Kayla_TP_#6

Date/Time: Feb 5th, 7:00 pm
Location: Grand Victoria Apartments

I met Khalwa and her daughter at the Grand Victoria Clubhouse. We got a study room and began our tutoring session. Khalwa brought us chocolate, dates, and coffee to have throughout the session! :) She's a very lovely person and her daughter was adorable.
Anyway, we began the session with deciding if she should read a challenging book or an easier book. I explained to her the different pros/cons of choosing a more difficult or an easier book to read through. We ended up deciding on The Secret Life of Bees. I had her begin by looking over the outside of the book. We went to the back and I had her read the summary of the book. Here she had some difficulty with word pronunciation and wasn't quite sure of the definitions. I explained a lot of concepts to her and helped show her how to use context clues when reading through summaries. I had to explain what "racists" were, but I helped her get closer to the idea of what they were by starting with what the word "race" meant. The setting of the book is in 1964 in South Carolina. I reminded her of some of the historical events that were happening in America around this time. We had a really awesome discussion about all of this, and I think she learned a lot from this.
We then dove into the book. I had her read straight through each paragraph without stopping (only to slightly correct pronunciation), meanwhile underlining ideas she didn't understand. At the end of each paragraph, I had her read the phrases and ask her what she think it meant. One phrase that confused her was when the author was describing the bees flying around in her room and what they looked like. It said that the bees' wings glittered like chrome in the dark. We ran into a lot of metaphors that I had to explain, but she loved the ideas they represented.
I'm especially excited about this book for her. I think it'll be a challenge, but it's about a girl who lost her mother and comes in contact with three "eccentric" women. It's about female empowerment and a bond between a mother and daughter. Khalwa's teacher knows that she has a daughter, so mad props to the lady who gave Khalwa The Secret Life of Bees.