TEFL 2021 - Madison Elford

9:00am - 10:00am Paper Fox Coffee Cafe We reviewed some verb and noun uses today. Some were confusing for him because some words can act as both a noun and a verb, such as gerunds. We also looked at different forms of words and which can describe a noun compared to which can describe a verb. Adverbs were a little harder for him to understand. I had trouble explaining a solid way of identifying adverbs other than the "ly" they usually have at the end of the word. Other than that, I told him to look for what word the adverb/adjective is describing. If he can identify it as a noun or a verb, then the describtor can be identified as either an adverb or an adjective. But in the case of gerunds, it was especially difficult to make that identification for him. Another fun thing we talked about was Justin Bieber. At our last conversation partner meeting, I overheard a justin beiber song and said "ugh". He asked me today why I didn't like him, so showed him Bieber's ...

9:00am - 10:00am Paper Fox Coffee Cafe Today, we worked on word emphasization, and pronunciation. Since meeting Hengwei, I have noticed that when he talks, he does not emphasize words or take pauses in logical areas. It was something I hadn't even thought of as part of English learning until this point. I realized that in Chinese, emphasis can't be shown through tone because different tones change the meaning of the words. So today, we used one of his old discussion posts to work on showing him where emphasis should be in each sentence. I started by having him read the sentence aloud, then guess where the emphasis would go. I would then read the sentence (giving a little more emphasis that I would have naturally to give hints to where it would be), and then have him underline where it would be if spoken aloud. Then I had him practice the sentence again with emphasis. I also showed him where pauses in sentences go, and how long they should be. I wasn't sure how to describe i...

Date : 07/23/21 Time : 11:30am - 1:30pm Location : San Miguel  Topic Discussed : Ordering Food, Card Games Cultural topic : Trying ethnically diverse food for the first time, and learning American card games like Uno and Sushi Go. Personal Thoughts : We actually had a lot of fun. I think my tutee and I have gotten to be good friends now. He invited his brother to come, and I invited my boyfriend to come to make sure we had enough people to play cards with. We started with ordering the food. I explained some of the dfferent kinds of Mexican food. I think he and his brother enjoyed the food. Next, we explained the rules of the games we chose, and played them. Once the rules were understood by everyone, it moved a lot smoother. 

9:00am - 10:00am Paper Fox Coffee Cafe We reviwed more writing skills today. His usual issues with "the" and pluralities were much less prominent this time. It seems that the extra review in his writing and speaking abilities has greatly improved his skills. I am really glad that I can see his progress actively as time goes on. I was really worried that I wouldn't really be able to help him through my tutoring because of how advanced he already was. We also went over a lot of slang phrases and cultural references in movies and shows. A lot of the cultural references were from religion and African American culture. It was strange because what seemed normal, or easy to understand to me was very strange and hard to grasp for him. I hope to keep teaching him slang and cultural references that pretain to America. 

9:00am-10:00am Zoom Meeting Today, we reviewed some of his homework. He is still having issues with when to pluralize certain words and when not to. I did my best to point out why each individual word would or wouldn't need to be pluralized. Each situation is a little bit different so its impossible to have one overall rule. Another issue he still struggles with in writing is when to use "the" in a sentence. Once I point out that there is a problem with the sentence, he usually gets it though. The "the" he struggles with is the one to show specificness of a noun in a sentence. After that, we reviewed idioms such as "On the ball", "to give someone props", "every cloud has a silver lining", and "to get ahead of oneself". They were a little tough to explain, but he understood most of them after a bit. Issues mostly came from vocabulary misundersstandings (because some words mean different things in idioms). 

Date : 07/16/21 Time : 11:30am - 1:00pm Location : LongHorn Steakhouse Topic Discussed : Ordering Food, Travel Plans Cultural topic : Differences in the way steak is ordered in the U.S., and the different sauces used for steak and fries.  Personal Thoughts : This was a really cool experience. This was my first conversation partner meeting with my tutee (since I had to get a new conversation partner). A few weeks ago, my tutee had asked me to teach him about ways to order steak. I then got to see this lesson put to pratical use as he ordered steak without needing any help. I am really glad I got to see that I am actually helping to improve his English skills. 

9:00am - 10:00am Paper Fox Coffee Cafe Today, we worked on essay and paragraph structures. I explained a lot about how and when to separate paragraphs based on content. He was confused by the idea that when bringing in a new topic, you need to create a new paragraph unless it can be connected to the previous paragraph's main idea. I also was able to explain how an apostrophe shows possession. It was an interesting way to explain it because I used Chinese to explain it (since my second language is Chinese, and his first language is Chinese). Chinese has a possessive word that is used in conjection with other words to say things like "my friend's...", and I was able to explain it with my second language. I am starting to see the benefits of teaching myself the host language in order to communicate clearer with my tutee. We also reviewed listening drills for words he didn't understand or know. Words like "Adverse" and "overly" were confusing becau...

 9:00am - 10:00am Paper Fox Coffee Cafe Today, we focused a lot of slang used in phrases, or slang phrases. Things such as "you are in good hands" was especially confusing for him. We also worked on his homework for a discussion class. His topic was whether or not the internet was making people more stupid or not. A recurring problem in his writing seems to be knowing when to use the present tense or the past tense. It happens specifically when he writes cause and effect sentences, or effect and cause sentences. I explained that when writing this type of sentence, isolate the cause and the effect from each other. Then make the cause past tense, and the effect present tense because the effect is ongoing while the cause has already ended. I think he understood a little better at the end of the sentence. I think his main issue is identifying the cause/effect in those types of sentences. I have noticed that his English has gotten more fluent and he understands more when I talk la...

Date : 07/10/21 Time : 2:00 - 3:00  Location : Strozier Library, Florida State Campus Topic Discussed : Favorite English Books, TV shows, and Movies Cultural topic : The books, tv shows, and movies were all American based, and very popular in American culture.  Personal Thoughts : Most of the conversation still took place over google translate, or by searching up images of the thing we were talking about. I'm pretty sure his reading and writing skills are very good in English. The listening and speaking skills are what he struggles with most, which makes it very hard to communicate in English. 

9:00am-10:00am Paper Fox Coffee Cafe Today, we focused on difficult pronunciations of words. A lot of the minimal pairs we went over were difficult for him to hear the difference between, and then even more difficult for him to pronounce. Pairs such as "lull and low", "four and fall", and "full and fall" were words he struggled to differentiate. We talked about the different L sounds, such as the Light L, and the Dark L in English. Another difficult spot in pronunciation was "usually" and "version". "Usually" contains the Dark L that does not exist in his host language, Chinese. The same issue occurs in "version", where the /v/ sound simply doesn't exist in the Chinese sound system. The closest letter that exists int eh Chinese sound system was /w/, and I helped explain that /v/ and /w/ were similar, but the sound changed at the end depending on the lip movement. He had trouble hearing the difference, so we revei...

 9:00am - 10:00am  Paper Fox Cafe Coffee  Beforehand, Xing mentioned that he wanted to learn more about American comedy and culture. He was very intrinsically motivated to learn how to say and understand jokes told in English so he could laugh with his friends and roommates. Today, I brought in a handful of my favorite comedians, and some of their shows so that he could watch them on Netflix later. I also explained a bit of vocab required to be able to talk about comedy. Words like "Stand-up", "Comedian", "Comic", and "Skits", were what I chose to teach. I also showed him tv shows that focused primarily on comedy, such as the Daily Show, or Saturday Night Live. These shows and the stand-up on Netlflix should give him a good start on comedy. We also reviewed some of his homework. There is a noticiable difference in his writing skills since the last time we reviewed his writing homework. I saw far less mistakes, and noticed that when I pointed out ...

Date : 07/02/21 Time : 1:30 - 2:30  Location : Florida State Campus Topic Discussed : Discussed college majors, careers, and future plans. Cultural topic : When discussing future careers, we spoke a lot about Columbia's political system, and careers he could pursue in it.  Personal Thoughts : Despite meeting in person this time, it was still difficult to communicate. I am not sure what he means to say a lot of the time, and I am sure he feels the same way about me. We try to use google translate a bit, but it's still a big hill to get over. We planned to go for coffee next week to talk about food and drink preference. 

 9:00am - 10:00am  Paper Fox Coffee Cafe  Today, we did a bit of a food culture lesson. He had a lot of questions about ways to order different kinds of food. Steak is especially different from the way they order it in China. I showed him different meat cuts, different meat temperatures, steak suaces, and meat rubs that restuarants may ask about. It made me realize that a lot of American foods/restuarants cater to the way each individual person wants it, unlike in Chinese culture, where it comes the way it is prepared. We also talked about chicken wings, and the best places to purchase wings. (I suggested wingstop, but then decided that he would like buffalo wild wings better because they have more spicy sauces). American food isn't nearly as spicy as Chinese food, and it is hard to find good parallels for that. We also discussed teas and coffees. His questions became, "what is American food?", and I couldn't find a good answer. American food is kind of stolen from a ...