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...