Journal #2 -- Feb. 2nd, 2011

Journal #2

February 2, 2011

8:30-10:30 (2 hours)

I was supposed to meet with my tutor on Tuesday of this week but ended up having to reschedule my meeting. When I arrived to the high school it turned out my student had a substitute teacher that day. This was not a problem, but then she told me my tutee was not scheduled to be in her class that day. I was obviously confused. So was the substitute teacher. We decided I would leave for the day and email the actual teacher. I was worried I would not be able to meet with my tutee this week but found out I would still get to spend two hours with him on the 4^th instead.

We spent the first hour of our lesson working on a small confidence building activity. I presented Oscar with a series of ten note cards each containing a question or discussion topic. I asked Oscar all of these questions and he answered them in English. The questions ranged from “what is your favorite color?” to “what future goals to you have?” or “who is your hero and why?” These questions got Oscar speaking in more than one word answers. Once I had asked him each of the questions I told him to ask me each of the questions in Spanish. When he did I responded with my answers in Spanish. Even though I have studied Spanish for a few years I knew that I was still making mistakes. After I finished speaking I asked Oscar if I had made any mistakes. He said yes. I asked him if I seemed to hesitate when I made a mistake. He said no. Then, I asked him what mistakes I made. When he told me, I wrote down my mistakes and had him ask me two questions again so I could fix the mistakes I had made. Once Oscar saw me speak confidently in Spanish and then bravely do it again, but trying to fix my mistakes I thought he might be able to do the same. I then told him it was his job to take those ten note cards and ask the librarian those questions in English. I told him he could take notes if he wanted but he had to ask her questions in English, then come and tell me, in English, how the librarian had answered each of the questions. I asked him if he noticed any mistakes in his English and he immediately noted some mistakes. So, I pointed to another student in the library and asked him to go ask that student the same questions, but this time making sure to fix the mistakes he made before. He did. When he returned he said he did much better with his original mistakes and noticed a few others.

We had a small discussion about why he is afraid to speak English in front of others. He explained to me that he is afraid of saying a word incorrectly. Once he specifically told me he wanted help with pronunciation I knew it was a good sign. He was going to tell me exactly why he was afraid to speak in others. This meant we could focus on these aspects and increase both his confidence and use of the English language by working on these things. He told me he is afraid people will make fun of his pronunciation. So, looking back at the cards with written questions I had him read each question aloud, clearly and confidently. He did very well on a lot of his pronunciation until he got to the “f” “v” and “th” sounds. He also had a little trouble with words that had “l” in the middle such as “could,” “would,” and “world.” He was making the correct vowel sounds for the vowels shown, but these words are irregular and stress the inconsistencies in the English language. We worked through some of these sounds and how to form them in the mouth. He was already getting much better with “v” and “th” when we ran out of time. I left the question cards with him so he could practice these words during the week. He asked me to bring in something so we can work on pronunciation next week.

I was pleased with this lesson. Everything went well and it seems like Oscar is starting to get more comfortable with me. He was answering my questions easier than normal today and only attempted to revert to Spanish twice.

Things to work on:

1. Pronunciation workbooks, with specific focus on “f,” “v,” and “th” sounds.

2. Speaking English as a first choice rather than Spanish (he told me he immediately reverts to Spanish if he knows someone speaks Spanish so he will work on trying to speak English with these friends)

Next Meeting:

1. 2 hour meeting on Tuesday, February 9^th.

2. Will take a pronunciation workbook/activity

3. Play a game that will help to encourage pronunciation and confidence at the same time.