Kayla_TP_#2

Date/Time: January 21st; 12 pm
Location: CIES

My tutoring session with Sheymaa was fantastic. When I walked into the room, she kissed my cheek twice, hugged me, and shook my hand. Very classy lady, but I was a little surprised of how affectionate/friendly she was. We had been texting each other a lot about schoolwork and tutoring sessions, but I didn't expect the warm welcome. Sheymaa is extremely passionate about learning English and getting in as much practice as possible. She opened her composition book and pulled out what she had been working on. The topic was why it is a beautiful thing to have children. I began reading her composition out loud (there were mistakes, and she was uncomfortable hearing them when I read them). I generally understood what she was trying to say, but her thoughts were jumbled together. It was like she was racing to get all of her thoughts on the paper.

Instead, I had us make a brainstorming sheet and talk about what she wanted to cover in her paper. I had her talk about the three main points she wanted to discuss, but then she asked how I would say what she was trying to say. When I essentially rephrased what she was saying, she stopped me and asked about some of the vocabulary words I used. She then said she wanted to work on vocabulary with me too!

She slowed down, then started breaking down a plan with on how we should conduct our tutoring sessions. It was kind of funny how she explained to me what she wanted, "You talk to me on Tuesday, then you tutor me on Wednesday, you give me homework, and then you come help me on Thursday." I didn't want to discourage or correct her by advising how to phrase those sentences differently. I understood what she meant, but they were pretty direct. I think we need to focus on planning and slowing down her writing process. Her speaking skills were fantastic, but we definitely need to focus on writing and reading.