Susan-CO #3

Dr. Rios

Reading

Level 4

January 14, 2020

11-12pm

Dr Rios actively engaged the students in casual conversation to warm up asking how they were doing today. Dr Rios outlined the agenda. The students spent time reading an article on research that they had reviewed in a previous class. There were comprehension questions and also questions that expanded on information from previous paragraphs and sections of the article. Being a level 4 class, the students were able to answer questions on comprehension and also expand on ideas to have an informed discussion of the information. The difficulty level seemed appropriate for the students and some new vocabulary was reviewed with the students. Dr Rios was able to facilitate self correction is sentence structure by asking questions in a way that seemed to flow easily and was encouraging for the students. 

Susan-CO #2

Dr. Rios

Grammar

Level 3

January 14, 2020

10-11am

Dr. Rios taught a lesson on Present Continuous Tense and Past continuous tense today. The class was very interactive with the teacher starting the class asking how everyone was doing and engaging is free conversation to warm up. The class activities involved breaking in to pairs for several different activities. Dr. Rios called on the students by name and drew out the students that were not actively involved. Dr Rios engaged the class in corrections by asking questions when he noted mistakes. The students had lots of opportunities to participate and engage in their learning. 

Susan-CO #1

Dr. Pollack

Composition Class

Level 3

January 14, 2020

9-10am

I observed Dr. Pollack's Composition Class. Dr. Pollack greeted the class and let them know the agenda for the class. The agenda included a time writing drill and a timed writing quiz. I sensed some tension and anxiety in the room. The teacher was encouraging, supportive, and had clear structure for the class. Dr Pollack started the timer on the overhead and kept the students aware of how much time was remaining. The teacher walked around the room some during the writing drill and answered student's questions as they raised their hands. At the end of the quiz, Dr. Pollack let the class know what they would be doing tomorrow. 

Susan-TS #3

Tutoring Session #3

Maria

January 12, 2020

3-4pm

We continued our tutoring session at the Art Park at Railroad Square. Maria was able to complete the grammar quizzes online with small errors. Maria was open to discussing the errors on the quizzes and was able to self correct with assistance. I used the website a4esl.org Level 4 quizzes for present perfect or past tense, assorted questions, prepositions, error correction. Maria scored 80-100% accuracy on all the quizzes. For the last 10 minutes, we went to the thrift shop and talked about the various items in the store and I was able to observe Maria making a purchase.  This was helpful in assessing Maria's speaking. Maria is able to carry on conversations and communicate effectively in simple conversation. She often mixes up pronouns and verb tenses. She is open to correction. We talked about what she likes and what she misses about Spain. 

Susan-TS #2

Tutoring Session #2

Maria

January 12, 2020

2-3pm

Maria was excited to meet today and we met at the Art Park at Railroad Square. We had hoped to meet at the coffee shop, but it was so crowded, we could not find a table. We found a picnic table outside and were able to begin her assessment. Engaged Maria in diagnostics in writing as this is an area that Maria identified as a challenge for her. Maria is Level 3 student at CIES. The writing assessment was to write about her dog and tell a funny story about their time together. Marie was able to write a story that addressed the topic with progression and coherence. Her verb tenses, use of prepositions, and word order were sometimes mixed up. Overall, she conveyed her meaning and I could see that she loves her dog and misses her dog Nana very much.  

Susan-TS #1

Tutoring Session #1

Maria

January 10, 2020

5-6pm

I met with my tutee, Maria for the 1st time. We reviewed questions from the Needs Assessment Questionnaire. Maria is from Madrid Spain. Her first language is Spanish. She has briefly studied French. Maria has just recently completed high school. Maria has lived in Tallahassee since August 2019. She enjoys going to the gym and going to San Luis Park. Maria is interested in studying International Relations. Maria is the youngest of 4 children, with 3 older brothers. Maria enjoys grammar and study of verb tenses. Maria reports difficulty with composition and translating. Maria's goals include having clearer conversations, dreaming in English, passing the TOELF, and being fluent in English. Maria states that she speaks in English to everyone except when she talks to her parents on the phone.

Michael TS#14-15

In this session, Renata and I actually did two hours of tutoring because she couldn't meet on Thursday. We first went over some exercises and examples in her TOEFL practice book as she is trying to take the test in the next few months. We mostly went over her speaking and reading skills by going over model dialogues together. These exercises helped Renata read and speak faster, but also helped us point out any pronunciation mistakes she has with any of the words. Anytime I noticed an issue with pronunciation we would go over the words slowly until she got it then go on to the next piece of dialogue. This turn taking between Renata and I speaking also gave her a little time to look over what she would be saying next. For the second part of the tutoring session we went over some things that Renata said she was a little rusty on and wanted to go over. We went over all of the tenses in a mainly verbal way as she is trying to improve her speaking. Similarly to her practice book, we would talk about a tense and I would have her give me spoken example in which I wrote down and we went over. This was also a great pronunciation exercise as we were able to go over any mistakes and fix them on the spot. Renata is excelling in her learning at a fast rate and I believe that she will do great on the TOEFL with more practice!

Michael TS#13

For this tutoring session Renata and I mainly went over pronunciation for the most part. This is the skill that Renata most likes to work on due to it being less stressed in CIES. For this we went over any words that she has been having issues with. For this she has been making note of words in her daily life and ones that she recognizes in her classes. We usually go over some minimal pairs but this time we only went over words she was having issues with. She is still having some issues with words ending with -es and -ed but she has been able to correct many of the words we have gone over. I believe that the most helpful thing to improving her pronunciation has been recording her speaking the word in the correct way and reviewing it later!

Christopher CP #7

Do Jun and I have become so accustomed to talking to each other that our sessions are more so like conversations. We chat about our cultures, sometimes about life in general. Today, we spoke about the Coronavirus once more. Yes, the cases keep on going up and the topic seems to be evermore relevant. A fun fact I learned is that the Japanese company, Fujifilm, has a medicine that has been known to help alleviate some of the minor symptoms of the virus. This got us talking about how the company's stock share went up. Now, what I appreciate about Do Jun is that he is much older than me. Because of this I am able to ask him advice not only as a friend but as a younger person with things to learn about the world. He told me how one time he lost almost an entire month's pay in the stock market! Luckily by this point in time it was just a laughing manner and, as usual, we just laughed off the problems of the world while trying to get to the bottom of them.

Christopher TS #16 (!!!!)

Do Jun and I had our last official tutoring session on the 24th of February. We were talking about what we did this weekend, I told him about my Korean BBQ experience and that got us talking about food. He was talking about a lot of things that required my research and I especially enjoyed it because it gave me the opportunity to learn more about Korean culture. It also gave my ear an opportunity to accustom myself to the actual Korean language. Towards the end of our conversation we, inevitably, got caught up talking about the Coronavirus. Since we last spoke on Friday, the confirmed cases jumped up by 600 people! This is becoming more of a global issue as people in Italy are contracting it and sports matches are getting cancelled, even the Venetian Carnevale. Do Jun and I agreed to talk later. Hopefully, by the next time we speak, he'll have good news!

Jessica: CP #5

Suyeol and Chris from TEFL class became fast friends and both Suyeol and I wanted to take Chris to the Korean barbeque restaurant in town. I invited my friend, Georgia, as well as Seokbin and Choi to have dinner with us. We all enjoyed the food and Suyeol and Seokbin taught us a little bit about how Koreans eat. They were very surprised that everyone was able to use chopsticks as well as they did and we joked with each other about how they learned to use them. Suyeol was extremely generous and paid for Chris and I’s meal which we were both very grateful for. We made plans to see each other again soon but we all had to separate after dinner since we had plans. It was a very fun night!

Jessica: CP #4

I had talked to Suyeol about teaching me to make 떡볶이 ever since the movie night, but we had not had a chance to do it until the Potluck for TEFL class was decided. Suyeol sent me many videos and messages about how to make 떡볶이 and even offered to let me come over to his apartment while I made it so I did not mess up. However, the finals week for CIES caused him to be very busy so I could not go to his house because of my job. Suyeol and I met for a short while at the library instead of his apartment. He explained everything that went into making 떡볶이 and I showed him all of the ingredients that I had bought. I think that he proved to be a great teacher since the 떡볶이 turned out very well! It was very nice of him to be so willing to teach me a little bit about Korean cuisine.  

Jessica: CP #3

Suyeol and I had a quick hangout once his classes were released for the day and before my TEFL class started. We talked about his day and any struggles he had faced earlier that day. He asked for my advice about a PowerPoint that he had to make for a presentation and when he told me the subject, I laughed. He was discussing K-Pop idols, their lives, the music industry, and economical impact. It was a very good presentation but there were a couple of grammar problems which I helped him fix. We said our goodbyes for the day and he said he was going home to take a nap.

Jessica: CP #2

I hosted a movie night for a small group of CIES and TEFL students to attend. We decided to watch a scary movie called Don’t Breathe which I think freaked everyone out a little bit. Suyeol, Seokbin and his wife, Chris, Soojin, Rahim, and a couple of others came to watch and meet the CIES students. We had a potluck where I made pork dumplings, Suyeol made 떡볶이, Seokbin and Choi made 잡채, Soojin brought Publix fried chicken, and Chris and Rahim brought rice. There was plenty of food and lots of conversation about the different countries everyone was from!

Jessica: CP #1

During the first time that Ji Suyeol and I met, he introduced me to a small café called Au Péché Mignon. This was the location for our first meeting and we both relayed our personal experiences which caused us to enjoy the café much more. I told him that it reminded me of all of the bakeries in Italy, which he agreed with. We talked about our families and how much we missed them and whether they were excited about us traveling for school. I learned that he had moved to the US in 2013 to start his college experience but had to stop attending FSU because of his issues with the language barrier. He told me his plans for the night which was to attend a concert, Steve Aoki. I was so excited that Steve Aoki was coming to Tallahassee but I was so sad because I had not heard about it before and did not have a ticket to go. I eventually found a ticket for sale and Suyeol and I planned on meeting at the concert!

Jessica: TS #14

During the fourteenth session (continuing off of the thirteenth session) with Seokbin, I taught him about American music and culture during the 1980’s. We were able to discuss multiple groups or artists that were popular in Korea as well or at least he was aware of them. Examples of those groups are Guns N Roses, Queen, and Madonna. I was able to talk about myself a little bit more and relate my experience regarding music and my interest in Korea to Seokbin. We discussed his noninterest in english music because of his struggle with english. Seokbin enjoyed being able to learn more about American culture from a specific time period as well as compose questions regarding what I was telling him about.

Jessica: TS #13

During the thirteenth session, Seokbin wanted to take control of the session and teach me about Korean culture and the K-Pop boy band history. This was a way for him to feel comfortable and to talk for an extended period of time. I was able to learn more about the music industry as well as provide relevant American examples and connections. The way that Seokbin structured the lesson was like a presentation and allowed me to correct his spoken english much more than I normally would have during a tutoring session. Seokbin seemed to enjoy the lesson since he was able to share personal things that he enjoyed.

Jessica: TS #12

During the twelfth session (continuing off of the eleventh session) with Seokbin, we focused on another timed reading and listening activity. Since there was a lack of schema for the previous lesson, I spoke with Seokbin and we both chose the Joker as the subject of the timed lesson. Seokbin’s assignment was to watch and listen to the Joker (2019) trailer and read about the Joker’s character within the Dark Knight movies. Seokbin was then asked to talk for three minutes about the two and come up with one difference, one comparison, and one connection. He was able to discuss multiple differences and similarities. We also briefly discussed directional cues and how to tell someone to maneuver a car. 

Jessica: TS #11

During the eleventh session, Seokbin and I focused on timed readings and listening. Seokbin asked to focus on this because he has trouble formulating an immediate conversation after receiving the information and connecting two different subjects. For the session, I chose to focus on an American classic, Mamma Mia! and its sequel Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again. Seokbin had trouble understanding the accents of the characters and thus the listening took a long time to process with me having to say everything certain actors said (those with the heaviest accent) multiple times for him to understand. Seokbin was able to come up with at least one of each: difference, comparison, and a connection between the two.

Jessica: TS #10

During the tenth session (continuing off of the ninth session) with Seokbin, we started to watch the second half of the show Unbreakable: Kimmy Schmidt. We continued to use this show and episode because of the variety of accents, enunciations, and speaking speeds used. Seokbin learned some more key phrases of the show: lock her up, took you at your word, opposites attract, prison rules, I can’t with you right now. The phrases learned in the second half of the show are much more popular and can be heard in everyday conversations. Just like in session nine, Seokbin was tasked to use each of the slang phrases in context once he learned their meaning.

Jessica: TS #9

During the ninth session, we started the first half of the show Unbreakable: Kimmy Schmidt, to focus on picking up more slang when it’s used in context as well as hear different accents and variety of speaking speeds. Seokbin enjoyed the show and learned new phrases such as: that’s all who you know, beyoncé, all on my shoulders, lemonading. Once Seokbin heard a phrase that he did not understand, I explained it to him, and then he had the assignment to use it in a sentence that he created. While the phrases that he learned may not be used universally or are very popular, they are used within shows and provide schema for a character’s feelings.

Jessica: TS #8

During the eighth session (continuing off of the seventh session), we continued with the interviewing process. Throughout our lesson we talked about multiple subjects and we were able to educate the other on our home country. We discussed: our satisfaction with our jobs, cultural differences between America and South Korea, South Korea in general, K-Pop (Seokbin brought the topic up), and Seokbin’s frustration with learning english. He discussed how he felt that he had hit an area where he has plateaued and is no longer improving. I told him that that was not true and how I saw improvement from him in such a short amount of time. I ended the lesson and challenged him to speak english at home as much as he could with his wife, Choi.

Jessica: TS #7

During the seventh session, we focused on having a speaking and listening lesson. We interviewed each other and asked each other’s thoughts on specific subjects. This helped Seokbin’s ability in being able to hold a continuous conversation with abrupt conversational topic changes. They were times where he needed to pause to think about what he wanted to say, but he was able to adapt to the topic change quickly and provide his own thoughts and feedback. I feel that Seokbin’s english is improving and he is becoming more relaxed during our lessons. This helps him not make as many mistakes because his affective filter is lowered. 

Jessica: TS #6

During the sixth lesson (continuing off of the fifth session) with Seokbin, we had a lesson about abstract and concrete words where Seokbin wrote examples. I explained the differences between these two types of nouns and how to identify them. His biggest issue regarding them was when to use an article with them. At the end of the lesson, Seokbin wrote 10 sentences using abstract nouns and then 10 with concrete nouns. Seokbin felt confident by the end of the lesson because he felt that he could identify the difference between the two nouns and when to use articles with them.

Jessica: TS #5

During the fifth tutoring session, we focused on informal english and slang. Seokbin specifically requested this lesson because he felt informal english is the hardest to understand and pick up from conversations. We discussed how he thought it was ironic that he did not understand slang from either english or korean. I told him that if he ever heard something that was obviously a slang phrase, he could always google it to find the definition or use Urban Dictionary. I showed him how to use the Urban Dictionary and he felt that that would be helpful in the future when he needs to find definitions for slang he hears.

Jessica: TS #4

During the fourth tutoring session (continuing off of the third session) with Seokbin, we continued the article grammar lesson by watching a show that he enjoys: The Office. He felt that it was much easier to understand after he watched the entire clip and then rewatched. We chose to pause it after each sentence so that he had time to think about where the article was located or used and why it was used. He felt that significantly helped his comprehension of the usage. Finally, we watched a clip from the show New Girl, which Seokbin liked the most. He felt that it was funny and easy to understand, despite some of the characters speaking quickly. After watching all of the clips, Seokbin was asked to write 10 sentences using articles and why he chose to use them within the sentences.

Jessica: TS #3

During the third session, Seokbin and I focused on working on his use of articles. He had messaged me prior in the week to ask to go over them. This was perfect because I had just developed a grammar lesson on articles. I went over the lesson plan with him and asked if this was something that he felt would help him. He said yes, and we started the lesson. For session three, we focused on watching the show You and doing a vocabulary/idiom lesson. Seokbin felt this show was too advanced, however, he was able to identify all of the articles and why they were used the way that they were.

Jessica: TS #2

During the second tutoring session (continuing off of the first session) with Seokbin, I had him take a small test to see where his skills were strongest and weakest. He breezed through the writing and reading sections and I felt that he excelled in them. During the grammar corrections on his written passage, Seokbin was able to point out ways that he could have fixed those mistakes and prevented them from happening. The main problem with his passage was the way that he structured it. It did not flow well but before I could mention it, Seokbin talked about how if he had more time, he felt that he could have made the passage flow in a much better way. Seokbin was able to justify all of his answers towards the reading comprehension questions. The only thing that he struggled with was the speaking section. At the end of the session, I asked him where he specifically wanted to focus on and he answered with speaking and listening skills.

Jessica: TS #1

During the first tutoring session with Seokbin Kang we concentrated on getting to know each other and different ways we can communicate effectively. We discussed where we were from and different things that we liked. I learned that he lives in Seoul, South Korea. He is 34 and married. He met his wife, Choi, through their shared schooling experience. We discussed his government job and his likes and dislikes regarding it. I shared my FSU college experience and how much I enjoyed living in Tallahassee despite how far away I am from my family. Both Seokbin and I connected over our homesick feelings regarding missing our families. However, we both agreed that being far away from our home allowed us to experience so much more than what we would have back home. Seokbin talked about his job in this aspect. He said that he viewed coming and studying in America as a vacation and was enjoying his time off. He is extremely motivated to work on his conversational english/productive use of the language rather than receptive skills.

Jessica: CO #3

The third class that I observed was 2A’s Reading class taught by Derrick Pollock. To begin the class, Dr. Pollock gave the students the agenda for the day, showcasing what they would be working on during class. Once the agenda was given, the Professor started an activity called “Hot Seat”. A student would randomly be called on to talk about a random subject for 45 seconds. This activity was extremely effective for students because it mimics conversations that one would have in everyday life. The main topic of the class was working on subject and verb agreement as well as transitional phrases. Two things that I took away from his class are:

• Speak slowly with beginners and enunciate as well as you can 
• Give random topics to mimic conversations in order to help students when using English in conversations

Jessica: CO #2

The second class that I observed was 3A’s Reading class taught by Ryan Flemming. The topic that was being discussed was an article that they had started reading for homework. He started out the discussion by asking for opinions on the main idea of the article as well as looking for new vocabulary words that are not understood. As a class, they went over a review of the questions asked yesterday. Once that was finished, Professor Flemming introduced a new reading for them to start for homework. Two things that I took away from his class are:

• Introduce new readings in multiple steps in order to not overwhelm students
• Always ask if they have questions or if they would like to know more information 

Jessica: CO #1

The first class that I observed was 4A’s Composition class taught by Ryan Flemming. The topic that was being worked on that day was paraphrasing. Professor Flemming used a PowerPoint to provide numerous examples of paraphrasing while also showing highly regarded people in Academia’s opinion on paraphrasing. After introducing the idea of paraphrasing and how to use it, Professor Flemming provided a worksheet and asked students to use adjective and noun clauses to convert the sentences. During this part, the Professor walked around the classroom to offer help and answer questions. Three things that I took away from his class are:

• Always state your goal at the beginning of the class as well as throughout the class
• Share your knowledge with your students!
• Always ask if they have questions or if they would like to know more information

Christopher CP #6

Last night I went out to have Korean BBQ with Jessica from class, Suyeol, Sukbin, and his wife Yeun. I had never had Korean BBQ before and I was very curious to try it. Suyeol picked me up at my house and told me he would coach me through the whole ordering process. I ended up eating the pork bbq and it was sensational. I got to try so many things for the first time and it was so nice to be surrounded by Korean people to help me understand and appreciate it all! I had Kimchi, some bean sprouts, miso soup, a spicy paste for my rice, and a desert that they called "rice punch." It was a wonderful time and I was especially touched because Suyeol paid for my dinner without telling me! He later drove me home and I invited him in to play some FIFA (the international game). We played two games before he had to go and I am so happy we did. We agreed to meet up some time to play later and I cannot wait!

Christopher CP #5

On Sunday, I make arepas at my house. Every Sunday. I took advantage and invited everyone I knew in CIES to the event and I was very happy when Miguel and Zayed were able to come. Miguel and I are becoming good friends and I was very happy to see him there. We chatted and I introduced him to the rest of my friends, everybody was very welcoming to them. We ate a bunch of food and I was happy to see my friends socialize with my friends from CIES. Miguel and I were talking with each other the whole night, and it was nice to establish camaraderie with him the way we did.

Christopher CP #4

It was the day after Valentine's Day. What a day. Dakhil had invited me to a get together at his house that evening and I was excited to go. When I arrived I saw many familiar faces and many I did not know. I brought a friend with me, and as is usual with people in this community, they were very nice and welcoming to the both of us. They were playing music and I took advantage to socialize and catch up with everybody. I spoke with Soojin, asked Miguel how he was feeling since his car accident, chatted with Yahya, and met several other people. My favorite part was that at the end of the night, we were all gathered around the table talking about our countries. I was amazed when Dakhil, Zayed, and Faisal were telling me about Saudi Arabia. I felt like I had been very misinformed towards their country and it was fascinating to see pictures of their cities and learn about what their culture really is like.

Christopher CP #3

It has been difficult to find time to hang with Abdulrahim, but I have been trying hard to socialize with people from CIES and develop friendships with them. One such instance was when Miguel, a very friendly guy studying in the program, invited me to go to dinner with him and some friends. I agreed and he, Soojin, Dakhil, Yahya, and I went out to dinner. We went to have arepas, a very popular Venezuelan dish. It was nice to hang out just as friends and not have to worry about correcting their English. We talked about the food, if we had anything similar in our cultures, and played the piano that they had there in the restaurant! All in all it was a great time and I was glad I got invited to tag along.

Christopher TS #15

Do Jun and I had our 15th session on the 21st of February. As has become the norm, we started our conversation talking about the expanding Coronavirus. Since we had last spoke, the confirmed cases had gone up to 200! That was quite scary for the both of us. We also talked about his dad and his health. I am happy to report that it is at the very least, stable. He also told me about there being demonstrations in Gwanghwamun Plaza. This lead to me looking it up, and talking about the statue of Admiral Yi Sun-Sin. He told me about the turtle shaped boat that he created to fight off the Japanese. This was interesting and it made me talk about one of the heroes of Guatemala, Tecun Uman. It was very nice to share this with him because he seemed very intent in listening to what I was trying to tell him, just like I was when he was talking about his country's history.

Christopher TS #14

Do Jun and I had our 14th session on the 19th of February. It seems that lately we talk so much about the Coronavirus because the situation is only getting worse in Korea. He told me that there were about 45 new confirmed cases of the disease. Interested, I asked him why and he told me that it was because of Patient 31. She is an old woman that is an active member in the Shinchonji church. I did a little research on this and discovered that it is a church dedicated to a false prophet (a term Do Jun learned in that conversation) that bands together in fear of the apocalypse. This of course was only preliminary research, so excuse the inaccuracies. Do Jun told me that he had just learned of the church himself through the media. This developed into a conversation about the way people in Korea acquire news. I asked him if news networks were similar to those of the United States: polarized and always running. He told me that they are, and this fed my concern for the incoming apocalypse of misinformation.

Christopher TS #13

Do Jun and I had our 13th session on the 17th of February. I decided that it was important for him to fine tune his use of articles because he keeps making the same mistakes with the word "the." So, we started the session with a review of articles and I quickly came to realize that, intellectually, Do Jun has really only minor problems with the concepts. It is the practice and the actual application that is missing. Therefore, he and I resolved to pay more attention to these mistakes. During conversation I will do my best to catch them and correct them on the spot so we can break the habit. We also talked about Valentine's Day.

Christopher TS#12

Do Jun and I spoke on the 13th of February.  Do Jun was a little bit stressed because of a work related issue. Because transportation has been cut off to China due to the Coronavirus, his company has been suffering. The majority of their flights go to China and because the company cannot rely on that revenue for the time being, they are asking employees to take 2 weeks-worth of time off without payment. It has to be a total of two weeks not two weeks straight. This does mean that he has different options on how to take the vacation, he can either not work Fridays until summer, take the two weeks off straight, or only work 3 days of the week for a certain amount of time. Anyway, we talked about that for a while and got caught up as well talking about the Coronavirus and its effects.

Anthony TS# 10

Following the previous hour's discussion on use of social media in our modern society, Ahmed and I engaged in a debate. Ahmed chose to support the use of social media, so I took the opposing viewpoint. He stated, in opening remarks, how social media does a great job of connecting people like never before, helps prevent disasters (or magnitude of disasters), and can raise awareness for important issues that people need to hear about or discuss. He stated how social media gives voice to the common man. I refuted each of his point with opposing arguments, such as social media spreading fake news, invasion of privacy, affect on children's health and self image. The point of the exercise was for Ahmed to retort each of my opposing arguments, and he did a very good job. He was able to provide common debate etiquette by showing respect for my side, but refuting the argument using his own evidence and supporting facts. Following the debate, I ended the lesson with a fun listening activity. I showed Ahmed a short video from the TV show "Swamp People" that talked about Cajun cooking. This video is a good example of a unique American culture, and it tested his listening skills due to the heavily accented narrators. Overall, Ahmed enjoyed this video.

Charmel TS#16

February 21, 2020

4:30 pm - 5:30 pm

This Friday, I met with my tutee Kubra. We first went over her writing and pronunciation skills through an essay she wrote the day prior. For the second part of out session we worked on personal statements and the interview process for her IELTS exam. Kubra informed me that she needed to write a personal statement for the graduate program she is applying for. Therefore, I had her read mine (which got approved by the career center) to help illustrate what the grad school usually expects. We finished off our session by conducting the speaking portion of her IELTS interview. I asked her questions based off the IELTS textbook and replicated the time she would have to answer each. I corrected her speech as we were going through the first time, but made notes and corrected her speech after the interview for the second time.

Anthony TS#9

Ahmed and I met in Strozier for a multiple hour tutoring session. In this first hour, Ahmed brought up first some of the work that he had been doing in his CIES classes. We spent about ten to fifteen minutes discussing several minimal pairs in a list that he compiled. After this activity, I utilized ProCon.org for another intensive reading activity. We discussed difficult vocabulary that would be present, and then I had Ahmed read the article aloud. The article discussed the pros and cons of social media's heavy presence in our society. Ahmed is an avid Twitter user, so enjoyed this topic of reading material. After the reading, I asked Ahmed a few comprehension questions to assess his understanding of the reading material. After this, I asked him to form a stance on the article (either pro-social media use or con), and for him to take time to prepare for a debate with me. I chose whatever opposing side of his stance was, and we prepared arguments to use in a debate. The debate took place in the second hour.

Charmel TS#15

February 21, 2020

3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

This Friday I met with my tutee Kubra. For this portion of our session we focused on correcting an essay that she wrote based off a prompt in her IELTS textbook.  The prompt was about the loss in species of animals and plants. I went through her essay and corrected her grammar mistakes and misspellings. Kubra improved immensely from when we first started our tutoring. I noticed that she makes less grammar and spelling mistakes and has started to use more low frequency words. I then had her read the essay out loud so that we could work on and improve her pronunciation skills.

Charmel TS#14

February 20, 2020
11:00 am- 12:00 pm


This Thursday, I met with my tutee Kubra. She wanted to improve her writing skills when given a prompt. We decided to focus on writing an essay from a prompt in her IELTS notebook. Our system was for her write a sentence and as she is writing I would correct her grammar mistakes. I think this is a good method for her because she automatically knew where she messed up, instead of thinking she was correct and finding out later it was wrong. We outlined two essays like this. The first prompt instructed her to explain the graphs, and the second prompt had her write about global warming and its effects.

Anthony TS#8

Ahmed and I met in Strozier library for a quick dictation exercise. I created ten sentences that used several vocabulary words that we had discussed over the past eight tutoring sessions. I read the sentences at a slow pace and several times, allowing Ahmed to hear them several times and to write them completely. This took about twenty or twenty five minutes, and then after this, I provided detailed feedback on all of Ahmed's sentences. Ahmed has very good listening skills, but his writing (and more importantly spelling) are still in need of some practice. In addition, his grammar in writing lacks along side his overall writing skills. I first went through and corrected any major mistakes on his listening comprehension, and then I corrected all of his spelling and grammar mistakes. During this time, Ahmed and I often have discussions on spelling patterns in English, and I continue to reinforce those skills so he can receive reinforcement in that area.

Anthony TS#7

For my seventh tutoring hour, Ahmed and I met in one of the CIES classrooms for an intensive reading exercise. We had a quick discussion on his and I's perspectives on dietary choices and eating healthy, something he seemed to take a keen interest in. After this, I had Ahmed read aloud an article from ProCon.org about veganism. ProCon.org has article that discuss a controversial issue and provides supporting and opposing arguments for each. Ahmed and I discussed difficult vocabulary that would be in the reading, and then he read the article using a bottom-up approach. After the reading, I asked him a few comprehension questions about the material he read, and then I hosted a small debate about the topic. This was preparation for a later lesson plan. I instructed Ahmed to write a small paper on his opinion about veganism, and we would review it at our next session.

Michael CP#5

During this conversation meeting Renata and I talked about her last week of this CIES session and her trip to Miami this weekend. She talked about some of the different things she did for her last week and her great grades that she got! She is going to Miami this weekend with a friend to attend a latin music concert which sounded so fun and amazing. She was very excited to go especially since that is where she will be moving this Summer. I talked to her about jiu-jitsu and I am going to visit the studio she goes to in town, a studio where one of my friends actually volunteers to teach! We didn't have any food this time as I forgot to bring her mac and cheese from the potluck we had in class the day before. This made me sad especially since she had never tried mac and cheese and regularly bring me food. I will see Renata again on Monday when she comes back from her trip to help her with tutoring!

Michael TS#12

Renata and I met on February 21, 2020 at CIES to go over her final essay she had finished. Although her essay was already finished she wanted to correct any mistakes and go over pronunciation of words so she could use it as English practice. The essay was fantastic for the most part with me nitpicking her use of articles, some minor spelling mistakes, and sentence structure. We took out some redundant sentences and fused some other to shorten it a bit and make it more concise. I believe the most valuable ting we went over during this session was pronunciation which Renata has the most issues with. Renata has issues with some word sounds, especially ones that end with -ed. This is something we have been going over and she has gotten a lot better! We have mainly been going over this by having her read and when I hear a mistake we go over it together very slowly and the pick up speed to saying the word how you would actually say it. Once she gets it down we record her saying it a few times, then me saying it a few times. This allows her to review the word later on her own time and has been helping immensely.

Charmel TS#13

January 18, 2020

10:00 am- 11:00 am

This Tuesday, I met with my tutee Yunjia. She had a writing assignment with a poor letter grade and wanted to basically sit down and go through all the ways she could have improved it. We mainly went over the teachers corrections and I explained why it needed to be corrected and what word or grammar note she could have put instead. I then told her about some strong academic words that she could have replaced with others to make the essay better. When finished we read through it once more and I made sure she better understood the corrections.

Charmel TS#12

January 17, 2020

11:00 am- 12:00 pm

This Monday, I had a second session of tutoring with my tutee Kubra. For the first session we went over the pronunciation, definition, and context of different words from her IELTS text book. Once she finished creating her own comprehensive sentences she then was tasked with creating her own story using the words. She spent some time creating her own story and I answered simple spelling questions. Once she finished writing the story, I went over it and corrected grammar mistakes and incomplete sentences with her. 

Charmel TS#11

February 17, 2020

10:00 am- 11:00 am



This Monday, I met with my tutee Kubra. We went over new IELTS vocabulary words. I first started helping her with the words by making sure she pronounced them accurately. Kubra usually mixes the sound that w makes with a v sound, or mispronounces some vowel sounds, therefore, we mainly worked in those areas. We next, focused on finding the definition of the word. After finding the definition she usually finds a sentence online that uses it in context. If she still does not understand the word use, I then explain it to her with other examples. Finally, she comes up with her own sentence using the word to make sure she understands its use. We did this method with each word, then she made a short story using all the words that I would review in our next session.

Sheridan CP #6

February 19, 2020

Conversation Partner #6

Hongfu
CIES
Casual Conversation

  On Wednesday at approximately 3:00 PM, I met with Hongfu Wu outside of the CIES center. We ended up going back to the courtyard just as we did the previous weeks.  Again, we talked about our days and what we had planned for the upcoming week and weekend.  She said she was still nervous to go to UT to take her exam, but she was excited to explore Tampa.  I told her the places to visit and the places to eat and the beach to go to.  We both love the beach, so I suggested Clearwater Beach if she is driving her car down.  She is taking the Red Coach to Tampa, so she can't go to the beach.  I told her the food there is really good and that she should explore UT's campus because the campus is different from ours, but it is still pretty.  I showed her my host country presentation, and she loved it.  She wrote down places to go in France that she wanted to eventually end up visiting when she has time to travel.  Upon our departure, I told her to keep in touch with me about her exam and her acceptance to FSU.  I wished her the best of luck and told her that I was happy to have been her conversation partner and I told her how much she had improved from the first time we met!

Sheridan CP #5

February 12, 2020

Conversation Partner #5

Hongfu
CIES
Casual Conversation

  On Wednesday at approximately 3:00 PM, I met with Hongfu Wu outside of the CIES center.  We went to the back of the center and sat in the courtyard and had a casual conversation about our days.  I asked her how her quizzes and presentation had gone earlier in the week.  She said she did fairly well, but the presentation was cancelled because of the severe thunderstorm that had occurred the previous week.  We talked about how she is going to UT to complete her TOEFL exam.  She explained to me what it was and what she needed it for.  She was nervous about taking the exam because she's taken it before and was one point away from the acceptance rate here at FSU.  We talked about our weekends and what we were going to do in our free time once this session ended.

Sheridan TS #15 - #16

February 21, 2020

Tutoring #15 - #16

Mohammed Shaek
CIES
'Grammar and Definitions & Proofreading'

  

  Similar to the other tutoring sessions, I provided Mohammed with a hand-out with multiple reading passages.  One of the passages had fill-in-the-blanks where he had to pick the correct form of a word that fit in the blanks.   He did very well on this portion of the assignment.  The next part that we did was another reading passage.  With this passage, I asked him to read it out loud and to underline any words that he didn't understand.  I gave him the definitions of the words he didn't know and used them in a sentence so that he could understand them better.  After, I asked him to use each of the words in a sentence, and then I corrected his grammar and spelling mistakes and explained to him why they were wrong.  The last thing he did was proofread the final reading passage.  He did fairly well on this portion.  There were some things he did not understand, but I made sure to explain to him why they were the way they were.

Sheridan TS #14

February 21, 2020

Tutoring #14

Mohammed Shaek
CIES
'Proofreading'

  Similar to the previous tutoring session, I asked Mohammed to proofread 3 reading passages.  I asked him to look for grammar mistakes, especially punctuation, as well as spelling and agreements with parts of speech.  He did not do well on the first passage, so I made sure to help him and explain to him why things were wrong and what the correct answers were.  The next reading passage was a lot easier for him.  He was able to understand most of the difficult words and the overall context of the passage.  Same with the final passage.  Overall, he was able to find the mistakes in the reading passages and correct them.  I defined a few words that he did not know and asked him to use them in a sentence so that he could understand them better.

Sheridan #13

February 18, 2020

Tutoring #13

Mohammed Shaek
CIES
'Sentences & Grammar'

  The last thing that I covered with Mohammed in this tutoring session was a spelling and grammar.  We went back to the reading passages that we had covered earlier.  The words that Mohammed did not know or understand were used for this activity.  I asked him to create sentences using these words.  He had a total of 17 sentences.  Mohammed's grammar and spelling has definitely improved since the first time we had tutored.  There were little to no errors with most sentences, and I had to remind him of the definitions of some of the words that he was using.  After I corrected his mistakes, I went on to use the words in real life situations so that he could understand them in context a little bit better.

Sheridan TS #11 - #12

February 18, 2020

Tutoring #11 & #12

Mohammed Shaek
CIES
'Spelling & Defining"

     Today, I provided Mohammed with multiple worksheets on spelling and definitions.  First, I began with asking how his day was and what he got on his quizzes and presentations that he had to do the previous week.  He said he did well and that he was excited for the tutoring session for the day.  The first worksheet that we worked on was a reading passage.  I asked him to read the passage to me out loud and to underline any words he didn't know or understand.  I went over these words at the end of him reading and used them in a sentence.  After going over the words, I asked him to go over the passage again and correct any spelling or grammar mistakes that he saw.  He did not do very well on this reading passage, so I explained to him where the mistakes were and why they were wrong.  He understood why they were incorrect.  We moved onto the next reading passage and I asked him to do the same thing.  He read the passage out loud to me, I defined any words he did not understand and then he corrected the mistakes in the passage.  Mohammed understood this passage and its mistakes a lot better.

Dana TS#14

After a short break for our first session, we resumed our tutoring session.  We worked on vocabulary and pronunciation and a crossword puzzle exercise which was part of her class assignment. We reviewed the material we had worked on from the previous session and added some law profession vocabulary.  We worked on pronunciation of the "ed" ending on some words.  She seems to be struggling with that.  Figuring out when the e is silent and when it is pronounced.  i.e. wanted, haunted, vaulted  vs. watched, dashed, washed etc.  She is a very good student and delightful to tutor.

Dana TS #13

I met with my tutee from Brazil today and we worked on pronunciation.  We worked on the er sound and the ur sound.  We went over the 5 grammar rules of vowel pronunciation/sounds.  We also worked on some vocabulary related to the legal profession.  We did this for about an hour then took a break.

Dana TS #12

Yesterday I met with one of my tutees from Saudi Arabia for an hour. We discussed Muslim Culture and praying practices while she is in the US.  We turned our attention to pronunciation and the five rules for English grammar vowel pronunciation.  We then had a discussion about transitive and intransitive verbs.  I couldn't answer her question about whether is/are/were  i.e. verbs of state of being are transitive or intransitive.  I told her I would research it and text her.  My research revealed that they are neither-standing alone.  Typically they are linking verbs aka copulative verbs.  When linked to another verb like sleeping/drinking/crying etc, they are intransitive. I texted her and she was very grateful because now she finally understands.  We also went over an exercise on active and passive voice.

Seaborn: TS #15-16

Mengmeng and I met for our final tutoring sessions on Friday, 2/14, from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.

We covered speaking skills, listening skills, and writing skills. We began the lesson with a quick warm-up game of Hangman (which Mengmeng has gotten much better at compared to when we first started) and then dove right into our conversation topic questions.

Mengmeng spoke for the majority of both lessons. I only needed to jump in rarely (to ask the next question or to make minor corrections, respectively). When I did speak for longer than a minute or two, Mengmeng practiced her listening skills, asked follow-up questions, and expanded upon my ideas.

Finally, Mengmeng thanked me for helping her for the past few weeks, and I thanked her for helping me improve my confidence in my teaching abilities. I bought her coffee and she—very thoughtfully—gifted me with some authentic Chinese tea :)

Seaborn: TS #13-14

Mengmeng and I met Wednesday, 2/12, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

We covered speaking skills, listening skills, and vocabulary. For speaking skills, we finally finished all our mock job interview questions. For listening skills, Mengmeng watched clips from American films and summarized their content afterward. For vocabulary, we continued learning new idioms (such as "talking someone up" and "crossing that bridge when we get there").

Seaborn: CP #6

Ahmad and I met for our final CP meeting on Sunday, 2/16, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

We met for coffee at All Saints Café. Once we'd grabbed some drinks, we settled down for a discussion about Ahmad's progress with CIES and what are—in his personal opinion—the best methods for learning a new language.

Ahmad also gave me tips and pointers for my upcoming final project (in which I'll present a lesson to an actual CIES class). He stressed the importance of looking sharp, giving students clear directions, and always allowing plenty of time to ask and answer questions.

Before we left, we both agreed that we'd meet again—someday, somewhere.

Michael TS#11

On 2/18/20 I met Renata in CIES to go over pronunciation and the passive voice. To help her learn the passive voice we completed a few worksheets together in which she had to change sentences from the active voice to the passive voice. We went over each sentence together and when she started to get a good hang of it, she completed the worksheet. We than went through the answers together and any mistakes were talked about. During this time, I also had Renata read her sentences aloud to help work on her pronunciation. I noticed that she pronounces the -es in words with a strong e sound. This is a pattern that I noticed in her speech through conversation so we went over some words that have the -es ending such as loves and lives. We practiced words that she finds hard pronouncing and recorded her saying them correctly on her phone  so she could review them at any time. It was a great tutoring lesson and I believe that Renata grasped the concepts very good.

Michael CP#4

In this meetup Renata and I talked over some acai bowls! She is very into acai bowls as the whole concept comes from Brazil and she hadn't had once since moving to Tallahassee. I made my bowl the same as hers as she knows much more about this type of food, and they even had pacoca, which is a peanut type of powder from Brazil! As we ate Renata showed me pictures of different fruits from Brazil and of course showed me what an acai tree looks like. I also asked her how the bowl compares to Brazil in which she said it was good but not exactly the same; typical Tallahassee. We talked about our week and what we would be doing over the weekend as it was quite beautiful outside. Renata told me she was working on her swimming and was going on a trail with one of her friends later that day. Renata is wonderful to talk to and so far I've learned about so many things about Brazil and her as a person!

Michael TS#10

In this tutoring session on February 15, 2020 Renata and I went over pronunciation and working with minimal pairs. Renata was telling me the CIES doesn't focus too much on pronunciation skills and she really wanted to work out some word with me. We went over harder long words such as homogeneous and hypothetical, which were words in which she is trying to use in class. To do this we took the larger words and broke them down in to smaller parts in order to get a grasp on each part of the word. We then said the word in full and I had her record herself pronouncing the words correctly to reference her work later for practice. We then went onto practicing with different minimal pairs to help her grasp the very small differences between very similarly sounding words. To do this i found a document that shows minimal pairs specifically geared towards Portuguese speaker as she is from Brazil. The pronunciation activities seemed to be very helpful and the recordings we made will be there to help her for future reference!

Charmel TS#10

02/13/2020

11:00 am -12:00 am

This Thursday, I started tutoring my conversation partner Yunjia. We started out by going over some of the problems she is having with learning English. She reads and understands very well, however speaking and writing are difficult for her. We spent this session going over an essay prompt and a previous essay that she wrote. The essay prompt was about whether she would buy a house or business if she had the money. She made a chart and listed the pros and points of buying the house. I then helped her edit a previous essay that she wrote for her writing class. I tried to lead her into finding what she needed to fix instead of telling her. We ended our session by agreeing to continue next week. She will also try to edit her paper before we see each other again.

Charmel TS#9

02/09/2020

2:30 pm - 3:30 pm

This Sunday, I had a second session with my tuttee Kubra, and we went over words from her IELTS text book that she was unfamiliar with. We continued the same study plan as the last session; which was to first, look up the words definition, then find an example sentence from the internet. Then I would explain the word and come up with a sentence, which leads to her coming up with her own sentence based off her understanding.The words we went over were deliberately, pastime, rejuvenate, and reluctant, 

Charmel TS#8

02/09/2020

1:00 pm - 2:00 pm

Last Sunday, I met with my tuttee Kubra and we went over new words out of her IELTS text book. We started out by going over the definition of each word, next, she found an example sentence from the internet, then, I made a separate example sentence until she understood the words meaning. When we finished that portion, she was tasked with making two of her own sentences with the word. If the example sentence she came up with was not correct, I had her come up with a different sentence until the words were used correctly. The words we went over for this session were acknowledge, authority, chunk, and crucial.

Caroline: TS#11

Tutoring Session #11

Abdulaziz Ajeeli

February 14, 2020 at 12:30PM

This past Friday, Abdulaziz and I met for our weekly Friday tutoring session. Continuing our routine from previous weeks, we listened to an academic lecture on the rise of the American Supreme Court. Prior to listening, I provided a bit of background information on the nature of the Supreme Court and its role in American government as it can get kind of confusing for students who don’t know much about how our governance system is structured. The lecture covered numerous elements of the Supreme Court, including its role, its powers, and its history. After the audio lecture concluded, we debriefed the content of the lecture and I clarified any points Abdulaziz found confusing. To supplement his understanding , we also listened to lectures on the importance of two prolific Supreme Court cases, Brown v. Board of Education and Loving vs. Virginia and answered some brief comprehension questions. Abdulaziz seemed to enjoy the lesson, saying he learned a lot of new words to add to his receptive vocabulary. To conclude the lesson, per usual, I introduced him to several new idioms, including “To get bent out of shape” “Beat around the bush” “Go back to the drawing board’ and “Get your act together”. 

Caroline: TS#10

Tutoring Session #10

Abbas Alnakhli

February 12, 2020 at 11:30AM

This past Wednesday, I met Abbas at the Hecht House for our weekly tutoring session. Given that the upcoming week is the final week of the session, he was a bit stressed about his workload for next week. In order to relieve some of his worries and to make productive use of our tutoring time, I suggested we spend the time reviewing for his approaching finals. Working under this mindset, I assisted him in brainstorming and writing part of his composition assignment. Given that his topic was on the importance of telling the truth and consequences of lying, we brainstormed reasons people needed to be truthful. He came up with several reasons, including to be successful, create good friendships, and to cultivate trust. After working on the composition for a bit, we transitioned to working on his survey project. While his survey topic is volunteering, Abbas didn’t understand what survey or volunteering meant, so we had a brief vocabulary lesson. We concluded the hour by brainstorming questions he can ask people on campus and the best way to structure his PowerPoint presentation. While he still has quite a bit of work to tackle for next week, I feel that our tutoring session helped relieve some of Abbas’s stress about the upcoming week. 

Caroline: TS#9

Tutoring Session #9

Abbas Alnakhli

February 10, 2020 at 11:30AM

On Monday, Abbas and I met for our weekly tutoring session. Given that he had expressed interest in learning more about adverbs at the end of our last session, I came prepared with an adverb lesson in hand. We began the lesson by watching the School House Rock video “ Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here” to introduce the concept of adverbs and its function in a sentence. We debriefed the video and then I had Abbas complete a basic worksheet in which he identified adverbs in a sentence, matched adjectives to the corresponding adverb, and chose the best adverbs in several sentences. We then played a game where we chose an adverb, had to think of a verb that agrees with the adverb, and craft a sentence using the phrase. I say we in this case because Abbas became a bit frustrated during this assignment so I assisted him throughout the process. While the adverb has many complex functions, I tried to stick to its most basic components so as not to overwhelm Abbas. While there is still more to learn, I feel the Abbas has begun to understand the purpose of adverbs and can start incorporating them more into his sentences. 

Christopher CP #2

Rahim and I hung out on February first. This was our second time hanging out. It had been hard to coordinate meeting up so I was glad we finally got to. He showed up to my house with some freshly ovened knishes, which I was very happy about. For about an hour he, my roommates, and I played FIFA together, listened to some music, chatted as best we could, and played a little soccer. I want to be able to hang out with Rahim more, I feel like we can become better acquainted and have more fluid hang outs. I am excited for the next time I'll see him.

Christopher TS#11

Do Jun and I had a nice conversation in the early hours of the morning this February twelfth. I asked him about what he likes to do in his free time. Surprisingly, we ended up talking about an MTV reality show named Siesta Key. I had never heard of it, but as soon as I googled it I was disappointed in Do Jun and did not miss the opportunity to tease him about it. He laughs and knows that the show is stupid, but he enjoys watching it because it helps him kill time and practice English. We talked about the different keys in Florida, and I told him to listen to Margaritaville by Jimmy Buffet if he really wanted to learn about the Keys.
Towards the end he asked if I could help explain the difference between ache, sick, and hurt. Again, they have the same translation in the Korean-English dictionary he has. I was able to explain it to him and he seemed to understand. I quizzed him a little at the end and asked him to use the words in a sentence. He seemed to understand  their usage.

Christopher TS#10

Do Jun and I spoke on the morning of February tenth. We had a conversation covering several different topics. First of all, he informed me about how his father is doing. He had to go back home to Busan to help take care of him during the weekend. After that, and I'm not sure how but am also not surprised, we ended up talking about food. I wanted to know how what the eating culture was like. He was telling me that going out to eat can be 30-50 dollars per person! That made sense to me since I knew Seoul is one of the most expensive cities in the world; but it was still quite shocking to hear. I asked him if there is cheap food to be bought and he told me that there were tons of cheap options out there and not to worry. He said that typical, mom and pop Korean restaurants tend to be cheaper. He said that this made him a little sad because he believed that the food was better and more labour intensive to make than the big, expensive chain restaurants. We talked a little bit about our past work experience and we were able to relate on how bad it is to be a waiter, no matter where.

Christopher TS#9

Do Jun and I spoke again on February 6th. The conversation started by me asking how Korean people took compliments. We talked about it in class and I was intrigued, so I decided to get some more insights from Do Jun. He said that Korean people don't like to "brag" and that care about seeming humble.
The second half of the session was interesting because he had a question about the difference between a few words in English. He was having trouble understanding when to use tell, speak, say, and talk because they have the same definition in his Korean-English language dictionary. I walked him through a bunch of examples and reasonings behind using certain words in certain situations. It was a refreshing session because we got to break from the usual course of typical conversation.

Sheridan TS #10

February 5, 2020

Tutoring # 10

Mohammed Shaek
CIES
'Spelling & Definitions'

  The last thing that I covered with Mohammed in this tutoring session was a spelling and definitions worksheet.  The worksheet consisted of an incorrect spelling form of a word and the directions asked him to correct the spelling and give the definition.  Mohammed is not very good at recognizing incorrect spelling.  He has shown this weakness is past exercises that I have used while I tutor him.  With this worksheet in particular, he got about half of the words correct and the others were wrong.  I did my best to explain to him how to sound out words so that he could spell better.  When asked what the definitions of the words were, he couldn't answer a few of them.  The ones he did not know were defined by me using an app on my phone.  After reviewing each spelling of the words and their meanings, I asked him to choose 5 of the words he did not know and write a sentence using them.  In the sentences, he did a fairly decent job using the word correctly.  However, he had a fair amount of grammar errors.  I corrected these as needed and explained why they were incorrect.