Suzanne-TP 2

I had my second tutoring session today with Mohammad. Mohammad is a fairly advanced student who doesn't seem to have too much interest dedicated to classes at CIES, so I was worried that sparking his interest would be difficult. However, our session went incredibly well. Last time, we talked about his listening class, taking notes and his difficulties writing enough and writing quickly, so I did a little preparation for this lesson to help him overcome those difficulties. Together, we went to the TED website and I asked him to find a video that interested him to watch and take notes on. Then we both watched it and each took notes separately, in our own distinct ways. Then we compared the two papers. I showed him the importance of key words, being able to go back and add notes, and abbreviations. The abbreviations part of the lesson specifically seemed to help him. We found a few websites with common English abbreviations and started a mini-library to keep referring back to, including the abbreviations for "different," "important," "government," "maximum," "minimum," etc. I explained how being able to use abbreviations fluently would help the speed of his note-taking and he really latched onto the idea, asking me if him and I could start our own abbreviation dictionary, a suggestion I delighted in agreeing with. I suggested a few things he could do at home to help his note-taking skills - for instance, when he watches American movies, trying to write down a few things being said or a couple of plot points, just to keep practicing without doing homework. Then I asked him if he wouldn't mind watching another TED video of his choice and taking notes, using the abbreviations we went over during the lesson. He seemed eager and willing to do both.

The last few minutes, Mohammad expressed his concern with me about his skills speaking English. He started by asking me how he sounded, if I understood him, etc, which struck me as interesting, considering how high a level speaker he is. He said that even though he knows he's speaking English, he can never tell if the person he's speaking to understands him, and sometimes there are lulls or breaks in the conversation which make him feel awkward or unknowledgeable. He also said that he sometimes has difficulty starting a conversation because beyond the typical "how are you," he isn't confident that his messages are being portrayed. I explained to him that, first of all, his speaking skills were very good and that he needn't worry about not being understood. Second, I tried to show him that as long as two-way communication is happening, even if it's stilted and awkward, he's doing good things for his English. I said that just being fearless enough to try means a lot and that it just takes practice. He was really appreciative of my advice, telling me over and over how thankful he was and that he was sorry to bother me with it. I told him how thankful I was because he was such a good student and that his concerns were helping me learn to be a better English teacher.