Isabel TS #3


Tutoring Session #3 - Ali

Yesterday I tutored Ali for the second time. Ali's main concern is practicing for the TOEFL exam which he will be taking in five weeks. Though he is in Group 2, he is preparing to take the exam for the first time. Ali told me he is confident with grammar and writing. He biggest problem areas are speaking and listening. To focus on these areas, we dedicated this tutoring session to practicing conversation exercises. I found some sample TOEFL speaking prompts online. I asked Ali questions and he answered me. When giving answers, Ali needs to focus on giving more details and his delivery. A lack of vocabulary is probably why speaking English does not come easy for him. He says that when writing, he can look up definitions on his phone, but he cannot when speaking. Ali became very frustrated because of this and wanted to know how he could learn more vocabulary. I showed him the website Quizlet which offers a variety of ways to study terms. He is going to make a Quizlet list of words and their definitions for every new word he learns. This definitely excited him and gave him some more confidence.

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