TP #2 Madison

My second tutoring session was with a CIES student named Erico. Erico also asked me to help him with his homework. First, he asked me to read over a composition that he wrote. As I was reading, I noticed that his most common mistake was either forgetting to put in a preposition or using the wrong one. We talked about prepositions for a long time, and I explained which prepositions to use in which cases. I also described that in some situations certain verbs would require a preposition, yet in other contexts a preposition wouldn't be needed and gave him examples. Then he asked me questions about certain verbs that he was confused about. I spent a long time explaining the difference between do and make- because in Portuguese as in Italian do and make are the same word, so that can be a rather confusing concept. I explained the differences between the verbs to talk, to say/said, and told. I didn't realize how confusing the meanings of those words could be to non native speakers; however, it was a challenge to describe them to Erico because they are all so similar in meaning. We spent the rest of the session just talking and getting to know each other. I wanted to get a good idea for how much English he could speak and understand. Next week I plan to make an assignment/lesson plan using the different verbs and prepositions we talked about during this session.