I observed Calyn Stringer's reading class for my last observation. She started the class in the usual fashion. First she wrote the agenda on the blackboard, and then she took attendance. Calyn then went over what the class would be doing in class, and also what they should be doing out of class. I thought the direction for the out of class assignments was a nice touch.
The bulk of the class was spent on a timed reading that wasn't graded. It was an activity that the students would be completing numerous times throughout the class and charting their improvements on a graph. Calyn allowed for ample time to complete the reading and follow-up questions. When the time was up, she asked if anyone had not completed the questions and a few students raised their hands. She gave them extra time to finish. While the students were reading Calyn walked the class and answered any questions.
After the reading was complete, Calyn had the class go over their answers. This was the majority of interaction in the class, and Calyn lead a good discussion. She involved all the class, calling on people and not getting bogged down with one question.
The only issue I saw with the class was the technical problems with the projector not displaying right. Calyn got sidetracked with this, understandably so.
I think what I can take from this class is to keep my focus on "student centered" learning. Even though lecturing was the majority of the class, Calyn was able to do so and still involve the students as much as possible.
Monday, October 26, 2015
Thursday, October 22, 2015
KellyMichael CP#6
After our tutoring session, Hammoud had two friends also from Kuwait stop by his apartment. Saud has just finished the CIES program and is returning to Kuwait briefly before continuing college in Alabama. Ali just arrived in the US, and is starting the CIES program. Ali's English is very limited, so I made certain I was speaking slowly and clearly for him to understand. In contrast, Saud seemed well practiced and very willing to talk. There were a few times Ali reverted to speaking Arabic. Hammoud and Saud both corrected him to "only speak in English" in order for him to receive practice time in a casual atmosphere. This was refreshing to see, and I know their teachers would be proud to hear how well Saud spoke of his experience at CIES. It was also motivational for me to hear how much he benefited from CIES and why it was important for him to learn English. We spoke about their plans to become engineers. Saud and Hammoud want to become electrical engineers, and Ali wants to be a civil engineer. We spoke about Tallahassee, and I made sure Ali knew I would be happy to tutor him or assist in any way transitioning to a new culture. It was a great conversation, and I think all parties involved benefited from the interaction.
KellyMichael TS#16
Hammoud and I met tonight again to cover his writing portion of the ILETS. In the 200 course, one of our first readings was on self edits, and I used some of the information that I hope will help him successfully write and edit his ILETS assignment. Prof. Ramin talked about two kinds of errors, rule and non-rule errors. Hammoud makes only non-rule errors, but the kind that are stigmatizing. It negatively affects the rest of his work when the first sentence has a stigmatizing error in it. So we talked about the kind of errors he makes (past tense irregular verbs seemed to be the most made error) and how the only way to truly correct these errors, memorization. I suggest he read over his corrected and edited writings from CIES and see what errors were the most consistent, and to be sure he look for those types of errors in his assignment. He agreed, and seemed to think it was a good idea that would help.
Elizabeth TS#16
October 22, 2015
I met with Boram outside of CIES for our last tutoring session. She had started the TA section of the 200 hour TEFL course and was telling me about the work involved in it. She was excited for the experience but also surprised at the amount of involvement she was doing in the classroom. She discussed being nervous about assisting the class and I suggested she pretend to know what she was doing and "fake it till you make it". I spoke with her about how her TOEFL studying was going and she updating me on what material she was reviewing and I gave her some suggestions for getting a better handle on it. She told me that her mother was visiting the US soon and I told her about some places to visit in Florida as I had just been in Tampa and Miami the days before our session. I also got some recommendation for Korean dramas to watch and she recommended 'She was a girl' and 'Iris'. I had previously recommended she listen to the podcast called 'Serial' to practice her listening skills and she told me she was hooked on it. We discussed what goes on in the podcast and I told her the ending was unsatisfying.
Elizabeth Lopez
I met with Boram outside of CIES for our last tutoring session. She had started the TA section of the 200 hour TEFL course and was telling me about the work involved in it. She was excited for the experience but also surprised at the amount of involvement she was doing in the classroom. She discussed being nervous about assisting the class and I suggested she pretend to know what she was doing and "fake it till you make it". I spoke with her about how her TOEFL studying was going and she updating me on what material she was reviewing and I gave her some suggestions for getting a better handle on it. She told me that her mother was visiting the US soon and I told her about some places to visit in Florida as I had just been in Tampa and Miami the days before our session. I also got some recommendation for Korean dramas to watch and she recommended 'She was a girl' and 'Iris'. I had previously recommended she listen to the podcast called 'Serial' to practice her listening skills and she told me she was hooked on it. We discussed what goes on in the podcast and I told her the ending was unsatisfying.
Elizabeth Lopez
Elizabeth CP#6
October 21, 2015
I met with Sarah for our last conversation partner meeting. She told me about how her oldest child was doing in school and how he was doing very well in his English classes. I told her she should follow his work and try to learn along with him. She also told me about some of the differences between her two children. Her boy is more independent and her little girl likes to follow her around everywhere. I told her about my nieces and how they both have very different personalities. She told me she is very different from her sister. Her sister studies physics while she wants to study biology or English. I told her how I hated physics when I had to take it in college and couldn't imagine studying it exclusively. We also discussed her husband and her wedding and she told me about how weddings are celebrated in Saudi Arabia.
Elizabeth Lopez
I met with Sarah for our last conversation partner meeting. She told me about how her oldest child was doing in school and how he was doing very well in his English classes. I told her she should follow his work and try to learn along with him. She also told me about some of the differences between her two children. Her boy is more independent and her little girl likes to follow her around everywhere. I told her about my nieces and how they both have very different personalities. She told me she is very different from her sister. Her sister studies physics while she wants to study biology or English. I told her how I hated physics when I had to take it in college and couldn't imagine studying it exclusively. We also discussed her husband and her wedding and she told me about how weddings are celebrated in Saudi Arabia.
Elizabeth Lopez
Elizabeth TS#15
October 15, 2015
I met with Boram at CIES for another tutoring session. We talked about her TOEFL studying and how she was finding it difficult to stay motivated. I suggested she make a set schedule and reward herself for completing the study times she sets for herself. She told me how using the idea to record herself was helping her improve her TOEFL speaking answers but she was struggling with not sounding so monotone. She praised me for having lots of inflection in my voice and after analyzing my speech, I suggested she lengthen and emphasize the vowels in the words she is speaking to sound less monotone. I told her I struggle with sounding like that when I am very tired and it is extra effort to draw out the words, but it makes you sound more cheery and shows your emotions better. She appreciated the suggestion as it was out of the box and she had never thought of it like that before.
Elizabeth Lopez
I met with Boram at CIES for another tutoring session. We talked about her TOEFL studying and how she was finding it difficult to stay motivated. I suggested she make a set schedule and reward herself for completing the study times she sets for herself. She told me how using the idea to record herself was helping her improve her TOEFL speaking answers but she was struggling with not sounding so monotone. She praised me for having lots of inflection in my voice and after analyzing my speech, I suggested she lengthen and emphasize the vowels in the words she is speaking to sound less monotone. I told her I struggle with sounding like that when I am very tired and it is extra effort to draw out the words, but it makes you sound more cheery and shows your emotions better. She appreciated the suggestion as it was out of the box and she had never thought of it like that before.
Elizabeth Lopez
Elizabeth TS#14
October 12, 2015
I had my last tutoring session with PJ at CIES. For this session, I had PJ read a story from his reading textbook called "A Drop of Water". To practice his listening skills as well as his reading skill, we switched off reading every other page. This story was all about how water can change from a solid to a liquid to a gas. After we would read a page, I would have PJ share his thoughts of the subject and what changes in water's state he had observed in his everyday life. When a more complicated concept was mentioned, such how water changes states or how clouds form, I would draw a visual representation on the white board. The story talked about snow and we talked about why it snows in some places but it doesn't in Tallahassee. Neither PJ nor I have never really seen snow, so we talked about how cold it needs to be for snow to form and maintain its shape.
Elizabeth Lopez
I had my last tutoring session with PJ at CIES. For this session, I had PJ read a story from his reading textbook called "A Drop of Water". To practice his listening skills as well as his reading skill, we switched off reading every other page. This story was all about how water can change from a solid to a liquid to a gas. After we would read a page, I would have PJ share his thoughts of the subject and what changes in water's state he had observed in his everyday life. When a more complicated concept was mentioned, such how water changes states or how clouds form, I would draw a visual representation on the white board. The story talked about snow and we talked about why it snows in some places but it doesn't in Tallahassee. Neither PJ nor I have never really seen snow, so we talked about how cold it needs to be for snow to form and maintain its shape.
Elizabeth Lopez
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