Kelly TP-5

Last Wednesday I met with Michelle after class at CIES. I took a peek at the book Ramin showed us in class on common problems new speakers have with English based on their native language. Michelle speaks French, and as I've noticed before, she has a difficult time with "R", "B", and emphasizing the end of words. I decided that we should begin with practicing "R," and I had her repeat a few "R" heavy words/phrases. (Red Roses, Right as Rain, etc). I tried to explain in words and physically that the sound comes from the back of the throat. I tried to equate the sound to "Rue" in French. I then showed her a brief youtube video designed to help teach a non native speaker R. We repeated some of the phrases together. I could see that this was starting to become tiresome and frustrating, and moved on.
I asked Michelle what she had been doing in class. We went over some worksheets on "buying clothes." There were a few scenario comic boxes, so we role played them, then reversed roles. I then had her pronounce the vocabulary words (with images); sizes, monetary amounts, etc.  I asked her if she has bought any clothes in the United States yet. She shyly put her hands to her face and said "no, no, no!" Again, this practice was starting to become tiresome, so moved on.
The next exercise the class was working on was "things you do to get ready for the day." Instead of having her read the scenarios laid out in the book, I asked her to tell me what her morning looks like. She told me about waking up, breakfasting, and then continued on with the entirety of her day including times. At first she seemed frustrated that her fluidity wasn't fast enough, but I encouraged her to take her time. Her delivery was choppy, but I noticed that when she could speak more casually about things that she knew, she would pronounce things correctly, such as "R." This may be the approach that I should most often take with this beginner student. Perhaps seeing things she has been working on in class (that she has some vocabulary for) and asking her to tell me about it will help her practice the muscle of speaking English.
She quite enjoys coffee- which includes lattes and such- so I asked her if she has been to a cafe to have one yet. Again she replied, "no, no, no!" I should like to take her sometime soon. I know sometimes a good espresso drink is all it takes to go from having a mediocre to a great day.