Even though I intend to leave the tutoring session within an
hour, the last two sessions have lasted over an hour and a half. I get caught up in the lessons and with
Jarrah’s interest in learning; time slips away. This week we started with a worksheet on “Article
Usage”. Using a worksheet is
proving to be a successful way to begin the lessons, as the student is given a
foundation to learn upon, with immediate rewards. Jarrah was able to practice his knowledge of article rules
with dozens of examples.
Next, Jarrah showed me his mid-term study sheet of
vocabulary words he needed to be familiar with. The words were scientific in nature (e.g. DNA, genes,
chromosomes, molecule, determine, analyze, etc.). We had a layman’s science lesson for the next hour. It was enjoyable to me because I have
always been fascinated with human anatomy and physiology --especially DNA. He was familiar with the material, yet
only in Arabic. Jarrah’s friend
from Kuwait was also present for most of the lesson.
When his prayer alarm clock went off with a beautiful a capella call to prayer. I was distracted and started listening to the Arabic
song. I asked him and his friend
many questions about Islam. They
happily answered all of my questions, even to the point of Jarrah showing me
exactly how they pray.
Using a worksheet is a good way of providing scaffolding. However, make sure an interactive activity that gives the student to practice grammar-in-use follows after completing the worksheet.
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