Allyce_TP6

            My next session with Hussam involved a similar activity that we had done before. I chose an article dealing again with Psychology. The article discussed a recent scientific experiment which claimed that Soccer players had enhanced cognitive abilities due to their constant quick decisions skills during the game. This article was more difficult than the previous one but still held essential vocabulary words which would aid Hussam in his future Psychology classes. The most difficult vocabulary words were as follows:

1. Cognitive
2. Correlate
3. Assess
4. Evaluate
5. Probabilities
6. Executive
7. Abilities
8. Enhanced

Looking back now, I think this was much more of an intensive exercise than an extensive one (as I had originally hoped). It took Hussam a while to read the article and I could tell that he was tired of having to stop every other sentence to ask me the meaning of a word; it really interrupted the flow and inhibited his ability to understand the gist of the article. As a result, after reading each paragraph out loud I had him skim it again quickly before asking me questions. I think this boosted his confidence somewhat because after we switched to doing that he was able to have a better understanding of the article. Either way, he seemed disinterested and I asked him if he thought the article was boring. I was answering with an emphatic “Yes!” and he explained to me that he really didn’t like sports…definitely made a note of that.

Time had passed by quickly and I really wanted to spend more time tutoring him so I asked him if he had another subject he wanted to read about. He really liked that idea and said he wanted to read bout something I studied. I explained to him that my thesis was about power struggles between the two genders during the French Revolution, specifically within marriage and he genuinely seemed interested in that! I quickly pulled up the Google books link to one of prominent books in my field, Suzanne Desan’s The Family on Trial in Revolutionary France and gave him the first page of the introduction to read. The vocabulary was difficult as well as the various idioms found within the text but his face brightened up and I could tell he was more interested. The Introduction also sparked discussion.

Prominent book from my area of study

He was able to find the main theme from that page rather easily, that men and women should break free of paternal control and choose a partner of their own free will. Hussam told me he agreed with this idea and we discussed arranged marriages and his decision to not participate in one. Like the people in your book, I too am a Revolutionary! I’m glad I took Hussam’s advice and found a new subject for us to read about, it made the time pass by quickly and got us both involved!