Busy busy

I seem to be very busy this week, and that my tutoring sessions are getting better and better. I've had a few ESL students, and since the training my proficiency with these students has gone up exponentially! I remember tutoring ESL students last semester and thinking, "whoa this is hard." I'm so happy that I have the tools to teach these students now.

In addition to teaching these students I have had many native speaking students as well. It is interesting to note that I have tutored more ESL students this semester than the traditional speakers. I recall talking about changing your style with different students, and the transition from ESL to native speaking student emphasized this point for me. The native speaking student I was tutoring had article problems, and I had to focus on the global. It was challenging to shift gears this way, but I think I will figure it out.

College bowl. COLLEGE BOWL. I am a nerd, and I love college bowl. I'm so happy that we have started early this semester. I was stressed out about getting the word out about the bowl practice; however, my stress turned into exhubarent nerdy joy once the practice started. i don't know why I get so much pleasure knowing that Rosewell, New Mexico in addition to having alien citings is home to the nations biggest mozarila factory...Wait, I know why, my true nerd is showing.

Is it just me, or is the Black Cloak Society of Weber State(The ones that collectively decide to make college student's lives stressful) really working overtime this semester. I mean it is crazy the amount of homework I have. Although the homework is intense, it certainly beats idleness. I just wish that I could have a few more hours of the day, but if this were the case I would probably just fill them up with more stuff.

I enjoy tutoring, and it is difficult. I don't know if I will ever reach a point where I 'know' how to tutor. In my recent tutoring I wish that each individual that came into the writing center came with a text book on how to tutor them. This lady that came in for tutoring kept telling me what a terrible writer she was. She wasn’t that bad, and despite my complementing her she still refused to believe that she wasn’t that bad. My fear is that my complimenting her came across as flattery and not the sincere compliments that I am aiming for. This is just an example of being a flexible tutor, and I need more flexibility in my tutoring style.

Let me come back to the idea of ESL tutoring for a moment. I lied, I want to talk about ESL students and how interesting they are! It is cool to sit down and have a session with them because I get a little clip of what their culture is like. I was tutoring a student from the Middle East and I was asking about the weather. He told me how hot it was in the Middle East. I said did it compare to our summers here in Ogden Utah, and he replied, “ I catch a cold in summertime In Ogden.”