Today I met my child tutee for the first time at the Leon County Library. I had a little trouble finding her--I wasn't sure where exactly on the first floor we were meeting--but when her mother located me we had a brief conversation about her family and her daughters. I learned that the Oh family came to America from South Korea only 13 months ago, but both of the daughters speak English very well, as does their mother.
Zoe is a very bright 8 year old girl who is in the 2nd grade. I had her tell me about her favorite classes--math, reading--and her least favorite classes--language arts. We chatted for a while so I could determine her conversational skills; she has excellent English, with a few grammar mistakes, but nothing too drastic when compared to English native speakers that are her age. Then I asked her about one of the books she was reading, one of the Geronimo Stilton series, and she told me it was a "funny book." I asked if she could tell me what kind of word "funny" was, and although she explained the definition of the word, I think we need to work on adjectives and a few more examples. She understood adverbs very well (our sentence was "eating quietly," which she always whispered) and she also has an excellent grasp of simple past and future tense, and she even taught me a little dance to explain the tenses. I gave her a very short quiz on the spot to test her spelling of a few words, as well as brief grammar quiz. I asked her to write "Over there, there are puppies" and "their puppies are so cute!" She did well on that portion, however, she wrote "you're puppy is very cute" for the next question. We will definitely review "your" and "you're" next class.
Today's lesson was just an introductory meeting, as well as a good chance for me to gauge her English abilities, so that next time we meet, I will have materials appropriate for her level. I plan to use "Schoolhouse Rock" videos to review adjectives and adverbs, as those are fun and engaging for young children. I also plan to have her write some stories with me so that I can proofread her written grammar.
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