Jackson TS #4

 Date/Time: 6/28/21, 6:00pm

Location: Strozier

Topic: The IELTS speaking session

Feedback Provided: In this session, I worked with Hussam on practicing the speaking section of the IELTS exam, the section he said he has historically had the most issue with. I found a long list of practice topics online, and we started the session by just jumping straight in to the first one. From there, we worked on how he begins his presentation, as it was obvious that the timed nature of the assignment made him nervous and he had trouble starting off. We worked on opening sentences, and I told him that he should think of this presentation as similar to an essay: since he only has 2 minutes, he needs to open with the subject of his piece and the 3 supporting pieces of information he will use when speaking. From there we did a couple practice topics in which I made him do just the opening, and he began to improve. After that, we finished by doing an entire 2 minute presentation, which was significantly better than the first one he had done that day. To finish off the session, I took the lyrics to Human by The Killers and removed a few words, and had him listen to it and fill in the missing words, which he really enjoyed doing, and he got most of them correct. 

Lessons learned: When the tutee has a large amount of internal motivation, as in the case of Hussam wanting to do well on the IELTS exam, it is very easy to provide feedback, even if it is negative, as he is very willing to learn and improve his skills. I also learned that ending the lesson with something fun is a good thing, as it lightens the mood and is enjoyable for both tutee and tutor.