Jules TP-12

For our final tutoring session, Ahmed and I met up for boba tea at What Café and did a little reading practice. We started with some Isaac Asimov short stories, one of which was called "The Fun They Had". We both found this one especially interesting because of all the predictions it made that have come true. Though it was written in 1951, the story is set in the year 2167, and describes some children's awe and wonder at a book that is made out of paper, of all substances. In their day in age, books are read on a television screen, which is eerily similar to the e-readers that are becoming so popular in our century. I was pleased to find a story that actually held Ahmed's interest, since he has stated on multiple occasions that he's just not that into reading.

In addition to the vocabulary and comprehension building, we were also able to work on his timing and fluency because I had him read to me aloud. I tried (somewhat in vain) to explain the concept of thought groups, but was able to get the point across that he should always pause at a comma and nearly always before a conjunction. Sometimes examples are so much more illustrative than abstract explanations.

We ended with a story from Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark called "The Curse". He inquired as to what a curse was, and when I explained it as like a magic spell that an evil person puts on someone to cause them bad fortune, he immediately recognized the word and went into this whole conversation about the Pharaoh's Curse (he is Egyptian, after all). He seemed much more motivated and enthusiastic about these stories that he could relate to -- this is definitely something for all of us to keep in mind when choosing our teaching materials.