Damil_TP_#2

Child TP-2

1/19/2015
PJ Chang's House

Topic/Skill: 
-Reading Comprehension 
-Vocabulary

Today was the second tutoring session I have had with PJ. When I entered his house, I was kindly greeted by his family as usual and I made sure to show respect by taking off my shoes at the doorway. His mother shared with me the material that she wanted me to help her son with and emphasized the importance of his reading comprehension. Once I was seated at PJ's desk and awaited for his arrival, I began to review the story that we were to read together. Since the the story was 11 pages long and used complex grammar, I tried to imagine the best way I could maintain his interest and motivation in the story. The story was about the journey of a young pilgrim boy and his family migrating to North America and how they established one of the country's first permanent European settlements. I had a feeling that using the included illustrations to the fullest extent possible in reviewing the story was a good idea.

When PJ sat down me at his desk to begin our session, he looked tired and disinterested in the story we were about to read. I tried to talk casually with him to put him at ease and I assured him I would try to make the reading as fun as possible. Before we read the story, we went thru each illustration and I asked him each time what he thought was occurring in them. I felt like this was a good way to capture his interest in the story and understand it's development as it was portrayed in the story. Also, since it was a long story, him and I took turns reading one page at a time, stopping on each one so I could quiz his comprehension. I used the illustrations to help him define unfamiliar vocabulary and and plots points that he did not understand. Yet, eventually this proved too much. He grew very anxious and expressed that he was too tired to finish the story. I assured him that I understood his difficulty with reading English and we took a short break. In the meantime, I spoke to his mother about what was going on and she suggested we finish another one of his reading assignments. This shift in pace worked well for PJ, we finished the assignment promptly after.

This experience today has taught me a lot about how children learn and that teaching them takes a lot of creativity and enthusiasm. Next time I will try to make more use of illustrations, perhaps using an online encyclopedia to help him understand unfamiliar vocabulary. I feel this method and further adapting my reading techniques to his needs will help him stay motivated and interested in all his reading assignments.  

Damil