Today I used short scripts for the tutoring session, and concluded with a reading comprehension exercise. I told my student to read the scripts first so that she could understand the story, and after she went over them, we acted them out.
Since you need to understand the meaning of the story in order to be able to read it with feeling (which is what I wanted her to do), we had to try it a number of times. Every time she found a word that she did not know the meaning to, I would first explain it to her and then give her the dictionary definition.
I saw that she enjoyed reading the script once she understood what was going on in the story, and that made me feel good about teaching. It is nice when you help someone understand something that they did not know before, because its like creating bridges between you and that person. Suddenly, you have one more thing in common with each other.
And that is another reason why I like learning other languages. My student also enjoys it very much when I try to say something in her native tongue. She quickly helps me with pronunciation, making a student out of the teacher.
Soon I will be in Japan, and this blog will be a part of my memories past. After I get my TEFL certificate, I hope to help other people learn English just as I learned more than 14 years ago. Perhaps the next blog will be in Japanese...
Friday, July 23, 2010
Sebastian- Tutoring - 11
Because of lack of sleep, I have started with this introduction. My brain is not working properly at the moment, so please bear with me. No teddying, please.
So, yesterday I had the usual tutoring session with my student, and we went over the IPA phonetic chart. As I showed it to her, she told me that all Japanese student encounter this chart while in school, and they learn the different characters that represent the sounds.
In Japanese, R and L are pronounced exactly the same. There is no difference between them. So, once in a while, my student will come across a word which she does not know how she should pronounce. For example, once, she was talking to a friend (a close girlfriend of her's, thankfully) and she said the word "election". But remember, to the Japanese person, l and r sound the same. So it sounded more like "erection", which I do not need to explain further. But, don't worry, there were plenty of laughs.
We worked heavily on this difference, as well as the words bought, but, bat and bet. To the native English speaker, these are easy to differentiate. To the learner, it can be a nightmare, since there are slight differences to be detected. I used plenty of humor to make the studying bearable.
We did a little of reading comprehension as well. This time we read a story about a man who bought a winning lottery ticket. We did the usual question and answer, but a little more open to interpretation. It was fun.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Sebastian- Tutoring - 10
Last night we had our usual tutoring session. I gave my student a sheet with various sentences for her to correct. The sentences used "say" and "tell", and she had to figure out which was the correct way of saying them. Another worksheet was more open. She would have to find and correct the errors, if any. She did very well, but I helped her with a few when I saw that she had gotten stumped.
After that, I had her read a few stories, one of them about the winters in Irkutsk. It was interesting to read about people's everyday lives in such a harsh climate. My student learned some new words, and I saw the importance of the lessons for her. She can communicate very well in English, but she still needs to learn more vocabulary and phrases to completely understand certain things that she reads. In this lesson she answered about 60% of the questions correctly.
The second story was about a toddler that was bitten by a snake. Since this was a shorter story with simpler words, she answered most (if not all) questions correctly.
I plan to keep using the reading comprehension stories as part of our lessons, as I can see things in which my student can improve. I hope that I can also keep making the lessons interesting for her. After all, no one likes a boring teacher...
After that, I had her read a few stories, one of them about the winters in Irkutsk. It was interesting to read about people's everyday lives in such a harsh climate. My student learned some new words, and I saw the importance of the lessons for her. She can communicate very well in English, but she still needs to learn more vocabulary and phrases to completely understand certain things that she reads. In this lesson she answered about 60% of the questions correctly.
The second story was about a toddler that was bitten by a snake. Since this was a shorter story with simpler words, she answered most (if not all) questions correctly.
I plan to keep using the reading comprehension stories as part of our lessons, as I can see things in which my student can improve. I hope that I can also keep making the lessons interesting for her. After all, no one likes a boring teacher...
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Sebastian- Tutoring - 9
Yesterday I was looking at different activities for English learners in the internet, and I stumbled upon a nice ESL site with suggestions on how to teach and with activities. As I was looking, I found a random word generator.
Now, what good is that? Well, it happened to be very useful as we played "pictionary" during our tutoring session. We used a white board for that purpose.
We also played charades. It was fun, and my student was constantly learning new words. I was surprised at how many words she learned, everyday words for me, but totally new to her.
Lastly, I had her read another article regarding a change in the immigration laws in Japan. I focused more on pronunciation and vocabulary. If she pronounced a word incorrectly, I would show her how to pronounce it correctly at the end of the paragraph or sentence. This would give her some time to try to capture the gist of the paragraph and would give her a better chance of finding out what the word meant.
As always, I am looking forward to the next session!
Now, what good is that? Well, it happened to be very useful as we played "pictionary" during our tutoring session. We used a white board for that purpose.
We also played charades. It was fun, and my student was constantly learning new words. I was surprised at how many words she learned, everyday words for me, but totally new to her.
Lastly, I had her read another article regarding a change in the immigration laws in Japan. I focused more on pronunciation and vocabulary. If she pronounced a word incorrectly, I would show her how to pronounce it correctly at the end of the paragraph or sentence. This would give her some time to try to capture the gist of the paragraph and would give her a better chance of finding out what the word meant.
As always, I am looking forward to the next session!
Friday, July 16, 2010
Sebastian- Tutoring - 8
For yesterday's session, we worked on both reading and listening comprehension. We discussed news articles. Since my student is Japanese, I chose articles pertaining to Japan. I read the first one, and asked questions about it afterward. It was about the Toyota company and how they might be innocent of the allegations that many made against them and their products. The article was very helpful for my student since she got to learn new words, like blackbox. I explained to her what a blackbox is, and how it helps determine the causes of an accident or crash.
After we examined another article about the same topic, I asked her what she thought. She gave me her opinion on the matter, and shortly after we tried another activity. I would draw pictures on a white board and then she would give me the corresponding phrase or word. She had a lot of fun with that one. During the activity, I even learned a new phrase from her. It was an adaptation of "First come, first served".
I always try to use a different approach for each session. If I don't, I feel like I am going to lose the student to boredom. As soon as I notice that she is losing concentration, I try to improvise according to the material that I have gathered and the needs of the student. I hope that I can master the art of teaching one day. This is the first step.
After we examined another article about the same topic, I asked her what she thought. She gave me her opinion on the matter, and shortly after we tried another activity. I would draw pictures on a white board and then she would give me the corresponding phrase or word. She had a lot of fun with that one. During the activity, I even learned a new phrase from her. It was an adaptation of "First come, first served".
I always try to use a different approach for each session. If I don't, I feel like I am going to lose the student to boredom. As soon as I notice that she is losing concentration, I try to improvise according to the material that I have gathered and the needs of the student. I hope that I can master the art of teaching one day. This is the first step.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
Sebastian- Tutoring - 7
Hello again. Our last tutoring session was about listening comprehension. I would read a story and ask my student previously prepared questions to see how much she had understood by listening. Although she answered correctly most times, there were instances where her answer would be very far from what I expected. In those occasions, I would find out what word or phrase she did not understand and explain it to her.
There was also some new vocabulary after each story, so she learned some new words there too. For example, she learned the meaning of "moniker".
On the last half of the session, we again went over proverbs in English. She learned a lot with those. I also had learned at least 1 or 2, so it was great for me as well.
I hope I can keep making every session interesting, because once it gets repetitive, the student gets tired of learning and the instructor of teaching. Something that has also helped me is my attitude. To keep a humble mindset is important, since even experienced instructors do not know everything about the subject they teach. So whenever the student asks me something that I do not know, I will reply that I do not know, but will find out for them. I imagine that doing this in a real classroom would help both the instructor and the students by keeping that bridge between them. They both are continuously learning; the difference is that one is more advanced than the other.
There was also some new vocabulary after each story, so she learned some new words there too. For example, she learned the meaning of "moniker".
On the last half of the session, we again went over proverbs in English. She learned a lot with those. I also had learned at least 1 or 2, so it was great for me as well.
I hope I can keep making every session interesting, because once it gets repetitive, the student gets tired of learning and the instructor of teaching. Something that has also helped me is my attitude. To keep a humble mindset is important, since even experienced instructors do not know everything about the subject they teach. So whenever the student asks me something that I do not know, I will reply that I do not know, but will find out for them. I imagine that doing this in a real classroom would help both the instructor and the students by keeping that bridge between them. They both are continuously learning; the difference is that one is more advanced than the other.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Sebastian- Tutoring - 6
On Friday my wife and I had another tutoring session. We covered verbs, especially those that are used to express types of sounds (or onomatopoeia). I would read the verb to her and she would give me a sentence using the verb. If she did not know what it meant, I would repeat the word again and ask her what it would sound like.
It is interesting that in Japanese, (as well as other languages, I am sure) they have onomatopoeia that does not closely resemble their English counter-part. For example, the phrase for crunch in Japanese is kuri kuri. They usually use two words instead of one to describe a sound.
During the latter half of the session we played a mini board game where we had to ask each other questions in the form of "Have you ever?". The responses were very interesting. The question "Have you ever loved someone at first sight?" generated interesting responses from both of us.
I feel that during this session we learned a lot of new things, not only about language, but also about both of our cultures and personal experiences.
It is interesting that in Japanese, (as well as other languages, I am sure) they have onomatopoeia that does not closely resemble their English counter-part. For example, the phrase for crunch in Japanese is kuri kuri. They usually use two words instead of one to describe a sound.
During the latter half of the session we played a mini board game where we had to ask each other questions in the form of "Have you ever?". The responses were very interesting. The question "Have you ever loved someone at first sight?" generated interesting responses from both of us.
I feel that during this session we learned a lot of new things, not only about language, but also about both of our cultures and personal experiences.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Sebastian - CP2 - Week 4
This should have been the blog for week 5, but seeing as the world cup was playing on tv during the tea time, we did not talk much.
Anyway, I met Sungsub last Thursday again and we talked about different things, some of them being my trip to Puerto Rico. I showed him what the beaches looked like over there, and he also showed me an island off the coast of Korea. Apparently the island is desolate (I taught him that word), but it is very beautiful.
He also asked me how to say other things. For example, we discussed street terms like "gold digger". It was a very fun conversation.
I like speaking to Sungsub because he does not give up whenever he gets stuck on how to express something. At the same time, I find it enjoyable to teach people new things, so whenever he understands an idea that he did not understand before using the English language it makes me feel great.
I hope that I am able to help him as much as I can before our time is up.
Anyway, I met Sungsub last Thursday again and we talked about different things, some of them being my trip to Puerto Rico. I showed him what the beaches looked like over there, and he also showed me an island off the coast of Korea. Apparently the island is desolate (I taught him that word), but it is very beautiful.
He also asked me how to say other things. For example, we discussed street terms like "gold digger". It was a very fun conversation.
I like speaking to Sungsub because he does not give up whenever he gets stuck on how to express something. At the same time, I find it enjoyable to teach people new things, so whenever he understands an idea that he did not understand before using the English language it makes me feel great.
I hope that I am able to help him as much as I can before our time is up.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Sebastian- Tutoring - Week 5
Hello!
Yesterday I had a very interesting tutoring session with my student (my wife). I started out by reading a fable to her regarding two frogs that decided to move because the well where they lived dried up. I first read it once, and asked her questions about the story to see how much she comprehended. Once I explained the words that she did not understand, I read it again, this time asking her what she thought the moral of the story was. She learned new words like "marsh", and also the expression "by and by".
After reading the story, I pulled out a list of "hot topics" of conversation and asked her to rate from 1 to 10 the statements, 1 being "strongly agree" and 10 being "strongly disagree". After she rated them, she would give me a thorough explanation of why she chose one or the other.
Finally, I handed her a little quiz where she had to match the correct expression to the sentence. She also learned new things there, like the expression "Been there, Done that!".
During this session, I was able to help her with listening comprehension as well as writing. She told me that she had enjoyed it, something which I was really happy about.
Yesterday I had a very interesting tutoring session with my student (my wife). I started out by reading a fable to her regarding two frogs that decided to move because the well where they lived dried up. I first read it once, and asked her questions about the story to see how much she comprehended. Once I explained the words that she did not understand, I read it again, this time asking her what she thought the moral of the story was. She learned new words like "marsh", and also the expression "by and by".
After reading the story, I pulled out a list of "hot topics" of conversation and asked her to rate from 1 to 10 the statements, 1 being "strongly agree" and 10 being "strongly disagree". After she rated them, she would give me a thorough explanation of why she chose one or the other.
Finally, I handed her a little quiz where she had to match the correct expression to the sentence. She also learned new things there, like the expression "Been there, Done that!".
During this session, I was able to help her with listening comprehension as well as writing. She told me that she had enjoyed it, something which I was really happy about.
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