Kelsey TS #10

Date/Time: February 1st, 8:30am

Location: Online (Zoom)

Topic/Skill: In this session, Dojun Kim and I focused on American idioms as a part of helping him strengthen his ability to use English in casual conversation. 

Feedback provided to tutee: I found a good website with a list of English idioms which I went through and taught Dojun Kim the meaning. As I went through the phrases, I tried to get a feel for what parts of the phrase he understood and explained what something was if it was new to him. Then I challenged him to see if he could make sense of the phrase on his own after learning what the things mentioned in the phrase were. If he still was unsure about the meaning, I explained using synonyms and elaborating on what situations he might use it in. Then, I prompted him to think of other scenarios in which he might use the idioms. If he chose appropriate situations, I validated his response. If he didn't choose an appropriate situation, I stopped him and told him why they might not be appropriate situations and gave him some better examples. I also went through the history of some of the idioms to help us better understand where they came from and why they mean what they mean. 

Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I often don't think about how strange the English language is until I try to explain it to someone else. Idioms are another one of those things that I understand without even thinking about the actual content or possible literal meaning. It's important to emphasize that, for things like idioms as well as other things in the English language, not everything should be taken literally. It is also helpful for others to get familiar with the different interpretations of things and the contexts in which they might be used.