On Monday, January 14th
from 1:00-1:50, I observed Derrick Pollack’s Group 1 Speaking class. The focus of that class was to help students
in their speaking skills. At the beginning of the class, the professor asked
students what they did over the weekend and had each student tell the class
what they did. Then each student presented their presentation on fun facts
about their friends at CIES. After each
student presented, the teacher graded their presentation using a rubric. He
then had them open up their books to Chapter 1 with a passage about Tallahassee
and read the passage to them. Students were then instructed to work with a
partner and answer the questions in the book about Tallahassee. Materials that
the students and the professor used during the class were PowerPoint, the
computer, a projector, a textbook, and notes. Derrick Pollack focused on what
students were saying throughout their presentations and when they spoke with
their partners to identify any mistakes that the students made and then corrected
them. He also wrote these mistakes down in his own notes so that he could go
over them again in their next class. Lessons
on teaching that I learned from this class is that it’s important to talk to
students and read to them at a slower pace so that the students can understand
you better. I also saw that it is good to speak slower and clearer when
correcting students. I liked that the teacher would ask students to clarify
what they said if they did not say something correctly (for example, if they
forgot to use a subject) so that students can have a better understanding of
what they said incorrectly. At the end
of the class, the teacher had students go over the vocabulary on words relating
to outdoor games and activities students can do in Tallahassee and had them
form sentences using those vocabulary words.
My next tutoring session was with Turki. We met at the Starbucks on Tennessee Street, the usual spot, and started the session with a causal conversation about life and his short term English goals. Turki decided he didn't want to continue with the second session of CIES classes, and that he wanted to rather focus solely on passing the IELTS exam. He said he found the CIES classes to be helpful, but also distracting. He said he thinks he's gotten the most out of his classes and that it would be more productive for him to study on his own. Where I don't completely agree with his logic, it is his life and I trust his decision making. For this session he brought his own material that he wanted to focus on. This time it was a reading passage that I even found to be quite difficult, and I was once again impressed by his far reach in practice and ability. The reading passage was accompanied by a set of numerous comprehension questions that we reviewed and answered together. The qu...
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