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?
Sunday, February 21, 2010
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"Whispers of Coming and Going" was almost uncannily apt for me this week--I actually wrote my literacy autobiography about my experience about growing up bilingual and eventually losing my skills to speak a different language. That being said, I found this piece very poignant.
ReplyDeleteI definitely identify with the struggles that ESL students experience, and at the same time , I feel a huge chasm between us. By saying this, I don't mean to create an atmosphere of 'otherness'--I only mean to say that their experience is trying and unique, and unfortunately, I will never be fully able to sympathize and relate to them.
First of all, I think the term ESL is definitely a misnomer. Most ESL students that come to the Writing Center are actually learning English not as their second language but as their third or fourth. Most of the ESL students I have had in sessions so far are far, far more intelligent than me. I think we as tutors need to work actively to break down the stigma that ESL students are somehow 'less educated'-which is a prejudice that Fannie faces in the Dipardo reading.
I think my experience with English has been a huge component in shaping my educational struggles and successes, and like I mentioned above, this is what my lit autobiography is concerned with. I did not have a background or repertoire established in English knowledge, so I had to build this completely on my own. When I was a child, I spoke Gujarati because this is the heritage language my parents speak as their first language and still speak at home. Unfortunately, though I can still understand it completely, somewhere along the way I lost the ability to speak Gujarati and this is one of my biggest regrets. I wish I had found a better way to blend my two cultures together, and in this way, I really sympathize with students that speak other languages.
I think as human beings, first and foremost, it is our job to embrace multiculturalism; it's something we can't avoid, and should not avoid. This would be a huge misstep. I think in terms of tutoring, we definitely need to alter our methods with ESL students, but not negative-we must never patronize them or ignore their specific needs. I think this was Morgan's fallacy--she didn't express enough interest in Fannie's particular situation and totally glossed over her intense and rich cultural background that could have been the keystone to her writing style and personality. I think we as tutors with ESL students need to be two things--intuitive, and patient. ESL students will, on the whole, require more provoking and open-ended questions than other students. Morgan recognized this, to a degree; but she eventually defaulted to her habit of putting words in Fannie's mouth and jumping to conclusions regarding her writing, rather than being patient and waiting for Fannie to reveal for herself what her writing was about.
I don't blame Morgan, completely though. I have been in sessions with ESL students that have been frustrating due to lack of communication and their lack of affirmation that I still subconsciously crave as a tutor. At times, when an ESL student walks away, I feel defeated and useless, as if I have not taught them anything. But then I resolutely remind myself that the session is not about me, it's about them.
Some strategies that have worked for me thus far in sessions with ESL students have been treating the sessions as if they are any other student, but being more aggressive in my suggestions and questions. It is difficult sometimes to get information from them, but I know it is there, and most of them have great, smart ideas that they just can't seem to fully articulate. I am still working on this, though; I still have trouble directing the session away from being fully grammar-focused to centering on the writing itself.
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ReplyDeleteComing from a family of more than one language, I embrace diversity, particularly in the educational realm. As a result of this cultural background, I have learned to view myself as a mosaic in my educational journey. As I mature in this journey, it is my goal to take on as many perspectives as I can in every learning opportunity; diversity gives us a chance to better understand ourselves and our worlds. Multiculturalism makes us better tutors and better students. I think it can only benefit a tutoring session to embrace multiculturalism in order to improve the writing process. In the case of Morgan and Fannie, DiPardo states several times that it would have been helpful for Morgan to find out more about Fannie’s background in order to understand her dilemmas with writing and the frustrating blocks she encountered as a writer. A “cultural barrier” can be prevented by asking sufficient questions of the student and listening carefully to the answers. Just as with any other tutee, it is important for the tutor to take on the perspective of the student for the duration of the session so that the session is tailored to that student’s areas of concern and ways of learning. Asking questions of a student from a different cultural background opens up communication and understanding.
ReplyDeleteThe comfort level of the student should also be considered; body language and expressions can indicate discomfort or that an idea has not been communicated clearly. In the article, Morgan was not in tune with Fannie’s discomfort and ended up forcing her own ideas on Fannie in a way that only discouraged Fannie’s efforts. Having patience is important as well (as Maitri touched on), rather than simply imposing ideas as Morgan did. From the ESL sessions I have had, I have learned that it is critical to wait for the student to reply; sometimes it takes awhile to put together the response, but when it appears, having an open ear and really paying attention to what the student is expressing gives power to the session. In addition to creating understanding between tutor and tutee, this allows the student to maintain control over his or her work. It is also important to be patient when certain strategies do not seem to be working in an ESL session.
I have had some ESL sessions that presented this kind of communication challenge. In one session, I tried asking questions to help the student understand grammar problems without me simply pointing out the grammar issues. This proved to be challenging because even when I explained that the issue involved grammar, the student kept misinterpreting the question as something unrelated, such as an organizational or content issue. In a way, this interpretation could be useful, because it allows higher-order concerns to be addressed and discussed; however, when grammar is the greatest issue in a paper, it must be addressed and not lost in the session.
I’m still learning how to best approach these kinds of challenges, but practice makes perfect! I’m looking forward to working with more ESL students so I can learn more about what is effective in these tutoring situations. As far as avoiding being ignorant or offensive, I think it is necessary to be sensitive to the student’s personality, comfort level, and experience with the language. Being attentive to these aspects of the tutoring session helps to ensure that the session flows smoothly and communication is maintained at a positive level.
You know what really bugged me about Morgan and Fannie's tutoring sessions? No, you don't! But I'll tell you :)
ReplyDeleteMorgan would continue to ask Fannie questions but then "give up" after prodding her for too long, because Fannie's answers were either vague or not getting them anywhere. She did not register that Fannie was being shy, but instead she moved on... this is definitely NOT something we should be doing at the WC. But with the experience of trying to figure out the focus of Fannie's essay about "values," Morgan did the right thing by trying to prod her into it with helpful questions. She gave off the impression that she didn't know more about it than Fannie did-- and with much persistence in asking questions, and even providing a few of her own views, they finally reached the "Naturalistic" conclusion. I agree with Karena also that the tutor should be watching body language... someone mentioned in discussion (was it you, Revae?) about how they were tutoring a shy student that would occasionally light up as if she were to say something, but felt uncomfortable interjecting... as tutors, we have to know when to press on, and when to stop to let the student speak.
We also must make sure that we don't misinterpret the ESL student's basic questions about the english essay as ignorance-- for a native speaker, perhaps it could be the case. But for an ESL student, they are most likely honest questions! In the Powers article, the point was brought up that different cultures also have different organizational structures in their essays-- some conclusions bring up new ideas (aah!) and others don't put their thesis in the introduction (eh?!) So we need to be able to explain *why* these elements of a paper work in the way that they do, and why they are put in specific places in the English cultural context.
So, on the culture note: I'm white and middle class-- third generation descendant of Polish and Dutch (?) immigrants. My culture is that of America, meaning that I don't really hold any customs too foreign from the stereotypical, American-nuclear-family unit of today. This culture of mine has worked in my favor-- I've been able to succeed academically (because it is easy for me to understand my native language) and also socially, because I didn't have any customs that set me apart/away from the rest of my peers... Well, I suppose besides the cooking and washing my walls with bleach (yeah, it's a Polish thing).
As a tutor, it is INDEED my job to embrace multiculturalism! I think a smart way to connect with the student is to ask them a bit about themselves as an icebreaker, and perhaps a friendly question about their culture if you notice it in their paper. "Oh, this paper is about Chinese agriculture in the 1700s? That's cool, why did you decide to focus on that?" (I dunno, some non-offensive question after the first half of the sentence would be good-- just be careful, don't ask any race-specific questions in case you really screw up and call a Korean a Chinese person. This has not happened to me, but I assure you, to an ESL student, it would probably be more offensive than to an American native-speaking Korean.) Perhaps a method not teetering too close to the offensive would be to straight up ask them about their name. "Wow, you have a beautiful name. Why did your parents choose that?" Personally, I think icebreakers are just good ways to connect with a student right away, establishing comfort and camaraderie throughout the rest of the session. You just have to be careful asking the right question.
Oh my culture! What an ambiguous term for a middle class white kid. Well, I think that growing up in America has made me relatively parochial, which has probably given me the prejudice––which is often subconscious––that other ways of thinking in regards to learning and writing are inferior to the western, White, American, Protestant way. It’s sad. But I’ve made a conscious effort to break away from that and to learn from other cultures. One event that has made a huge impact on my life was when my family moved from Ohio to Arizona when I was in third grade.
ReplyDeleteOhio, for the most part, is fairly limited in terms of culture. A very telling example is the Cleveland Indians' (MLB team) logo––but that's another story. Growing up there, it seemed like you were either Black or White, or...weird. I specifically remember how on Thanksgiving the private elementary school I attended would have a little play, which was supposedly a reenactment of the Mayflower landing at Plymouth rock and then the following years of the pilgrims’ interactions with the Wampanoag people. None of the kids ever wanted to play pilgrims because they were sooo boring and only wore black and white with buckled-hats, but nearly everyone wanted to be an “indian” because you got to wear a huge headdress made from ziti shells, yarn, beads, and multi-colored faux feathers, paint your face, and dance around making a high pitched “wa-wa-wa!” sound by hitting your hand against your mouth. THIS was my “education” of Native American culture in Ohio. Pretty perverted, huh?
When I came out to Arizona, however, and my family moved in next door to a Navajo family with two boys my age, my perception changed extremely fast. My new neighbors were shockingly average, laid-back, and welcoming. Also, they were shrewd dealers when it came to Pokemon cards. Needless to say, my new school in Flagstaff did not have such a reenactment of the Mayflower. I tell this story because it is representative of a lot of things about culture I learned upon moving to Arizona and attending diverse public schools. Thank God I still don’t live in Elyria, Ohio.
With all that said, I certainly think it is our job to embrace multiculturalism as tutors of ESL (or NNS) students. I think it was actually one of the quotes from an ESL student in the Harris article that it would be helpful if the tutors took a little time to learn about the tutees’ culture, and their ideas on what makes good writing. I know I have had a lot of deep-seeded notions and biases about “the right way” to do things (we all do––because we are human), but the more I am aware of them and the more I am adaptive and flexible to the particular tutoring situation, the more I’ll be able to bridge the gap.
(to be continued)....
I have realized truly how powerful body language actually is after my weeks of tutoring. As tutors, I think it is definitely important to realize that when we tutor, we are not showing off or trying to prove to our student that we know what we are talking about--beyond a certain extent. What I mean by that is that I think sometimes--especially with ESL students--it is easy to get carried away while tutoring because generally, the issues ESL students are having with their essays to us seem trivial. It is easy for us to start rattling off about grammar, lecturing them about why this or that is wrong. While a certain amount of this is certainly helpful, I have noticed that it puts off the wrong message; because ESL students are generally shy and soft spoken, it makes them feel like YOU are in control since you are the one doing the lecturing, assuming that they are supposed to know what you are talking about. I don't know about you guys, but finding the right balance between lecturing and discussion has been difficult, mostly because I have a tendency to get carried away while talking.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I agree with Hannah about asking ice-breaker questions to a certain extent, but I think we should be extremely careful when undertaking this task. While some ESL students would probably respond well to these kinds of questions, I think we should be very cognizant of how we sound. Sometimes ice-breaking questions--though they may be done with good intent--can come off as superficial and fake, and this can greatly jeopardize your session because you do not want your student to feel uncomfortable. For instance, I am not sure if I could pull this off without sounding superficial, because being the person I am, I am extremely straight forward and to-the-point, which is why I don't think it would sound "natural" for me to open my session this way.
Thus, I think what is most important to embracing multiculturalism and making students (not just ESL students) feel comfortable is body language, and the way you make your student FEEL around you. I think that no matter what you say, your body language will almost always overpower your words.
Concerning the avoidance of a “cultural barrier” I like what Pritha said about body language––it’s pretty much a universal language. Overall, I’d just echo the Harris article again and say that patience and understanding are key. In addition to this, the concept of respect is SUPER important. As Americans, we have a vastly different idea of respect and professionalism in a tutoring environment from what ESL students have, especially those from Asian countries. Acknowledging them as hardworking, well-educated adults yet still establishing a peer-like and friendly environment is tough at times. I know I have failed to do this (at least on the level that I know is possible) on a couple occasions. But, as the tutor said who had a conversation for 20 minutes out of his 30-minute conference just to make an ESL student feel comfortable, it is well worth it. When I took only three minutes to talk with a Chinese student about his hobbies and the city he was from, he was more relaxed and less shy when we started revising his paper. If you are genuinely interested in what they have to say, and if you keep a positive attitude the whole time, they’ll realize it and be more receptive and collaborative in the process.
ReplyDeleteRelating to a student from another culture shouldn’t have to be difficult, let alone a situation in which I come off as ignorant or offensive. I feel like at times I over-think things. Instead of just talking with them, then engaging them as a peer in a collaborative process, I sometimes unintentionally slip into this role of some wise-sage-über-tutor-guy (which is just stupid). The advice from “Letters from Fannie” was so applicable for me. My focus should not be on talking less, as Morgan’s was, but on LISTENING more. Like Harris’s study shows, ESL students are usually well-prepared and have lots of questions to ask going into sessions. I realize that H-O-Cs come first, and I know I can identify big problems or patterns of error in their paper. However, I will only know what they want to learn or the areas in their writing they want to work on specifically by giving them the floor to ask questions. In closing, I couldn’t agree more that ESL students are more thankful after you’ve helped them––okay “thankful” is not powerful enough...they are stoked! (Oops. slang term. Sorry ESL buddies!).
Hey guys, sorry this post is so late. The syllabus doesn't say we have a blog due so I was confused.
ReplyDeleteSo, I got back home from tutoring a couple hours ago and I have to say...if I had posted yesterday I would have put down something completely different and almost certainly more depressing. Though I didn't have any sessions this past Monday (I'm noticing that the rain tends to scare people away from the Writing Center) a couple of my ESL student sessions last week were so difficult I ended them both feeling frustrated and defeated. They probably didn't go as badly as I think they did (we are our own harshest critics, after all), but they just didn't end on the same "high note" that a lot of my other sessions seem to have. Maybe it was because I was more sleep deprived than usual that day, but I had more difficulty paying attention and connecting with the two ESL students and the fact that they were both so timid, insistent on me only “editing” their papers, and seemingly indifferent to my attempts at patience just ended up making things all the more frustrating.
So what changed? And why is this post hopefully not going to make you as depressed as it would have yesterday? Because I had a session today that I feel went really, really well. It was with an ESL student and though in the beginning I still had images of my “less-successful” sessions from last week fresh in my head, I decided I was going to try my best to make this session as good as possible...and I think it worked. Hopefully. Maybe. Possibly.
The session started out really well and just got better from there. The writer was pretty timid, though not on the level of my sessions last week. Like Pritha and Ben, I consider body language to be a huge part of setting the atmosphere for a successful session, so that was the first thing I tried to adjust from last week (I was having a bad week so I think I entered the Writing Center a little more uptight and stressed than usual). The writer and I hit it off immediately and, honestly, I just sort of feel like I “clicked” with her. I tried my best not to over-think my tutoring methods and instead just let things flow. We spent awhile talking about her culture and her life in China and then moved pretty slowly from there. The writer brought more than one paper in, but after the thirty minutes were up we talked and since neither of us had anything to do past that we just kept going. By the end, I had tutored her for an hour and though we didn't necessarily cover every little thing that could have been fixed, we had the time to go through the structure and format of each of her papers, hit all the major issues, and then go over some grammar. Overall, I thought it was a great session and I think she did too. I can't really explain why it was so great...it just felt “right”. It felt like collaboration, not teaching. It felt like I was learning as much from her as she was from me. While I was explaining the role of “articles”, she was telling me about life in China and explaining the many ways the World Trade Organization has both helped and hindered the country's economic development. The tutoring session was laid back, natural, educational, and fun. Even though we came from two different backgrounds, we found common ground in an interest in the topic of her essay. We were in an entirely relaxed environment/zone, and through some sort of unspoken semi-understanding of each others cultures...everything just clicked and worked out well. It was pretty snazzy.
So that's the story of my session from earlier today. I hope it helps a little. To sum it up, I think the major changes I made from last week were an attempt at more relaxed body language, an extra focus on listening, and just a more laid back approach than usual (rather than running through my mind and thinking of techniques we've read about I just let things happen).
My post is SUPER late, I got a little confused (same as Adam). Sorry!
ReplyDeleteMy individual identity and environment has definitely been a large part of my educational journey. Growing up in Montana, about an hour from a reservation, I learned at an early age to be accepting and learn from the Native American culture. With the exception of Native American students, there was very little diversity in my hometown however I learned a lot from the small amount of diversity in my classrooms. We had Native American studies projects, assemblies, went on nature hikes, and even learned some of the traditional dances. It was interesting because growing up with this parallel culture, I was accepting and understanding of the differences in our learning styles and traditions. However, when a new student would transfer in, it was immediately evident that they didn't have the same level of understanding and were either confused or judgmental of the Native American students in our classrooms. I've found that learning this level of acceptance early on, has given me a better grasp on having an open mind to other cultures. I'm both porous and curious about other cultures. This stance has helped me with my communication skills as a dance teacher with students of many backgrounds and I know that understanding someone's background can explain everything about their learning style or attitude. In that regard, I think it is very important to be open to learning about the background of the student you're tutoring. In the reading, I was actually shocked by Morgan's lack of interest. If she would have slowed down and really analyzed Fannie, I have no doubt that her frustration would have disappeared.
Preventing a multicultural barrier is actually pretty easy. If you open a dialogue with your student about where they're from and what brought them to the University of Arizona, you immediately get some insight into their background and what makes them tick. I also agree with Pritha and Ben, body language says everything! As someone who works with kids of many cultures, even if I don't understand their background, I can read their body language to see if they're uncomfortable, don't understand, or are shy.
I've recently had my first experiences with ESL students and I've found that it's easiest to read their faces. It's SO easy to check a student's reaction by looking at their eyes. With one of my students, I was trying to explain articles and I thought I'd done a great job however when I looked at his face, his brow was furrowed and his tilted, clearly he was confused and I needed to take a different approach. So, the combination of reading body/facial language and keeping an open dialogue running will prevent that barrier. As someone who grew up learning about other cultures, I am genuinely interested in my student's background and I think I could convey that without sounding fake or condescending.
Originally, I was really nervous for my first ESL session because I wasn't confident that I could explain the basics of grammar however I found my first experience to be a fun challenge that helped with my communication skills as well as my knowledge of someone else's learning style.