Camille-TP12

HOORAY! This is my final blog entry for my TEFL certification! Although I do have full intentions to continue meeting up with my conversation partner, Abdullah and also continue assisting Hassan in his process of applying to grad schools. On Thursday I helped him fill out and edit the applications for USF and FSU's business master programs. He also gave me a revised version of his Statement of Purpose which is coming along nicely. I am so proud of him and all of his forward effort he has shown the entire time I have worked with him. With his revised version, we read through it out loud and then I would edit minor mistakes. He had very few mistakes and I just gave him alternative phrasing or vocabulary that would help the statement appear more professional. He seemed extremely grateful for all of the help I have been offering with his application. I am very lucky to have been paired with Hassan as a tutoring partner. He was very easy to work with and was always willing to work harder in his studies. I am thankful to be a participant in this wonderful program! Thank you CIES and Ramin!! :]

Camille-TP11

Last Wednesday I joined Hassan and his friends at Cafe Shisha. Coincidentally, a good friend of mine from Acabelles, is Hassan's conversation partner. We all arrived there around 9:30 after I got out of rehearsal. Hassan and I discussed Thanksgiving and Halloween along with his opinions on the matter. It was very amusing to see how foreign students view these very peculiar yet pertinent traditions of the American culture. He discussed some festivities that he would partake in back in Saudi Arabia. We also talked about vacations he wanted to take and if he had a million dollars where would his next destination be. These sort of questions were fun to ask each other because it was a break from the usual routine we do in our tutoring sessions. Hassan also ordered me a specific type of tea for me to drink at Cafe Shisha (although I cannot remember the name now for the life of me) and gave a detailed explanation on the various types of teas offered on the menu and the different ways you can prepare them. I personally am a big fan of exotic teas so I was glad to be the student for once!

Camille-TP10

I met with Hassan last week and he told me all about his classes. His level of English is the best out of anyone I have comin the in contact with at CIES. We met in the CIES lounge and all he wanted to do was work on listening to English because that is what he is struggling with the most. He is also still working on his statement of purpose but I told him he must work on it in the upcoming week. So we sat back to back in a classroom and I told him various stories and facts. I would then tell him to repeat the story back to me at an equally fast pace and initially he struggled with this exercise but then he eventually got the hang of it. Sometimes after each time we ran the exercise, instead of him repeating it back to me, I asked him specific questions about my narrative. Other times, I would face him and tell him a story (for example: Goldilocks and the Three Bears according to Camille Trzcinski). He always found it much easier to recognize and understand English when he can watch the person speak, which is understandable. We ran this exercise for quite some time and then we switched, I had him tell random stories while we were back to back and I would repeat it back to him. He enjoyed the fact that I was playing the role of a student instead of constantly being the tutor. I like this method of switching roles and I will probably utilize this method later in my teaching.

Camille-CP10

I met with Abdullah at a later point last week again by the fountains after my classes. He invited me to Ramin's performance at Milano Pizzeria that Friday, but I was not able to go due to rehearsal for Jesus Christ Superstar. He then asked me to explain the entire synopsis of the show to him in detail and explain various concepts that he did not know the English words to (Such as: spotlight, costume fitting, curtain, music director, script, etc). I wrote down the words and translations for him so that he could refer back to them if he ever needed them. I also shared a story with him about my fiasco at the Oklahoma game regarding my ticket. I told the story at a quick pace because I was very flustered as I was telling the story, then I realized I had completely lost him within the first 3 minutes of the story. He was embarrassed to say anything but then I went back and re-told the story at a much slower pace and with a lot of expression in my body, hoping to help communicate the story to him. He then completely understood every word and once he saw that we were both on equal levels of communication he did not hesitate to stop me in the middle of a story and ask for a definition of an unfamiliar word. I plan on continuing my conversation meetings with Abdullah despite the fact that this is my last blog post concerning him. I am so surprised with the improvement displayed by him since our first meeting four months ago. It really is rewarding to know that you have made an impact and assisted in someone's language development. I am so grateful that I have done this TEFL course!

Camille-CP9

I met with Abdullah last week and we sat outside of CIES near the fountain. I brought Abdullah a copy of the International Programs magazine where there are many pictures from my experience in Florence inside (including the cover!). We went through all of the various countries that are offered through the Florida State program and he would ask various questions about the country and I will tell him whatever information I knew. He also told me about which countries he would like to go to if he had the choice. Then we discussed how school was and what he was working on in each class. For one of his classes, he had to do a presentation on a classmate that introduced him to the class. I asked him what sort of questions he asked his partner and vice versa. Then we did a "mock" trial of what he did for class for me and him. I asked him various questions as if we were just meeting for the first time and he did the same. He found this game humorous and got more excited about it the longer we discussed each answer. I now have found that Abdullah can enjoy conversation at a more steady level and we have made SO much progress since our first couple of meetings.

Camille-TP9

I met with Hassan last week at CIES and we conversed for a while about each other's lives before jumping into tutoring. During the conversation I would correct his English and pronunciation (because he asked me to) and then would make him repeat the correct phrasing back to me. Hassan and I worked on a practice TOEFL exam even though he now plans on taking the IELTS exam since apparently it is much easier and in result the grades are much higher. We did not go through the entire exam but rather worked on specific areas that he was unsure of or struggling with. I think he feels that I should not have to tutor him and that he should be doing everything on his own. But I have to constantly remind him that I am here for him and that English is not an easy language. He also brought me a rough draft of his "Statement of Purpose" in which I edited and talked him through. He now has to re-write it and we will see how his progress moves forward from there. The area that Hassan wants to work on the most in preparation for his tests is speaking. He is very self conscious of his accent although I told him he needs to embrace it. He has about the best English out of any other CIES student I have come in contact with.

Camille-CP8

I met with Abdullah at Westcott fountain because the weather was beautiful. I had not seen him for about a week due to my busy schedule so we had many things to catch up on. I told him all about the musicals I had been cast in and also all about my new job. He seemed very interested and asked many questions along the way. I felt very good about this particular meeting with Abdullah because we had not shared such great moments together in a very long time. The conversation went at a quicker pace than the week before and he was much more willing to speak. Even though he would hesitate on words he didn't know, I would help him push through it. I also shared my experience with trying to learn Italian and my difficulty with learning a new language. He felt much better after I said this and continued to push through the conversation, despite some grammatical mistakes. Also, he informed me that him and some of the Arabic students are looking into buying a house for all of them to live in. I wrote down a list of streets to start looking into and also told him the easiest way to go to a football game. He appeared very excited about the Florida State game and I am sure it was a spectacle he had never seen before! I am satisfied with this meetings progress and am looking forward to the next encounter we have with each other.