Breanna TS #3

Date/Time: 5/13/16 2:15 PM

Location: Books-A-Million

Topic/Skill: V and b sounds/f and p sounds/can and can’t

Feedback provided to tutee: I began to notice a few more patterns in Ki’s pronunciation during this session. He often switches the “v” sound in words to a “b” sound, so he will make words like “revised” sound like “rebised.” He does this same thing with “f” and “p” sounds. For example, words like “focus” and “professor” he will pronounce as, “pocus” and “propessor.” I corrected these words by writing them down in the journal in front of me, and for some of the words such as “focus” and “pocus,” we practiced them like minimal pairs. Ki told me it was difficult for him to hear the t at the of words like “can’t” and “won’t,” so he never fully understands what native speaks say. We talked about context clues and the tone of voice people use. I told him that when people are using can and want, they will probably be using a higher tone of voice because those words are words of acceptance. Rather than when they use can’t and won’t, they will likely use a lower tone of voice because those words are words of rejection.

Lesson(s) about tutoring and/or the tutee you learned: I am learning just how good of an English speaker Ki is. He has just gotten a little lazy with his own personal error correction. He may not be aware of the problems he has with his pronunciation, but now he is becoming aware of them, he has to be accountable for his own mistakes.