Molly McQueeney TS#3

Date/Time: May 16, 2020. 3:15 - 4:30 PM

Topic/Skill: During this tutoring session we focused on learning idiomatic expressions and using them in context. I created a list of six or seven idiomatic expressions that are commonly used in conversation and asked Ahmad if he had ever heard of them or knew what they meant. Ahmad had only heard one of the expressions before. To understand the meaning of the expression, Ahmad went through and noted the words he did not know. I defined them for him and then used context clues to determine what he thought the expression could mean. He often got very close to the actual meaning of the expression. I then corrected him and explained the actual meaning. I then provided an example of the expression being used in a sentence. Once Ahmad had an example sentence, I asked him to create his own sentence for each idiomatic expression, and then to create a paragraph using two idiomatic expressions together. After each of these exercises I provided feedback and corrections. 

Feedback provided to tutee: The first set of feedback I provided to Ahmad was regarding definitions of words included in the idiomatic expressions. He was slightly confused at the difference between words like "finder", "founder", and "fonder". We took each of these words individually and explained the difference between their pronunciations and their meanings. When Ahmad created his sentences, I encouraged him to use more context clues to create a more complex sentence where the meaning of the expression could be determined from the scenario he created. I corrected some grammar mistakes as well. 

Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Ahmad gave me some feedback on my teaching at the end of the session. He said he really enjoyed my teaching style because it is very organized and thorough. He said he always felt encouraged to ask questions and knew that every question would receive an answer. I was glad he felt this way because this is the tutoring environment I was striving to create. I want the lesson to have some structure, but also to be flexible enough that if the lesson has to take a different direction based on his questions that can happen too. Ahmad did tell me, in good sense of humor, that he does not think I would be as good at teaching children as adults. This was helpful feedback too, as I know that if I teach in a school, particularly an elementary school, I will have to make many changes to my teaching style.