FSU TEFL 120 summer2, 2025

Date: 8/28/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Journaling/Free Writing Feedback: This was our last session, so I wanted to end it with something I knew Hyobin would like. I decided it would be a good idea to do another writing activity. We went through an abundance of writing topics and discussed them thoroughly. I then had her choose her favorite topic (she chose an argumentative one about the legal driving age) and write about it with no restraints. I gave her feedback on the writing she produced, and we ended with more discussion.  Lessons learned: Tutoring Hyobin was a pleasure, and I’m glad my first tutoring experience was such a positive one. She taught me a lot about myself as an instructor, and I know that these are lessons I’ll lead with in my future in teaching English as a foreign language. 

  Date: 8/27/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Creative writing Feedback: Essay writing isn’t the only kind of writing, so I decided to teach Hyobin a bit about creative writing. She has a pretty active imagination, so we talked about how she could implement that into writing. We talked about some creative topics and then discussed each to see how creative we could get. I then had her try out some writing of her own, which I gave feedback on after.  Lessons learned: I learned it’s good to throw in some topics of interest to keep students engaged. Hyobin mentioned she liked writing, and I knew creative writing was something that could combine interests with an educational opportunity. I asked her how the lesson was, and the response was positive (proving my thoughts correct).

  Date: 8/26/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Listening and reading comprehension Feedback: This was a listening and reading comprehension activity inspired by Jean’s lesson. I talked with Hyobin about some American traditions surrounding the 4th of July. She told me about her experiences with it, which got her engaged in the topic of the content for the lesson. We watched a Crash Course video on the 4th of July, then she read the script for it, and then she did a comprehension quiz. I gave her feedback on her answers at the end, and we left some more time for discussion about other parts of American culture. Lessons learned: Having a variety of learning media is a great way to mix up the classroom. The warm-up discussion got Hyobin interested, the video solidified her interest and entertained her, and the script kept her focused. 

Date: 8/21/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill:  Redundancy/wordiness Feedback: Throughout our sessions, I noticed Hyobin has a very broad vocabulary. However, sometimes her sentences can be wordy or redundant. I also noticed she uses run-on sentences. I figured a good lesson would be on redundancy. I taught her the definition of redundancy and showed her some examples of it in essays. We talked about why redundancy might be important to look out for in our writing. To ensure her understanding, I gave her some wordy or redundant sentences to fix (make concise, remove unnecessary words, etc.). I gave feedback on her answers. At the end, we did a kahoot! because she mentioned we hadn’t done one in a while. Whenever she got a question wrong, I’d pause the kahoot! and give her feedback.  Lessons learned: It’s always important to have a “why”. Students won’t want to learn something if they don’t see a value behind it. Just “redundancy” as a topic is boring, but opening the floor to a dis...

  Date: 8/20/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Advice giving Feedback: This was a lesson I created with Guerna, but I tweaked it to be a middle school level. We did a warm-up discussion about advice, I taught her the basic formats of advice, we did a matching activity, and then we roleplayed some advice-giving scenarios. I gave feedback on her answers for matching and during the roleplay. Specifically, most advice was given about differentiating casual and professional advice. I noticed the connotation was a relatively confusing aspect of the topic.  Lessons learned: Connotation can be hard for EFL students to grasp, but it’s something that gets better with time and practice. Even in one session, I noticed Hyobin’s improvement with connotation recognition. 

Date: 8/19/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Writing practice pt. 2 and proofreading  Feedback: I gave Hyobin more time to write her essay, and then we moved into proofreading. First, I had her read through her own essay to find any mistakes. I gave her some questions to answer to help the proofreading process (things to look out for, such as spelling, transition words, grammar, punctuation, etc.). I then gave her feedback on her revisions to her essay and the questions she answered. Together, we went through her essay one more time and made final tweaks. Lessons learned: I learned Hyobin does really well when given questions. Sometimes directions can be too vague, but questions help streamline what she needs to work on or what she should be looking for when learning. 

Date: 8/14/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Writing practice Feedback: In this session, I had Hyobin write an essay based on the sources she read in the previous session and the outline she came up with. Most of the session was dedicated to this, but I would give her feedback throughout when she brought questions to my attention. At the end, we had a few minutes for discussion, where I was able to give feedback as well. Lessons learned: I think I needed to give more time for writing, because expecting a lengthy essay isn’t entirely possible for a 1-hour session. We ended up needing to give more time to writing in the next session.

Date: 8/12/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Practicing reading sources and taking notes  Feedback: I dedicated this time was a good point to let Hyobin take more charge of essay writing. This was the start of a 3-part lesson where I had her work on her essay writing. This session, I had her read 3 sources and create an outline. She was given a reasonable amount of time to do both, and we left the rest of the time in the session for discussion. I gave her feedback on her notes/outline, and we talked about anything she felt was confusing in the passages. There were some questions about vocabulary, grammar, and outlining. Lessons learned: EFL students need a lot of support at first, but the instructor needs to know when to loosen the strings a bit. I was nervous to have her start writing almost completely alone, but I knew it was important to see how she could do without me. She did very well, and it gave me more confidence as an instructor. 

  Date: 8/7/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: How to write an outline  Feedback: For this session, I wanted to really focus on outlining. Being able to make a good outline in a timely manner makes all the difference in essay writing. I taught Hyobin how to outline, and we worked together to fill in the blanks on some preexisting outlines. At the end, I had her work on her own to do a short outline, and gave her feedback on her work.  Lessons learned: Steps that I might skip are important for newer learners. I don’t take the time to outline, but I knew it was something that I needed to teach Hyobin. I instantly noticed how beneficial this was for her as she connected our previous sessions to this, and everything clicked at once.

  Date: 8/6/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: The writing process  Feedback: I taught Hyobin the B.L.O.C.K. plan, which is a straightforward method explaining the writing process. It involves brainstorming, layout, outlining, constructing, and revising. I gave Hyobin some examples using the method, and after that, we worked together to go through the block method using a sample prompt. I gave her feedback throughout our practice on efficient ways to complete each step if I noticed she took too much time on a certain step. Lessons learned: I learned that having a simple formula can work wonders. Expecting a student to just know how to brainstorm, write a draft, etc., might be too much. It’s better to teach in smaller, digestible steps.

Date: 8/5/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Conclusion Paragraph  Feedback: This was the final component of learning essay formats. I gave her some comprehension tasks to make sure she understood the previous lessons. When she showed a strong understanding, I taught her how to write a conclusion paragraph. We focused on the call-to-action since she showed the most confusion with that aspect. After making sure she understood the format of a conclusion paragraph, I gave her different scenarios to write a call-to-action for. I gave her feedback on the quality of her call-to-actions and on the conclusion paragraph she wrote at the end of the session.  Lessons learned: I learned that some students might find a conclusion unnecessary because there was a bit of disinterest in this lesson. However, it’s important to stress the importance of its use in writing and create fun ways to learn. Giving silly scenarios to write a call-to-action definitely helped encourage Hyobin and keep her on ...

  Date: 7/31/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Body Paragraph  Feedback: I taught Hyobin the layout of a body paragraph for both informative and argumentative essays. I also taught her how to look for evidence and explain the evidence. To test her understanding, I had her order sentences from a body paragraph (twice, one for argumentative and one for informative). At the end, she wrote her own body paragraph. I gave her feedback while she ordered the sentences for the body paragraph and while writing her own paragraph. While she was writing on her own, I focused on giving her feedback on explaining her evidence, since that was an aspect she showed some confusion with.  Lessons learned: I learned that some EFL students might need more support with understanding the structure of essay writing. Examples are important because you can show them an outline of a writing format, but it won’t make sense until they see what you taught in use (or in context). 

Date: 7/30/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Introduction Paragraph  Feedback: I taught Hyobin how to write a thesis statement, how to write 2 types of introduction paragraphs, and how to write a hook. I had her order sentences from introductory paragraphs to show she understood the format and gave her feedback on her answers. I also gave her feedback when she wrote her own introduction paragraph at the end. We read her example together and corrected mistakes as needed.  Lessons learned: I learned that teaching essay writing requires patience. There were some questions I wasn’t prepared to answer, because essay writing is a natural thing for me. Even something as “simple” as an intro might need more clarification than one might think.

  Date: 7/29/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Introduction to Essay Writing  Feedback: In this session, I started by asking Hyobin what she knew about essay writing. She said she had gone over the topic briefly when she studied in America, but didn't remember much. I taught her the layout of essays (paragraph order, how to read a prompt, and the difference between informative and argumentative writing). To test her understanding, I had her order paragraph examples and gave her sample prompts, where she had to determine if the essay needed to be argumentative or informative. I gave her feedback on her answers and when she asked clarifying questions.  Lessons learned: I learned that even though a student may have gone over a topic in the past, that doesn’t guarantee they’ve learned it. Even though Hyobin had gone over essay writing, she still needed a good refresher before doing a deep dive into the other topics. 

  Date: 7/24/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Culture Discussion Feedback: For this lesson, I was inspired by our discussion in class about the cultural differences between students’ host countries compared to America. My goal was to give Hyobin a chance to talk about her culture while giving feedback on her speaking. Also, I wanted to know her thoughts on the big differences between America and South Korea since she has lived in both countries. We talked about some differences, such as the standard of living, the education system, and transportation. Feedback was given while she presented her thoughts, and I made sure to be nitpicky since she is a relatively advanced speaker. I also answered any vocabulary questions she had about things in American culture she wasn’t yet familiar with.  Lessons learned: I learned a lot about Hyobin’s culture. I’m not entirely familiar with South Korean culture, so it was nice to listen to her speak about it and learn new things. I also learned ...

  Date: 7/22/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Full Verb Review Feedback: We did a full review of the verb tenses on this day, so I was more nitpicky with feedback since we had already learned everything, and she demonstrated a strong understanding in previous sessions. During comprehension checks and the final discussion, I would provide feedback by correcting wrong answers or supporting her through fixing her own mistakes. Lessons learned: Having the student fix their own mistakes seems like a good way to provide feedback. It gives students the confidence to review their own work outside of the sessions, and they won’t always rely on someone else to correct them. I think integrating self-feedback with overall feedback is something to consider in the future.

  Date: 7/15/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Verb Tenses (Future) Feedback: The student was asked to practice future tenses using the forms she was taught. I focused on giving feedback regarding the tone of different verb forms in the future (cold and decisive versus polite and indirect). To help her understand, I’d give her example scenarios that might require a cold future tense versus a softer, more polite one. Again, in the comprehension check, I’d correct her errors and review everything. Lessons learned: Sometimes, the connotation of a verb form can confuse ESL students. It helps to put the tenses in perspective and provides plenty of examples to get the student familiar with the idea of connotation behind verbs.

  Date: 7/10/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Verb Tenses (Past) Feedback: I corrected the student’s errors surrounding the use of the past tense. Specifically, when she confused the verb form to describe a complete action versus an ongoing one. During the comprehension check, I reviewed any answers she got wrong with her.  Lessons learned: I learned that it may be difficult for ESL students to differentiate between complete actions and ongoing actions. The differences are slight. However, with the right emphasis and continued practice, the pattern is slowly more recognizable. 

  Date: 7/8/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Verb Tenses (Present) Feedback: I corrected the student’s verb tense errors when she created examples with the present tense. We ended the session with a kahoot! to test her understanding. When she got a question wrong, we’d pause the kahoot! and go over it.  Lessons learned: I learned that ESL students can sometimes get confused by being introduced to too many technicalities/irregularities. It might be best to stick to the concept unless they (on their own) question you about a technicality. 

  Date: 7/4/25 Location: Zoom Topic/Skill: Needs Assessment Feedback: N/A Lessons learned: This was my first time meeting my tutee, Hyobin. I learned that she speaks both Korean and English, she studied in the U.S. for a few years, and she wants to eventually come back to the U.S. for university/work. She told me her strengths were spelling (she won first place in the spelling bee) and vocabulary. Her goal is to be challenged, but she wanted a refresher of everything (mostly grammar and writing, but open to review of other skills). We agreed to mostly focus on writing and grammar, but throw in some other activities to test more skills. She doesn’t use English in day-to-day life, so plenty of discussion would be beneficial for practicing her speaking. Overall, she’s relatively advanced but needs refreshers and practice.

      Tutoring session #8     August 28, 2025       Group 4(advanced)   5pm-6pm on Facetime      Today I met with my tutee Mariana over facetime where we did a lesson on red/green flags in relationships. I emailed her a PDF with everything listed out for her. We started with some listed behaviors that could either be red or green flags. These sentences contained some potentially unknown phrases and words like "dealbreaker", "Come off as", and "turn a blind eye to". I had her read aloud every definition and we would stop and discuss the words she did not know.     Next I asked her which of the traits listed appealed to her in a partner and which ones did not seem like good qualities. I also asked her if there's been a time in her life where someone's actions might've appealed to her or been a dealbreaker for her and we talked about why that may be.     I then gave her 3 sentence starters and 6 sente...

Date/Time: August 12th, 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM EST Location: Google Meets Topic/Skill: Speaking and listening lesson: "Idioms" Student: Jumana This lesson was designed to strengthen Jumana’s speaking and listening skills by focusing on idioms, which are an important part of natural and fluent communication in English. We began with a warm-up activity to introduce the concept of idioms, explaining that their meanings are figurative and not literal. Jumana reflected on whether idioms exist in her native language and shared examples, which encouraged cultural and linguistic comparison. After the warm-up, we explored two sets of idioms: everyday idioms and workplace idioms. Each idiom was introduced with its definition and an example sentence, allowing her to hear it in context. Short video clips were also used to reinforce comprehension and expose her to authentic spoken English. This helped Jumana to connect the idioms to real-life communication. The lesson then moved into prod...

Date/Time: August 10th, 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM EST Location: Google Meets Topic/Skill: Speaking and listening lesson:  Telephone Conversations and Taking Messages Student: Jumana This lesson focused on helping Jumana develop confidence in handling workplace telephone conversations and taking messages. We began with a warm-up discussion on her past experiences answering phone calls at work, which allowed her to share her current strategies and compare them with common professional expressions used in U.S. offices. Together, we reviewed and practiced key workplace phrases such as “Supply Chain Department, [Name] speaking,” “Can I take a message?” and “I’ll let them know you called,” while also building a vocabulary set specific to her field, including words like shipment, supplier, invoice, and tracking number. Listening activities provided structured practice, where Jumana listened to short phone conversations and answered comprehension questions to check understanding of the messag...

Date/Time: July 26th, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM EST Location: Google Meets Topic/Skill: Student evaluation Student: Jumana This session was an evaluation to learn more about Jumana’s background, goals, and learning style. Non-academic questions helped establish rapport: she is from Saudi Arabia, speaks Arabic as her first language, lives with her family, and enjoys movies, traveling, and Egyptian dance. She uses English mainly at work, where all communication is in English. Academically, Jumana studies English for professional purposes in supply chain. She enjoys speaking and writing, finds interactive practice most helpful, and struggles more with grammar and listening. Her goals are clear: in the short term she wants to improve speaking and listening, within a year she hopes to be more confident in speaking, and in five years she aims for full fluency with strong comprehension and communication skills. She prefers learning through films, videos, and active communication. Based on this, fu...

Date/Time: August 26st, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST Location: Dirac Library Topic/Skill: Free Speech  Student: Wei Wang This lesson was designed as a wrap-up and reflection session, with the primary focus on addressing Wei’s remaining questions from previous lessons, providing her with additional resources for continued learning, and offering an open space for discussion. Since the theme was Free Speech , the session also served as a broader conversation about expression, opinions, and confidence in communication, tying together both language practice and cultural understanding. We began with a short review of recent lessons to check Wei’s comprehension. She was encouraged to share any points she found confusing or areas she wanted more practice with. For example, she revisited some of the slang and colloquial terms from the last session, asking how to tell when a word might be inappropriate in formal contexts. This naturally led into a discussion about code-switching. How speakers adapt...

Date/Time: August 21st, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST Location: Dirac Library Topic/Skill: Speaking & Listening Lesson: Slang and Colloquial Language Student: Wei Wang This lesson focused on introducing Wei to the dynamic and constantly evolving world of modern slang and colloquial language in English. Since slang is deeply tied to culture, social media, and generational identity, the session emphasized both comprehension and usage, while also encouraging Wei to compare English slang to expressions in her own language. The goal was to help her feel more confident recognizing slang in authentic contexts (e.g., movies, TikTok, conversations) and to begin using it appropriately in casual interactions. For this lesson began with a warm-up discussion where Wei was asked what slang terms she already knew in English. Examples like cap , bet , and slay were displayed, and she was asked if she had seen or heard them online or in media. This sparked a short conversation about how slang reflects gen...

Date/Time: August 21st, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST Location: Dirac Library Topic/Skill: Speaking & Listening Lesson: U.S. Holidays and Celebrations  Student: Wei Wang In this session I introduced Wei to the theme of U.S. Holidays and Celebrations , we began with a warm-up where I asked Wei about holidays in her home country and who she typically celebrates with (family, friends, or community). To activate her curiosity and connect prior knowledge, she was shown photos representing American celebrations, such as fireworks, football games, and Halloween costumes, and asked to guess which holiday each represented. This activity engaged her visually and set the stage for vocabulary building. The main part of the lesson centered on introducing and categorizing U.S. holidays into three groups: federal holidays, commonly celebrated holidays, and ethnic/religious holidays. For each category, Wei was provided not only with the name and date of major celebrations, but also key traditions, suc...

Date/Time: August 20th, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST Location: Dirac Library Topic/Skill: Speaking & Listening Lesson: Traveling  Student: Wei Wang For this lesson we began with a lighthearted icebreaker, Travel Bingo sheet that I create, where Wei reflected on her own past travel experiences (such as trying street food or getting lost in a city) and then expanded on them by answering follow-up questions. This activity not only warmed her up for speaking but also activated her background knowledge, making the rest of the lesson more engaging and personally relevant. The next segment focused on building travel-related vocabulary through a Packing Challenge . Wei reviewed essential terms such as boarding pass, layover, carry-on, travel insurance, and sightseeing . She then practiced applying these words by “packing” items for an imaginary trip and explaining her reasoning. This contextualized the vocabulary, helping her move beyond simple memorization to meaningful use. We then expand...

Date/Time: August 18th, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST Location: Dirac Library Topic/Skill: Speaking & Listening Lesson: Clothes & Shopping Student: Wei Wang  For this lesson we began with a warm-up using pictures of different outfits, prompting Wei to describe what people were wearing and infer where they might be going. This encouraged her to recall prior vocabulary while also using full sentences in the present continuous ( “She is wearing a long dress and the man is wearing a suit” ) and to discuss her own clothing habits in various situations ( “I usually like to wear casual clothes” ). Next, Wei was introduced to an expanded set of clothing and fashion-related vocabulary. This included practical items (slacks, cargos, joggers), style descriptors (flared, wide-leg, high-rise), and broader fashion concepts (business casual, chic, Y2K fashion, Neo-Chinese style). We also covered patterns (plaid, stripes, polka dots), fabrics (denim, wool, leather), and style adjectives (minimalis...