As we did a few responses ago, I would like to get a sense for what kinds of questions you have about working with student who do not natively speak English based on our readings, your observations, and your experiences in the RWC or as a writer/tutor in the past. Just like before, I'll be drawing on these questions for our class discussion to synthesize one of our major topics in the past several weeks.
15 Comments
Rachel Haas
2/20/2016 06:42:44 pm
Here are a few questions I have regarding ESL students:
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Gram Seelund
2/21/2016 01:53:45 pm
Gram Seelund
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Phoebe Thomas
2/21/2016 04:55:55 pm
I have not encountered an ESL student yet but my mentor tells me lots about them. Usually how the problems with them are generally grammatical and simple but still, I'm concerned. What do i do if i do not know how to explain the answer to a grammatical error to them in a way that makes sense? How thoroughly should we fix their grammar? Like, should it be perfect or should we just point out the reoccurring problems? Should i still try to focus more on helping them organize their essay and ideas, or should i really just focus on grammar? What if i don't know the word they are trying to communicate on paper?
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Erica Bouza
2/21/2016 05:08:02 pm
Some questions i have when it comes to situation in working with an ESL student are:
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Gaby Tribou
2/21/2016 06:14:06 pm
From talking with several international students, I've learned that writing in English for a class can be a really frustrating and even saddening thing. For anyone, no matter how capable you are of engaging with the subject matter in your native language or how extensive your knowledge of a subject is, having to communicate it in a second language can introduce difficulties that might complicate your ability to do so, and might therefore negatively impact your grades and studies. My question then is: how do we as writing tutors delicately navigate potentially emotional situations in which we want to stress the RWC role as a non-editing/proof-reading space but where the student might feel stress or desperate to have it used as such?
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Lauryn Vickers
2/21/2016 09:35:39 pm
Questions I have in regards to tutoring international/ESL students
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Meredith brooks
2/22/2016 06:43:43 am
My first question is, is it appropriate to confront them on the fact that English is their second language if they haven't already told you? As in is it okay to ask or is that offensive?
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Caitlin Hattaway
2/22/2016 10:50:18 am
My experiences with ESL students at the RWC helped me to figure out how to prioritize the most pressing concerns to be addressed in a session (both for ESL writers and all others). It is easy to get caught up in correction get grammar and the like without focusing on big picture, but I've noticed that if you take the appointment similarly to any other appointment by having the student or the tutor read the piece aloud, most of the grammar and clarity issues are addressed by the student before the tutor has to mention them. Generally, it seems that these students know what they are trying to saying and how it should sound, but when writing may lapse and forget articles or write with grammar that is more similar to their native language structure than that of English. When students do discuss issues with a tutor, it seems that the tutor functions more as a sound board or a means to verify that they are correct than any kind of teacher.
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Olivia Nash
2/22/2016 11:43:07 am
My past two out of three sessions with my writing mentors have been with ESL students. I feel that I learned the most in these sessions out of any I have done so far. I have realized things about myself I would no have known otherwise. While co-tutoring, I had to explain things to the student that seem so obvious to me with English as my first language. When he asked the difference between two terms, I actually had a difficult time trying to explain it in a way he would understand. It forces me as a tutor to be very hands on and clear in the words that I use and the comments that I make.
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Courtney Hansen
2/22/2016 04:26:32 pm
1. How do you politely tell the ESL student that you are having a hard time understanding what they are saying due to the language barrier or thick accents?
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Sophia Johnigean
3/3/2016 02:48:33 pm
1.) When helping an ESL student, how do you read through their paper and prioritize what you need to address with them? Do you start with simple grammar mistakes or jump into explaining sentence structue?
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Brandon Plotnick
3/13/2016 01:04:17 pm
Some questions I have regarding ESL students and the readings:
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Maria Parsons
3/13/2016 11:06:59 pm
I want to know how much attention to pay to smaller errors that don't necessarily take away from the paper at large, but are still existent throughout. I will first need to know if professors of ESL students grade their papers by a different standard, because it would not be possible to have an ESL student's paper read like a student whose first language is english (especially given the limited time in the sessions). That being said, I want to know what we should be primarily focusing on during the sessions.
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Hayden Brown
3/14/2016 07:44:06 am
1. How do you work with a student if you can't understand what they are saying or are meaning to say?
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Isabel Alexander
3/14/2016 07:14:44 pm
What is the best way to point out a major mistake without offending the writer?
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