Sharing Similar Assumptions with ESL Students

For the past several weeks, our primary focus has been to wrap our minds around what a tutor does, our roles as tutors, and ways in which to engage our students. Now, we can expand on our goals and initiatives into another realm of understanding by gearing our skills to help ESL students. ESL students sometimes struggle throughout their educational careers, rendering assumptions of what tutors do, having had possible past horror stories upon getting help, especially in the field of English. We have to learn and understand that ESL students may not be prone to 'actively learning,' which goes against how we've learned as native speakers. "Because collaborative techniques depend so heavily on shared basic assumptions or patterns, conferences that attempt merely to take the techniques we use with native-speaking writers and apply them to ESL writers may fail to assist the writers we intend to help" (Powers).

What have you done as a tutor to establish a common ground with your ESL students, what techniques have you applied in your sessions, and have you noticed trends with problems you've faced and your approaches to address them? Furthermore, how has tutoring ESL students effected your views on culture in America and specifically on our campus, in regards to educational behaviors (i.e. posing discussion in class, questions the teachers, etc.)?

Multiculturalism in the Writing Center

During these past few weeks we have all discussed the strategies involved in being an effective tutor. The reading this week, "Whispers of Coming and Going": Lessons From Fannie, unfortunately does not divulge tutoring secrets. Instead, this piece critically analyzes the writing difficulties many multicultural students face.

We, as individuals, represent different cultures and identities. In this week's post focus on your individual identity and how it is effected by your environment. In what ways has your culture contributed to your educational struggles/successes? Do you think as a tutor it is your job to embrace multiculturalism, i.e. the culture of ESL students, in order to better improve their writing process? What strategies can you utilize in preventing a "cultural barrier", in order to avoid sessions like Morgan's with Fannie? In what ways can you relate to a multicultural student, without being ignorant or offensive?

Collaboration in the Writing Center

This week’s readings focused on the role of the tutor as a collaborative partner and the ways in which a tutor can develop his/her communication skills and ability to help a writer better their writing skills.

In class, last week, we discussed different methods of dealing with difficult or challenging students. Discuss ways in which you can create a collaborative environment with a difficult student. How would your methods change if you were working with a student that didn’t want to be there in contrast to a student that had difficulty understanding (ESL, learning disability)? Keep in mind Freire’s "problem-posing method" and discuss how this collaborative environment would allow both the tutor and writer to become more creative and cognitive. Do you think it’s important for the tutor to learn just as much as the writer? If so, why? Try to incorporate your recent experiences in the Writer Center as either a tutor or observer.