1 Week Older and Wiser Too!

I have only been able to tutor one student, but I have observed quite a few sessions. the student I tutored by myself had taken some liberties with the assignment and it was interesting to see how she had interpreted the teacher's request. She caught most of the grammatical errors herself as we read the assignment together. I wasn't too anxious about the session, as it seemed to match up with the few sessions I had seen up until that point. I think my expectations were met on that one.

The next few sessions I observed were all very different, and what I now think I need to expect has changed quite a bit. One student just needed help learning/remembering how to write a paper. He didn't even know how to start... nothing about brainstorming, freewriting, outlining... nothing. The tutor was very good about starting with the basics and helping the student work through the assignment.

Another interesting session (two, actually) that I was able to overhear were ESL students asking about when to use an infitinite and when to use a gerund, i.e. I enjoy swimming, I like to swim. That was one where the two tutors discussed the answer with each other, and with Claire and no one could really find a good 'rule' to tell the students. Itw as a good eye-opening moment to realize that we won't always have the answer. And while we shouldn't let someone leave with unanswered questions, sometimes we will have to tell them to come back later and let us try and figure it out.
Overall, I'm excited to get some more real-life experience tutoring.