Lauren TP#4

This meeting was with my soon-to-be 3^rd grader, Jason and his cousin, Jenny. After out last tutoring session Jason’s dad came up to me and explained that his niece, Jenny was staying with them for the summer and was visiting form Korea. He told me that she had an interest in learning English. I saw her sitting alone last time I met with Jason and ended up acquiring her as an additional tutee. Her English was good enough to join us in apples to apples but Jason was constantly whispering in her ear and having to translate for her.

The fluency difference between Jason and Jenny is very apparent. Jason attends school here in Tallahassee and is very chatty. Until this tutoring session I was very unclear of where Jenny’s English skills were. I often felt as though she understood what I was saying to her but she was so meek and quiet that I could not be sure.

For this meeting I printed out some worksheets designed for 3^rd graders because I knew it would only be slightly above grade level for Jason. I was shocked to see Jenny light up at the sight of worksheets. To my surprise, Jenny’s grammar and writing was great, she was just too shy to talk. We played word games after filling out two worksheets. After filling out the worksheets I saw that Jenny and Jason are about on the same level, this was a relief. I was originally really worried about having a multi-level tutoring group but after seeing the worksheets my worries were calmed.

Before we said goodbye I talked to Jenny and asked how she liked the worksheets. She told me that she really liked them and wanted me to bring more next week. I know that Jason is a little more adventurous and playful, he would much rather learn through games. In order to please them both, we will play a word game for 30 mins and do worksheets and reading for the other 30 minutes for our next lesson. I think that I am very lucky that my tutees have such different learning styles because that allows me to explore different teaching options.