Andrew TS #5

 Date/Time: 06/05/21 9:00 a.m.

Location: Conversation over Line

Topic/Skill: Practicing productive skills for the TOEFL

Feedback provided to tutee: I have known YanZhou since the summer of 2019 when I did my own intensive language study in Taiwan. Since then I have always been impressed by his English speaking abilities; However, He feels like his productive skills, like speaking and writing, are still too limited. Additionally, he hopes to pass the TOEFL or TOEIC tests to help find work overseas or get better pay in Taiwan. For this session we focused on his speaking, spending most of our time practicing the timed response questions. I told him about the different kinds of questions he could expect when he goes to take the test, went over what a good answer would look like, and read him a number of sample questions. We followed the standard testing procedure for each question and after his time expired I would grade his performance off of the official TOEFL independent speaking rubric and provide feedback. His biggest problem throughout was that he was having a hard time thinking of reasons to support his arguments or his arguments lacked any substantial development. To help work on this we agreed he would start completing short writing assignments between our sessions to help him practice explaining his reasoning while we aren't able to work together. 

Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: Since we normally just chat so he can practice his English and I can practice my Mandarin he suggested that after we finished our session I should try answering the same questions I asked him but he would ask them in Mandarin. I agreed since I have felt that my language ability had decreased significantly since the end of the last semester. This would prove to be an amazingly difficult challenge for me. I hadn't thought about it while I was tutoring YanZhou but these questions are all fairly specific and cover topics that require fairly complex answers. Since he has been studying English for far longer than I have been studying Mandarin he said I could answer the questions without a time limit. This however, had only a marginal effect on my performance. I would struggle through answering each question and YanZhou would give me feedback afterwards. This was a very sobering experience for me in that it put into much greater perspective just what challenge these ESL students are facing when they go to take the TOEFL or any other high level standardized English test.