Marissa_TP#11

Marissa M.
Tutoring Blog #11
10/2/14

For this session I brought Carson to visit Zoe.  Zoe is interested in being a fashion designer and has been talking with me about this for the past few sessions.  In our last session, she and I wrote interview questions for her to ask Carson.  This allowed her to practice writing.  Her mother specifically wanted her to focus on her speaking skills when we first began meeting.  Thus, I thought this would be another opportunity to do so, and would appeal to her interests as well. 

This was the first time I had been late (10 minutes) to our tutoring session.  I had texted Joanna, Zoe’s mother, to let her know I was a few minutes late, but I did not tell her why (I was waiting on Carson).   Zoe was outside waiting when we arrived.  As soon as Carson got out of the car she stood there trying to figure out what was going on.  I said “hi” and told her I wanted to introduce Carson to her.  As soon a she heard who it was, she got really excited, started screaming, and ran inside yelling “mom, mom” while we stood in the parking lot.  That made us giggle a bit!  We made our way inside and Zoe was being really shy at first compared to how she normally is with just me.  

To start the lesson and try to get Zoe to talk a little bit, I mentioned her artwork to Carson and asked her basic questions about her past week and how school had been.  I then asked if she still had the questions she had written to ask Carson.  So she got those out.  We then went over what an interview was and how people sit across from each other in interviews.  I positioned Zoe and Carson across from each other, with me more to the side of Zoe so that I could help her.

When Zoe began asking questions Carson was barely able to hear her because she was speaking so softly.  I was having a bit of a difficult time understanding her as well, so asked her to speak up.  To encourage her to be louder and less shy, we talked about how in interviews you had to speak loudly and proud, in a confident voice.  She got encouraged and began speaking louder.  

I had asked Carson ahead of time to please do not just give her “yes” and “no” answers because we wanted to work on her speaking skills.  Carson was good with this and asked Zoe questions with each one asked to her.  For example, one of Zoe’s questions was “what is your favorite color?”  When she asked this Carson replied and asked what her favorite color was.  

A few times during the session I would repeat the questions Zoe was asking with correct grammar.  In a way to both confirm what she was asking and rephrase correctly, without making her feel wrong or correcting her in front of Carson – which I thought would be bad and might make her even less confident with speaking.

Overall, I think this was a good session.  At the end, before Carson and I left, we all took pictures together.  Carson asked Zoe to design a dress and draw a picture of it for her.