FSU TEFL Certificate Course

Met with Renata today 5/30. We practiced timed speaking. I used the rubric and format provided by CIES and we practiced completion rather than stopping when we reached a certain time. She managed to get down to 1:07 for her fastest, which is still a bit off for the 45 second goal, but I thought it was great progress for her level. She expressed her need for a broader vocabulary and we were looking into finding her a dictionary at the library so that when she was writing her sentences she could come up with the words she wanted to express.

Had my last session with Marcelle on 5/29. Since it was our last day, we decided to just play a game. I had her “teach” me how to play monopoly. She cheated multiple times and won, obviously. But I was very satisfied with the session because it was the most I’d ever seen her talk. Our parting was kind of sad for me. She asked if I was coming tomorrow and I said no because it was my last day, but she very confidently said that I was coming tomorrow. Overall, tutoring her has been a very worthwhile experience and I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Met with Renata on 5/20. She has begun learning about the dreaded present perfect verb tense. We went over that for a bit, but it took a bit for her to understand it, particularly when to use it. Luckily the class I have been interning in had just gone over this, so it was a subject I was relatively confident in. We also went over her reading activity. She didn't understand the term "branch" so I drew (a very bad) tree and told her the term branch meant literally the branches of a tree, but we also used it for things that were "branching off" from the main subject. Like the branches of government.

Met with Do-Jun on 4/19. I went online and found a list of common American phrases and picked out ones that I hear relatively often and I went over those with him. That took up about half of our time and after that he asked me about different ways of greeting people. Specifically how to greet and say farewell to someone that he hadn't seen for a long time. I gave him a few examples but "Good to see you again" and "I hope to see you again" were the ones that he seemed to like the most.

Met with Do-Jun on 4/12. It was our first session so we mostly just talked and went over his expectations and what he was looking to learn. His English was very good, he just expressed that he wasn't comfortable with his vocabulary and when to use it. So I'm going to try to pay attention to some phrases I hear relatively often and teach them to him our next session.

Met with Marcelle on 5/22. She did much better today then last week. The library was doing a book sale today and the librarian offered to pitch in a dollar if I wanted to incorporate it into our lesson. I also gave Marcelle on of my dollars and she picked out two books for herself. She was incredibly happy and I think that helped out a lot with the lesson. We also made a break through with learning the best way for her to learn words. She has these flashcards with words on the front and pictures on the back that we've used before. In the middle of using them she started spelling them on her white board and picking out sounds and writing those. Like "in" she found in king and "ra" in straw. So I got her to pick a sound and organize her word cards to pick out the ones that had that sound and she did really well!

Met with Marcelle on 5/15. She was actually incredibly difficult to work with today. She has always had an issue with focusing and gets away with a lot of stuff by saying I don't know. I've been trying to work with her on that by forcing her to focus and not letting her say I don't know without trying to help her understand, but I believe today I may have harped on her too much because she was starting to lose patience with me. I talked to Ms. Iott about it after the session and she expressed her concern that Marcelle, despite the fact that french is her first language, has never been tested for her literacy in french, so that may have something to do with her difficulty in learning writing.

May 20 Do-Jun Today we went over idioms. The first was "playing it by ear" and the secons was "flying by the seat of your pants."  He seemed to enjoy them. We also went over how the placement of the word "only" can completely change the meaning of the sentence. I plan to keep regularly meeting with Do-Jun and told him to message me if he had any questions. I had a lot of fun.

May 15 Do-Jun Our topic today was mostly on the US government again. Do-Jun was curious about aome of the things he heard about Trump's actions and how he was recieved by the public. I told him about some of the things he's been doing and he seemed very surprised about the state of things.

May 13 Do-Jun We had to reschedule a bit because of medical issues in Do-Juns family. We didn't really talk about much. I think Do-Jun was a bit distracted. We made some small talk and talked about or schedule.

May 7th Do-Jun Today we talked about the US government and the recent tariffs. Do-Jun gave me his opinion of things and how they affected South Korean. It was interesting to get an outsider perspective.

May 5 Do-Jun Today's conversation was about Avengers End Game and the Marvel movies. We had both finally watched the movie and were excited to discuss it. I learned that South Korea gets their International movies a day before the US because of the time zone differences.

Met with Marcelle on 5/8. I was joined today by Nic from the new TEFL 120 class. Marcelle opened up to him rather quickly, thankfully. The library was closed for testing, so we sat in the lunchroom today. Ms Iotts asked us to work with her on a worksheet for mothers day and it was VERY difficult to get her to focus on this. She kept using her excuse of I don't know to get us to change the subject but I was very stubborn about trying to keep her on task. I'm not entirely sure whether or not she retained everything she learned today, but we managed to finish the worksheet together and she seemed comfortable around Nic when we started talking about animals and colors.

Met with Marcelle on May 1st. Ms Iotts didn't have anything particular she wanted Marcelle to work on today so I had Marcelle pick out two books instead of one. She seems to have gotten into our routine of picking out books first and she brought with her a wonder woman book. She kept calling wonder woman super girl, which I corrected her on until she caught on. Today we spent a lot of time practicing her spelling, which was surprisingly easy with how interested she was in the super heroes. I would tell her their names and she would try to spell them, with my corrections.

Met with Marcelle on 4/24. Today Ms Iotts asked me to help her work on some math language and gave us a worksheet and ruler. As per usual, when we went to the library, we started by picking out a book for her to read, and once we were done with that, we worked on the math. It was difficult to get her to focus at first, but once she understood the concept, she was going around measuring everything in the library. She finished her worksheet rather easily and I was really satisfied with how today went.

I joined Logan on 4/18 at Gilchrist to meet with Marcelle for the first time. She was a sweet girl, if not very shy and I'm grateful that my first meeting was with Logan there as I feel like this will let her get more comfortable with me quicker. We went to the library and she picked out a book to read and brought her picture cards with her. I noticed that she definitely does things at her own pace. She refused to look at the book Logan picked out for her and went to get her own and picked out which flashcards she wanted each of us to read. With the flashcards it was relatively easy to get her to participate, but I am concerned about how well she retained that information

Met with Renata on 4/17 for our tutoring session. Today, she asked me to help her go over her writing sample and question sentences. Her writing sample was mostly perfect, but she had an issue with prepositions. After correcting one or two sentences, though, she managed to pin point most of the mistakes herself without my help. As for the question sentences, she already knew the statement variations, so once I taught her some rules, she grasped the concept rather easily. ex. "I am a student" into "Am I a student?"

Met with Renata on 4/10 for our tutoring session. Today she didn't have anything in particular grammar wise that she wanted to practice, so we decided to work on her speaking skills today. We talked about random things, mostly about what she wanted to do after CIES and our families. We noticed her L1 interference when it came to nouns because in portuguese, the adjective comes after the noun, so instead of swimming pool it was pool swimming.

Met with Jeong-ho for our last session on 4/19. He gave me a bowl of ramen as a gift for our last session. We decided considered the rude player from last time to play a less structured more fun game mode. In it, I played a few new characters that he taught me how to play. It was much more fun and chaotic and we greatly enjoyed ourselves. I really appreciate having Jeong-ho as my conversation partner, it was a very fun experience and I learned a lot from him.

Met with Jeong-ho for computer games again on 4/17. Everything went as it did prior, I felt like I was getting better at the game and wasn't dragging him down as much. But we did have an issue with a rude player on one of our teams. the other player was being harshly sarcastic, and Jeong-ho didn't notice until I pointed it out to him. I noticed that he is very apologetic and would apologize for things that weren't his fault. I'm not sure if this is something cultural, but I tried to make sure he understood that the other player was just mean and it wasn't his fault at all.

Met with Jeong-ho again on 4/12, we met at the SLC to play computer games again. The game had updated since I'd last played so he walked me through the new mechanics. Since we both knew the game lingo it didn't feel like there was a language barrier at all and we managed to play for a few hours before we noticed the time.

For my second class observation I sat in Angel's reading class. It was really interesting to see how different teaching styles different teachers can have. I noticed that while Ryan was very careful in making sure he spoke at a level appropriate pace, Angel was a lot more natural with his conversation. Ryan also spent more time making sure the students understood his instruction, but Angel treated his students more like native speakers. I can see the advantages and disadvantages to both these styles. For Angel's class, most of the time was spent reading a chapter from a short book the students had been working on and then reading the famous story about the necklace.

For my first classroom observation, I chose Ryan's Friday writing class. The class was an intermediate level class. I was happy to have picked this class because writing is supposed to be one of the hardest subjects to teach, so I was hoping to enjoy a good learning experience. Ryan modeled his writing assignments after the TOEFL writing assignments where you listening to a lecture and then read a short passage and have to synthesize the information. I was honestly surprised at how well the students did on these assignments. Also, Ryan demonstrated a lot of the things we talked about in class, like modeling and writing words on the board.

For my final conversation partner meeting, I met with Salem. This was my first meeting with Salem as a conversation partner, but this guy should get an award for how much he has met with me. It has really helped me complete my hours and I think I have been at least of some benefit to him. This session I helped Salem talk to an apartment complex about signing and lease and renting a unit.

For my fifth conversation partner meeting, I met with Andres again. Wet met at the CIES computer lab again. I enjoy going to the CIES computer lab because I get the opportunity to meet with a lot of students. Most of the students enjoy their conversations with me and overall all the people I have met with are excited to meet with me again. I hope that means I'm doing something right! For this session, I helped Andres work his way through an application for a university he hopes to go to after he finishes with CIES.

For my fourth conversation partner meeting, I met with Andres. We met in the computer lab at CIES. This was our first conversation partner meeting together (previously we had met for tutoring sessions). Andres was interested in working on his pronunciation because we had so much success doing that the last time we met.

For my third conversation partner meeting, I met with Yahya again. Yahya was preparing to meet with one of the professors in the Geology department at FSU to talk about joining the masters program. He was a little bit nervous about meeting the professor, and didn't want his English to get in the way. He asked met to do a mock interview with him where I pretended to be the professor so he could practice what he was going to say. We did this a couple times, and I think it really helped him.

For my second conversation partner meeting, I met with Yahya again. Yahya is preparing himself to take the IELTS because he would like to go to graduate school at FSU to study Geology. Yahya talked about how when he does the practice tests on the computer for the speaking component, there is no way for him to really judge how he's doing since there's no on on the computer listening to him. I offered to help out and help and practice for the IELTS.

For my first conversation partner meeting, I met with Yahya. Yahya is from Medina, Saudi Arabia. He is working on his English at CIES and then he hopes to go on to study Geology at FSU. Yahya's English is pretty good, he was just placed at the highest level in all his subjects. It was interesting to notice how even when he would make mistakes, he would frequently catch himself and then repeat the word or phrase correctly. We talked about a number of topics from geology to food and I think it was a very productive meeting.

For my sixteenth and final tutoring session, I met with Salem again. This time we met at the CIES computer lab. After last session, Salem got placed into higher levels for all of his subjects. We were both pretty excited about this, but he's finding this new session to be a little bit more difficult. Still, I think it's probably good for him that he has to work a little bit hard and I'm excited to see his English continue improving. We went over some of the stuff that he was working on in his classes.

For my fifteenth tutoring session, I met with Salem again. I was worried initially about having to rely on Salem meeting me so many times, but he seems to enjoy it and I think he's benefiting from our time together, so I guess it all works out. This time we met at the Sweet Shop by campus to try something new. We covered some vocabulary words and expressions that he had questions about, and, of course, we enjoyed delicious smoothies.

For my fourteenth tutoring session, I met with Salem again. We met earlier today at the CIES computer lab to work on his presentation, but we only had enough time to talk about the general structure of the presentation and the layout of the slides. We met again later at the mosque to work on the sentences that Salem would read or say during his presentation. Again, I had trouble finding the balance between helping Salem with his writing and fixing his mistakes versus giving him too much. Hopefully I found the right balance, I was trying to be very careful.

For my thirteenth tutoring session, I met with Salem again. We met at the computer lab at CIES. Salem had a presentation that he was working on, so we did some work on the computers in the lab. I noticed that the teachers at CIES don't let the students use very many slides for their presentations which makes it hard to include interesting pictures, but I guess the point is for them to practice their speaking. Salem, of course, picked the topic of airports (he loves flying so much), so we worked on that together.

For my twelfth tutoring session, I met with Salem again. I have had to meet with Salem so many times because the other tutoring students I was connected with had difficulties meeting. Salem, however, has been very excited to continue meeting with me so many times so I take that as meaning that I've done a good job! For this session we went to an Indian restaurant that Salem wanted to try. This session looked a bit more like a conversation partner session to be honest, but we did cover some different vocabulary words during and after our lunch.

For my eleventh tutoring session, I met with Salem. He like the boba tea shop on Tennessee street so much that he wanted to meet there again! Like last time, his work for CIES classes was done so we decided to cover some new material. This time we worked on the different future tenses (simple, continuous, perfect, perfect continuous). This was a bit more difficult because he hadn't learned all these in class yet, but he was able to grasp the concept of when to use which, even if he couldn't produce good sentences each time he tried. By the end though, he was very excited that he had learned something new before CIES had taught him it.

I met with Jeong-Ho as a conversation partner and we discussed cultural norms in South Korea vs America. We discussed gift giving and how it is rude to refuse a gift and the proper way to address people based on their age or gender. I think the emphasis on respect based on age is something similar to south western culture in the United States. We also talked about how a lot of women from South Korea that he is friends with don't like turning 30 because the proper form of how they are addressed changes emphasizing their age.

I met with Rawabi and we discussed typical cuisine for our cultures. We talked a lot about tea and meats that were often served in both Saudi Arabia and America. We also discussed standards of beauty and how they differentiated. Clothing and makeup are different and interestingly tanning booths are something uncommon. Rawabi said she wanted to try using the tanning bed and asked if they were popular. It was a little hard to answer because they are popular amongst some people, but they are also very bad for the skin.

I met with Rawabi and we engaged in the activity that went over cultural roles. We talked about greetings and how they differ based on age and gender. We discussed disagreements and gifts. I learned that birthdays are not something that is really celebrated in Saudi Arabia. I think this makes sense to me because if anyone should get a gift on a birthday it should be the mother who did all the hard work.

In my final tutoring session with Hyo Sang we discussed our plans for the future. We talked about our dreams and what our plans were for the future. Because the topic was vague modal verbs were used in context often. "I want to" and "I should" were terms often used when discussing our future plans. I was surprised by the length of the program for FSU foreign students. Hyo Sang talked about things he still wanted to do in both Tallahassee and America in general. We both agreed that the weather was too hot!

I met with Jeong-Ho and we had a long discussion about culture. We spoke about required military service in South Korea, the differences between grade school in South Korea and America and our favorite school subjects. He spoke about how school was very teacher centered which was interesting because we had learned about that in class. Speaking in terms of comparison is a useful skill when learning the English language. I think Jeong-Ho has an excellent working knowledge of English.

Jeong-Ho and I worked on speaking skills. His pronunciation is excellent and has mastered a wide variety of vocabulary. Certain words which when read have a confusing pronunciation is something we worked on. "Debris," "Subtle" and "Epitome" are some of the words we reviewed. The spelling of the words is confusing but after sounding out the proper pronunciation we would move onto the next word.

Hyo-Sang and I worked on speaking skills by using a similar activity I had done with my conversation partner. We did the ice-burg activity where we shared information about our countries. We discussed religion, population, and culture in both South Korea and America. Hyo-Sang had little to no mistakes when speaking but often times pacing was a little slower when he wasn't sure which article to use so he would take a moment to think about it. His pronunciation has improved a lot. 

Jeon-Ho and I went over some English listening skills at Starbucks. We used music as a method to work on these skills. Often times the Starbucks plays music quietly so we used material on our phones. The variety of pace, accent and dictation used by the singers provided a variety of examples that helped with working on listening. After listening we would review the lyrics and go over areas he struggled with.

Hyo-Sang and I met and went over a writing activity he had done in class. His questions and concerns were mostly about grammar. The matching forms of "a" and "an" were of concern. After explaining how the nouns they referred to were used he understood which one needed to be done. I think the fast paced writing environment contributes to little mistakes but after reviewing it was clear that he understood the rules.

Jeong-Ho and I met at Starbucks to go over some idioms in the English language. I used the internet to pull up some examples. Some idioms are easy to understand such as "a blessing in disguise" but others are hard to explain and are largely rooted in American culture. 'Hot potato" is an idiom I still do not understand even after trying to google it. It was a fun activity that intertwined vocabulary and American culture.

For my tenth tutoring session, I met with Salem at the mosque again. We were pretty much done with his stuff for CIES, so we found some different grammar topics to discuss. One thing that we started doing a couple of sessions ago that I think Salem really liked is that I would write down on a paper all of the new vocabulary words and expressions that were new. I also wrote the names of grammar topics or verb tenses along with sample sentences for the different ways to use them.

For my ninth tutoring session, I met with Andres again. We also met in Chicfila again. Andres didn't have any homework or projects, so I asked him what he wanted help with. He mentioned that he would like his pronunciation to be better. He lucked out, because once upon a time I took some linguistics classes that taught me all about the place and method of articulation for sounds in English. I also know Spanish, so I was familiar with the sound he could already make, and the kinds of errors he was prone to. We did some minimal pair exercises and I could tell he found it really helpful.

For my eight tutoring session, I met with Salem again. We met in the mosque again as well. For this session, Salem wanted my help writing a paragraph he needed for one of his classes. He chose to write a paragraph about being a pilot. I asked him for the rubric his teacher gave him, and we went through each point to make sure he would get a good grade. I also helped him with structuring the paragraph so it would make the most sense. One thing I struggled with was figuring out how much to help him so that I was being beneficial but not doing the actual work for him. I think I struck the right balance, but it was definitely tough to figure out.

For my seventh tutoring session, I met with Salem again. We met in the mosque because it's so convenient. Salem (like Andres) had an upcoming grammar test, so we spent some time reviewing for that. We had already spent a lot of time reviewing verb tenses the day before, so this time we focused on adjectives because that's what Salem said he felt unsure about. I was able to find some really helpful worksheets online that guided the review.

For my sixth tutoring session, I met with Andres. Andres is a student from Panama. When he finishes studying at CIES, he wants to attend university in the US to study business. One day he wants to open his own restaurant. We met at the Chikfila on campus. I spent a little time getting to know him, but he had an upcoming grammar test so we spent some time preparing for that. We talked about verb tenses, adjectives, and adverbs. I was able to find some helpful worksheets online to guide our review.

For my fifth tutoring session, I met with Salem again. We met at the mosque this time because it has a little study room. Salem had some grammar questions for today's session, so we spent the hour reviewing those. He was particularly interested in working on the different tenses (especially the difference between present perfect and past perfect). I was able to find some worksheets online that reviewed the different tenses and was able to do a bit of teaching about when you should use one versus the other.

For my fourth tutoring session, I met with Salem again. I have been trying to make the tutoring sessions interesting so we usually go to different places each time. This time I took him to the boba tea place on Tennessee because he had never tried boba tea before. He really liked it and was happy that I took him there. We continued working on the presentation we worked on during our last session. We already had the powerpoint prepared for the presentation, so this time we worked on the sentences he was going to say. I let him come up with the sentences and then I would nudge him in the right direction if he was starting to make a grammatical error.

For my third tutoring session, I met with Salem again. This time I picked him up from his home stay and we worked at the FSU Engineering School. I sometimes like to go there to study or do work because it is so nice and easy to focus there, so I thought I'd show Salem. Salem brought chocolate and Arabian coffee which was very nice of him. We worked on his presentation together for his speaking class. He wanted to do his presentation on the city he's from, Medina, so I helped him think of a good structure for his presentation and helped him find some pictures he could use in his powerpoint.

I met with Salem again, but this time we decided to eat at a food truck for the tutoring session. Salem is Arab but has been staying with Americans at a homestay while he has been studying at CIES, so I took him to a food truck that makes the best Arab food in Tallahassee. He was really happy with the food and was surprised he could find that kind of experience in Tallahassee. Salem had just gotten a test back so we spent the session going over his answers and I helped explain why certain things were wrong and how to fix them.

I met my tutoring student for the first time at the Starbucks on Tennessee across from CIES. His name is Salem. He is from Medina in Saudi Arabia, and he is in level 2 in all his subjects. We spent some time this first session getting to know each other, and I tried to understand his needs and how I can be helpful for him. Salem is interesting in becoming a pilot. He is taking classes at CIES because he needs to know English for pilot school, and because he doesn't want to take English classes at a university in Saudi. He doesn't plan on attending university in the US after he finishes CIES, even though his brother is studying Engineering in Boston.

Jeong-Ho had brought me a gift from his vacation during this tutoring session. It was instant spicy noodles and he had told me that he eats this often in Korea. With this we worked on translating the instructions to English. He would give me a detailed instruction on how to cook and what the ingredients were without using a dictionary. I often asked questions about the specifics of these instructions and details. I think the physical object in which we were referring to with the use of native and learning language helped make this session enjoyable.

Jeong-Ho and I met at Starbucks for a tutoring session where we reviewed the full understanding of words depending on context. We looked at Horoscope readings ranging from vague predictions to very specific ones. The variety of vocabulary used by Horoscope predictions leaves room for interpretation which is perfect for reviewing language acquisition. After a deconstruction of one prediction we would move onto a more difficult analysis.

I met with Hyo Sang for a tutoring session where we discussed verbs in use. He wanted to review fast paced speaking and listening and we discussed how he used an American name when ordering coffee from Starbucks. We did an activity where he worked on listening and understanding with a variety of accents. At first it was a little shaky but after a while he got the hang of it. I think repeated exposure to an accent open pathways for understanding the language. 

I met again with Jeong-Ho for a tutoring session after the break began. He had plans to go to the beach. He needed some assistance with a writing assignment for his class and we went over the proper forms of conjugation for different verbs. Matching nouns was a point of difficulty so we went over those. We also used his plans for break to go over a few working examples. 

In this tutoring sessions I met with my tuttee Jeong-Ho. We discussed break plans and worked on the proper tense of spoken english when discussing possible events and future plans. There were a few beautiful mistakes but his working use of english was really great. Modal verbs seem to be something that is difficult while learning but easy once mastered.

Today was our last session at Gilchrist. It was sad but I decided to make it fun. I brought Marcelle some treats and we worked speaking skills where I would show her picture and she would describe what she thought was happening. She liked it at first but gt tired of it after the third picture so I read her a book while she colored. I will miss her very much!

Seop and I met after he returned from vacation. He told me about his travels and all the food he ate. This was our last session so we just talked about his plans for the summer. We also planned to continue meeting for tutoring for the summer session. I am so proud of how much he has improved!

Marcelle and I went to the media center. Today she was not feeling very well. So I just read her a couple books. She then wanted to color so I let her do that the remaining time. She is very sweet little girl.

Seop and I met after his exams. He is very excited to go to New York City. We talked about what he will do while in the city. He is going to a Broadway show, which I was very jealous of! We then worked on listening skills with a song. I printed out "Hey Jude" by the Beatles and put blanks in some of the lyrics. He loved this exercise.

Marcelle and I went to the media center. We talked about her weekend and what she did. We then worked on long vowel sounds. I had a worksheet for her to do as we practiced. She loves coloring so I allowed her to color after her worksheet!

Seop and I met during his lunch break at CIES. We went over his speaking exam. He seemed very relaxed and ready to take it. We went through his speech a couple times. We then ate lunch and talked about what food we liked.

Marcelle and I decided to walk around and talk for our session. We stopped and talked about the trees and plants. She likes being outside and so do I. I brought her a snack and we sat and talked about how she likes school and what she likes to do on the weekend. I let her play a little o the playground. She has become so confident with speaking in English.

Seop and I met at CIES. He is getting near the end of his exams. We practiced some listening skills by watching a friends episode. I would pause throughout and we discuss vocabulary or idioms. He is improving so much! We then just talked about future plans when he returns to Korea.

Renata and I met at CIES for our last conversation meeting. She had finished all of her exams and felt really good about her semester. We talked about our future plans. She and I may continue meeting this summer. She is very excited to continue her English studies at CIES.

Marcelle and I went to the media center and played a game. I had her write down words that matched pictures I would hold up. She loved this because it was on the dry erase board. She has learned so much! We also colored some in a coloring book. I then read her two stories and we talked about the pictures after each one! She is so smart!

Seop and I met at CIES outside because it was beautiful out. This tutoring session I had him talk to me in depth about his hometown. He took me on a virtual tour and he described his university, downtown, and food to eat. This was a fun activity because I got to learn about his interests and favorite places. His speaking skills have improved so much! Just had to practice some pronunciation and intonation of words!

April 25th Do-Jun Today's main topic was Thank you and you're welcome. It was interesting to try to put the subtle differences between the several different ways to say you're welcome in English but I was happy to learn that it is done very similarly in the Korean Language. I told him about the generational differences in which phrases we use. He seemed to understand it much better than I felt like I was explaining it.

April 22nd Do-Jun Today, Do-Jun and I talked more about small talk and superficial greetings. I also taught him about greeting someone after not seeing them for a long time and different ways to say goodbye. as with all of these, we talked about the formal and the informal ways of speaking. Do-Jun is going to Bangkok tomorrow so we rescheduled our next meeting for Friday.

April 20th Do-Jun Finally back in Tennessee. Do-Jun and I meet at a different time than usual. Our main topic this session is different greetings like "how are you" and "how is it going"Do-Jun was surprised to hear that "how are you" often isn't a question. we also went over less formal greetings and when to use them.

April 18th Marcelle Today, I brought Ceara along to introduce her to Marcelle and to co-tutor her since this will be my last day in Florida. Marcelle was much more cooperative today. We 'read' through a wordless story book and then Marcelle chose flashcards containing various words to give to Ceara and me. We read our cards out loud and showed her the pictures.

April 17th Marcell Tutoring today was a bit challenging. Marcelle did not seem to want to participate and would answer "I don't know." to nearly every question.she finally started participating when I brought out a game for learning animals but she was only interested in winning the game and wouldn't even try to answer the questions I was asking her or read the names of the animals.  I don't think games are a good tool to teach her with at the moment. I asked Mrs. Iott about bringing Ceara to introduce her and she said she was fine with it.

April 16 Do-Jun We rescheduled yesterday's meeting so I could prepare for the final project. Today we talked about the differences in our cultures, opinions involving tattoos and ways of dress. we discussed our future schedule since I was moving back to Tennessee.

April 11th Marcelle I was unable to make it to our regular appointment yesterday so I had to reschedule for today. Marcelle is much more confident and open today. We worked on another worksheet provided by her teacher. she made a few spelling mistakes but was so much more outgoing than the first time we met, I only corrected the major mistakes. She is improving incredibly quickly and I'm glad.

April 9th Do-Jun I started talking with Do-Jun as a conversation partner since my other partner was unreliable. Today our main topic was the military. I was not aware that South Korea had a mandatory service for men. I thought that was really interesting. Do-Jun seemed interested to learn that women could join the US military but they weren't required to sign up for the draft.

April 8th Do-Jun Today, we talked about many things. I showed Do-Jun some projects I was working on. We had a long discussion about some of the politics in America like Health care. I feel Do-Jun is speaking much more quickly without having to compose his sentence before speaking. I see this as a big step forward.

April 3rd Marcelle Marcelle was very shy at first.The school was in the middle of testing so we had our first session in the cafeteria. I helped her with some of her class work and we drew some. She was proud to show me she knew the names of some fruits. She was able to do most of the worksheet the teacher provided by herself.

March 7th Speaking It was time for evaluation in this class so we went down to the computer lab so the students could record the answers to their questions. It was very interesting to see how technology is being put to use. Much more convenient than the individual oral exams that I did. There wasn't a ton of student interaction so we alternated between monitoring the students/assisting when they had questions and looking over their answers.

March 6th Listening For this class, I was introduced and gave a bit about myself and then the students went around and introduced themselves and said which country try were from. During the lesson, The teacher was extremely interactive. This was a superb example of a student centered class.

March 6th Grammar class  I unfortunately arrived a few minutes late to class due to parking and class had already begun. the students were giving presentations on their home country using powerpoint. The presenters were very enthusiastic about sharing their culture and I found it extremely interesting. This was the first time I had seen a combined grammar/speaking exercise after reading the grammar section and it was good to see it in action.