Verbs, verbs, and...French?

This week Gerardo and I continued our journey with verbs. He came with a few paragraphs prepared for me to edit that he'd written during his lunch break. As I read over and corrected his writing, he studied another lesson in his verb workbook. When we went over the corrections I'd made on his paper, he understood his mistakes and I told him he was doing well and improving. He has trouble with spelling in his writing, as he tends to write words like they sound, which does not always work in English. Afterward, we worked through two lessons in his workbook, completing the have and had and have got and had got sections. He struggles with questions, such as Did you have fun?, and gets confused when the present form can also be past. I explained that it is I have, I had but it is Did she have fun? Yes, she had fun. We worked through some similar sentences and he started to understand better when I explained further. I hated the have got lesson as I kept hearing a certain English professor that I have this semester saying in the back of my head that there is always a better verb than got. When I asked if he wanted to start another lesson, he said he was tired of working with grammar in the workbook, and wanted to practice his writing. He told me to dictate to him and he would write what he heard, which is a great learning technique that I have used in all of my language classes. Since I did not have a reading book, which he asked me to read from, I took out my French textbook, which has stories about people and different things that they have done or like doing; it's mostly culture based, but I thought it would suffice. He chuckled and playfully asked if I was going to read it in French. I said that I would read it in English, translating as I went along. And so I read a few paragraphs about this one guy and what he likes to do on the weekends and then about how he was going to go camping for vacation. It was from chapter one in my book, so it had simple words and ideas for our first dictation. As a correction tool, I marked his paper, and rewrote the paragraphs with the corrections below his writing, so he could have the two to look at later. We discussed next week, and I asked if he had practiced typing yet with the website I'd given him. He said he hadn't since the internet was not working at his house, but that we could work on it during our session next week. I told him I'd bring a newspaper to read to him for another listening/writing exercise for next time, so as not to have to resort to my French textbook again, and we left it until next week. I enjoyed this week because I felt that I was helping him improve his writing, as I have seen the improvements he has made. For instance, the things he struggled with last week still give him some trouble but I could tell he'd studied his notes. I know he really wants to improve and I see this every time I meet with him. I know that it is the end of the day for both of us, and 4:30 on a Wednesday is a hard time to meet, as it is in the middle of the week and the weekend seems far off but still close enough to wish it were Friday. Anyway, I am beginning to get a better sense of where he is in his studies and how to help him better. I liked reading while he wrote what I read, and I think this is a good activity we can continue in the weeks to come.

Meeting #3

This week seemed to pass slowly; the lesson seemed to drag on and on. I think this was because I was tired and it was simply one of those Wednesdays that really needed to be a Friday. So pushing aside my mental distractions, I focused on writing and verbs. Gerardo came with a few paragraphs about a singer he liked, and I politely read through it and corrected his grammar, explaining as I went along. When I asked why he did not e-mail it to me, to practice what we went over last week with e-mail, he said that his typing was slow and he needed to practice. I gave him a website (www.typing-lessons.org) so he could practice and we agreed that we'd discuss his progress next week and maybe even go through some typing exercises during our session. After we finished going over his paper, we worked through verb exercises in his workbook. It took awhile and I felt like we didn't accomplish a lot, but I think I did a good job in finding the balance between letting him work through a question and me giving him the answer. I waited a little bit, watching his face concentrate, until I decided the time was enough and I should explain the sentence further or help him with the answer. This is probably why I think it took a long time, and compared with my tiredness and it feeling and needing to be Friday, it made the session feel like it lasted longer than our other meetings, which have always passed quickly. We made it through one lesson and started the second when the hour was up, and we discussed preparation for next week. He said he would finish the current lesson and the next so we could go over it next week, and that he would also practice his typing and write another short paper for me to review. All in all, it was a slow, yet productive meeting, and before we parted, I asked if he thought this was helping and if things and concepts were getting easier. He smiled and said he felt more confident and that he was learning. This made me feel that while I sometimes think I am an insufficient teacher, I am helping him a little.

Meeting #2 with Gerardo

I would like to start by being negative. I shall begin with my faults, as my partner, Gerardo, does not have any faults, being attentive, eager to learn, and always engaging in his lessons. However, I cannot even begin to count the number of times I have asked "Does that make sense?" after I explain something. I must stop it because I am so repetitive and have caught myself every time I say it, and think to myself not again. It is important because I know I said it numerous times in our first meeting, but then I continued to say it today. Anyway, in spite of needing another phrase other than "Got it?" which is something I would never say, I think I often feel awkward in my sessions, in that I cannot always explain to the best of my abilities, as I am thinking on the spot. For instance, in today's session, Gerardo and I worked on the verb list we had started last week, by me explaining a word (verb) and its use and describing the meaning in terms and examples. Then he would write the Spanish equivalent on his paper for future study. While running through this process I stumbled on some words because there are many similar words as far as meaning goes, so I had a hard time explaining why there are words that are alike, yet different also in usage. I would like to note, however, that it is a nice challenge because I think it helps me further understand how words in my native language are used, and I also love English, and words obviously, so I enjoy explaining them to Gerardo, and he is such an excellent partner to teach. During the last part of our session, when we had completed the verb list, I asked if he wanted to go over the exercises in his workbook, but he asked if I could show him how to send an e-mail instead. I felt two emotions at this point: shocked and pleased. Shocked because how could someone not know that, and pleased because I could help him with such a detrimental part of our communication these days. He knew his log in name and password, and had checked his e-mail in early October, but had several e-mails that were unopened. I walked him through the e-mail process (i.e., clicking on New, typing in the recipients e-mail or looking them up with our system, selecting a subject, the attachment and copy someone options, and then typing the message and clicking send) and then he sent two e-mails of his own. When the e-mail disappeared after clicking send, I told him that it had sent it, and he was so happy that he had sent an e-mail. I was smiling along with him because I felt that even though I might not always be the best at coming up with synonyms and explanations of what the verbs we are working with mean and how they are used, I had just showed him something that is important to everyday life and his job, as he needs to know how to send e-mail through the TCU system. After he sent e-mails, he checked his ten or so new e-mails, and then it was time to say good-bye and discuss preparation for next week. I asked if he would practice sending more e-mails and suggested that he write a short paper for next week, since I hadn't helped him with his writing yet. Then I suggested that he e-mail it to me, and his face just lit up. I said that there was no pressure with the writing assignment, and if he did not have time we could continue to work on other things, but he was excited and said he wanted to do the "homework," if you will. All in all, this was an exceptional session and I hope all the rest are just as productive. So I guess I ended on a positive note after all.  

New Partner

I haven't blogged in while because my partner kept canceling on me due to doctor appointments. About a week ago, she had a friend call me to explain that she could no longer continue in the program and that she did not call because she could not explain herself. Anyway, I was assigned a new partner, Gerardo, who I met with on Wednesday. He was sweet natured and eager to learn. I told him for the sake of time, as he had brought things to work on, that we could quickly introduce ourselves. I told him I'd lived in Texas my whole life and that my major was Journalism and English. He told me that he'd worked at TCU for 16 years and loved it and that he took care of the flowers around campus. Then we discussed what he wanted to work on during our sessions. He had told me on the phone when we set up a time to meet that he wanted to work on verbs and reading and writing. I found some websites that have verb worksheets and grade them instantly that we might work with in the upcoming weeks, but he had brought a list of verbs to work on and a book that he had recently bought. Like I said, he was eager to get started. We went through a list of verbs that I explained what they meant and described as far as actions and usual meanings and usages go, and he wrote the equivalent in Spanish so he could study them later. That took up most of the time, as it went by quickly, and I skimmed some of the exercises he had begun in his verb book. Then it was time to wrap it up, having almost finished the list of verbs he was working on learning, and we agreed to finish the list next week, as well as start to go over the exercises in his book. Overall, it was a great first meeting, and I feel like we accomplished a lot. I'm looking forward to working with him in the future weeks. Stay tuned.