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Savannah TS #3


For my third tutoring session, I met Nathaly for the first time at Gilchrist elementary. Nathaly is a third grader who has been in the US for 6 months. Her teacher, Mrs. Thomas told me that she does not speak and class and has trouble understanding. When I met Nathaly, I learned that she was very shy. When I spoke with her in English, she blankly looked at me and did not respond. I realized that to build confidence with her, I should speak to her in Spanish. When I started speaking in Spanish, she began to open up and seemed more comfortable. I explained to her, in Spanish, the fun and importance of knowing two languages. I told her we could help each other with both English and Spanish. I then asked her about what she likes to do and what her favorite subjects are. She showed me one of her drawings. I can tell that our first few sessions will need to be focused on her being comfortable with me. She is very reserved and is incredibly shy when speaking English. I asked her if she had a book and she showed me a comic book that was a little too difficult to read for her. We went to the library and found some bilingual books. When she saw the Spanish words she instantly lit up and was so excited to read. I had her read the Spanish part, then the English part of each page. Afterward, I had her read only the English part and I had her tell me what it meant in Spanish. I learned that her pronunciation is almost perfect and I feel confident that she will have no trouble learning English if she gains more confidence with it. 

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