Tutoring Help

Hi Bloggers,

As a requirement for my second language acquisition class, I must tutor an English language learner for approximately eight hours. When I first heard of this assignment I was extremely nervous. After spending some time thinking about whom I could help excel in the English language, I realized I could tutor a close friend who I worked with in a Mexican restaurant.

I had my first session with Alex this week. Alex is a 30 year old man from El Salvador. He can communicate in English but tends to make mistakes. He has lived in the United States for quite some time now. A text message from Alex could look like “she no come in today.” On my first session I prepared a bunch of activities for the verb “to be” in the present tense. I also created activities for contractions and the negative forms. Alex did wonderfully on these activities. No mistakes were made. I was very surprised because he does make these mistakes in his writing and speech. After reflecting on the material Alex requested some topics for our next session. He explained the difficulty he experiences when using the verbs in the infinitive, prepositions, and when to use the word “it”. He said he gets confused on why people use the word “it”; for example, “it is sunny outside today.”

Does anyone have any suggestions for my next session with Alex? Thanks for your help!

Vocabulary

1.       Requirement: an obligation, or something that is expected of you

2.       Approximately: roughly; a roundabout idea

3.       Extremely: very, really, enormously

4.       Excel: to surpass in something or exceed

5.       Communicate: converse, talk

6.       Reflecting: the act of thinking back on something; to recall information  

7.       Requested: to ask or wish for something

Exercise

Create your own sentences with the new vocabulary words using context clues. Here is an example “I would like to communicate with you via skype so I can see you.

Positivity

        As I am sitting here thinking about my next post, I am trying to decide what I would like to share with everyone. My interesting Valentine's Day comes to mind, my obsession with the Kardashian sisters, and even my fear of never getting a job due to the school budget cuts. However, today I am having such a productive and positive day I figured I would share this beautiful Tuesday with you.
        One quote that inspires me is "A man is but the product of his thoughts; what he thinks, he becomes." (Mahatma Gandhi) I always try my best to keep positive thoughts in my head and surround myself with positive people. Today I started my day early by babysitting my favorite cousins. Nothing starts off the day better than walking into work and having a 2.5 year olf screaming and smiling when you walk through the door. "AMANDA! AMANDA! I MISSED YOU!" Being an importnat figure in a child's life has never made me feel so special.
       After my joyful morning with the kids, I made my way to the gym. I've recently discovered my love for working out and I must say that it definately assists in maintaining the positive attitude and positive thinking. After I leave the gym, I feel like a million bucks. I currently am taking a hip-hop class along with zumba and yoga. For those who have never taken any of these classes, I highly recommend them.
       Following the gym session, I met my friends Nadine for a healthy lunch and a trip to the pet store. Spending quality time with your girlfriends is mandatory; especially when you have a friend like Nadine. Her great sense of humor and her outgoing personality is addicting. Plus, there is no better place to make you feel good than visiting the puppies. :)

       Well, that's all for today. I hope that my beautiful Tuesday is just as beautiful as yours.

Vocabulary
1. Obession: to be fascinated by something; to be passionate
2. Inspire: to motivate or encourage
3. Figure: an important character; role model
4. Joyful: to be happy or pleased
5. Recently: lately, something new
6. Discovered: found out, learned something
7. Assists: helps; supports
8. Maintaining: continuing; preserving; keeping up with something
9. I feel like a million bucks: an idiom which describes a feeling of satisfaction and content
10. Zumba: a type of dance with Latin style music and moves
11. Recommend: to suggest or praise
12. Mandatory: required or necessary

Word Search

H R F N I S L C L L K H A M M 
L T W O O R E C E N T L Y A D 
Q L P E J I R U C N S H I W N 
L K D V F G S J F H R N G Y E 
D E R E V O C S I D T L R A M 
L U F Y O J A J E A N O T S M 
X I I X G U R B I S T B M S O 
F C N T T R H N M A B T I I C 
P Z O S F F I K D U M O C S E 
X S W M P N I N V P Z F G T R 
G Q X I G I A G F K I M E S L 
E W C V P M R B J G P V D G Z 
Y J D V E O Y E U K N L U O I 
L U Y M N G P R N N D W I L N 
K T I S N Q E D E U E X B U I 

ASSISTS  DISCOVERED  FIGURE  INSPIRE  JOYFUL  MAINTAINING
MANDATORY  OBSESSION  RECENTLY  RECOMMEND  ZUMBA

Grammar Point
The present progessive is formed by using the verb "to be: with the present participle. The present participle (ing). One may use this tense for many reasons.

• Actions happening at the moment of speaking
• Fixed plan in the near future
• Temporary actions
• Actions happening around the moment of speaking
• Trends
• Repeated actions which are irritating the speaker

In this blog, there are many examples of the present progressive. Can you pick out the sentences? Re-write the sentences in the present progressive below.

Welcome to Amanda's ESL Blog!

Hello!

It’s the beginning of a new semester and I am excited to enhance my grammar skills. Grammar was never my strong point, so I know this class will be a challenge for me. I am also excited to read my classmate’s blogs. It will be nice to learn about everyone outside of the classroom. Throughout this semester, I hope to keep you interested on posts about my daily experiences, cooking and my favorite recipes, my crazy Italian family, and my favorite reality television shows. However, you will have to stay tuned for more gossip.

I bet you are all wondering how I got here. Growing up I always knew I wanted to be a language teacher. No class kept me intrigued like the Spanish classroom did. I went off to Iona College to study Spanish Education. After I graduated with a degree in Adolescent Spanish Education, I was not eager to apply for jobs. I was not confident enough to teach the language. I decided to go back to school full-time for my master’s degree in the TESOL program.  

                I currently live in Lynbrook with my parents and my dog, Boo Boo. My younger brother is away at college, who I miss every day. I work part-time babysitting for my cousin Mike. He has 2 kids who are 2.5 years old and 4 months. I also babysit for another family with twins who are 1 year old. I love spending my time with children and there is nothing else I would rather do.

               

That’s all for now! J

“Make it a great day or not. The choice is yours!”

               

Vocabulary

Enhance: to improve or develop

Challenge: a task; test

Daily: day-to-day; every day

Gossip: conversation or chit chat

Intrigued: fascinated, interested or attracted

Adolescent:  When speaking about adolescent in the field of education it refers to students in grades 7-12.

Eager: enthusiastic or excited

Confident: assured; assertive

Currently: presently; at this point in time

Exercise

1.       I am looking forward to ____________ my grammar skills and continue learning to better my knowledge as a language/ESL teacher.

2.       Now, I am ____________ living at home with my family and babysitting while attending graduate school full-time.

3.       After I graduated Iona College with a degree in ____________ Spanish Education, I was not ________ to begin teaching. I decided graduate school would be a better option for me.

4.       During my high school days, the Spanish classroom always kept me __________. I was fascinated by learning a new language and culture other than my own.

5.       Throughout this blogging experience, I hope to keep you interested by posting interesting __________ experiences and other things that I enjoy doing.

6.       I decided not to get a job teaching Spanish right away because I was not _________ enough with the language to teach it.

Grammar Point

In the second paragraph I used the past tense. Can you pick out the verbs in the past tense and explain why I used this?

Can you tell me what tense I used in the third paragraph and why?