Language and Catechetical Institute Tutoring Partnership Weekly Assessment

Adapted from the Ohio Department of Educations Strategies for Diverse Learners Using the UDL Model
Focus on English Language Learners (ELL)

Please save the document and type your responses in the boxes below. Please use as much space as you feel is necessary to explain your experience.

Discuss the cultural background

of the student. Explain how you will use
their cultural knowledge and experiences
as teaching/ learning resources (for
themselves
and for other students).
*You may consider filling this out after a few sessions and
then return to reflect upon what worked and didnt.

What is the level of students heritage

(native or home) language skills in all fourcommunication modes (listening, speaking,
reading and writing? How do you think
you will use their strengths and build upon
their weaknesses?

*You may consider filling this out after a few sessions and
then return to reflect upon what worked and didnt.

Consult with the students English as a

I was lucky enough to tutor two students this semester, Kakha and Veronica. Kakha is from a country
called Georgia and did not learn English until coming to Gaming as part of the LCI program. When I first
met with him, he had very good command of the English language and primarily needs help in learning new
vocabulary and correcting his grammar mistakes. He has mentioned that he wants to continue that during the
summer he helps his father. I plan on using this information to help him learn new vocabulary words that he
will actually use when he returns to Georgia.
The second student I got to tutor is Veronica. Veronica is from Belarus and graduated from college with a
degree in English. She was actually working as an English teacher before she joined the LCI program. While
she was in Belarus she mentioned how she would teach different age groups and to any student, whether
they were children just learning English or high school or college students who needed help refining and
practicing their English. For this reason when I plan to meet with her, I focus more on fine-tuning her
English speaking skills by focusing on her grammar and punctuation when it comes to written assignments.
Kakha is getting used to hearing native English speakers talk to him, especially since we talk a lot faster
than he is used to. Sometimes he asks you to repeat the question or say it again, but for the most part he is
doing very well at being able to listen. His speaking and writing skills need some more practice, he has a
good command of simple vocabulary, but sometimes he uses the wrong word to describe things. His reading
skills are probably his best; he just needs a little help with pronunciation.
Veronica is amazing when it comes to all four-communication modes, but then again she learned English
in school. Her listening, speaking and reading skills are very strong and well developed. She is able to
understand me, especially when I talk fast. She can speak and read English very well and uses the proper
vocabulary or describing words. One can tell that she speaks slow and chooses her words carefully, however
she is still one of the most advanced of the LCI students. Her writing is good; she only needs a little help
with punctuation and spelling.
Whenever I spoke to Dr. Healy or Prof. Scofield about how to help my two students, they always

Second Language (ESL) teachers or

tutors(Dr. Healy) and
share ideas on how to support the students
learning in both the content classroom and
the ESL classroom.

mentioned that I should help them in whatever way they asked or needed. So for example, with Kakha he
wanted to practice speaking more, since that was his weakest mode of communication. Dr. Healy also
mentioned that if Kakha ever asked for help with the homework, that I should not do the homework for him,
and if anything explain the directions and give examples as to how to complete it. When it also came time
for the LCI students to perform the play, Dr. Healy suggested that I help Veronica learn her lines by going
over them with her. It was also suggested to me that I should have conversations with her and proofread her
written assignments to look for any small errors, in order to help fine tune her English.

Please upload the document and complete each section after your tutoring session. You will be required to submit both templates into the Blackboard shell at the end of the semester.

You are required to meet at least 5 times with your partner per 6/29/2014.
Date

Time

Multiple Means of Representation: To provide

students various ways of acquiring information and
knowledge

Multiple Means of Action and Expression: To provide options for

students to demonstrate what they have learned

Multiple Means of Engagement: To tap individual learners'

interests, challenge them appropriately and motivate them
to learn

Feb.

55:30

Today Kakha and I took some

time to get to know each other. I
wanted him to feel comfortable
talking to me without getting
nervous about his accent or
pronunciation. I was able to
learn more about his
background, such as his father
owning a farm, and I plan on
using this to help me the next
time I tutor him.
Today the tutoring really started;
Kakha need some help with his
homework that required a
reading portion. For most of the
time we read the section and
whenever he struggled, I would
help him pronounce the word.

There were times that Kakha would not

know the English word for something that
he was trying to describe, and so he
would describe it for me and we would
figure it out together. Once I found out
what word he needed to use, I would say
it and write it down in his notebook, then
have him repeat and copy it my spelling.

Kakha seemed very shy, and almost

unwilling to learn, which is
understandable since Im a new person
and he probably did not want to feel
embarrassed by his pronunciation.
Hopefully by taking the time to get to
know him will help him feel more at
ease with me, for the next tutoring
session.

While we were reading, I focused on

helping Kakha learn the proper
pronunciation for different letters. I made
sure to correct him politely and after one
correction, he was able to say the word
properly for the rest of the exercise.

Kakha seemed very excited to learn

today, his shyness seemed to have
disappeared and he was no longer
embarrassed whenever he made a
mistake with an English word. After
helping Kakha with his homework, I
asked him what was the best way for
me to help him and he told me that he

10

Feb.

5-

24

5:30

Mar.

5-

10

5:30

Mar.

5-6

24

Mar.

5-

31

5:30

Kakha asked me to check to if

he had done his homework
correctly, which was done
perfectly!

Kakha asked me to review a

journal entry that he had to
write for homework. It was a
short one-page journal entry
about activities that he enjoys
doing during a certain season.
For this homework assignment,
Kakha had picked the summer
and explained how he works on
his fathers farm and the time he
spends as a leader at a religious
youth summer camp.
This time Kakha had another
written homework assignment
that he asked me to check for
him. This one was for art class
and it was a paper that
compared and contrasted two
paintings.

While checking his homework, I made

sure to always come up with an example
to help him. So if he would point at a
specific question that would give him
trouble, or if he didnt understand exactly
what the phrase was saying, I would help
clarify it. We spent a lot of time talking
today, which was actually a struggle
today. Sometimes it was really hard to
explain and give examples for what a
phrase in his homework meant.
During this time, I asked for Kakha to
read his journal entry out loud to me, so
that he could practice speaking English.
As he was reading we would stop at
every sentence and make the necessary
corrections, such as grammar mistakes,
punctuation, spelling, word usage, etc.
After correcting each paragraph or
section, we would read through the now
corrected paragraph, so that he could
hear and see the difference.
I first explained what the assignment was
about, just to help clarify if he had any
questions and then we dived into the
corrections. We worked through this
paper together the same way as in last
weeks reflection, reading one sentence
at a time and making correction then
rereading the fully corrected paragraph.

would prefer to have more practice in

speaking, since that is what he feels
like is his weakest mode of
communication.
Today Kakha was excited to learn, but
even more so excited to talk. Although
it was really a struggle and it clearly
became evident that this was his weak
spot, it was fun. I realized just how
much meeting with him, one-on-one,
talking at a speed that was comfortable
for him, and being patient with him is
what he really needed.
Kakha was really excited that I was
interested in the content of his journal,
and that I didnt just read it to make
corrections. It was interesting to me to
see how he lives and what he does over
the summer. I think the hardest thing
about todays tutoring session was
reading and speaking English. His
writing skills are decent but they can be
improved upon and it would extremely
helpful when he learns more vocabulary
and proper sentence structure.
During this session, Kakha seemed
nervous, probably because written
assignments such as these are a bit
difficult for him. However I believe that I
saw a difference in his writing, I saw
fewer mistakes in comparison to the
last paper, and when we were reading it
together, he would find a mistake and
correct it before I could correct him. It

Apr. 7

5-6

Veronica met with me and she

actually told me that she wanted
to walk and get to me first. She
said that she preferred this for
our first meeting and that
having a natural conversation
would help her practice
speaking English.

May

6-7

Veronica and I met to go other a

homework assignment and to
help her practice her lines for
the play.

6-7

When Veronica and I met today

we simply practiced her lines for
the play.

11

May

I wasnt surprised that Veronica wanted

to get to know me and I actually enjoyed
our hike. It allowed me to get to know her
as a person and understand her
background as a teacher. Throughout our
conversation there were moments where
she used the wrong tense or was
struggling to find the word that she
wanted to use. In these moments I would
suggest words that I thought might help
or I would politely correct her tense
mistake.
While reviewing her paper I realized just
how well Veronica writes! I was amazed
and couldnt believe that there were so
few mistakes! After reading her Theology
of Church paper I could only find a few
grammatical and punctuation errors.

Today was an easy day we spent an hour

together. I helped her pronounce words
and memorize her lines.

13
Adapted from Ohio Department of Education, Lau Resource Center, March 2011

was great to see him realizing his

mistakes and learning how to correct
them.
Ive realized through our conversations
that tutoring Veronica is going to be
very easy. She has a good grasp of
English vocabulary and there were only
a few times where she will struggle to
find the correct word for a sentence.

I briefly read through Veronicas

Theology of Church paper, looking for
any grammatical errors but also paying
close attention to her word usage when
it came to theological terms to avoid
anything that could sound heretical.
The only corrections that were
necessary were a few comma and
spelling mistakes. After reviewing her
paper and asking her to read it to me
once, we focused on her lines for the
play.
During todays tutoring session I didnt
make many corrections besides a few
pronunciation errors.