Julia TS #2- (Sofia)

Julia TS #2 (Sofia) 

Date/Time: Wednesday, January 28th, 2026, 4-5 pm 


Location: Student Union 


Topic/Skill: Reading, Speaking, Writing/ Understanding of university-level texts,


Feedback Provided to the Tutee: 

Today, Sofia and I practiced reading, speaking, and listening. To begin our session, I outlined a brief schedule I had created: 10-15 minutes for reading, 15 minutes for speaking, and 25 minutes for writing. For reading practice, I utilized the scaffolding method and began with highly controlled practice, filling in the missing letters in a paragraph. I timed how long this took her, keeping in mind that on the TOEFL exam, an exercise like this would be allotted about 4 minutes. We then went over her mistakes, the vocabulary she was unsure of, and the paragraph's main premise. We then went through a daily life reading exercise in which Sofia read an email and answered 2 comprehension questions. We then moved on to an academic passage, first skimming it and going through any vocabulary she didn't know. She then read the passage carefully, and we answered the questions. If she answered any questions incorrectly, I didn't immediately give her the right answer; instead, I asked her to use the passage to support her answer, and this usually led us to the right answer. We then transitioned to Speaking practice. Our first exercise was reading sentences, and she repeated them after me. We then simulated an interview in which I asked her open-ended interview questions. Finally, we went over writing topics and chose one that she liked. We discussed her background knowledge of the topic and did some research to build a mental schema for the essay. I then assigned her homework: an essay, which we will correct at the beginning of our next session.


Lesson(s) About Tutoring and/or the Tutee: I learned not to rush the session or the tutee, and that each skill takes longer than I thought. I didn't allocate enough time for reading or speaking, so I think maybe I should try to work on a maximum of two skills per session. I am consistently working on slowing down the speaking rate.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Melina CO #1 = Grammar with Prof. James

  Melina CO Blog Post #1 = Grammar with Prof. James Date/Time: January 9th, 2025, 9:00-9:50 am. Topic/Skill: Grammar, Low-Intermediate Level (Simple Present tense instruction and practice). Teacher Presentation: Prof. James first used the whiteboard to write out the rules for and examples of the simple present tense in English. She then showed a video of astronaut Suni Williams in space, using this video as a basis for more example sentences, and for much of the questions posed to the class.  Classroom Management: Prof. James rotated which student she looked to for answers during her instruction.  Materials: Whiteboard, markers, Youtube video.  Student Participation: Students took turns providing answers to the questions Prof. James posed with regard to how to construct a sentence in the simple present tense (identifying the subject, conjugating the verb in the sentence, etc.).  Feedback Provided: Prof. James would correct student mistakes by ...
Read more

Dojun Kim TS #7

Date/Time: 2/26/2026, 9am Location: Zoom Topic/Skill:  Cultural Discussion Feedback provided to the tutee: Word use, vocabulary in practice and context. Talked about how we use the phrase 'scratched car/banged up car' for damage done to a car from minor to moderate, gave him the word for tow truck in American English (initially called a towing car), interchangeable use of bathroom/toilet in American English and context dependency.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Mr. Kim told me about how his lunar new year went, telling me about damage to his car that led to them taking the train to see his family. He also talked about what he typically does on weekends; taking his wife and daughter to the mall, where his daughter can play in a kids area with other kids. We then talked about the Superbowl, and I showed him some popular Superbowl ads. 
Read more

Emma Baker TS #12 (Yerlan)

     < Emma Baker TS #12 (Yerlan) > Date/Time:  Wednesday, February 25, 2026, from 2-3 PM Location:  CIES Topic/Skill:  TOEFL Email Attempt #3 & TOEFL Vocabulary Review Feedback Provided to the Tutee:  I went through an entire email prompt for the TOEFL, narrating how I would approach the specific prompt. I think this helped him a lot; we have to conquer the time limit now. We then reviewed some of the A words on the TOEFL vocabulary list. I checked his pronunciation and understanding by having him use the word in a sentence. Lesson(s) About Tutoring and/or the Tutee You Learned:  Yerlan was very receptive to the way I taught the email section today. I utilized the approach my teachers in middle and high school would use when giving us shortcuts for how to maximize our time on exams. I think I need to start stealing teaching methods from my teachers over the years to test if they work in a language context.
Read more