David-tp12

Ah tis only the end of the beginning.  As we rap up our tutoring sessions and conversation partner meetings things seem to be drawing to a close.  But really it is just the end of the 1st chapter of our teaching careers.  We need not be sad for we have a bond in our trade and as a class.  WIth that said this is my last blog on this particular site.

Majdi and I met tonight as we will continue to meet until we leave for Paris for yet another thrilling tutoring experience.  On my way to Majdi's house I saw him walking on the sidewalk and picked him on the back of the scooter and we rode the rest of the way to his apartment.  Upon entering Majdi told me he was angry because he was hungry, which made me chuckle.  As we ate our apples and oranges I got out the evaluation that I needed him to fill out which is one of the last things that I have to do for my certificate.  I knew this would be hard for him so we went over it together and I will just keep it to this.  This process could have been a tutoring session itself.

Continuing on I asked to see his new class schedule and knowing that they did not have enough for a foundations group I knew that he would be in at least level one.  To my surprise he had two courses that were level two!!!!! That means he skipped a level.  I was really happy for him until we started working on his homework together.  This homework was so far above his head it is not funny. They are talking about grammar subjects that he doesn't have the vocabulary to understand the examples of.  I really think after a bit he will be moved down and I would strongly recommend that.  I had to look up some of the concepts myself which is to be expected because I have know idea what the things I use are called.

The assignment had a paragraph that required him to pull out different grammar concepts and write them on a piece of paper.  He didn't even understand what the paragraph was about and also didn't know what a noun was.  I felt like I was fighting an uphill battle here and wasn't sure what to do.  Using what I looked up to help me and I was able to formulate some examples that I hoped that he could understand.  How do you explain what a subordinate conjunction is if he doesn't know what a noun, pronoun, or a conjunction is??

I did the best I could and gave him plenty of examples of each to go on and I think some of them stuck.  I am going to pray that he gets moved down a level because I believe that he is over his head.  This was one of the most trying tutoring sessions that I have had with him and I believe it was because of the difficulty of the lesson and the level of English that he currently understands.  Since I am not in charge of what level he is in I am going to study up on these parts of speech and figure out how I can explain them more concisely and simply.

ahhhhhhhh!!!!

On a more positive note near the end of our session  Mahmoud showed up and upon telling him I had to go home to my wife and kid he said "in my country they call wives the ministry of interior".  We both had a chuckle and I was on my way.
Signing off
Dave