full week of tutoring to help her on whatever she needs.

Dana CP# 5

I met with my conversation partner yesterday.  He is only 18 so there are some maturity issues I am dealing with.  I had called him the day before to remind him of the meet.  I also called him 2 hours ahead of the meet to remind him.  I arrived at the scheduled time and . . .  you guessed it-he wasn't there.  I called him and he was still at home, but he said he was on his way.  Twenty minutes later he arrived on his bike. I told him I felt disrespected, using google translate--English to Arabic. He said he was sorry. I asked him if it was customary in his country to be late for a meeting?  He said it was. LOL
 He said that if a guy tells you he will be there in 5 minutes, it will be 30 minutes before he shows up.  I explained to him that in America being late shows disrespect.  I asked him if he knew the value of my time? He didn't of course, but he seemed to appreciate it is a minimum of $250 per hour in my profession.
 He said he had been sleeping.  I gather that the kid sleeps a lot, so maybe he is depressed, or maybe he is just a growing teenage boy.  They do sleep a lot. It probably is difficult to be away from the family in a strange land.  Anyway, we put it behind us and began talking about his class presentation.
He said it went very well.  We talked about our surroundings, different words and the pronunciations.  We talked about movies, shopping, food, restaurants, doctors and some other topics that came up.  I asked him if he had eaten.  He said he had some corn flakes.  I asked if he was hungry and he was.  We finished the hour talking about what we each were going to do the rest of the day. I offered to take him to lunch.  He accepted.  We took a break and then he directed me to Target and WalMart where we searched for a computer cable for my printer.

Seaborn: TS #5-6

Mengmeng and I met for our 5th and 6th tutoring sessions, respectively, on Friday, 1/24, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. (with a short break at the halfway point).

Mengmeng mentioned in our previous session that she wanted to develop her presentation skills. So, we went over useful transition words for beginning a presentation, working through the body of a presentation, and ending a presentation.

We also developed her listening skills by watching clips from popular American films and then going over the new vocabulary within them. Finally, I helped Mengmeng practice her speaking skills by choosing a topic at random and having her speak about it as quickly as she could, with as few "uh's," and "umm's" as possible between thoughts.

Sheridan T.S #4

January 22, 2020

Tutoring # 4

Mohammed Shaek
Catalina Cafe
'Speaking'

  On Wednesday at approximately 4:00 PM, I met with Mohammed at the CIES center after I was finished with my conversation partner.  He and I walked to Catalina Cafe, which is located next to Greenwise on Gaines Street.  We talked about our days and how our classes were going and what we were doing for the rest of the day.  Once we got to Catalina, we ordered food and sat down to eat.  I told him what I expected of him today and what I was going to help him with for the next 3 hours.
  The final topic we covered was speaking.  Going back to the previous topic that we covered before beginning this one, reading and writing, I had Mohammed read the article that he read to himself, aloud to me.  Again, the article was about determining the meaning of our dreams.  A psychological article that he found rather interesting.  As he was reading, I read along with him and corrected any pronunciation errors and helped define words that he did not know or understand.  He did fairly well reading this article, with minimal errors.  We read another article after this one that he also excelled on!

  We discussed meeting again next week at the same time and knocking out 3 sessions in one sitting because we are both very busy individuals.  As far as what I will be tutoring him on, one of the topics I am going to give him spelling worksheets and a few reading passages that are followed by open ended and multiple choice discussion questions based on the reading passages.  I think that these will really help him with understanding spelling and reading comprehension.

Sheridan T.S #3

January 22, 2020

Tutoring # 3

Mohammed Shaek
Catalina Cafe
'Reading & Writing'

  On Wednesday at approximately 4:00 PM, I met with Mohammed at the CIES center after I was finished with my conversation partner.  He and I walked to Catalina Cafe, which is located next to Greenwise on Gaines Street.  We talked about our days and how our classes were going and what we were doing for the rest of the day.  Once we got to Catalina, we ordered food and sat down to eat.  I told him what I expected of him today and what I was going to help him with for the next 3 hours.
  The next topic we discussed was reading and writing.  I presented Mohammed with an article that depicts the meanings of our dreams.  I chose a rather advanced article because he is applying to Graduate school here at FSU and is expected to do a lot of research and understand difficult concepts while in Grad school.  I had him read the article to himself and take notes if he so chose to do so.  When he was finished, I asked him to write a short paragraph (5 sentences) that paraphrases the article that he read.  After about 10 or 15 minutes, I had him read the paragraph aloud.  Again, I corrected any pronunciation errors.  I then asked him to give me the piece of paper so that I could look over his sentences for grammar and spelling errors.  There were a few.  We spent the next 30 minutes or so going over what was wrong with the sentences, and corrected spelling errors.  After I explained to him why the sentences made more sense the correct way than his, I asked him to write more sentences so that I could read them.  These sentences had minimal errors.

Dana TS#4

     I met with my Tutee today at CIES for a little more than an hour.  She had not had a chance to practice her IEFLs testing exercise since our last meeting because she has been focusing on her class work.  We reviewed our last discussion about intensive reading, comprehension and test-taking strategies.  We discussed the 8 parts of speech which she wrote down. I also gave her the 5-sentence structure chart which should help her, and me, in understanding the mechanics of English sentence structure.   
     We talked about scanning and skimming both test questions and the reading passage. I explained how it would be much better if she could get the materials in written form because written form would better facilitate scanning and skimming.
     She began the process.  I had her read the test questions briefly to see if she could detect clues about what the passage was about.  Then I had her read the title and the first sentence of each paragraph.  We discussed some words that she did not understand and I asked her to make a vocabulary list because the words in the article were fairly high-frequency vocabulary for her level. I explained the words in layman's terms.  Ha, ha, but she did comprehend.  She says she has a dictionary and I encouraged her to use it, advising her that Arabic/English is fine if it helps her memorize words and meanings. I encouraged her to keep a vocabulary list at her side and a dictionary.
     I then had her read the entire passage and timed it.  She read it in 5 1/2 minutes. We then spoke very briefly and she answered the questions.  I timed it. She finished with 3 minutes (of the allotted 20) to spare. She graded the test and got 12/13 correct.  She said she has never done that well and was very grateful.  I reviewed the skimming and scanning technique again. I encouraged her to practice and perfect these skills. 
     She seemed very relieved, but can see how overwhelmed she is.  I suggested that she could try some mindfulness exercises, and do it every day for 5-10 minutes.  I sent her the app WakingUp.com by Sam Harris. It will also help with listening skills.  She seemed to think it might be a good idea.

Sheridan T.S #2

January 22, 2020

Tutoring # 2

Mohammed Shaek
Catalina Cafe
'Listening & Speaking'

  On Wednesday at approximately 4:00 PM, I met with Mohammed at the CIES center after I was finished with my conversation partner.  He and I walked to Catalina Cafe, which is located next to Greenwise on Gaines Street.  We talked about our days and how our classes were going and what we were doing for the rest of the day.  Once we got to Catalina, we ordered food and sat down to eat.  I told him what I expected of him today and what I was going to help him with for the next 3 hours.
  The first topic we covered was listening and speaking.  I showed him a Ted Talk on Youtube that I wanted him to listen to.  The individual in the Ted Talk is a good friend of mine who tells his story about how he injured himself and the repercussions after the matter.  He is paralyzed from the chest down.  He talked about perception; how he viewed himself and how others viewed him.  After I showed Mohammed the video, I asked him to take a few minutes to come up with a short summary of the clip off the top of his head that he should recite to me.  I played the clip partially again so that he could recap what had happened at the beginning of the video in case he forgot.  After a few minutes, I asked him to summarize the video in a few sentences.  He did a great job of this!  I corrected any pronunciation or grammatical errors that I thought were incorrect and could sound better.

Sheridan C.P #2

January 22, 2020

Conversation Partner #2

Hongfu Wu
CIES
Casual Conversation

  On Wednesday at approximately 3:00 PM, I met with Hongfu Wu outside of the CIES center on the same bench we agreed to meet at last Friday.  We talked about each others days and how our classes went.  She went on to ask me about where my classes are located and I pointed and tried my best to explain.  After a little, she asked me if I wanted to go inside and sit downstairs because her friends were down there.  Of course I agreed so that she was in a more comfortable setting.  So we walked downstairs to the computer lab where a few of her friends sat.  We both joined in their conversation and had a four-way chat.  They were very nice and I got to know more about the students of CIES.  One of the girls is Portuguese, but her parents are South Korean, I believe.  The other girl is from South Korea.  The boy that we were talking to is from Saudi Arabia.  It was so cool hearing all their different stories about why they are learning English and then hearing about all the languages they spoke.  Another girl from the TEFL program joined our conversation as she was the South Korean girls conversation partner.  She and I talked to each other about the TEFL program and what we hope to do in the future, and we made sure to include the CIES students because they were genuinely interested in why we were teaching students like them!

Dana TS#3

I met with my tutee on Wednesday over the lunch hour. We spoke about reading comprehension and possible strategies for taking the IEFLS exam. We discussed briefly scanning and skimming the paragraphs and questions before reading the entire passage. This way she could get an idea or guess what the passage was about before reading it in its entirety. We discussed how it might be better to get the paper version of the practice tests so that she could mark key words so she could speedily access that part of the passage if she needed to when answering questions.

Seaborn: CO #3

I observed Dr. Angel's listening class on Wednesday, January 22nd, from 2:00-2:50 p.m.

During class, the instructor went over vocabulary words from a handout. The students were required to provide a definition of each word as well as an example sentence. After this activity, the instructor played a taped, and the students listened and took notes.

I enjoyed the energy and enthusiasm Dr. Angel brought to this class. The students were laughing and having a great time, while at the same time paying close attention and actively participating. It's clear that they have a great deal of admiration for their instructor.

Christopher CO #2

I observed my second class on Tuesday, January 22nd. I got to sit in on Ms. Olivia James' speaking class. She introduced me to everybody and asked me where I wanted to teach. When I said Korea, the Korean students got excited. I sat in the table with the students and got to have a little "classroom chat" with them while the activity was getting underway. Ms. James was asking the students to group up into partners and find a topic to talk about in their upcoming presentations to the class. There was one kid, Rick, who I helped out. We talked about his core values, Freedom, Passion, and Travel and tried to dig out a topic worth presenting on. After a lot of back and forth, he decided that he wanted to talk about the freedom to choose what you study. He wants to break down the difference between rigidly following what your parents tell you to do, and, as he puts it, following your heart. I had a great time helping him as well as observing Ms. James interact with the students. She seems to care about them and understand their different personalities. While I was talking with Rick, she was walking around the classroom helping other students with their search. I was able to appreciate how she paid attention to everyone individually and helped them reach their goal. At the end of the class, I got Rick's phone number and Ji's. Ji was one of the Korean students who lit up when I said I wanted to go to his country. We wanted to get to know each other a little more and he wanted to talk to me more about Korea. We agreed to hang out, and as it turns out Jessica is Ji's conversation partner so we're all going to hang out together!

Christopher TS #3

I had my third tutoring session with Do Jun on Tuesday, January 21st. We hadn't spoken in over a week so we took our time to catch up. We talked about what we did over the weekend and got a little hung up on what he thought of the newest Star Wars movie he went to see. I'm a huge movie buff so we had a lot of material to talk about in those regards. Eventually, our conversation led us to what we do on New Years and we talked about the Lunar New Year which is happening this weekend. He talked about how there is a big "exodus" in Korea where everybody in the big cities goes home to see their parents. Our next session will actually be done from his parents' house. I asked him if they do anything on the 31st of December and he told me they do; people in Seoul like to go watch the ringing of the Bosingak bell. That was very interesting to me and we compared it to watching the ball drop in New York City. At the end of the conversation, we went over his mistakes. We did not go over many, as he does not have a diverse range of mistakes that he makes. He and I both enjoy this part of the session because I get to see him correct himself and get excited to learn the right way to say things. I can tell he really does enjoy the process and that is great for me because I enjoy it too.

Seaborn: CO #2

I observed Ryan Flemming's listening class on Tuesday, 1/21, from 1:00 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.

In the class, students gave presentations on their majors. They provided personal information to help explain why each chose their specific major, and included pictures to better illustrate what their major entailed. During the presentations, the students not presenting listened carefully while the instructor took notes.

Just before time ran out, the instructor discussed a few items from each student's presentation with the class. This pleased the students' whose presentations were being discussed, and initiated a lively dialogue.

Seaborn: TS #3-4

Mengmeng and I met for a two-hour tutoring session on Tuesday, 1/21, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

At the start of our lesson, we went over the differences between "lie" and "lay," a concept Mengmeng had trouble with on our first session that I didn't know adequately enough to explain at the time.

Since Mengmeng mentioned in our previous meeting that her primary goal was to improve her listening and speaking skills, this session I came prepared with activities that focused on speaking and listening. Among these activities, her favorites were "Just a Minute" (in which Mengmeng chose a topic, set a timer, and then spoke as quickly as she could about the topic, with as few breaks and pauses as possible, until the timer went off) and "Interview Practice" (in which we role-played a job interview scenario, and ran through common interview questions).

Caroline CO #3

Group 4A: Listening Observation 

1 / 21/ 20

Ryan Flemming

This past Tuesday, I had the pleasure of observing Ryan Flemming's advanced listening class from 2:00 to 2:50 PM. The class size was relatively small for a CIES course, with only six students in attendance. Professor Flemming began the class by reviewing the plan for the week, which included an upcoming comprehension and vocabulary quiz on Thursday. He spent the first several minutes of the lecture reviewing the expectations for the upcoming quiz including the structure, content, and grading parameters. From my observations, the quiz will engage both students listening and writing skills as the bulk of the exam is composed of listening to the definition and writing down the correct terminology. After the review, the class transitioned into their active listening activity. As part of an ongoing lesson, the students were listening to an academic lecture on births, marriages, and funerals while exercising their note taking abilities. The lecture was broken down into manageable time bites, with Professor Flemming pausing the lecture after each topic section to allow students to finish filling in their notes. They were then expected to review their notes with a classmate to fill in any information gaps. Given the advanced nature of the class, Professor Flemming didn't actively correct any mistakes he heard (as there wasn't many) instead opting to observe quietly and answer questions about the meaning behind certain American cultural practices when asked. The focus of the class was less on fixing mistakes and more about comprehending more complex cultural information. I really enjoyed observing an advanced level course after my previous observation experiences in lower level classes as it provided an opportunity to see how advanced English learners utilize resources outside the English textbook to further advance their language skills. 

Anthony TS#1

Today I met with my tutee for the first time outside of Dirac Library. My tutee's name is Ouedraogo Moctar, and he is 18 years old from Burkina Faso. I began the tutoring session by asking Moctar all of the tutoring introductory questions on our tutor guidelines worksheet. He is fluent in both his native language (Moore) and French, and decided to study in the United States to earn a Business degree and gain English fluency for an advantage in business communication. We talked long about how he loves watching movies and TV shows, and how they are a great tool for helping him practice his English skills. His favorites are the Fast and Furious films and crime dramas, which we bonded over (myself being a huge fan of Law and Order). He also stated how he passes time playing his favorite video game: Grand Theft Auto. We spoke long about the game, since I myself have played it, and I encouraged him to describe what different aspects he likes about the game and how it mimics American culture. It turned out to be a great speaking and listening exercise! Moctar stressed how his biggest short term goal was to increase his vocabulary, since he wants to be able to "clearly express" himself. We also, humorously enough, bonded over a love for Big Macs from McDonalds, with Moctar saying they were his favorite thing he's eaten so far in Tallahassee. He stated how he wants to improve his writing skills and vocabulary, so I plan on us engaging in an activity where he watches a clip from a show or video game, and I ask him to write about what he saw. In addition, we can talk about the vocab used in the video.

Sheridan C.P. #1

January 17, 2020

Conversation Partner #1

Hongfu Wu
CIES
'Meet & Greet'

   On Friday at approximately 2:00 PM, I met with Hongfu Wu at the bench in the front of the CIES center at FSU.  We introduced ourselves to each other and talked about how happy we were able to finally meet each other face to face.  After our introductions, I pulled out the worksheets that Josh Valentine had emailed the both of us, and requested us to complete upon arrival.  First, I showed Hongfu Wu the 'Who are you?' diagram.  This diagram required each of us to individually choose words that describe who we are.  The words I chose were: sister, colorful, studious, unique, loud and athletic.  She had a difficult time understanding what exactly colorful meant, but I did my best to explain to her how the term applied to my personality, just as I did with the other words.  Hongfu Wu did not print either of the worksheets out, but I made sure she took some time to list off a few words that she thought described herself perfectly.  She called herself a foody, shy and studious, and elaborated on each word.  Her vocabulary is very minimal, as well is her speaking.  For the most part, I can understand what she is trying to say, but there is a lot of broken English that I would like to help her with.
  The other worksheet that Josh had us complete was simply reading a fable.  The fable is called 'The Elephant and the Blind Men', which is basically about how everyone should respect other peoples' perspectives and opinions no matter the circumstance because there are many points of views that go unseen.  I requested Hongfu Wu read aloud the fable and helped her with any pronunciation and defined any words that she did not know.  At the end, we discussed what the fable was trying to tell us and we talked about how important it is to respect other peoples opinions and points of views.  

Seaborn: CP #2

On Sunday, January 19th, from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., Ahmad and I met at Barnes and Noble to drink coffee and browse for books. Since he'd been kind enough to pay for my lunch the last time we met, I suggesting paying for his coffee, and he gratefully accepted my offer.

During our meeting, we discussed Saudi Arabia, primarily. He told me that there were very few homeless people in his country, and explained that it made him sad to see people begging for money here in the United States.

We also discussed the political situation in Saudi Arabia, and Ahmad expressed hopes for the continued liberalization of his country. Before we left, he purchased a book on computer science, and thanked me for being a "good listener."

Charmel CP#2

January 19, 2020

4:00 pm 5:00 pm

Today I met with my conversation partner Yunjia, at Robotos Grill.  Yunjia and I ordered some sushi and just talked about random stuff for an hour. We talked a bit about our language learning struggles and ways we are trying to improve. I hilariously taught her the word genetics after she told me she was past the age of 25. (she looks 22-24 years old so I was utterly surprised when she told me her age). I also tried my best to help her with any words or  phrases when she forgot them.

 Another topic we discussed is our hometowns. I found out that she lived very close to the beach, while in China, and that she sometimes visits Panama beach to see the view again. Then, I told her about my hometown (Fort Lauderdale) and how different it is from Tallahassee. 

We finished off our conversation by talking about the Chinese new year and the events going on around that time. I even plan to attend an event she will be participating in for the new year celebration!

Dana CP #2 & 3

I met with my conversation partner for 2 hours today.  He is preparing to give an oral presentation in his speaking class.  His English speaking ability is beginner level, but he is quite bright and he picks up corrections quickly.  We worked on key words he will use.  We also developed a rough outline he  can use for guidance as he speaks. 

The presentation is about one of his class partners.  I had him free talk several times so i could get a rough idea what his message was.   Then we talked about it for a while.  I asked questions and he answered them.  I corrected his beautiful mistakes.  Most his beautiful mistakes were vocabulary and verb tense.  He provided me some background about university education in Saudi Arabia.  I had him practice the presentation several times before I began recording him.   I also recorded myself saying his message in proper English. I told him we should meet one more time before his presentation.  He is hard to nail down on meeting times, but I told him he would have to practice conversing a lot if he wants improve his English. 

Dana TS#2

     I met with Abrar today for an hour.  We worked on reading comprehension and pronunciation.  We read several paragraphs from an article about eating insects.  This is known as entomophagy. 
She is studying for the IELTS exam.  I encouraged her to look carefully at all the letters in the word in order to get the proper pronunciation.  She is not a careful reader.  She will see a word and mistakenly say another word that is close in pronunciation and spelling.  I made her look through all the letters in the words that were beautiful mistakes before pronouncing the word.  She always gets it right when she looks carefully at the word and thinks about pronunciation.   
     I told her to browse quickly through the questions before she begins reading the article to try to get clues what the questions will be about.  If there is an option to take the test in paper-based format, i.e. paper booklet I would recommend that because in reading comprehension it will be easier to scan the article when answering questions.

Rachel TS #1

I met with Ibrahim on Thursday night and at first we both asked each other directing questions to gage a little bit about who we were as individuals. His wife, Amirah, and him are both here to acquire English at CIES. We quickly realized that she is also my conversation partner, which is a lucky coincidence. For him, learning English is a necessary effort to practice law and advance in his work as a lawyer in Saudi Arabia, as more professional opportunities arise with this skill. He said he found it interesting how kind the women here were and though I'm not unaware of the gap between genders where he is from, I was surprised by the word he used. He said it was a nice change and that his country has made some serious mistakes, but that his loyalty is there as well as his religion. This is when I introduced the word faith to him, an unfamiliar word but I knew it would be a familiar concept to him and an important term to be able to utilize. Ibrahim has trouble with writing and especially with i, e, a sounds. I understand this difficulty and tried my best to approach some common words that he would just have to memorize to grasp, along with the sounds that are produced by those letters. He seemed to really enjoy discussing the differences between his culture and my culture as well as the bridges that we were able to find, so I asked him to write as much as much as he could about his understanding of the two seemingly separate worlds and bring it to our next session so that I may be able to help with spelling, structure, and grammar while still continuing an interesting discourse.

Rachel CO #2

On Wednesday, I observed Olivia James' reading class. The students were given a worksheet to fill in what they knew, what they would like to know, and what they did not know about the subject of Martial Arts. The sheet was split up in to three columns and the class was given about ten minutes to think and fill in the worksheet. The classroom setting was relaxed and the teacher spoke clearly and with repetition. The majority of the students seemed relaxed but looked confused by the task. After about ten minutes of walking around and noticing that they didn't have much to say about the subject, the teacher started a discussion by finding ways that the students may have been exposed to this concept before. She spoke about Bruce Lee and how American children and teenagers often practice Karate and other forms to channel aggression and energy into a healthy and controlled way. Ms. James found productive ways to find words and concepts that were more connected culturally, and she showed students how to access good definititions online. 

Seaborn: TS #1-2

Mengmeng and I had two, one-hour sessions back-to-back on Friday, 1/17, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.

First, we went through all the questions for our tutees provided by our instructor in a handout. We discussed where Mengmeng was from, what her favorite subject to study in English was, what she struggled with the most, and what her language-learning goals were for the future (among other things).

I had Mengmeng take several evaluative ESL quizzes I found online (one which tested grammar, one which tested vocabulary, and one which tested reading comprehension). Mengmeng's reading skills are quite high, and she has a great grasp on grammar as well. She has the most room for growth when it comes to her speaking skills.

After finishing the questions and quizzes, we spent the rest of our lesson time discussing questions she had about the English language, and I even helped her write-out directions to use when speaking with her Uber driver in the future.

Mengmeng is a friendly, hard-working young woman, and I look forward to all our future tutoring sessions.

Seaborn: CP #1

Ahmad and I met from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Friday, 1/17.

We got lunch at a nearby Moe's. The bulk of our conversation centered around how he learned to speak English so well (primarily by watching thousands of hours of English-language content for over eight years, with minimal reading and writing practice). We also discussed where he was from, what brought him to Tallahassee, his plans for the future, and his favorite genres of film and television. We also touched upon some of the cultural differences between Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Ahmad is an interesting and well-spoken young man, and I look forward to our future meetings!

Caroline TS#1

Tutoring Session #1

Abdulaziz Ajeeli

January 17, 2020 at 12:30PM

This past Friday, I met with Abdulaziz from 12:30-1:30PM for our first tutoring session. He had just finished class and the weather was nice so we agreed to convene in the courtyard behind the Hecht House. The introductory conversation flowed incredibly well as we chatted about his home country, his thoughts on Tallahassee, and some of his favorite hobbies and interests. I learned he's from Saudi Arabia, has only lived in Tallahassee for about 2 months, and really enjoys going to the movies and reading English media articles online. Though he was once a teaching assistant at a university in Saudi Arabia, he moved to the United States in the hopes of pursuing a masters or phD in chemical engineering. When asked about what he found most frustrating about the English language, he was upfront about his struggles with getting his point across in conversation as well as note taking during listening activities. Sine he is interested in obtaining a degree in higher education, we agreed that a focus on academic writing as well as note-taking techniques would be beneficial during the first several tutoring sessions. I'm thinking of showing him some TEDTalks to help improve his listening retention and writing skills. Abdulaziz was also incredibly interested in learning more American idioms, so we crafted an activity in which he notes all of the idioms he hears/ sees/ reads during the week and we break them down in our Friday tutoring sessions. I also conducted a brief writing diagnostic test, in which he wrote a letter to a loved one back home about his time in Tallahassee. We briefly corrected his beautiful mistakes and I now have a better understanding of his writing style and abilities. Overall, I really enjoyed our first session together and I am looking forward to tutoring him again next week. 

CP #1 Dana

Conversation partner #1

     I met with my conversation partner Hassan last Wednesday. We spoke for more than an hour. He is an 18-year-old student from Saudi Arabia. We talked about the two handouts provided by professor Valentine and various other topics.
     I told him I am a lawyer and that I live in Los Angeles and Tallahassee different times of the year.  He told me the word for attorney in Arabic after I looked it up in Google Translate.  It is pronounced Moo-ri.  He said an attorney is someone who gives advice.  We talked about court.  He seemed to understand the concept.  

     Hassan has one uncle living in Tallahassee who works at FSU at a computer programming job.  He says that when he is done with classes, he goes to his uncle’s workplace.  His uncle has him read a book there.  I asked him to show me the book.  He didn’t have the book, but he showed me a photo of a page.  It appeared to be self-help, power-of-positive-thinking sort of publication.

     Hassan is from Riyadh the capital city of Saudi Arabia. We talked about what he wants to do when he grows up – so to speak. He says he wants to be a pilot. He says he drew a picture of a pilot when he was a small boy. His comments piqued my interest, but I didn’t pursue it. He said he has also done some work in the computer programming field for Instagram.  I taught him how to pronounce Instagram.  He apparently has some abilities in the computer programming field.

     We talked about our religious beliefs and how I was raised Catholic Christian and he is Muslim. We talked about alcohol consumption, and how he has been invited by students to drink, but he can’t.  We discussed the difference in meaning between “can’t” and “don’t want to.”  I reinforced that he is probably better off not drinking.  He said the smell of alcohol repels him.  I asked him if he knows why people drink?  He said it makes them feel better or happy.

     He recalled an experience he had in a smoke shop with some other Muslim friends.  Apparently a local man began yelling insults or slurs at them. I asked him what he thought was the reason. He did not know. I had to explain that there are people in this country who are prejudiced, racist, emotionally or mentally ill. These people have hatred and prejudice towards certain groups of people that they perceive to be different than themselves. 

     I did not get upset as I explained this to him, but I find myself getting upset now as I recall the conversation I had with Hassan.  I explained that it’s not just Muslims who are the target of this kind of hatred; it’s African-Americans, Latinos, women and others too. I told him he should not take it personally.  It’s easier said than done, I’m sure.
Hassan told me he did not know what to do in that situation at the smoke shop. He said he couldn’t say anything. I explained the difference between “couldn’t” and “didn’t”.   He has been told by his uncle not to respond in situations like the one he found himself in.  I told him I agreed with his uncle. i.e. not saying anything was the best plan of action.  It was better that he didn't

     I asked him if he knew about September 11. He was aware that some of the pilots had been from Saudi Arabia. I explained to him that the attack is the reason why some Americans feel negatively towards people from the Middle East.  I did not go any further into that topic. We discussed concepts of "love" and "like" and their differences too. 

     Hassan is a teenager and it may be a challenge to nail-him-down about future meeting times.  It also appears that his uncle may be keeping a short leash on him.  He explained that he does not come from a family with a lot of money.  His father is a working man, and they are not wealthy. Hassan said that fast food is expensive here compared to Saudi Arabia.  A meal at ChicFilet costs 8 dollars here and only 3 dollars in his country.  I was surprised.  I thought they were rolling in dollars in Saudi Arabia.  He explained that some students are here because the Saudi government has sent them here. That is not Hassan’s situation. 

He rides a bicycle to school. I told him to bring the book he is reading to our next meeting. We agreed to meet at Starbucks on Saturday at a specific time.  I told him I will buy him a coffee and we will talk before he goes to a gathering at his uncle’s house.  He likes drinking coffee, but wants to sit outside rather than inside.  I am looking forward to meeting up with my new conversation partner Hassan.

Christopher CO#1

I observed my first class on Thursday, January 16th. I entered Felicia's listening class eager to see what was to come. She told me that they were going to be in the computer lab that day and that I was not going to get a chance to observe much, but I think I got to observe quite a bit. When I got downstairs I sat at a table with Felicia and watched the students trickle into the room. It was interesting to see that there were so many people from different cultures that got along so well with each other using the instrument of English.  A student from Saudi Arabia came up to me, trying to practice his English and make some friends I suppose, and asked me where I'm from. I told him Costa Rica,but he asked me if I had any Arab blood in me because he thought I looked so. I told him that as a matter of fact I recently discovered that I was 19% Arab thank you to Ancestry.com and he seemed satisfied that I confirmed his suspicion. Throughout the quiz I was able to observe the classroom setting, how the students took the tests, how they joked around with each other. These were all things I had seen before and it made me reminisce on the times when I was a student learning a language, or simply a student in a small school where I knew all of my classmates and my teacher well. I also got to observe Felicia an the way she interacted with the students. She was poised and funny, keeping the students in line but interacting with them and joking from time to time. They seem to like and respect her and she reciprocates those feelings towards her students. Overall I got to observe how a teacher interacts with her class, how they acted while taking a quiz, and how they interacted with each other. This gave me an inside look into the classroom setting from the teacher's perspective and how it is managed the unique situation of evaluation.

Christopher TS#2

I had my second tutoring session with Do Jun on Wednesday, January 15th. Our previously established rapport helped conversation start of without any hiccups. I had vocabulary words written down that I planned to use in conversation in order to test his range. He knew some words that I did not expect him to know, like concise, but this was not very surprising because the last session he knew many idioms I did not expect him to know. I was able to interview him more on his job and also how he spent his free time. Like, me he likes going to the movies and we got to speak a lot about that. I try to ask him about the differences in culture that we have and he seems to enjoy these conversations, always ready with observations and a quick lesson about the Korean way of life. At the end of the session we went over his mistakes. He corrected them easily which tells me he has a good grasp on the rules of grammar; he just needs to practice the recollection and application during conversation.

Christopher TS #1

I had my first tutoring session with Do Jun on Monday,January 13th, from 8am-9am. Since he lives in Seoul, we were to have our sessions over Skype. When I first answered the call I got excited because I was thinking to myself: Yes! He's my age! We'll be able to relate so easily! When I asked him how old he was, he did not tell me that he was a twenty something like I expected. No, Do Jun is forty two years old (and he does not look a day over 23). That was not much of an obstacle however, he is very easy to talk to and his English is great. We talked about his job and his personal life and joked around for a bit. Towards the end of the session I asked Do Jun what he wanted to get out of his tutoring, I was especially interested because his English is so good. He told be that he has to use English a lot for his work and that he wants to become more fluent. We strategized on the best way to approach it and settled on a plan that involves me having vocabulary words for him to learn and use throughout the session as well as a discussion at the end of our conversation to look through the mistakes he committed while speaking. I am excited to see what's next!

Caroline CO #2

Group 2A Speaking Observation

Dr. Derrick Pollock

January 15, 2020

This past Wednesday, I had the pleasure of observing Dr. Pollock's 2A speaking class. Like the professors in the previous class I had observed, he began by writing the class agenda on the board and letting students know the goals and objectives for the period. This was a larger class than the grammar class I had just observed and noticeably rowdier. Dr. Pollock began with a "beautiful mistakes" warmup exercise, calling on students to identify structural mistakes within sentences. The class then engaged in a "hot seat" exercise in which two students were given one minute to describe and discuss the topic written on the board. The two topics were online classes and adoption and both students did exceptionally well given the circumstances. I really enjoyed how that exercise helped students practice speaking in a real world context and made them think on their feet. After the conclusion of the exercise, Dr. Pollock reviewed the beautiful mistakes made during the student's speeches before moving on to the next assignment. The remainder of the class was spent working on the students upcoming biographical presentations in which students were tasked with interviewing a partner and presenting a Powerpoint presentation on their peer. As students were preparing, Dr. Pollock made a point to observe and offer guidance when necessary. He also sat and engaged with the more chatty students to keep them on track with the assignment. Overall, I really enjoyed observing the class and I am interested to see how the students presentations turn out next week.

Caroline CO #1

Group 3A Grammar Observation

Sana McHarek

January 15, 2020

This past Wednesday, I had the pleasure of observing a grammar class for intermediate level CIES students. The class was comprised of only six students and many were chatting with each other before class began. Already in observation mode, Professor McHarek gently reminded students to speak English when conversing with one another, reinforcing the notion that English must be practiced in all social settings and not just in the academic sphere. Class began with a review of some "beautiful mistakes" from the previous lecture, in which the students were asked to partner up and examine the sentences on the board for grammatical and structural errors. Remaining an active part of the class, Professor McHarek listened in on the student's discussions and offered guidance when necessary. Calling on students to correct the mistakes, Professor McHarek made sure that students were not only able to correctly identify the grammatical errors but could also elaborate on the grammatical rule that conditioned the correct answer. Much of the remaining class time was spent on adjective clauses, with several activities introduced to practice using the grammar mechanism in a real world context. One of the teaching strategies I noted was the use of an inductive learning technique in which the class completed a grammar activity on adjective clauses before Professor McHarek introduced the broader concept. I also really enjoyed how encouraging Professor McHarek was to all the students. Even when they made mistakes or didn't understand the question, she remained upbeat and positive and praised the students for their continued engagement with the class material. Overall, I really enjoyed observing the class and I am glad that I was able to see the teaching practices we have discussed extensively in class implemented in a real world classroom context. 

Michael CO #3

Listening 4A

Ryan Flemming

Thursday @2:00-2:50 P.M

Class began with an overview of what the lesson would be to allow the students get a scope of what activities they would be doing. For the first activity students had to listen to a Ted Talk with subtitles to help students get the overall scope of the video. The video was on physical therapy with a lot of movement present while talking, which I think really helped students grasp what was being said. The students watched the video a second time, but this time with no subtitles and a sheet of paper having the dialogue from the video. This was an activity where students had to highlight the most important sentences in the Ted Talk. The class talked about what the functions of the highlighted sentences were. This helped students understand patterns of speech and how to listen to the most important parts of speech for comprehension. After discussion, students took notes while watching a video about traditions and customs. The video was slowed down so students could more easily take notes as it is hard to both figure out what is being said and writing notes. A comprehension check was made halfway and at the end, with both of these breaks from the video supplemented by group conversations about their notes. In this class students were interested in the topics and seemed to have fun!

Charmel CP#1

January 16, 2020

10:00 am - 11:00 am


Today I met with my conversation partner, Yunjia Guan, in the lounge area of Hecht House. We began our meeting by talking about ourselves. I told her about my major and my future plans and she told me hers. We talked a bit about the differences in Chinese language when compared to English. As we were talking, our conversation started getting deeper and deeper. We both started to realize that we have a lot in common. She told me about her life back in China and the decisions that she made to come to America.  I was so fascinated by the story of how her and her husband met, and the series of events that led them together. During her story telling I realized why the conversation partner portion of this program is important. She became frustrated at times when she couldn't find the right words to express her thoughts. It was actually funny how we continuously tried to fish for the right word and the excitement we had when we found it.  I noticed that we are both using our time abroad (I say 'our' because I too will be traveling soon) to not only improve ourselves but to find out who we are and what drives us. The main thing I think Yunjia needs help with is grammar and vocabulary. During our conversation I could understand the points she tried to convey, but she does tend to use the wrong tense and sentence structure. I hope that I can get to know her more and help her with these skills as we meet in the future.

Charmel CO#2

January 13, 2020

11:00 am - 11:50 am

On Monday, I observed the 2A reading class that was taught by Olivia James. This class was rather slow paced but still informative. The task for the day was to watch a movie while reading a book. Ms. James explained to me that this is a really good way to form images as students are reading and has proven to be very helpful. The movie and book we were watching/reading was Pirates of the Caribbean: curse of the black pearl. She had us watch about 8 minutes of the movie, then read the corresponding book pages.  After reading, she took a break to ask the students questions such as "why are they on the boat?" "who is the main character?" "Why did the character do this?". She also explained some confusing terms from the text book as well as what the italicization and punctuation meant. I really liked how she read the book because she used a lot of tones that made the book better to follow along with. Ms. James also constantly explained confusing vocabulary to the students.
Overall, I really enjoyed this observation. I learned a lot about the usefulness of imagery while reading, and how test my students on their comprehension (asking questions while reading).

Charmel CO#1

January 13, 2020

10:00 am - 10:50 am


On Monday, I observed the 3A grammar class; which was taught by Sana McHarek. I absolutely loved observing this class. Ms. McHarek was very energized and explained the lesson very well. She reviewed infinitives and started a new lesson on gerunds. She started the class by asking all the students how their day was and fixed some mistakes in speech. She then had the students team up and go over a previous worksheet. The worksheet had the students write sentences using infinitives and when finished they went over the sentences with the whole class. She also taught  the infinitive to express purpose such as in order to. Before giving a deeper explanation of its use, she had all the students come up with sentences. Next, she worked on the beautiful mistakes paper and pointed out the area in which they made mistakes. The students were pretty good at correcting their mistakes once led in the right direction.
For the lesson on Gerunds, she first had students come up with sentence examples, she wrote them on the board, then analyzed them with the class. She concluded by reading out sentences in the text and having students point out the gerunds. She also gave a work sheet named A question for you and had students create questions using the verbs from the text, and asking them to write a response using a gerund.
The main thing I took away from this class is that having more interactions makes the class far more interesting. It keeps students awake and constantly applying what they learned. I really liked how the students constantly used the information they learned as they were learning it. I also learned how to lead students into seeing where their mistakes are without giving the actual answer (considering that these students are advanced enough to handle this method). Overall, I really enjoyed this observation.