Nic Reagan TS #9

     Today was my weekly 9:30 AM tutoring session with Marcelle, the 8 year old girl from Cameroon at Gilchrist Elementary School. It was a special session because Peiheng joined for the lesson. I've narrowed down my teaching tools with Marcelle to things I know she enjoys doing. My idea is that it's best to do something with my tutee that she enjoys and she can learn in the process rather than offering activities she doesn't enjoy. Today's lesson plan included worksheets with simple preposition pictures involving matching the words to the picture, a dinosaur-themed word-search which allows an opportunity to learn new vocabulary, and some phone apps that match words with pictures. Marcelle is both a visual and tactile learner, so it helps her to hear and understand the word and then to write it down on her dry-erase board. I discovered in another session that she very much enjoys digital games, so I downloaded a few proficiency-appropriate word matching games to my phone for her play. The idea was to provide active vocabulary teaching from the instructor (Peiheng and I) AS SHE PLAYED THE GAME. It's true that younger learners- no matter their first language- have a hard time concentrating on one learning activity too long UNLESS THEY ENJOY IT!