Xueping TP 3  

       Yoshimi is really a great tutee! After I observed her speaking class this Monday, she came to me and asked for some suggestions on her own initiative.  I felt so lucky that I could tutor so hard a worker.  She wanted me to point out her weakness and give her some advice since I had observed how she was doing in her speaking class.  Actually, Yoshimi didn’t participate very well in her speaking class because she could not express her thoughts and ideas clearly.  However, I encouraged her to practice more in class and at home.  The more she practices, the more comfortable and confident she will feel when she speaks English.  Also, I suggested her do some homework to prepare for her class ahead of time in order that she can participate in her class better.

       Before I tutored her for the fifth time yesterday, she had emailed me some topics that she would practice with me for timed-speaking.  So we started our meeting with her first topic, my favorite music.  To my surprise, she also brought her digital recorder.  What an attentive girl!  I set my timer to 45 seconds, and Yoshimi started her speech.  She stopped when the time was up.  Then, I asked her to transcribe her own speech and correct grammar mistakes by herself.  When I found that she could not organize and deliver her ideas very effectively, I taught her some tips about how to successfully organize a short speech:

       1 Start the speech with a brief introduction by stating our opinion;

       2 Come up with two strong reasons to support our opinion very quickly;

       3 Make an example for each reason in order to be understood easily;

       4 Make a conclusion to end the speech.

       Following these tips, Yoshimi got ready for her second speech for about 3 minutes.  It was extremely obvious that she did a better job than the first time.  She was very excited when she was aware of her own progress.  I suggested that she practice timed-speaking as much as possible after class.  She can choose some topics which she is familiar with or she is interested in.  After that, she can try to challenge herself by talking about some different topics and try to give another speech on the opposite side.  It might be helpful for her to come up with ideas more quickly and logically.