Francis- TP 1

I was assigned two Tutoring Partners on Thursday. Jin is from Korea while Kukit is from Thailand. I met with both at the same time. When I asked what aspect of their English skills they each would like to work on the most, both indicated their pronunciation and listening skills. Kukit was especially concerned with improving his pronunciation of the letter R and L; Jin also expressed this concern. I learned in class that this is a a general difficulty among people from both Thailand and Korea so I will try my best to be sensitive and helpful. They also said they have trouble following native speakers, especially when outside CIES. My first impressions would put Kukit in the upper tier of Group 3 and Jin in the upper tier of Group 4. Jin seemed to have a better handle on his vocabulary and spoke with little pause. Kukit on the other hand, often had to pause to translate and organize what he was trying to say.

Our conversation centered around the basic introductions. I asked them what brought them to Tallahassee, what their interests where, what they studied or did for a living, etc. I learned that Jin was part of Korea's sail boating team in the last Olympics. He will try out for the national team next year for the Olympics in England. Kukit came here on an invitation from his sister who is working on her PhD at FSU. Both are here to better their English.

During our conversation the pronunciation and spelling of the word clarinet. This word came up when Jin told is he played this instrument. He had some trouble with this word but i managed to figure out what he was saying. Kukit then asked me how to spell it. I took this opportunity to see how well they could identify the spelling according to the way a word was spelled. Both were close but I saw that each missed either the l or the r.

Before ending our session, I made sure to agree on a weekday and time with each. I will meet with Kukit on Fridays and with Jin on Mondays.