Today I met with one of my tutees, Junwen. Junwen is Chinese and hasn't been in the United States for very long. We met at Strozier. Since it was the first time I'd seen him, and wasn't sure what level he was at, we spend the time working on one of the readings he was assigned for homework. It was a fairly difficult passage (the topic was procrastination and how it affects students). Junwen had been told that he shouldn't learn new vocabulary in terms of Chinese words, and so he wanted me to explain some of the more difficult ones in English. He read the passage quietly, and when he came to one he didn't understand, I tried to explain it as best I could. This was rather difficult, as it turns out, because even when I could think of a synonym of the word that needed explaining, it wouldn't be quite right. For example, I thought it was important that he understand the word "estimated" but it took a while to explain that "to estimate" means "to guess based on a reasonable amount of evidence" (in terms of much simpler words than that).
It seemed to me that Junwen was too interested in knowing the exact definition of each word, rather than understanding the passage. I tried to help by assuring him that many of the words don't come up often (for example, "maladaptive", and "self-efficacy" were used). I highlighted the words that I thought he would be most likely to hear again ("to contribute to", " to estimate", and "to hurry", for example) in the hopes that that would help him spend his time studying well. Since it appeared to be a passage intended for intensive reading, though, I wanted him to feel comfortable that he understood almost all the words relatively well. After we'd gone through the passage, Junwen seemed to understand the main ideas. He said that he often procrastinates and can relate to some of the situations explained in the passage.
Before we left Junwen mentioned that he would like to improve his pronunciation. I think that next time, we might be able to do the same thing - him reading and asking about certain words - except I could take note of which words he needed to practice.
It seemed to me that Junwen was too interested in knowing the exact definition of each word, rather than understanding the passage. I tried to help by assuring him that many of the words don't come up often (for example, "maladaptive", and "self-efficacy" were used). I highlighted the words that I thought he would be most likely to hear again ("to contribute to", " to estimate", and "to hurry", for example) in the hopes that that would help him spend his time studying well. Since it appeared to be a passage intended for intensive reading, though, I wanted him to feel comfortable that he understood almost all the words relatively well. After we'd gone through the passage, Junwen seemed to understand the main ideas. He said that he often procrastinates and can relate to some of the situations explained in the passage.
Before we left Junwen mentioned that he would like to improve his pronunciation. I think that next time, we might be able to do the same thing - him reading and asking about certain words - except I could take note of which words he needed to practice.
I have similar experiences with my tutees as well. It is very difficult to explain certain words in English, since we have grown up all our lives hearing and using the words in proper context or with their synonymous counterparts (without ever questioning it before). However, you did a wonderful job sticking through it and making sure he became comfortable with the passage and terminology! I hope to achieve this with my partners as well. ^.^
ReplyDeleteIt was actually pretty fun! The hardest part was deciding how much detail to give him about each word.
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