"Dear Elicia,
You were absent again for my tutorial this afternoon. May I have an explanation from you?
We went through a lot of things today in class and I do think you might have missed out a lot, especially on qualitative data analysis as I showed the class how to link everyday experiences in your interviews can be interpreted and linked to larger social patterns.
Do drop me an email with your explanation and your progress with your term paper e.g. how many you have already interviewed and what kind of themes that have popped out which are interesting.
Thank you.
Warm regards, Fadzli"

i corresponded with some excuses and it seemed to work!

"Dear Elicia,
I definitely understand your predicament, so it's fine with me :) It's just that I have to subscribe to bureaucratic pressure to find out why students don't attend tutorials :p
I see that you have put in a lot of effort with your research outline which looks good as well! Just a few comments.
....
Try to come for the last tutorial and I can take a look again at your progress. So far so good!
Warm regards,
Fadzli"