Tutoring report.
I never did tell you about it yesterday. I was pretty busy working on lesson plans.
First, the old kids.
I started with the girl, and she did the usual exercises on paper and read a couple of short reading comprehension sheets and answered the questions. It was pretty routine, and she did well. The kids have been miraculously cooperative lately. I can only think that it's because school's out and they aren't working so hard on studies all day, only to confront me after school.
Then the boy. He read about Chinese dragon boats and how the festival got started. It was in English, of course, so they approximated Chinese pronunciation of Chinese words and names mentioned, which made for pretty bad Chinese! Oh well. He did the usual worksheets. On one, I had him conjugate the verb "to look" in the present tense. He's still confused that it's "look" for nearly all the persons, I, you, we, and they, but changes to "looks" for he, she, and it. But he said to me, "This is like Don't/Doesn't." Smart kid to make the connection!
Then he talked about his upcoming surgery. He's having his tonsils removed on Tuesday. He was amazingly ignorant of what would happen, and is worried. I don't blame him. An operation is never fun. He asked a bunch of questions, and I answered them as best I could, but today, I made up a sheet for him to read about getting a tonsillectomy. He can read this on Monday, the day before his operation. I'll do that instead of the usual writing assignment, since writing about a story will be better when he's not allowed to talk. I told him he should get a pad and pencil to write things down that he needs to say. He thought he couldn't spell well enough to do that, but I assured him that he could write something simple like "I hurt" if he was in pain and needed pain medication. Also, he'll probably need something like a bell to summon help, especially since the info said he'd need assistance to go to the bathroom. I really wonder that they want him to have an English lesson the day after his operation. I will abort it if I think he's not up to it and just teach the girl.
Then I went to the new boys.
I started with the older one. He read quite well, actually, and I started with a Little Golden Book, but it was too easy for him. So we tried a Choose Your Own Adventure book I have. I thought the boy I've been tutoring would get into that, but I think it was too hard for him back when I tried. Anyway, the new older boy liked it and we read one possible story from it. He wanted to borrow it to try different stories. I let him borrow it, of course. They need to get a library card, I told their mom. She said she had planned to get one. Then I had him do a reading comprehension sheet about Sally Ride, the first US female astronaut to go into space. When it mentioned the college degrees she had, he asked what that meant, and when I explained, he said his dad was a doctor. I asked what kind, medical or other, and he said he is working on microbiology at Cornell. Wow! He asked me where North America is, and I tried to draw a rather inaccurate map of the Americas, with North, Central, and South America, and show him. Then he got a globe, where he got a more accurate picture. But the globe is old. How could I tell? They labeled Russia as the USSR. Dead giveaway. He also told me he's interested in racing cars, so I guess I should find some info on the Internet for him to read, though he might know more than the info I find. He knew how fast a racing car could travel, but when I asked, he wanted me to specify which kind of car, and I'm clueless, so he decided to tell me the speed a NASCAR one could reach. I wonder if he knows that Watkins Glen has a famous racetrack.
Then I worked with the younger boy. He struggled with pretty elementary stuff and had trouble verbally expressing himself in English. But he was very diligent and sounded words out pretty well. The Golden Book was way too hard for him to read, so I resorted to very elementary reading comprehension sheets I had. He did pretty well with "The cat sat on the mat" kind of stuff. He said that when he went back to China, he was afraid he's forget what he learned. A valid worry. I asked him if he could find any English-speaking kids to play with there, and he said no. Then I suggested watching English-language movies, but he said the DVD players in the US and China aren't compatible, so he couldn't get DVDs here and take them back. I suggested buying a DVD player here for the US movies, and he rattled something off in Chinese to his mom, who I take it said no. I guess what he'll have to do is read a lot of English books, which won't help his speech, but it'll be better than nothing. At least books don't have to be compatible with anything.
I made up fill-in-the-blanks sheets for next time. The older boy got one (5 words) but the younger got a few.
As I was leaving, I asked his mom what she wanted to do about Saturday, when I plan to take the original 2 kids to the dragon boat festival. She said she wanted to take her kids, too, and asked if we could go together. I like to use these trips as a reward, but if she wants to take her boys, I can't say not to, so I agreed.
Then when I got home, I remembered that the original boy wanted me to take them swimming at the pool there after the festival. Those parents still haven't decided, but his father seemed in favor while his mom was doubtful, so I think they'll probably get to swim, unless a late-afternoon thunderstorm happens. So I e-mailed the 2nd set of boys' mom to mention this, and she said she wouldn't go, because she had inquired at the YMCA, and they required a 3-month membership if the kids would swim there. Besides, they get to swim at day camp. I e-mailed back to say that the Cass Park pool is not the Y, and it's a public pool whee you can just pay to swim. I haven't had an answer to that e-mail yet.
I just realized that Sebastian can't take pictures or video for me. I'll have to hold the phone to do that. 
Hmmm .... Yeah. That would really come in handy! Off to Google ... 
My BF and I have the same arrangement. I suspect neither of them like it much but in my case it's saving the relationship.
