Keira TS #5

Keira TS #5

Date/Time: May 25, 2017 - 7pm

Location: Starbucks

Topic/Skill: Simple Past/Past Perfect Continuous

Towards the end of our last session, Hani had raised a question or two about the simple past as compared to the past perfect continuous, so for this session, we covered these topics. Our conversation also led us to discuss the present perfect continuous as well. We talked a lot about the different things that each of these tenses can convey, and a good portion of our session was spent swapping examples for each of these tenses. 

Feedback Provided to Tutee: Hani needed practice more than anything else when it came to getting the hang of using these different tenses. At first glance, the difference between simple past and past perfect continuous is certainly confusing, and I had to do a little brushing up to make sure I was equipped to properly help Hani. Many of the examples he came up with were accurate, and towards the end the majority of them were, and as usual he was eager to keep practicing. I try to use positive reinforcement when appropriate, and I had many opportunities to do so with all the effort Hani was putting in. By the end of our session, he seemed much more confident in differentiating between these tenses. I reminded him that practice and asking questions will help him hone this skill even more.

Lesson(s) about Tutoring and/or the Tutee You Learned: Hani is very dedicated to his English studies. He listens very carefully and always puts in a great deal of effort, and these observations were further enforced by today's session. Today was a good example of times when simple practice is the best way to reinforce a skill or concept. Much of what we did was come up with examples of the different tenses, and discuss why and how these were examples of the tense in question. Yet by the end of our session, I had noticed an improvement in Hani's comprehension of the subject, and he seemed much more confident.