FSU TEFL Certificate Course Summer 2025

  Date/Time: May 30th, Thursday at 1:00 PM Location: Kellogg Building Topic/Skill: Understanding Regional Accents – New York City Feedback provided to the tutee: In this session, Thakshila and I dove into the rich, gritty, and iconic world of New York accents. We started by mapping out the history of the accent, how immigration, neighborhood identity, and good old-fashioned New Yorker attitude helped shape the way the city talks. We broke down the four major boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx) and examined how accent patterns shift between them, especially focusing on consonant drops, diphthong shifts, and the legendary “cawfee” vowel. We also looked at common regional phrases and sayings that give New York speech its flavor, such as “fuhgeddaboudit,” “on line” vs. “in line,” and “schlep.” Thakshila was particularly intrigued by the fast pace and musical rhythm of Bronx speech, and we had a fun time mimicking a few short clips together. Homework: Since T...

Hannah TS #12 Date: May 30 th  Friday Location: CIES Topic/Skill: Vocabulary Feedback provided to the tutee: I gave simple definitions and examples for the new vocab. I also corrected tutee’s errors in making sentences using the target vocab. Lesson(s) about tutoring you learned: It is important to continually review “old” words when building one’s vocabulary. 

Hannah TS #11 Date: May 28 th  Wednesday  Location: CIES Topic/Skill: Vocabulary and Pronunciation Feedback provided to the tutee: I corrected tutee’s errors in sentences that used target vocab. I also provided more example sentences using the target vocab and corrected tutee’s pronunciation errors.  Lesson(s) about tutoring you learned: The /I/ sound (like in “pit”) can be difficult for many native Vietnamese speakers. Vietnamese speakers may pronounce /I/ like /ɛ/ or /i/. 

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 ...

Date: May 24th, 2025 Location: Ye-won's Home Topic: Third Grade Reading Comprehension and Illustrating Passages Feedback provided to the tutee:  I offered my tutee feedback on capitalizing the names of brands and using quotation marks.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned from my tutee that there needs to be a balance between learning and fun, to maintain interest and keep learning a positive experience. 

Des TS #9 Date: May 27th (Tuesday). Location: Outside Kellogg building. Topic/Skill: Speaking/Nitpicking grammar in Conversation Feedback provided to the tutee: We discussed topics of ranging difficulty and complexity, and I stopped and corrected any mistakes I heard. Since this student is advanced, there were minimal mistakes and he would self-correct roughly 95% of his mistakes. He discussed his anxieties about being disconnected from the language since he returning to his home country for 2 months before starting his 1st semester at FSU. We discussed strategies to keep him engaged with the language while at home (talking to himself, listening to English language podcasts, etc.)

Des TS #8 Date: May 22th (Thursday). Location: Outside Kellogg building. Topic/Skill: Speaking/Nitpicking grammar in Conversation Feedback provided to the tutee: As with the Tuesday session, we discussed topics of ranging difficulty and complexity, and I stopped and corrected any mistakes I heard. Since this student is advanced, there were minimal mistakes and he would self-correct roughly 95% of his mistakes. He has good fluency, so we've been focusing on nitpicking his grammatical accuracy. Most of the mistakes that I did correct were related to preposition usage, which are typically one of the last things EFL/ESL students master in their studies.