Milcia TS #1

For my first tutoring session with Benator I focused on getting to know him, his interests, and his level of proficiency. We began by introducing ourselves and writing our names on “Hello, my name is…” stickers that we put on our shirts. I started our conversation by asking him where he was from and his first language. He answered, albeit one worded, saying he was from Congo and that he spoke Swahili. I then asked him how old he was and where he went to school, the answers being 12 and Nims Middle School. I continued to ask questions in order to get a better grasp on his likes and dislikes to shape future tutoring sessions in a way that would be interesting and engaging to him. I then asked him to tell me about his day and to try to write out what he did. He replied again with one worded answers so I would repeat his response in the form of a complete sentence and asked him to repeat it. I would then dictate it and ask him to write what he heard. When he would spell words incorrectly, I would sound out the letters. I was able to tell after this little exercise that he understands punctuation and capitalization of word in sentences but has more trouble with spelling and speaking. I took this opportunity to focus on the alphabet and sounds and way to remember pronunciation. We spoke a lot and I encouraged him to try to speak in sentences even if they weren’t complete or were grammatically incorrect and as a result he tried and was not discouraged when I would correct or help him.