Patrick TS #5

Date/Time: September 12, 2018, 3:00 -4:00 p.m.

Location: CIES Classroom #315

Topic Discussed: Introductions and Focus on Fluency of Speech

Today was the first day I met with my 3^rd Tutee. He was a very interesting man who had very good speaking skills. He was from a Portuguese speaking country and seemed “at ease” when speaking with me. I asked him to tell me about his country and, later, his reasons for attending CIES.

Initial questions about his country made it easy for him to speak with me about his country and life experiences. These types of questions, as we have learned in our classes, paved the way for follow-up questions and facilitated further discussion. A few questions initially and his subsequent responses provided me with a wonderful opportunity to assess his speaking (productive) skills.

His goal is to speak fluently in English. He has a good start in this direction.

I was able to offer suggestions when “beautiful mistakes” were made. These suggestions involved word choice and vocabulary (e.g., “rampant,” “oppress”). He didn’t seem to mind a more direct approach. I noted that some cultures prefer a direct approach and some an indirect approach when discussing things (this, no doubt, was fresh on my mind from yesterday’s class discussion!). He indicated clearly that a “direct approach” would be fine to use in our work together.

We also had several good moments to practice verb tenses. I remember from class discussions that verb tenses are important grammar challenges for ESL students to work on—more than once.

Finally, we focused on pronunciation. As various words were spoken, I heard a different syllabic emphasis than we hear in America (e.g., con-tro'-ver-sy vs. con'-tro-ver-sy). This provided the opportunity to compare British English and American English. We practiced pronouncing words emphasizing one syllable versus another. He welcomed the opportunity to engage in these exercises and indicated genuine interest in continuing to work together.