Tutor Session: March 13, 2014

Time: 1.5 hours

Plan: Before our last session together I assigned some homework for my two clients. They were to read an article of their own choosing and present it to the class. I required them to do four things in their presentation:

-       - Summarize the article that you read.

-       - Describe your own opinions in regards to the article.

-       - Find two new vocab words and teach them to the class.

-       - Supply discussion questions.

I will give the students 15 minutes at the beginning of class to prepare or finish their homework. Then we will begin their presentations.

Actual: Wub went first. She introduced her article, which was about the differences between men and women.  Cake read an article about some strange inventions around the world, including some from her home country of Thailand. Both students summarized their articles very well and talked about which parts they agreed/disagreed with or liked/disliked. Their discussion questions were pretty generic (ex. “So what do you think?”) but they were effective nonetheless. We had some very intriguing discussions about each article.

Each student also taught two new vocab words to the class. They used the “Word Study” exercise as a guide and gave us synonyms, examples, sentences, and illustrations to help us understand each word. The words they chose were quality words, although one of them was possibly not as useful as the others.

Changes: My plan for this class was pretty relaxed so there were no real changes. I basically let the students use the entire hour and a half in whichever way that they wanted. I did help to guide discussions, especially when they got too off topic. I also helped to clear up confusion or add information about the new vocabulary words.

Analysis: I think I am a genius. This was a great way to finish our tutoring sessions together. The students were able to find articles that they enjoyed and, without realizing it, practiced all of the strategies that we had used during our sessions.

I was somewhat worried that both students would chose articles that were extremely easy, just to get the project finished. I was pleasantly surprised, however, when I saw that both students had read fairly difficult articles. This shows that they are gaining in confidence when it comes to their reading skills. This is great to see!

Tutor Session: March 4th, 2014

Time: 1.5 hours

Plan: Our last class session was cut a little bit short because of poor planning on my part. So, the schedule for this week’s session is full of material. The focus of today’s class will be the word study exercise from the previous session and introducing strategies for the TOEFL test.

The word study activity from last week will be turned into a strategy to help front load the vocabulary from today’s chosen text. While reading the text I will introduce 3 strategies that they can use when they take the TOEFL reading test.

Actual: I started class today with a discussion about the TOEFL test. Both of my students have taken it before so we talked about their difficulties as well as what parts were easier for them. After this brief discussion I introduced the topic for today and that I would give them some help with understanding a text in English and answering questions about the text.

At this point I handed out the “Word Study” worksheet and wrote our 5 new vocab words on the board. The worksheet instructs students to describe a word in many ways. It prompts students to brainstorm the meaning of a word including the words synonyms, word parts, examples, and non-examples. The worksheet even has a space for students to write a sentence that uses the word and to draw a picture that encapsulates the word’s meaning.

I also gave a mini lecture about how to find the meaning of a new word. I laid out steps that they should take to find out the meaning of new vocab. The steps are as follows: 1. Context clues inside text  2. Remove word and replace with synonym  3. Ask Tim  4. Use your dictionary.  With this framework students went about completing word studies for our 5 new vocab words.

After completion of the word study I introduced the article for today and our reading strategies. Student’s were tasked with reading quietly with a set of questions in mind: What did I just read? What do I think about what I just read? What will happen next?

At time intervals I instructed students to stop reading and discuss their answers to these questions.

Finally, after they finished reading they answered the comprehension questions that followed the text.

Changes: My changes were minimal. While we were reading I noticed that Wubayheu was reading at a much faster pace than Cake. So, instead of stopping every 5 minutes I decided to have the students stop after reading 3 paragraphs.

Also, while we read I noticed that the student’s interest in the comprehension questions decreased quite a bit. As a result, I decided to have an informal discussion about the strategies at the end of class. I asked if they were helpful and if they preferred one of the questions. Both students said that the predicting question was too hard for them and quite boring.

Analysis: These students are both English language learners with hopes of attending college here in the US. While the text today did not align with their interests, they stayed engaged because it related directly to their needs. The article that they read was directly from an online recourse that gives out sample TOEFL reading tests. The comprehension questions at the end were also useful because they gave me a chance to highlight some of the tricky questions that are often found on the TOEFL.

We did the word study exercise in response to some of their exit pass responses. Cake mentioned that she wanted to know how to better memorize and use new vocabulary. I love the word study because it is very useful and surprisingly fun. Drawing pictures always livens up a class.

Overall today’s class was great. It was full of a lot of information but we packed it all in. I think students appreciated the fast paced class today.

Tutor Session: Feb. 25th

Time: 1.5 hours

Plan: For this lesson I planned on introducing the idea of a personality test to my students. They are both women and very interested in this type of topic. So, I thought working with personality tests would be an effective way of introducing them to more academic language.

I’m using the Myers-Briggs personality test. It is above their reading level but my hope is that by allowing them to work together their stress will be reduced and they will be able comprehend well enough to complete the test.  I will continue to use the “clink and clunk” strategy to encourage the students to evaluate their own understanding. Further, I will introduce the idea of a word study to help them fully understand new vocabulary. I will front load some key vocabulary but students will also be tasked with selecting three new words that they believe are important.

Actual: As I hoped, the students loved talking about personality and were even mildly excited to take the “test”. First, I asked some discussion questions about their own personality. This gave us the opportunity to brain storm some common personality vocab and for me to introduce some new key words.

Next, students went about taking the personality test. They answered questions that were easy and somewhat difficult (questions they had marked with a check mark). After every 25 questions of the test I set aside some time for students to discuss any problems (especially those questions they had marked with a minus). Also, during this time (and throughout the testing period) students felt free to discuss with their partner and to ask me questions.

Once the students finished and were given their result (a four letter Myers-Briggs personality profile), I gave them a paper that summarized their own personality. Students then read their profile and highlighted words/phrases that were difficult for them. After reading we discussed their results as well as any confusion over their personality profile.

In the last couple minutes of class I gave the students homework to select three new vocabulary words that they deemed important.

Changes: Again, I tried to cram too much material into 1.5 hours. The test took longer than I anticipated. So, the word study will have to wait until out next session.

Analysis: The personality test worked very well considering it was well above their English reading ability. Since they were interested in this topic their motivation to understand confusing language could not have been higher. At points, finding out what a phrase meant seemed like a life or death situation for them. This was great to see. Allowing them to help each other throughout the test was beneficial because it lowered their stress level. Instead of getting frustrated about a question they simply worked together to figure it out, or asked me for help. While my plan was to have a more structured test taking period, it turned into more of a free flowing session. I don’t believe this had any affect on the result.

Overall I think the session went well. Homework is always nice because it helps them to keep our sessions on their mind. Also, homework will give them some hint about what to expect during our next meeting. Next class we will finish the word study exercise.

Tutor Session: Feb. 6th 2014

Plan: (Update) I've added a second student to my tutoring session. The original student is Wubayheu, an adult ESL student from Ethiopia. The new student is also an adult ESL student. Her name is Cake and she is from Thailand. Both students have similar struggles with reading and similar interests.

For our first official session I wanted to, first, find an article that interested them. Secondly, I wanted to introduce a strategy to help them with their concentration. The article I chose is called "Birth Order: What it Means for Your Kids... and You". We read this article and implemented strategies such as "clink and clunk", "think aloud", and pair work both during and after reading.

Actual: Before the reading the article we had a short discussion about birth order and whether or not it has any effect on personality. Next, the two students worked together to make a list of personality traits and how they related to the different birth orders (oldest, middle, youngest).

After this activity I front-loaded some vocabulary that I thought might be challenging. I introduced the basics of each of the eight words (ex. word form, 1 or 2 synonyms) then had the students write sample sentences using some of the words.

While reading students  used the clink and clunk strategy to manage comprehension and paused every two paragraphs to discuss what they read with their partner and to ask any questions to clear up confusion. Finally, after reading the essay students were tasked with creating a set of quiz questions. Finally, we revisited our vocabulary words. By looking at the words in context we were able to clarify the meaning and use of the vocabulary.

Analysis: The lesson went fairly well. The students enjoyed the topic of the article and the discussion associated with it. My first reaction to the lesson is that there were simply too many steps. I picked out this reading activity from one of the online recourses. While each individual step was beneficial, the overall lesson was a bit tedious. It seemed like the students were tired of completing news tasks by the end. If I had to do it again I would focus on the strategies before and throughout the reading process. The post reading strategy could be used to begin the next class.