Logan_TP#14

J Logan Matthews
TP#14
Sep 26, 2014 (5:30PM-6:30PM)
Tutee's Residence


I tutored Claire again this evening at our usual time. Today's session was more ersatz than usual because Claire's main focus was on the plane model kit she was awarded at her school through academic merit. The reading material was possibly below her level in my opinion so I made frequent stops to develop vocabulary and comprehension checks. Since the book was about Birds I quizzed her on the types and characteristics of common birds. Like at one point there was a hawk was pictured so I introduced the phrase "bird of prey," and the noun "predator." Then, at another point I hinted at the Darwinian morphology of the birds by quizzing her on beaks and their uses by the birds. 

Once we finished the short book we moved onto reading the instructions for and preparing the model kit plane. It became readily apparent that while on the box the plane claimed to be for ages 6 and up the complexity was much more advanced. The plane had maybe 50 pieces in total and many had to be glued on in different stages of bound with rubber bands. This was a far cry from the simple rubber band flyers I remember as a child. 


So we both struggled to make sense of the design after the preliminary parts of punching out the pieces and sanding them. I still used the actions as opportunities to introduce new nouns and verbs for her like "sandpaper" and "sawdust." Claire's mother limits my sessions to an hour exactly but it was obvious with the glue drying so slow that the model could take several days to assemble so it was somewhat disappointing for me but Claire did not appear daunted by this but found the circumstances more amusing which was quite relieving. As I was leaving, I remembered to slip in a short explanation of the equinoxes and solstices when Jihei mentioned the weather.