McKenna TS #8

Date/Time: May 28
Location: Strozier Library
Topic/Skill: past tenses, pronunciation of minimal pairs (v and b, th sound), word choice in speaking
Feedback Provided: I went over the 4 past tenses with my tutee, allowing her to explain each one first and then correcting and adding whatever she missed. We also went over how you sometimes use the present form when speaking in past tense when paraphrasing something that someone said. For example, saying “He told me that he likes me”. I also corrected her pronunciation for some minimal pairs as she was telling me a story. There were a few word she made that were either incorrect or awkward, as well. For example, she said, “We met us”. I explained that was incorrect because “we” and “us” were referring to the same thing. 
Lessons Learned: I learned that it is very important to create lessons that mimic real life and conversation as much as possible. I created a small pronunciation lesson for my tutee, who is a native Spanish speaker, to practice the “v” and the “th” sound. I was surprised to hear her pronouncing them perfectly and needing no more practice or explanation when she was reading them off to me. However, when we got to the part of the lesson where she was answering questions and telling me stories, I noticed the mistakes being made and hindering the meaning of her words (for example calling a tree a “three”). She did a phenomenal job pronouncing things when she was able to read them and see all the letters, but that didn’t really translate when she speaking faster and not thinking about it. It made me realize I need to focus more on the lessons that will bring out mistakes rather than repetitive ones that just practice the information without any meaning. She actually had a really great idea for this, which was for me to send her the prompts for the lesson beforehand so she can think about her answers. We both agreed that this will help to make her answers faster and more automatic, which will encourage more mistakes since she won’t be thinking so hard in the moment. 

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