J Logan Matthews
TP#9 Observation 2
Sep 17, 2014 (3:30PM-4:30PM)
Hecht House
Today's entry was an observation of Harrison's tutoring session and Gale's observation/co-tutoring.
My usual was session with Alba & Juan on Wednesday's was cancelled because they needed to study for their midterms. Luckily I found Gale and Harrison in the lobby about to be begin their own tutor-observation. There was supposed to be a group of three tutees so we may have had parity but only two showed. I still found some intervals where I was able to chime in a bit with examples.
The session began with Harrison offering some snacks which was a nice touch. Then Harrison asked his tutees if they needed help with their work and both tutees already had something in mind. They needed help completing a form for volunteer bike building at the bicyclehouse website. Once Harrison and Gale were able to locate the correct website, Gale thought it could be used as a great opportunity to expound on English practice.
While explaining the term to the tutees, Gale skimmed and scanned the page for the general meaning. She picked out the colloquial terms like "pickout a bike" and "get your bike on the road," for practice. Ko, one of the tutees asked for ways to separate motorbikes from bicycles. Some examples of differences were given by each of us when I showed her the leather jackets, motorbikers usually wear and Gale the helmets cyclists wear.
Both tutees, Ko and Sapphora, were curious about how much the cost would be when the verb donate was defined for them as well as the term to "pick up." The topics digressed as they completed the rest of the webpage form. Directions were given and geography mentioned as we all tried to make sense of the map and their schedules. All throughout the session Gale gave very enthusiastic encouragement and was able to regale the tutees with her own background in cycling. In comparison to us greenhorns, she makes it appear so easy in the practice of establishing and maintaining teacher rapport when you have a wealth of interesting experiences to share.
I had an epiphany on my way home from this session. When I used the word "neat" (as in cool, awesome), Coo kept touching my shirt sleeve and asking "neat." Coo was asking about the word "knit." My shirt was a knitted fabric, and she must have knowledge of fabric. I saw Coo later in the lounge and told her about "knit" and "neat" and gave her a note about the two words. She was very appreciative because that was what she was trying to learn.
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