Sean TS #12

     I had spent a good amount of time at my house at night correcting and assisting with a paper Dorothy sent me. I made an abundant amount of comments and suggestions to the side so she could see how she could make her essay better and more fluid. I never knew how much time correcting and commenting took, and I ended up spending a good 1-2 hours on just two essays for her practice. I asked for a second version and she returned one that was much better and easier on my eyeballs. Her last paper did not earn the grade she or I desired, much of it being because of a lack of organization. I had questioned this before and believed it when she told me that’s what the professor asked. These next essays I will adamantly stick to the way I write essays and hope this helps her. Dorothy is very ambitious and I know she can overcome this hiccup.

     I spent this lesson talking to her about the essay physically at “Hiro’s” while we drank some boba tea. She had made me curry for dinner, but I never got the chance to finish it as I was too busy and focused on helping and guiding her. We did plenty of proofreading and reconstructing. There is no simple solution other than practice though, and Dorothy showed me a fine website for Chinese students to practice their TEFL skills. I found she struggles with fast comprehension. Dorothy knows her material and can understand very well what she hears, but with time limits and pressure to produce answers fast and accurately like in the exam, she becomes anxious, nervous, and forgetful. This is something we talked about and I completed and did a couple of questions essays for practice to show her how I take notes and apply them to an answer.