Jae and I met for another tutoring session last Friday. [Aside: You'll be relieved to find that her aunt was oblivious to the little white lie I'd inadvertently helped to fabricate -- see my post from June 5th if you missed that story.]
Inspired by our viewing of the Ted Talk "East vs. West -- the myths that mystify", I decided to center our lesson around mythology and folklore. So, I prepared some readings from the book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, one of my personal faves from childhood. I directed her to read the introduction aloud, which gave her a warm-up and a preview of what to expect from these stories. Then she listened and followed along as I read "The Guests". This gave her the chance to hear my pronunciation and intonation, and allowed me to hone my upside-down-reading skills. She was impressed :) I then had her answer some comprehension questions that I'd prepared ahead of time. Next, it was her turn to read -- this time a story called "Alligators". I told her to focus on pronunciation and intonation. I was pleased by the way she paused after commas, periods, and other thought groups. She is making good progress.
I chose the alligators story because it provided a good segue into animals-as-symbols in culture, and we talked for a bit about which animals are symbolic in American culture (e.g. snakes as being evil, doves and eagles as being peaceful and noble). Next session I have directed her to think of a Korean folktale to tell me that involves animals. I'm eager to see what she comes up with! As a treat to reward her for her hard work, I gave her a brief tutorial on the cursive alphabet, as she had mentioned that she loved my cursive handwriting and wanted to know how it was done.
I looked up the stories you read with your tutee. they are very good, i had not heard of them before but Im definitely going to use them. Keep up the great work!
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