After Alberto and I got over the words he was struggling with he told me that he had been talking with Ofelia. He would like to get as much help as possible with his English. He knows that his lack of knowledge with the basics is what is holding him back. Ofelia has told him that two people in our English class are without partners. He asked me who they were and if I could somehow get them in contact with each other. Alberto is available in the evenings on Mondays and Fridays. I am continuously shocked by how dedicated he is about mastering English.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Newspaper
When I met Alberto last night we immediately started reviewing his note cards. He knew them with great ease. He asked not to make new ones this time because he is having a busy week and did not think he would have the time to devote to studying new note cards. Alberto has also been writing weekly journal entries, so I went over his previous entry. I noticed that frequently forgets to put a subject in his sentence and often mixes up tenses but besides that his writing is flawless. After that we started to read an article from the ESL newspaper. Alberto could read perfectly but when I would ask him to summarize the paragraph he just read he could not do that. I started realizing that Alberto does not understand some basic words like believe, trust, change, and numerous other words. Without understanding those basic words it is difficult to understand a sentence or paragraph as a whole. I found that it was hard for me even to describe what believe means. Those words are so instinctive to me.
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4 comments:
I enjoyed your post about your tutoring session. I think it is often a challenge to describe words and their meaning when we rarely think about how to explain them in a different way. I hope Alberto receives more help from our class =)
Alberto's enthusiasm and dedication continues to surprise me as well as I read your blog entries. He sounds like he is incredibly determined and driven to succeed and most of all excited to learn. Teaching and tutoring is always easier when the student is excited to learn. I hope that Alberto can continue to receive the help he needs, and it sounds like you're doing an amazing job.
Hey Catherine,
That was a great idea to read from the Newspaper. It sounds like ya'll have made some great progress. I am extremely impressed by his dedication. With his long hours I figured he'd be zonked after yalls session and work so the fact he wants more is impressive. Hopefully other people without partners will be able to give him those additional meetings.
Hi Catherine, I too am overwhelmed by Alberto's dedication. If he has not already hooked up with another student, we really need to get him somebody else. This is really impressive. Thanks for your good work and effort. You are one of the reasons why Alberto is so excited. Best,
Dan W.
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