Sarah_TP_#1

<TP Blogs>

Date/Time: 10/24/14 at 10:50 A.M.

Location: Hecht House, Room 213

Topic/Skill: Foundations-Speaking

Feedback provided to tutee: Corrective recasts, elicitation

Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Feedback, lesson plans, cultural exchange

In a classroom packed with male CIES students, my lone female tutee and I immediately connected during our first meeting. Upon introducing myself to her, I performed an informal needs assessment by asking her where she was from and what language she speaks. From there, I attempted to adapt my questions to her communicative level. Throughout the instruction period, I had the opportunity to tutor her and help with classwork. First, we went over the answers she received on a quiz. Next, we discussed morning routines using the simple present in response to a video showcasing a dog’s morning activities. While she spoke, I found myself internally struggling with how to balance focusing on a free-flowing conversation and offering corrections as she spoke. During our next tutoring session, I will implement the note-taking method of simultaneously listening to her speak while jotting down errors and addressing them together at the end. This will allow her the freedom to fully articulate her thoughts, thus hopefully lowering her affective filter.

Speaking while using classroom vocabulary with prepositions was the focus of the next activity. Students identified objects in the room and practiced using prepositions to describe where they were located. I quickly learned to stifle my instinct blurt out answers she was unsure of, and rather allow her to reference vocab words in her book. This is important because in the long run, making her own visual connections with vocab will probably be more beneficial. The final activity was my personal favorite. With two different pictures of classrooms, we took turns describing the rooms to each other in order to guide the listener in drawing a picture. 

My first experience tutoring Saja showed me that there is definitely room to improve as an in-class tutor by fine-tuning my feedback and finding gaps in instruction time to present my own materials. I was very impressed by her enthusiasm and participation in class, and while I hope to bolster and enrich her classroom experience, I hope to avoid stifling it! In terms of culture, the experience of facilitating a second language learner’s first interactions with English in a new co-ed classroom environment will help me gain insight about her personal perspective, hopefully leading to a reciprocal increase in cultural competency.