It seems my tutee, Cyriaque, always has a way to test my composure as a teacher with the add-on to the lesson plan. This week was no exception.
I arrived early and, as usual, Cyriaque was on the computer writing to friends. He was very excited because he had been contacted by FSU’s graduate admissions and was writing a letter of reply. I snuck a peek and saw that it was written in all capital letters. I decided to make the revision of this letter Part 1 of the day’s lesson plan.
I started by explaining that using all caps in American culture is akin to shouting and a clue that the person writing the letter is unfamiliar with the rules of grammar. I showed him how to edit his letter in Word and then transfer it to the email program. The Word program shows the mistakes in spelling, grammar, and format with squiggly red and green lines. We went over the mistakes one by one and corrected them. Cyriaque knew the rules for capitalization. I suspect that writing letters in capital letters was just a habit. In addition to showing him a convenient way to correct his email correspondence, I actually got to use my writing lesson plan! I sent him the supplementary materials after I arrived home.
The letter from FSU graduate admission to Cyriaque also mentioned that he would have to take the GRE. Cyriaque had already downloaded a 50-page sample test and wanted to go over it right away! The first part was comparing and identifying similarities/differences between or among ideas. I saw that he needed more vocabulary work. I showed him how to make FLASHCARDS!! Wow! I got to use 2 lesson plans in one day (3 if you count the one I had prepared)!
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Nice!
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