I think that all students (not just ESL) feel intimidated by the writing room. Sami, an ESL student from Saudi Arabia, and Tika, an ESL student from Indonesia both share the same qualities of American students when it comes to getting help in the writing center. At first, everyone feels a shot to their pride because going to the writing center is actually admiting the fact that he/she needs help with something. Both students were interesting in getting help because they never had access to a place like this before to get help with their writing, but they were just scared because they did not know what to expact once they got inside. I think the section on Making a Plan is extremely important to all tutors. You can't just sit down with someone and know exactly what they need help with. If a student wants help with grammar, then the consultant must offer suggestions that focus on grammar issues and trust that the student is willing to learn about grammar and not be afraid that to address certain issues like this. Setting goals with the student collaboratively and writing questions about his/her work and expectations for the session will give the student a feeling of relief and will give them a better understanding of what the session is going to be like by including them in your plan. I don't have a problem at all with asking the student direct questions about what the assingment is and the main point of their argument. I think by asking myself questions such as these helps me to notice if I actually got my argument across and if it's clear.
I could really relate to the chapter titled Reading an ESL Writer's Text because I just finished working with an ESL student and I could see exactly what the author was talking about. I really enjoyed working with the student and I thought her paper was very fascinating. She is from Jerusalem and she talked about her religion and the different roles that men and women have in her country. I had difficulty understanding what she was trying to say at times, but I'd ask her what she meant and she'd explain it in a way I could understand, then we would work on it to make sure she got her message across to the reader. Her spelling/grammar errors didn't bother me too much because I explained to her how to correct it the first time and she noticed her mistakes as we read through her paper together. Her word choice was a little different, but all in all I enjoyed her paper and I really feel that anyone who reads this will have a better understanding of her country and her beliefs.
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I think that you come into the tutoring process with a positive mentality and an open mind, and that is what will make the difference in the end. It was awesome of you to listen to the student's beliefs and to ask for clarification--it's that last part that shows the student you're actually listening to what he or she is saying. I hope she came away feeling just as good about the session as you did!
ReplyDeleteIt's important not to treat ESL clients as if they're an entirely different species of client than NES writers, which is a misinterpretation I think our class may have (based on everyone's blog posts) from the readings on ESL writers. What makes them different is that they are acquiring a new language, something our NES clients are not dealing with when they write in English, and that, for many international students, some of their difficulties with American academic writing may stem from cultural differences in the definition of "good writing." But you're right to point out that all students feel trepidation about coming to the center. And even without being steeped in ESL theory, you were able to conduct a very successful ESL session by treating an ESL client like any other writer. That shows us how effective the strategies we've been learning this semester really are! The ESL theory we'll read in class shouldn't be seen as discounting those other best practices, but rather adding more strategies to your repertoire as a tutor.
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