Emilie TS #6

Student: Je-Ah
Date/Time: Thursday 11/7, 7 - 8 a.m. (9 - 10 p.m. KST)
Location: Online (Teams)
Topic: Introductions, getting to know one another, establishing goals
Feedback provided to the tutee: Je-Ah's mother had told me that practicing basic conversation would be helpful, so I came with a list of some basic conversational questions. Since we would go off on tangents, we had no problem filling up the time, and I don't think we even hit 25% of the questions! I did not provide much specific "feedback" to Je-Ah yet, as I mostly want to get her to speak fluently as a beginner and not really nitpick her grammar or pronunciation yet (although those were quite good already). 
Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Je-Ah is my first younger EFL student this semester, and as with other quieter students, I find my biggest struggle is just letting them talk and not interrupting or assisting. I tend to be talkative and want to "fill up" any awkward silence to help them feel comfortable (an American habit I think), but I don't want our times to be mostly me talking and her practicing listening. :-) Sometimes if she did not understand a question, I would rephrase, simplify, or explain, but I think I need to get even better at just letting students think for a bit. Now that we have gotten to know each other, next time I think I will arrive with some specific icebreaker activities we could practice that relate to some of her topics of interest (such as piloting, badminton, or baseball) and require a back-and-forth. As we get to know each other, I hope her affective filter will also lower and she will feel more confident. We established that one of her goals in English is smooth communication (an essential skill for any pilot :-)).

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