Keira TS #4

Keira TS #4

Date/Time: May 24, 2017 - 7:30pm

Location: Starbucks

Topic/Skill: Writing

This was my first tutoring session with Casias. His fluency is very good, and what he told me he most wants to work on is his writing, and his use of transition words. We looked at a couple of essays he had written in his classes. I helped explain what his teacher had meant by some of the feedback he had received, and we talked about different ways he could correct some of the common errors he was making, such as subject/verb agreement. 

At one point in our session, Casias asked for help in identifying noun clauses versus adjective clauses. I looked at the examples and definitions in his book, and tried to find some resources online, but some of the information I found online seemed contradictory to what was in his book, so we agreed to revisit the topic in our next session after I was able to do some more research and ask my professors if necessary. 

Feedback Provided to Tutee: Casias clearly has a good understanding of several aspects of writing papers in English, and in particular he makes an effort to use academic words and phrases in the appropriate places. However, much of my feedback to him during this session was about how to notice and avoid certain grammar errors I noticed he has a habit of making. We talked a little about his subject/verb agreement errors, and I tried to explain and offer examples as to why the correction combinations are considered as such (e.g. "They were" as opposed to "They was").

Lesson(s) about Tutoring and/or the Tutee You Learned: Casias' fluency is very high, and his speech rate is at times actually faster than that of most native speakers. His grammar accuracy in his writing is what currently needs the most work, but fortunately it is also what he wishes to work on the most.