FSU TEFL 120 Spring 2_2026

Date/Time: April 13, 4:00-5:00 Location: Strozier Library Feedback provided to tutee: My tutee finished the ee worksheet quickly, so we moved into structured conversation practice. I picked speaking prompts designed to naturally pull in the ee vocabulary we had been working on, which let her reinforce the spelling patterns.  Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that once a tutee has the pattern down, the best follow-up is real conversation built around the same vocabulary. 

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.

Date/Time: March 11, 5:00-7:00 Location: Strozier Library Feedback provided to tutee: This was our first session, so I focused on evaluating my tutee's pronunciation to gauge where she needed the most support. I shared what I noticed and flagged the sounds we would work on in future lessons. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned who my tutee is, what activities they like to do, their interests, and goals. I got a clearer picture of what she needs to work on which was pronunciation, vocabulary, and speaking. 

Date/Time: May 8, 4:30-5:30 Location: after school camp Feedback provided to tutee: I helped my tutee with filling in different parts of speech in a passage. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I had to teach my tutee that parts of speech choices need to make sense with the passage's meaning.

Date/Time: May 5, 4:30-5:30 Location: after school camp Feedback provided to tutee: Read and answered comprehensive questions about the passage. We did further research about the topic after completing the worksheet. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that research doesn't have to mean reading more text, we looked at pictures and watched a video.

Date/Time: May 4, 4:30-5:30 Location: after school camp Feedback provided to tutee: I helped my tutee with understanding the structure of a Limerick poem, like how many syllables per line. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Slowing down and counting the syllables was helpful in getting the right amount per line of the poem.

  Date/Time: May 2, 11:30-2:00 Location: tutee house Feedback provided to tutee: We practiced informative writing and I helped answer questions about structure of the essay. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that repetition and scaffolding are important, and understanding came through after these.

Date/Time: April 30, 4:30-5:30 Location: after school camp Feedback provided to tutee: I helped my tutee revise her how-to paragraph. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that 3rd graders assume the reader already knows what they know.

  Date/Time: April 29, 4:30-5:30 Location: after school camp Feedback provided to tutee: I corrected my tutee’s grammar in her creative essay. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that 3rd graders don't understand most grammar rules by name, so it was important to explain in an easy to understand way.

  Date/Time: April 20, 4:30-5:30 Location: after school camp Feedback provided to tutee: We worked on creative writing, and I helped my tutee understand that she could start off using something from her own life and build it into a story. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Sometimes, children may have a difficult time coming up with ideas to write about.

  Date/Time: April 18, 11:30-2:00 Location: tutee house Feedback provided to tutee: I helped my tutee find evidence from a passage that would support their claims and themes. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned how to use simple, direct questions instead of academic terms, which helped my tutee understand exactly what to look for.

  Date/Time: April 15, 4:30-5:30 Location: after school camp Feedback provided to tutee: I helped my tutee expand her paragraph about her favorite game, especially on how to conclude her ideas. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that showing her examples of real conclusions helped her understand.

Date/Time: April 11, 11:30-2:00 Location: tutee house Feedback provided to tutee: I helped my tutee understand how the point of view of a particular situation changes depending on the narrator. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned how to explain POV using examples and helping put it into context.

  Date/Time: April 8, 4:30-5:30 Location: after school camp Feedback provided to tutee: I helped my tutee add details to their journal writing, instead of listing a timeline of events. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that I need to model the difference by writing two versions of the same moment so that my tutee can understand the difference.

  Date/Time: April 6, 11:30-2:00 Location: tutee house Feedback provided to tutee: I helped my tutee understand what point of view meant. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that point of view was not an obvious concept for 3rd graders, so I figured out that using the phrase "who is telling the story" helped her get it.

Date/Time: March 28 Location: tutee house Feedback provided to tutee: Tutee wrote the essay that we had planned in the last session. I answered her questions about transition words and essay writing. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I learned that pre-planning an essay with a tutee pays off. Since we had a plan, she was able to write the essay on her own.

Date/Time: March 11, 4:30-5:30 Location: after school camp Feedback provided to tutee: I explained the purpose and importance of essay planning, and guided my tutee on how to plan an essay by using a template. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: 3rd graders are learning how to write essays.

Date/Time: March 6, 4:30-5:30 Location: after school camp Feedback provided to tutee: I helped my tutee figure out what the theme of a reading passage was (fable). Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: It can be difficult sometimes for 3rd graders to figure out what the theme of a passage is (looking at the bigger picture).

Date/Time: March 4, 4:30-5:30 Location: after school camp Feedback provided to tutee: I corrected usage of “like” and “as” when writing similes and metaphors. Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: This was the first tutoring session so I learned how to ask questions to help guide a tutee to the answer.