FSU TEFL 120 Spring 1 2022

  TS Blogs: #18 Date/Time: 02.25.2022 at 2:15 p.m. Location: Hecht House Topic/Skill: Speaking skills and improving native slang vocabulary  Feedback provided to tutee: In this lesson, the tutee and I worked on speaking skills by discussing topics relating to different cultures and futuristic scenarios. The tutee planned their dream vacation and discussed the benefits of different places, bringing in many new vocabulary words and verb tenses. Additionally, the tutee and I compared differences in our cultures with things like marriage, families, and social life.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: In this lesson the tutee shared how difficult it is to express how they are feeling in situations with a doctor. For example, when they have to go to urgent care they have a hard time properly explaining what hurts. This made me realize that even though many non-native speakers are fluent in calm situations, trying to share feelings in an already stressful sit...

  TS Blogs: #17 Date/Time: 02.22.2022 at 4:30 p.m. Location: The Sweet Shop Topic/Skill: Grammar skills in advanced level writing Feedback provided to tutee: In this lesson, the tutee worked on revising an advanced level short essay to see if the tutee was able to recognize higher level grammar issues. The tutee read the short essay out loud and then worked on finding each of the grammatical issues. Once the tutee found an issue, we discussed what rule was broken and why the issue needed to be fixed. In the case the tutee could not find any issue, I helped him see why something needed to be fixed.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: In this lesson I saw how much different one’s skills can be for speaking versus reading/ writing. This tutee is very fluent in speaking, yet struggled more in finding errors in another’s writing. This lesson demonstrated how important it is to focus on all aspects of the English language and ensure the student is well rounded i...

  TS Blogs: #16 Date/Time: 02.22.2022 at 3:00 p.m. Location:  Zoom  Topic/Skill : Listening comprehension from native conversations.  Feedback provided to tutee: In this lesson the tutee and I watched clips from the sitcom, Friends, with no closed captions or explanations throughout it. This was slightly higher than the tutees level of listening comprehension, yet wanted to improve native listening skills in order to comfortably attend events with his wife. After watching, I helped the tutee in focusing on different aspects of the conversation and common idioms that were said. Additionally, the tutee and I focused on how to pick up on different tones and not get overwhelmed focusing on every word.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: In this lesson, I got to see a glimpse of how overwhelming it can be for a non-native speaker to have to speak to native speakers. The tutee was worried about listening, speaking, his tone, and so many other aspec...

  Date/Time:  February 17th, 2022 from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM Location:  FSU Strozier Library Topic/Skill:  Speaking skills Feedback provided to tutee:  For our final meeting, the tutee and I decided to just work on speaking skills. Learning from lack of structure during the previous meeting, I prepared a speaking topic. I had the tutee first tell me about their day, then had the tutee tell me specifically about their plans for the upcoming months. There was a focus on future tense, which the tutee had a good grasp on. The tutee has also begun to consistently self-correct before I can intervene. I advised that they continue to practice having that kind of awareness as they go forward in their studies. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Closing out a set of tutoring sessions is an interesting situation. I felt that I should have had some sort of wise advice to leave with my student but I did not. Instead I left with a sense of what I could do bett...

Date/Time:  February 16th, 2022 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM Location:  FSU Library Topic/Skill:  Speaking skills Feedback provided to tutee:  The tutee and I agreed to work on speaking skills as part of our last meetings since, for the time being, formal tests and exams had ended or were ending. We spoke about what our days had been like and what our families were doing while we were at FSU. I corrected his pronunciation at times but, more often than not the corrections lied with the tutee's grammar. As with their writing, they were fond of extraneous words.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  Speaking lessons benefit from structure more than they benefit from being free-formed, even if that structure still is flexible. I struggled during this session to maintain a balance between having a genuine conversation and listening for correctable mistakes. I think it would have been easier for me if I had more specific topics or questions prepared...

Date/Time:  February 14th, 2022 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM Location:  FSU Library Topic/Skill:  Passive voice Feedback provided to tutee:  The tutee and I returned to the topic of passive voice. It seemed that the tutee had become confused by it again since the last time we spoke about this topic. We went over the tutee's textbook examples again and, this time, the tutee was able to ask more specific questions. This lesson ended up introducing the idea of emphasis in sentences, and how the meaning of a sentence can change based on what is being emphasized. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: It pays off to have several activities for a lesson planned. I had not assumed that we would revisit the topic of passive voice and, thus, had not planned to re-visit it. If had planned more than one activity the first times that we talked about passive voice, then I could have had prepared material to use spontaneously. 

Date/Time:  February 13th, 2022 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM Location:  Sweet Shoppe, FSU Campus Topic/Skill:  behind vs. beyond Feedback provided to tutee:  The tutee wanted help determining the difference between the word "behind" and the word "beyond". I explained the difference, then the tutee and I spent time coming up with example sentences until the tutee was able to consistently produce correct sentences.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  The environment matters for studying. It's not just about whether you and your student are in a quiet area where they can concentrate, but it is also about how you can incorporate the objects around you into your lesson. During this lesson, many of our example sentences utilized the objects and people in the surrounding area which made the lesson much more interactive, and made learning grammar lesson painful.

  TS Blogs: #15 Date/Time: 02.18.2022 at 3:00 pm  Location: Outside of the Hecht House Topic/Skill: Writing revisions with an emphasis on articles and prepositions.  Feedback provided to tutee: The tutee read through a short essay that contained two extra words of either articles, prepositions, or adjectives. The tutee first read through the essay out loud as I provided feedback on difficult pronunciations. Additionally, as the tutee worked to identify the unnecessary words and I provided assistance when it was needed. After the tutee located the words, we discussed why those words were not needed. This lesson provided a lot of feedback regarding what articles to use and how they are properly used in English grammar.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: In this lesson I learned the importance of establishing a genuine connection with your students. As we have worked together through the session, the tutee and I are more comfortable with one another...

 I observed Ryan Flemming’s group 2 grammar class. Before starting the lesson, the instructor went over “sentences that Mr. Ryan didn’t understand” from their last assignment, and the class worked together to self-correct the sentences. They also went over any common mistakes or points of confusion on certain grammar rules.  The lesson was on the modal verb “can” and after explaining the rules for using “can,” the instructor modeled how to use “can” correctly and incorrectly. They were then given a worksheet with a list of skills which they filled out using “can” to express whether they can or cannot do the action listed. After working individually, the students practiced speaking using “can” by walking around the room and asking other students if they could do anything on the sheet.

  For my first class observation, I sat in on Felicia Ciappetta’s Group 1 Listening Class. The focus of the lesson was on individual listening activities. Since there wasn’t a group activity for me to observe, Professor Ciappetta added me to the class Canvas and I took the quiz along with the students. For the quiz, the students listened to simple sentences about a focused topic, in this case it was personal information, and transcribed the sentences as accurately as they could. The instructor was there to provide linguistic support if the students were unsure what a word meant, but they were encouraged to complete the activity independently. 

  TS Blogs: #14 Date/Time: 02.16.2022 at 5:15 pm  Location: Landis Green Topic/Skill: In this lesson we worked on APA formatting and how to properly cite sources in APA format.  Feedback provided to tutee: In this lesson, the tutee and I worked on how to properly cite sources in APA format. Initially, I provided feedback on how to properly cite in APA and showed the tutee where he could reference this information on his own. Then, I gave the tutee a source and he attempted to cite it on his own. After his attempt, I provided feedback on what was correct about the reference and how to make it perfect. Additionally, I helped the tutee find how to organize a paper in APA format and ensure he understood it by laying out a paper in APA format.   Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: This lesson taught me that advanced level students may be very adequate at most of the English language, yet American school requirements can still be challenging. Foreig...

  TS Blogs: #13 Date/Time: 02.14.2022 at 3:00 p.m. Location: Landis Green Topic/Skill: In this lesson we worked on common English idioms and discussed culture for typical American college students.  Feedback provided to tutee: The tutee and I discussed many of the common English idioms and they were required to come up with a scenario and sample sentence using the idiom, allowing me to provide feedback on how to properly use them. Additionally, we discussed the difference in culture around American college students versus the tutee’s host culture. This allowed the tutee to feel more confident in communicating with American college students. We also discussed the difference in sports and food culture in America versus the tutee’s host culture, bringing more knowledge and vocabulary around some of the common scenarios seen in America. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: This lesson demonstrated that even if language students feel proficient in their English la...

  TS Blogs: #12 Date/Time: 02.11.2022 at 2:15 p.m. Location: Hecht House Topic/Skill: In this lesson, the tutee and I reviewed common English idioms and worked on production through creating sentences and scenarios properly using the idioms.   Feedback provided to tutee: The tutee and I reviewed many English idioms in the English language. Then, after reviewing each idiom the tutee aimed to come up with their own scenarios to use the idioms and use them in a sentence. I provided feedback on what would be an adequate situation and how to properly use it in a sentence.   Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: In this lesson, I learned that the culture differences can have a massive effect on the lesson. The tutee and I discussed many culture differences and the impact that it has on the learning process. For example, we discussed how unusual it is that the U.S has “gender reveal parties” compared to the culture around gender reveal in China. Additi...

  TS Blogs: #11 Date/Time: 02/07/2022 at 3:00 p.m.  Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: In this lesson we worked on composition skills and peer revision.  Feedback provided to tutee: Considering the tutee wanted to improve his composition skills, in this session, the tutee revised a short essay written that had two unnecessary words included in each sentence. First, the tutee read it out loud, and I provided feedback on his pronunciation. Then after reading through the tutee attempted to locate the two words that did not fit in the sentence. After finding the words, I provided feedback on the rules and reasoning that the additional words were not necessary in the article. This allowed for feedback on articles and prepositions in writing. FInally, I provided feedback on how to know when to include an article and when not too.   Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: In this lesson, I learned that it can be very difficult for students to review something i...

Date/Time:  February 12th, 2022 from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM Location:  Zoom Topic/Skill:  Writing skills Feedback provided to tutee:  The tutee wanted to go over an in-class writing assignment. This worked out well because we ended up covering and/so/but, like was promised in our previous tutoring session, because he used these words in his writing. We went through the assignment sentence by sentence. While there were grammar mistakes to correct, the big takeaway from this session was cultural. The tutee had written what was meant to be a compliment about someone in his work but, in English, his word choice was rude. So we spent some time going over the acceptable ways versus the non-acceptable ways to compliment someone in America. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  Explaining cultural notes is a different skillset from explaining technical/grammatical ones. While there are social "rules" that people follow, it seems to be more difficult to und...

Date/Time:  February 9th, 2022 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM Location:  FSU Campus near Strozier Topic/Skill:  Passive voice Feedback provided to tutee:  The tutee wanted help with passive voice. He had not understood the lesson in class so we went over his notes and textbook from the lecture. I explained the textbook examples and then gave the tutee examples of my own. After this, time was spent having the tutee complete activities from his textbook that he left incomplete from class.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  Both the tutee and I both struggled during this session. Him, with passive voice as a whole, and I with explaining passive voice. It was my mistake to rely on information that I learned in my creative writing major. Passive voice, as explained to american undergraduates, has little to do with passive voice as it should be explained to foreigners. I think this is the tutoring session where I finally decided that it is okay to ...

Date/Time:  February 7th, 2022 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM Location:  FSU Campus near Strozier Topic/Skill:  Writing skills Feedback provided to tutee:  The tutee requested help with his writing skills because he felt that he did poorly on a writing assessment the week before. I had him write about sports for ten minutes, free hand. Then together we went through what he wrote, correcting grammar and word choice. The message in his writing was clear, but he still struggles with extra words. After some discussion, we realized it was because that is how the language would be translated literally to his native language. He also needed help with spelling. He was very good at sounding out words, but many words in English are not spelled how they sound. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  During this course it was often emphasized that learning a second language would help you empathize with your students better. I do not disagree. But in tutoring this ...

  TS Blog #10 Date/Time: 02.04.2022 from 2:20 p.m. to 3:20 p.m. Location : Hecht House Topic/Skill: In this lesson we worked on listening comprehension and common English idioms Feedback provided to tutee: The tutee brought words and phrases she noted down from the English T.V. shows she watches that she could not understand, and I provided the meaning of them. Then, the tutee created her own examples of the words/ phrases to ensure she truly understood the meaning. Additionally, we watched a few different clips of Friends to work on listening comprehension through listening comprehension questions and define a few different common idioms. I wrote down the phrases I wanted to work on before the clips and then had the tutee try to guess what they meant based on context. After the idioms were defined, the tutee came up with different examples to use them in and I provided feedback on what situations would work adequately. Additionally, I provided feedback to the tutee on different ...

  CO #5 Blog Date/Time: 01/31/2022 at 2:00 p.m. Topic/Skill: Listening with a focus on the Civil Rights Movement Teacher Presentation: Olivia James presented with lots of emotion. This way, even if the students did not understand all of the words that she said, they still were able to get a general understanding on what was being said. She placed a heavy emphasis on the words that were important to the lesson or were particularly difficult. If the students did not know a word or idiom, the teacher explained it with plenty of examples.  Classroom Management: The class was very comfortable asking questions, providing input, and working with one another and the teacher. This allowed for effective engagement considering they were not worried about making mistakes. There were only 9 students in the class and throughout the class they were split into groups of two or three for class activities to check their comprehension.  Materials : A projector, computer, speakers, and a co...

  CO #4 Blog Date/Time: 01/24/2022 at 9:00 a.m. Topic/Skill: Composition with a focus on coordinating conjunctions.  Teacher Presentation: Dr. Kennell wrote the majority of the new content, mistakes, and difficult words on the board for the students to see to make sure they were able to truly understand it, rather than only relying on their listening skills. This also allowed the students to take their own notes and remember it in the future. Dr. Kennell explained every new topic or word thoroughly with pictures and hand motions to ensure the meaning was understood.  Classroom Management : The classroom sat around a table and worked collaboratively as an entire classroom. Dr. Kennell asked many questions that kept the students engaged and made sure they were comprehending the lesson.  Materials : Computer, projector, whiteboard and markers, and the Group 1 composition textbook.  Student Participation: The students participated heavily in the majority of the cl...

Date/Time:  January 31st, 2022 from 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM Location:  Hecht House Topic/Skill:  And/or/but/so Feedback provided to tutee:  The tutee was struggling with the words and/or/but/so. We went over their in-class notes to clarify the meanings and uses of these words. After that lesson, I created sample questions for the tutee to answer. He answered the majority of them incorrectly, so we switched gears. I asked the tutee to provide his own examples. Those, too, were incorrect despite the tutee claiming that he completely understood the lesson. We ended on the note that we would practice this more when next we met, as more practice was evidently needed. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned:  Flexibility remains of utmost importance. I had specific activities and worksheets prepped for this session, none of which turned out to be of use in their original states. But I was able to quickly edit those worksheets to fit our lessons this day. This...