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

His name is Zhang Chonghua, but his American name is John, and that is how

background

I will refer to him. He is twenty-six years old and from China. He studied
Business Administration in College, and he is taking International Business

of the student. Explain how

classes with the Franciscan students. During tutoring lessons, both my

you will use their cultural

colleague and I have asked him the differences between Chinese and English.

knowledge and experiences

These differences have included grammar as small as the difference in

as teaching/ learning
resources (for themselves

commas. Using this strategy has helped we tutors find avenues to help better
explain English to him and also assess his understanding.
Halfway through the semester, we switched LCI students, and my new
students name is Kate Semchenki. She is from Russia, and speaks English

and for other students).

pretty well. She is solely in the LCI classes.

What is the level of students

For Zhang, his listening level is very high. He is very attentive to the lessons I

heritage (native or home)

give him, and his eagerness to learn is very high. He speaks English pretty

language skills in all four

well, but he struggles in a few areas with pronunciation. His reading is pretty

communication modes

much the same. He struggles at times but is slowly becoming a very fluent

(listening, speaking, reading

and writing? How do you
think you will use their

reader. His main struggle, which is part of his learning process, is

understanding what certain words mean. His writing level progressed as the
tutoring did. When I first met him, his sentences would either be run-ons or
they would be missing certain filler words. Now, he is a much better writer. His

strengths and build upon

strength in listening I think, will be most beneficial because that is the only

their weaknesses?

way to learn, and by listening he asks many questions which also will help
him.
For Kate, her learning level is not as high as Zhangs was, but she is still very
advanced for having learned a new language. She is not as fluent in her writing

or speaking, but throughout the tutoring sessions, I noticed it was slightly

improving. From what I noticed, her most difficult struggle was making her
sentences make sense. She had trouble including filler words that make the
sentence make sense in English. Another aspect to her that I noticed that was
very beneficial to her learning was the fact that instead of talking in Russian
with her fellow LCI colleagues, she would try really hard to communicate with
them in English. Based upon the small language barrier, I knew these tutoring
sessions would be much more difficult than the ones with Zhang, but I chose
just to work more slowly with her and question her understanding more than I
did with Zhang.

Consult with the students

There was a group meeting with Dr. Healy, and she reassured all of the tutors

English as a Second

that their hard work is paying off and the students are becoming more fluent in

Language (ESL) teachers or

English speaking and writing. She advised helping them more on vocabulary

tutors(Dr. Healy) and

because that is what they struggle with most, and try to stay away from helping

share ideas on how to

taught in class.

them with their homework because that is truly what is reiterating what she

support the students learning

in both the content classroom
and
the ESL classroom

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.

Date

Time

Multiple Means of

Multiple Means of Action and

Multiple Means of Engagement: To

Representation: To provide

Expression: To provide options for

tap individual learners' interests,

students various ways of

students to demonstrate what they have

challenge them appropriately and

acquiring information and

learned

motivate them to learn

knowledge

Feb. 11

3:304:30pm

Feb. 24

3:30-

4:30pm

Mar. 4

3:30-

When working with John, for the

majority of the time I helped him
with his English homework, and
we just wrote out his confusions
on the sheet., but a few times, I
took advantage of the white
board, so he could see the work
written out much larger and
clearer.

The homework assigned to him was

common English phrases that we use
in the workforce or in school, and he
had to categorize between the two.
After each explanation I gave him for
the phrases he did not understand, I
asked him to use it in a sentence, so I
could assess his understanding, and
ensure that he knew the proper way to
state these sentences.

It was not hard to keep John engaged.

He was very eager to learn and very
attentive to every word I was saying
which was very pleasing to me. We
did converse a lot, obviously about
the homework, and that made him
much more comfortable. We did also
have a few laughs about my accent
which made the session very
enjoyable for both of us.

During this tutoring session, I

used the whiteboard for a short
amount of time, but most of this
lesson was working on his
pronunciation. I would say the
vocabulary words, and he would
repeat them back to me.
Therefore, we only used his
worksheet with the list of
vocabulary words, and
occasionally we used hand
motions to help describe what the
particular word meant.

John is very good about making sure

that he understands the particular
material. For instance, he asks me
often to make sure that he is
pronouncing words correctly and he
makes sure to repeat all words that I
say and ask their definitions in order to
pronounce them correctly and know
the meaning.

During this session, I took it upon

myself to finish the school work a
few minutes early, so we could better
get to know each other. He had a
deck of cards with him, and he said
that he likes performing magic tricks.
He showed me a few, and then we
talked a little while about the Chinese
culture. This really helped me to
understand better what he enjoys and
where he comes from culturally.

During this tutoring session, John

and I decided to sit outside
considering the day was so nice
outside, and I saw this also as a
way to differentiate learning. The
different environment helped
switch up the repetitive
homework he seems to have.

During this tutoring session, we

worked on correcting run-on
sentences, and his pronunciation of
vocabulary words. He had some
trouble understanding ways I was
pronouncing words compared to what
he was hearing in the classroom, and
that is when I realized how many slang
words we use and do not realize it
compared to proper English. So, I
made much more of a conscience
effort to pronounce my words and
phrases correctly.

In this session, I could notice John

was a little bit discouraged that his
pronunciation of words was not quite
correct. I assured him that he was
doing an incredible job, and we
decided to break down words from
this point. I physically showed him
how words are pronounced in your
mouth. For instance, I explained how
the letter b is pushed out on your
lips, but the letter n touches the top
of your mouth when pronounced. I
encouraged him to practice such
pronunciation throughout the week,
and I could tell that he was much
more comfortable and motivated.

Considering John and I have had

the chance to get to know each
other better, we are much more
comfortable talking about what he
does not understand, and
communicate much better
together. This weeks lesson was

Both John and I have figured out that

the best way to assess his
understanding is for him to repeat the
words that he learns and put them into
a sentence. Once he puts them into a
correct sentence, then we move on.
This routine has been very beneficial

In this particular session, one of

Johns vocabulary words was
traditional, and he understood what
tradition was, so it was just a matter
of explaining the adjectival form. I
explained that each country has a
traditional food that they eat, for

4:30pm

Mar. 18

3:30-

4:30pm

very similar to the last sessions

lesson in the sense that we
worked on vocabulary and
pronunciation. This weeks words
were about traveling, and since
we were both on the Rome trip
together, I could relate a lot of the
definitions to that trip. For
instance, one word was touristy,
and I explained how Rome was a
much more touristy place than
Assisi, of course with much more
detail, but it was pleasing to see
that he understood.

to him.

instance, I said that Italy is known for

the ir pasta; therefore, it is a
traditional Italian meal. Then, I took
a second to discuss what his favorite
meal in China was, and he told me,
and let me know many more
delicious recipes. I can tell he really
enjoys talking about his Chinese
culture, which in turn, helps motivate
him to talk more in English to me;
therefore, that helps his learning.

Apr. 1

5-6pm

There were no tutoring

sessions scheduled for this
week due to the fact that
we were switching
students, so all we had was
a group meeting.

Apr.15

3:30-

Today, Kate was learning small

phrases about going on vacations
and trips (holidays), and I helped
her pronounce the phrases and
explain what they mean. We went
over the phrases and their
meanings because Kate was
slightly confused about their
meanings, and going through the
phrases this way has been the best
way to teach Kate.

Kate is much more shy and inhibited

than Zhang was, so sometimes it was
much more difficult to bring her out of
her shell to be able to talk with me.
There was a slight language barrier,
but we communicated very well. We
decided to have Kate repeat the
phrases after me. After that, I did a
small verbal quiz with her.

Once I got to know Kate throughout

this lesson it was much easier to
relate with her. We stayed a few
minutes after the tutoring lesson to
talk about things that she enjoys. It
was fun getting to know her better
and seeing her come out of her shell
a little bit.

This weeks lesson was about

different items in the kitchen such
as: broccoli, peas, carrots, beef,
beans, and etc. The lesson also
included appliances in the kitchen
such as: a toaster, a fridge, an
oven, etc. We did the same
method as the last lesson we had,
and went through each word and
phrase, said them out loud and
then defined them if she didnt
know what they were. This lesson
was much easier because the
words had pictures next to them,
so we focused on putting these
words into sentences.

To demonstrate what she had learned, I

did more of a formative sentence and
just sat back and listened to her rather
than had her write things out. I would
say the word, she would repeat it the
way I said it, and then she would
define it and put it into a sentence.
This method worked very well for her.

After doing the exercise of repeating

the words back to me and defining
them, I acknowledged the great job
she had done, and I could see that
that was very pleasing and
motivating for her.

This weeks lesson consisted of a

much more difficult subject to
learn, that being suffixes for

To assess this particular lesson, we

went through the different adjectives,
nouns, and suffixes. During this

She had much more trouble with this

lesson than she did the other lessons.
I just tried to encourage her and

4:30

Apr.

3:30-

29
4:30

May. 6

3:30-

4:30

adjectives and nouns. For

instance being able to identify
and be able to use in a sentence
the difference between happiness
and happy.

tutoring lesson, she wrote out the

words and distinguished how to use
them in different sentences.

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

answer all of the questions she had.

By the time she left the session, it
seemed as though she had a better
grasp on the subject, but I could tell it
would still take a little bit more
understanding on her part until she is
able to fully grasp the concept.