Kim Clauson_TP 1

As I drove far north of town into Killearn Lakes on Wednesday, October 31, 2012, I recognized ferries, zombies, butterflies, and action heroes strapped into the backseats of their parent’s vehicles.  “Oh, joy!  I get to experience Halloween in Killearn!” I thought.  I was certain that my new tutoring partner was going to be enthusiastic about the American holiday and so I was ready for his lack energy in regards to tutoring.  

Initially, Woo-Joo and I had great conversations about his interests.  I told him that I want to get to know his interests so that he could practice reading information that was important to his life.  We decided to form a web graph based on his interests.  We discussed favorite books, games, movies, songs, hobbies, and sports.  I realized that like many other adolescent middle school boys, Woo-Joo was interested in adventures, fantasies, and mysteries.  Likewise, he was also interested in the gaming world, and pop culture which included songs that were incredibly inappropriate. 

I was able to notice that Woo-Joo’s English comprehension was certainly around Intermediate to High-Intermediate.  His mother told me that he was a good student and a proficient student, but she thought that he mainly needed to focus on accuracy.  In addition to accuracy, we wanted to prepare him for high school expectations by increasing his academic vocabulary and working on his reading comprehension skills.

Just out of curiosity, what are appropriate materials or lesson ideas that I could share with Woo-Joo based on his interests?