FSU TEFL 120 Certificate Course Fall 2, 2020

Date/Time: 12/14,  3:00 - 4:00  Halimah Alnakhli Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed:  Future simple, Future continuous, Future perfect, and Future perfect continuous.   In continuation of lessons on verb tenses, I created a lesson plan on Future simple, Future continuous, Future perfect, and Future perfect continuous. I found a video that covered all four future tenses, even though it was a bit longer than I usually like to put in the lesson. I started out by asking her simple questions such as, “What will you eat for dinner?” and “Where will you go for your next vacation?” After this lesson, she will be able to:  1. Use 'will' to describe the future. 2. Use 'be going to' to describe the future. 3. Use 'be' + a verb + ing to describe the future. I made slides that had examples. Some of my examples were –    Future Simple Affirmative – It will snow this winter. Future Simple Negative –  It won’t snow this winter. Future Simple Interrogativ...

Date/Time: 12/14,  2:00 - 3:00  Halimah Alnakhli Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed:  Narrative Tenses: Past Simple, Past Continuous, and Past Perfect For this lesson, I prepared multiple activities to continue teaching verb tenses. We did a quick recap on the narrative tenses: Past Simple, Past Continuous, and Past Perfect. I provided examples to shown how Past Simple works in comparison with Past Continuous. I downloaded a worksheet that had her match the sentences with the correct uses of Past Continuous. Then, to put it into practice, she had to come up with five sentences using both tenses. To do that, she needed to choose some verbs from the box given. Therefore, each sentence included two verbs from the box. After this activity we moved to Past Perfect. First, we studied some sentences and decide which action happened first. After that, on the basis of the sentences from the previous task, I had her choose correct options in the rules about Past Simple and Past...

Date/Time: Halimah Alnakhli Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed:  Idioms/informal language   For our last lesson, I made an agenda and began with warm-up speaking tasks. The warmup questions were -  1.       How much time do you spend on meetings at work daily/weekly?  2.       What type of meetings do you have? Are they teleconferences, online meetings, 1- on-1 meetings, kitchen meetings, stand- up meetings? Which ones are most common?  3.       How much of your day do you spend sitting? Think about your work life, commuting, and your free time? Do you think it is too much?  4.       Would you prefer to have a job in which you sit or stand and walk? Why?  I revolved the lesson around the “TED talk “Got a meeting? Take a walk” video. It speaks about how sitting affects our health and what we can do about it as mentioned on the website. The video is di...

Date/Time: Halimah Alnakhli Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed:  Formal and informal language For lesson #15 I wanted to incorporate skills that would be useful to Halimah outside of this lesson. I was able to find a topic about writing effective emails, formal and informal language. Formal and informal language isn’t a topic I have previously covered and thought it could be useful to her. This email lesson has a lot of exercises to help learn about email forms, listen to some rules presented in a short video, learn some email vocabulary and practice writing emails. It looks at the structure of an email as well as distinguishes between formal and informal email style and language. First, I covered what formal and informal is. As well as using the videos to help guide and reinforce what I was teaching. I then used the worksheet given I had her divide them into two groups: formal and informal. The next exercise of this email lesson plan includes two emails (informal and formal) t...

Date/Time: 12/14,  1:00 - 2:00  Halimah Alnakhli Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed:  Present Perfect recap and worksheet. Other words such as already, just, yet. In this lesson, I wanted to continue lessons on verb tenses. I have a standalone worksheet that deals with Present Perfect and other words such as already, just, yet. I took notes on the last sessions we had and Present Perfect was one of the verb tenses that she was not able to fill in the blanks or get right on the multiple-choice. I wanted to do a standalone lesson on this verb tenses specifically. I want to show Halimah how to use these words in specific situations. Apart from practical tasks, I will also role-play two scenarios. The worksheet starts with a short discussion about throwing a party and things that might go wrong while doing it. Then since I am working with her and she is the only student it moves to a short dialogue that checks her ideas mentioned in the discussion. The dialogue ...

Date/Time: 12/15,  Sanghun Kim      Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed: Reading/Speaking skills  For this lesson, I prepared slides and the first slide showed the agenda. The lesson incorporated both reading and speaking skills, both skills  Sanghun Kim wanted to work on. I found a word scrambler generator on the internet and I used it to scramble sentences up as a fun way to get the lesson going. I had ten questions that I asked him, that in order for him to answer correctly he had to unscramble the sentence. After this I had pulled two worksheets from a site, I found that provides free worksheets. The worksheets first checked reading comprehension. I had him read aloud the passage so I could correct any words that he didn’t understand or got stuck on. The reading passage was about a famous photograph in Paris. The true of false questions were basically like –    1.       The photograph was taken in 1838 TF 2. ...

Date/Time: 12/13,   Halimah Alnakhli Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed: Recap of the learned verb tenses,  with comprehension checks  In the continuation of our verb tense lesson, I wanted to recap what I had already covered since there are twelve verb tenses. I made a slide that listed examples of all that was previously covered. What was previously covered in the earlier lessons -  Past simple, past continuous, past perfect, and past perfect continuous, present perfect, and present perfect continuous. As mentioned, before I learned how to give the student control of the screen with allowance to type in the correct answers. I made a fill in the blank worksheet on a word doc that mixed the verb tenses up to see if she remembered them. She did okay but had to leave some of them blank because it was confusing. I noted that maybe I should have prepared a quiz after each set instead of having a quiz over so many at one time. I left time in the lesson plan to cover t...

  Date/Time: 12/13,   Halimah Alnakhli Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed:  present perfect, present perfect continuou   Since  Halimah was able to meet with me back-to-back today regarding our sessions, I gave her a ten-minute break. I didn’t present an agenda at the start of this lesson because it was a continuing lesson or otherwise, I would have and always do. This second part of the lesson is still covering verb tenses. Previously we touched on Past simple, past continuous, past perfect, and past perfect continuous. So now in the second part of the lesson, we are covering the present perfect, present perfect continuous. I began with the present perfect. As always, I showed a video before each verb tense because I think it’s a good interactive way to learn without only hearing just me. I had previously told her she could take notes and encouraged it, but I learned that when using repetitive phrases having a handout to refer to does not help when memorizi...

Date/Time: 12/13,   Halimah Alnakhli Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed: Verb Tenses -  Past simple, past continuous, past perfect, and past perfect continuous. For this first lesson of the day, Halimah really wanted to continue on learning the verb tenses since these could come up and be of great use to know during her TEFL Exam. I wanted to cover the rest of the twelve since we are meeting and having back-to-back lessons today. The first lesson was over Past simple, past continuous, past perfect, and past perfect continuous. I wanted to divide the past from the presents up because I thought it might be too confusing for her and a lot at once. I had liked the video from the last lesson regarding verb tenses, so I found one that covered the three past verb tenses today. As always, I began with an agenda and then followed by a video. We covered Past simple first. My examples –   Past Simple Affirmative – They saw a movie. Past Simple Negative – They didn’t see a movie....

Date/Time: 12/11,   Halimah Alnakhli Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed:   Present Simple & Present Continuous For this lesson, we covered the present verb tenses. (Present simple & Present Continuous)  Of course, the lessons always begin with an agenda. I began first with the present simple. Sometimes videos do a really good job explaining so I played a seven-minute video first. We covered affirmative, negative, and interrogative. I have never taught or coordinated a lesson on grammar before so I didn’t know how challenging it could be when the student asks certain questions. My examples for the present simple –   Affirmative – They have a car. Negative – They don’t have a car.  Interrogative – Do you have a car?   We went back and forth taking turns on examples, so she got the hang of it. After she began understanding, the main activity was presented. During one of our last sessions learning cover letters/ purpose statements we had learned how...

Date/Time: 12/11,  11:00 AM - 12:00  Halimah Alnakhli Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed:  How to properly layout a cover letter/error corrections with feedback (PT. 3) During this lesson, I finished covering the basics of a cover letter/ and purpose statement.    We then began the lesson that I had previously used for my other student. The slides began with an agenda to lay out the purpose of the lesson. The slides were meant for her to consider the situations and decide what is the polite way to handle the situation. The slides covered questions such as -    •         1. If you are invited to dinner, what should you bring?  •         2. If someone gives you a compliment, how should you respond?  •         3. If someone criticizes your work, how should you respond?  •         4. If a party start...

 For my observation, I  watched a recording of Ms. Felicia's group 2 reading class. For the class, she split the students into groups where a student would teach the rest of the group a subject. The subjects for this particular class were affixes and context clues. I  liked the method she used of having a student act as a teacher because it helps them to practice their own skills and also provides a comfortable environment for the students. They read from a handout about prefixes and suffixes and worked together to discuss and understand it. This activity not only helped students improve reading skills but also their communication skills. While the students worked, the instructor walked around and took notes, evaluating their skills and offering assistance where it was necessary. They were given five minutes at a time for the teaching activity. After the five minutes, the "Teachers" were put on "mute" and only the students could answer the questions. The instruc...

 Marcia and I had our last meeting over zoom. she had just finished a meeting with another Ph.D. student at Penn State where she learned more about the research in her program. We. talked about the snowstorm thats hitting the Northeast. She also mentioned that the day she arrives in Pennsylvania the weather reports a 100 percent chance of snow, which will be completely new to her. Since she's from Brazil, she definitely isn't used to that. We talked about Christmas traditions and she asked what Christmas is like in Tallahassee, so I  told her about my family's traditions. We go to church on Christmas Eve, eat turkey or ham for dinner, then the next morning make breakfast and open gifts together. She told me about the traditional Christmas meals in Brazil, although her family does not celebrate Christmas. Her parents own a clothing store, and she said they are one of few stores that stays open on Christmas Day which surprisingly brings good business. We then talked about my ...

During our last conversation meeting, Dojun and I spoke about the vaccine and how things are turning. He wanted to know more about how Americans are with the vaccine and if they are willing to take it. I gave him a response based on my perspective and inner circle but told him not to generalize about it. Dojun then went on to explain how many countries trust the FDA in America. I also asked him if he's had a critical incident during his trip to America (since this was a topic mentioned in class). Something that he did mention was not being able to tip correctly, since tipping culture is not prevalent in South Korea. He was confused about percentages and if each state varied. I explained the whole tipping culture in America and even went into detail about tipping for services in general. He seemed fascinated by this topic and found it interesting how restaurant workers don't get paid as much in this country. 

The other half of the tutoring session consisted of learning about satire and sarcasm. I decided to include this because, during one of our first tutoring sessions, I showed her John Mulaney's SNL monologue. I was initially trying to show her a fun video of someone who did not use transitions in his speech. After watching it, Jung told me that she did not understand it and she did not find it funny. There were many American references and he was sarcastic the whole time. This taught me to always give that background knowledge before each lesson, and it also explains why I wanted to cover this topic during our last session. I explained that many Americans use sarcasm and they're just not straightforward with things. They like to hop around words and not get straight to the point. I showed her some SNL clips, and we dissected the sarcasm and satire. 

During this tutoring session, I selected another food article so that we could read out loud. As always, I presented her with vocabulary words and explained my reasoning before diving into the article. I explained to her that the reader isn't able to taste the food so the writer has to find ways to describe it in the best way possible. It is detailed and very rich in words. We took turns reading each paragraph and I made sure to go over the words, "salmon," "opaque," and "pungency." Since this was the last tutoring session, I wanted to leave Jung with some noteworthy English-listening lessons and tips. We went over grammar contractions again. I then told Jung to take note of improper contractions used in the following clips. I explained that these phrases, "gonna," "won't cha," etc. will be used when people are speaking. I told her not to get thrown off when people say this and to use her ambiguity tolerance. 

  Yesterday, Marcia and I talked about what we did over the weekend. She went shopping for new shoes for the cold weather in Pennsylvania with her friend Hang Ah who I tutor. We celebrated the News of the first COVID-19 vaccine being distributed in the US! Marcia and I have gotten into a habit of talking about politics, as we both are interested in not only US politics but those around the world. We talked about the hope for more female leadership in government, especially since reports have said female-led countries have had a better overall handling of the coronavirus. I recommended to her a few of my favorite news podcasts that are in English that I thought she'd enjoy. 

Hang Ah and I had our last meeting. We continued our reading of Educated. The book continues to grow in intensity as Tara tells childhood stories about her mothers strange behavior after the car accident, noting that she now performs medicine using spiritual healing and asking questions to her muscles. Tara was skeptical of this, and her skepticism toward her father continues to grow as she is promoted to work in the junkyard with her father collecting scraps. He does not allow her to wear gloves or a helmet because he says that God and "the angels" will not let her be hurt. One day, her father's carelessness leads to a severe injury of her leg and kidney. She was gashed in the leg by metal and her body was bruised from a big fall. She is left in her mother's "medical" care.; Hang Ah and I discussed that this may be a turning point for her, because it comes shortly after she has a new desire to go to school and has been doing a lot of reading. Hang Ah and I ...

 Marcia and I talked on the phone Friday. We caught up about her upcoming move to Pennsylvania in a few weeks. she told me she went to Marshall's to buy some coats. Although she doesn't celebrate Christmas, she said it was sad to see people out and about in masks during a time of year that is usually much more cheerful. We talked about how the holidays will be difficult this year, and she told me it has been about a year since she has seen her parents. She mentioned that her father is eligible to get the COVID vaccine in Brazil, because he is over the age of 65. She said he's nervous though because he has some minor health problems and the vaccine they are using did not go through a third phase of tests like the ones we will have in the US. I asked her about healthcare in Brazil, and we discussed the differences from our system. We both agreed that healthcare needs to be prioritized especially under circumstances like our current ones. After this we compared education syste...

At our last session, Halima and I reviewed her final draft of her statement of purpose for University of South Carolina. We had to shorten it a little bit, and then we cleaned up grammatical errors. The essay ended up being right below her word count maximum of 750. The statement certainly captures her experience in the field of Speech Pathology and her passion. It also accurately represents her goals and desires to take her knowledge back to her country to improve the field there. She also asked me to review her CV, which she updated in format since our last meeting. I helped her to make a few changes, but overall she had done very well on her own. Halima is a wonderful student and I am very excited for the opportunities she has ahead!

For the next half of the tutoring session, I wanted to mix things up. I usually do dictation or dictocomp lessons with Jung, so I decided to do one solely on true and false statements. I presented Jung with the talk show, The Real , and I showed her a clip. The great thing about this show is that all the hosts speak clearly and rarely speak over each other like some talk shows tend to do. Jung understood them and was happy about the short, introductory clip that I showed her. We then saw a 7-minute video of the hosts of The Real interview Amber Ruffin. Before that, I presented Jung with some American television show references that they were going to mention in the interview like  SNL , Grey's Anatomy , etc. After that, we went over some true and false statements. Jung got 5/7 correct so I went over the ones she missed toward the end of the session. 

Fridays are our current event/ article discussion days. We each choose an article, read it out loud, and then discuss the topics. Since Jung talked to me about BTS before, I introduced that they had an article for Time magazine. They were named "Entertainer of the Year" and Jung seemed very interested when I presented the article. Usually, we'll take turns reading each paragraph. Before beginning, I noticed that there were a lot of higher-level vocabulary words which is perfect for Jung. I made sure to take note of them and write down the definition so that we could review them. We went over these together and to be honest, they were brand new words for me as well. As we read through, we paused at certain points to answer some of Jung's questions as well as to acknowledge her comments. It made me very happy that she enjoyed the article and the overall topic. 

The other half of our George Saunders lesson consisted of another dictocomp lesson, meaning I would read out loud and Jung would have to write what I read down. We went over  The Red Bow , a short story by Saunders. I spent some time going over the summary since we were not planning on reading the whole story. I also went over the analysis of the story, which Jung always loves to hear about. I went over some vocabulary as well and explained to Jung that there will be multiple names in this story, so that she could spell them to the best of her ability. There was great vocabulary in this story, that I definitely think are worth noting such as:  Debris Gnawing Wheelbarrow As I read the passage out loud, I noticed that Jung was having a hard time. She really was trying to find meaning behind the passage and process that information before writing it down. We didn't get very far in the story. This made me realize that I need to be a little more aware of the literature that I'm pre...

This session was all about George Saunders. Before introducing ourselves, Jung did mention that she wanted to learn a little bit more about literature since this is something that I specialized in. I told her about my experience learning about the author and how I read a portion of  CivilWarLand in Bad Decline.  We spent some time analyzing the title and trying to understand the meaning behind it. Jung knows a lot about American history so she picked up on it pretty quickly. We then watched a brief interview with Saunders. I turned on the captions for Jung because I knew that he spoke pretty quickly throughout. Afterward, Jung mentioned to me that she had a bit of a hard time understanding. That led me to dissect and summarize the interview for her. For instance, I went over some vocabulary and words that she may have had a hard time understanding. Overall, she found him to be a very interesting person. 

Dojun and I spoke a little bit more about cultural aspects in our respective countries. Something that I found very interesting was about Kimchi and how much it took to prepare the dish. Dojun talked about his first time making it and it was just honestly very fascinating to hear about. I've done previous research about it, but listening to him speak about it was extremely different than what I had initially anticipated. We also spent a good portion of our time speaking about American greetings. He asked me about "How are you" and the difference in those types of salutations. I told him that they mainly mean the same thing and that they don't hold a significant meaning. This is just something that Americans are conditioned to say. He was amazed by that and kept asking questions about it. I realized that this is something that I could definitely use in future lesson plans with advanced students. 

Date/Time: 12/10, 8:00 - 9:35  Halimah Alnakhli Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed:  How to properly layout a cover letter/error corrections with feedback (PT. 2) The lesson on proper writing styles, grammar, and formation of sentences continued where we left off from our earlier lesson. The class is normally only supposed to be an hour, but since I incorporated her actual purpose statement into the lesson, we have a deadline of 12/15 and I want to make sure I educate her on the correct ways so she can correctly do her assignment.    We started out tonight by continuing to fix sentence fragments and errors. For example,    "Finding my passionate was a little bit hard when I passed my priority year" is not the proper way to word this sentence. I would start by asking her what she thought was wrong with the sentence, and then we looked at other words she could use (synonyms) to change things. We changed the sentence to "During my first year, it was diffic...

Date/Time: 12/10,  4:30 - 5:30 PM  Halimah Alnakhli Location: Zoom Meeting Topic Discussed:   How to properly layout a cover letter/error corrections with feedback (PT. 1) To begin the lesson, I explained to Halimah why a cover letter/purpose statement/recommendations have a purpose. I designed this lesson around a business focus, as I have previously done in the past because I feel I am best at teaching something I am passionate about. Also, the lesson feedback, I received from teaching both classes helped guide me and teach a better lesson. The lesson began with an agenda showing what I have outlined for our early meeting that we will continue later. As mentioned earlier, I first went over the importance of business components. The questions I read to her were -    1)     What is your motivation for pursuing a career? 2)     How do your personal characteristics and experiences make you well suited for academic and clinic...