FSU TEFL 120 Spring 2_2026

Date/Time: April 10, 4:00-6:00 Location: Sweet Shop Cafe Feedback provided to tutee: My tutee asked to build on the vowel sounds work by covering the different ways the i sound gets spelled in English. We went through five patterns which were ee, ea, eau, ie, ey and worked through the tricky ea exceptions like bread and sweat that break the rule. I reiterated word stress back into the practice so she could keep that skill sharp, and we closed by tying the lesson back to the ough patterns and vowel pairs from previous sessions. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that when a tutee starts choosing her own topics, the lessons land much harder because she has a personal stake in the material. Connecting the new content back to her previous sessions also gave her a clear sense of how much she had already built up and I was able to watch her recognize her own real progress.

  Date/Time: April 8, 5:00-6:00 Location: Strozier Library Feedback provided to tutee: We focused on word stress and the noun/verb stress shift, using pairs like PREsent/preSENT and REcord/reCORD. I walked her through the physical cues for stress and taught her how to count syllables. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that word stress completely changes whether a native speaker can understand someone, even when every sound is technically correct. 

Date/Time: April 1, 4:00-5:00 Location: Sweet Shop Cafe Feedback provided to tutee: We worked through minimal vowel pairs like ship/sheep and bit/beat, focusing on the long i sound that doesn't exist in Spanish. I also made sure to give her mouth-position tips.   Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that Spanish speakers often cannot hear certain English vowel contrasts at first, since the sounds don't exist in their language. I also learned that pairing the drill with a visual cue helped her physically see the difference.

Date/Time: March 30, 5:00-6:00 Location: Strozier Library Feedback provided to tutee: My tutee worked through the "ough" worksheet I had built around our previous conversation. She moved from matching exercises into reading in context, then finished with a spoken challenge using sentences packed with the patterns. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that this lesson was created after asking my tutee to explain what she struggled with the most during last lesson. I learned to build on certain topics that needed more work and explanation. 

Date/Time: March 27, 5:00-6:00 Location: Strozier Library Feedback provided to tutee: My tutee asked how to pronounce words like "dough" and "although," so we worked through the "ough" pattern by grouping the words by sound. We focused on the three most common groups OH, OO, and AW.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that grouping irregular spellings by sound works better than teaching each word one at a time. Since my tutee is from Latin America, I learned that this certain pronunciation is a bit more difficult for native Spanish speakers to pronounce. 

  Date/Time: March 25, 5:00-6:00 Location: Strozier Library Feedback provided to tutee: My tutee worked through a full session covering speaking, listening, and pronunciation. I gave her feedback on the sounds I caught during her speaking turns and walked her through a listening passage about her interests such as bachata.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that pronunciation patterns are easier to catch once she's been speaking for a while, rather than trying to guess what to target upfront. Overall starting with free conversation also helped her become more comfortable before the harder tasks.