Raymond Vickers TS Blog #5

  Date & Time: September 17th, 2025 (430-530 pm)

Location: Outside Strozier Library on a bench

Topic/Skill: Speaking

This next lesson was spent with Seunghye going over the Duolingo test again. Before we started, I showed her a PowerPoint I had made for my TEFL course. It was on Idioms and it seemed to be very helpful to her. A lot of advanced students have trouble with idioms, because they are not as literal as they say. For instance, when I say "you're on thin ice" it doesn't mean I am telling that person they are literally on ice. I had the PowerPrint printed out so it was easy for her to read while I explained each slide. Then, we went over some Duolingo Test practice pictures. We went through three, and she got better with each one. One of the pictures was of a boat on a dock on a lake in the mountains, and she had a little trouble with this. I taught her a strategy that would help her use her descriptive factors. This strategy involved looking at the center of the picture and zooming out. 

1. Start with the setting (This picture was taken ____) 

2. Start describing the object that is in the center of the picture. Describe its color. Describe its shape. Describe how it makes you feel, etc.

3. Move out and pick the object closest to this object. 

4. Repeat until time runs out

For this picture with the boat, it was extremely useful to use this strategy. She started with the boat on the dock, and by the time she got to describing the muntains at the edge of the picture, she still had so much more to say! (as opposed to not reaching the word limit in the set amount of time)

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