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.)?
Sunday, February 28, 2010
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).
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When tutoring ESL students, I find myself pitying their struggle. Now, I do not pity each individual ESL student I tutor, but I pity the general ESL population within the American culture. I have yet to truly see the learning process for ESL students in college, but I do remember the elementary and high school environments. I have had the pleasure of experiencing different school environments; I grew up in both the bad and good of Arizona education. In schools where the population is a majority minority, ESL education flourishes and is highly understood. In contrast, in schools where minorities are not the majority, ESL education is its own classroom and teachers. I feel that in America there is a constant struggle between embracing diversity and acknowledging it; the public school systems do a very good job of displaying such struggle. I pity that many ESL students are treated as burdens within our society, instead of appreciated for the education they have to offer. I have seen the willing patient teachers, who tailor their curriculum to include everyone in the learning experience. I have also seen the opposite, where ESL students are separated from the perceived “normal” classroom and then only have the assistance of teaching aids. Either way, it is very apparent that ESL education is prevalent within our very diverse society. The problem is such programs do not hold equal value across the country.
ReplyDeleteWorking with ESL students is a challenge that we all face. Most of my experience as an intern thus far had been in the company of ESL tutees. I find the easiest way to establish common ground is to find interest in their name. Taking the time to recognize their name and actually learning it correctly, shows them, in my opinion, that I value them as an individual. In my sessions I found many of the suggestions Samantha made during her visit are extremely helpful. Instead of always focusing on grammar, I meet the student writer half way in hopes to help them better understand the entire writing process. I have ESL tutees clarify their statements and help me to see their underlying meaning. This often times evokes clarity and deeper analysis that is valued in good works. I also work hard to try and make ESL students feel very comfortable. I do not want to set a condescending tone or atmosphere, because then they are reluctant to accept my help. I ask as many questions as I need to and I always compliment a reoccurring trend that is grammatically correct or significant. For many of the ESL writers, especially an Asian or Middle Eastern writer, it is getting easier to recognize patterns. This recognition of different grammatical errors has allowed me to study up on writing rules and techniques.
Overall I enjoy working with ESL students; I have yet to feel as though these writers are any different from anyone else, and I wish they were given the opportunity to prove themselves. I feel like their continuous struggle in American society is due to their lack of confidence. I hope that within each session I have with an ESL student I can help them recognize their unique writing abilities.
Rev, you pretty much dominated that.
ReplyDeleteSo.
ESL students and I are on awkward terms. They sit down wanting "grammar" and I sit down just wanting clear, honest communication and something learned in our appointment. I don't know how much English they're comfortable with, so even something basic for a native speaker could come off as a condescending remark to the ESL student. The other problem I have is getting the student to understand me-- literally. Sometimes I speak too fast, or they won't speak at all, and most of our questions/suggestions get lost in translation. As Revae mentioned, most of the ESL students simply lack confidence in the American society that they still may feel uncomfortable in.
With all that said, I strive to keep all (especially ESL) students feeling welcome and open to ask questions in the Writing Center, which is certainly more of a place to learn than it is a place where people point out faults...
I have not been blessed with frequent ESL student appointments, but I definitely have outlined a few strategies for myself to keep in mind in every meeting:
1. Time, time, time -- I must not stop them after each sentence with an error and provide an explanation. I should find the consistent errors, such as erratic comma use, and talk to the student about them, perhaps pull out a worksheet and go through it with them. If grammar is all that is being focused on (assuming they're either insistent or everything else is *perfect*), I'm going to collaborate in a way that they PERMANENTLY learn what they're slipping up with in grammar, and they're going to never slip up again :)
2. I have to keep an open mind to how I'm helping them out-- if something doesn't stick, we can try another style! ESL students have a different way of learning... they have "different processing and expressive modes," to quote a certain Hamel. As the Neff article reminded us, many people associate "learning disability" with "retarded," when really, it's either their culture (for ESL especially) or just their internal mechanisms that prevent them from thinking in the way that teachers, tutors, and other American essay writers do. So what I'm getting at, here, is maybe if they're not a verbal learner, and actually they're a spatial learner, we can use organizational bubbles, lists, trees, and other things to help sort the student's thoughts out-- even if the student didn't get their entire paper checked for grammar, they learned a new way to sort out their thoughts... I must remember to pay attention to their cues: body language, uncomfortable speech, etc. and from there I can suggest a different method in which we learn.
3. I have to keep them engaged! Again, Revae, you got it-- ask them questions when I don't understand what they're saying (helps with clarity). Also, I ask them "quiz" questions such as where the apostrophe goes in the sentence just to make sure they're engaged in the little asides I make about proper punctuation.
holy crap I wrote an epic (this is the first time this has happened). Here's pt II:
ReplyDeleteWorking with ESL students has definitely brought me to a new level of cultural appreciation and I've perhaps gained a nugget more of patience. Especially at work (at the Bookstore), I can more easily communicate with non-native speakers (a woman just the other day was Chinese and she couldn't find many words to say what she wanted... together we figured out what her book title was and we did so in a relaxed, friendly method). In each of my classes, I notice the large presence of many non-native speaking, ESL kids there are-- some are the ones trying the hardest, raising their hands for clarification about something the teacher said; there are also the ones who remain silent and look confused, whispering to a friend in a language they feel more comfortable speaking. I see the potential for a complete understanding of English and its literary methods in every ESL studen I tutor-- I am glad they took the initiative to learn more, and I do my best to set them up for long-term success in a society that hopefully will grow to not be so foreign to them after all.
When working with ESL students, I have found it effective to open the session with casual questions (about how their day is going, about the class for which they are writing, etc.) and carefully take in the kind of vibe produced by the students’ responses and immediate comments. That is, these beginning moments give a feel for how comfortable the student is with the English language, with being at the Writing Center, and with the assignment itself. Revae, I really like how you mentioned making the effort to learn the student’s name correctly in order to create a connection with him or her; I think that’s a great way of establishing a friendly session! I have definitely noticed the general nervousness mentioned in the Harris article that seems to preoccupy some ESL students at the beginning of a session. For instance, in one session, I could automatically sense that the student was extremely jittery and clearly uncomfortable about the session. I could see the worry on the student’s face as she tried to hurriedly jump into the session with a flurry of concerns. I found that asking her about her largest concern and using that as a focus to start with, and then encouraging the student by following her responses with support, helped to alleviate the nerves. Humor added to the comfort level in this session and in others; sharing a giggle here and there made the session more relaxed.
ReplyDeleteIn most of the ESL sessions I’ve had so far, the students have no problem grasping the assignment or coming up with a solid argument. The issues have generally been sticking to the topic and executing the ideas clearly. I’ve found that waiting for the student to answer without interrupting is key, even though it is very tempting to jump in and stimulate response. The students always have insightful and complex responses; jumping in only disrupts the thought pattern and reduces the possibility of allowing the students to find confidence in their own ideas. A challenge that I ran into in one session (which I briefly mentioned in last week’s blog) was helping the student recognize grammar issues without the student diverging to another subject. For instance, I tried focusing on a sentence that contained a frequently occurring grammatical error in the paper and asking if the student could identify a grammatical problem in the sentence. This student examined the sentence and then asked if there was a problem with the ideas. In this particular case, there was a larger language barrier than in most of the other sessions I have had, so communication itself was challenging (I relate to your comment about things getting "lost in translation" Hannah). In response to the student’s question, I reasserted that the problem involved grammar (it was a run-on sentence) and then used the student’s question to explain that the ideas could be broken up in that sentence to make them clearer to the reader. In doing so, I was able to re-focus the student on the grammar concern without dismissing his response as off the mark. We did not neglect to focus on higher order concerns, but in this case, there were enough grammar issues that they needed to be addressed as well. Even though the student’s responses did not always directly answer my questions, they still functioned well enough in the session because they helped create a conversational atmosphere; larger concerns like organization and ideas could be addressed in an almost simultaneous manner with grammar concerns.
(continued...I guess I wrote a lot too!)
ReplyDeleteWorking with ESL students emphasizes to me the importance of encompassing different ways of learning in the American education system. On our campus, I’ve always appreciated classes that seek to understand and incorporate the different learning styles of students by varying the ways in which they present the material to the class. Since culture contributes to the learning styles of students, and every student comes from a different meshing of cultural experiences, education systems should take into consideration the wide range. I completely agree with Revae’s point that there is a “constant struggle between embracing diversity and acknowledging it.” I think going beyond simple acknowledgment to actually embracing the diversity presented by both native speaking students and ESL students is a critical step in providing the ideal education for all students. Regardless of where a student comes from, all students have an individual way of learning and the educational system is at its best when embracing these multiple modes by encouraging variety in learning settings.
I haven't had the chance to work with many ESL students, but my experiences thus far have been very interesting. I completely agree with Revae about taking an interest in the student's name. Learning how to pronounce their name correctly shows a great level of respect and interest in who they are. It also gives you the chance to ask where they are from and help them feel comfortable with you by immediately opening a casual dialogue.
ReplyDeleteI've had a mixed bag with the three ESL students I've worked with; one wanted a grammar check, the other needed help with organization, and the last needed help reformatting a logical argument. Aka I've lucked out on my tutoring scenarios. I found that in my grammar session, it worked best to go through the paper line by line and when I first noticed a mistake, I would point it out and ask the student what he thought needed to be fixed (i.e. United States instead of the United States). As we went through paper, the same errors kept popping up and I would prompt the writer to find the mistake, he quickly caught on and was beginning to understand the need for articles in his writing. In my logic tutoring session, I was working side by side with a student to rework a logos argument to fit the format his teacher wanted. It was surprisingly difficult! But the two of us collaborated and he bounced off ideas off of me that I would edit or reinforce. I found that this method of holding my student's hand without doing the work for them was very effective. I could tell they were comfortable with me because we were working together and I made sure I was neither intimidating nor an expert. Since I've worked with so few ESL students, I haven't noticed any trends with the exception of their initial hesitation and nervousness. However, I haven't had much of a problem getting them to relax and figure out their mistakes on their own. I think this has a lot to do with the fact that I have experience working with kids...I'm really good at making people feel comfortable in a foreign situation and my attitude rarely comes across as teacher-like.
Tutoring ESL students and reading about others experiences in our readings and blogs has really opened my eyes to the lack of patience in our system. As Americans, I fee like we (for the most part) expect other cultures to automatically be on the same page as us and understand our way of thinking. However this is SO far from accurate! I think the entire UofA campus needs to take this course just so they can get a better idea about the other cultures that share our courses. Prior to this course, I hadn't really thought about the fact that other cultures might be used to other ways of thinking in regards to academics. I think I'm a very accepting, open-minded person however learning that other cultures have different ways of writing an essay (no 5 paragraph format) was actually surprising! I think it's important for our campus and country to embrace this fact and take it into consideration when we lose patience with a peer that doesn't quite get an assignment or is asking a "stupid" question (which really isn't possible).
I am so glad I'm getting this opportunity to work with ESL students. My ability to communicate is already being challenged and growing, not to mention my patience and understanding of the other cultures in our community.
While I have had mostly ESL students thus far, I have to say that my experience has been similar to Brenna's. Even though I often forget to ask the name of my student (I don't just do this with ESL students, but with a lot of the non-ESL ones too), I do really like what Brenna and Revae said about asking the name of your student as a general rule of thumb and not just with ESL students. I think that just the gesture in itself demonstrates a certain level of interest in your student--which is absolutely necessary.
ReplyDeleteI have definitely noticed patterns with a lot of the ESL students I have had. Many of the Asian students mostly struggle with article/article placement, which as I'm sure many of you have seen is one of the hardest things to actually explain. However, I have been doing the same sort of thing that Brenna said she did. Unless the student specifies that they would rather work on something else besides grammar (although ESL students mostly need help with grammar), I usually start out by reading their essay out loud to them sentence by sentence. Most ESL students seem to understand how grammatically correct English sounds; that is why reading their sentences out loud to them is probably the most effective strategy I have found, simply because when they hear ME saying something grammatically incorrect (when I wouldn't normally), it is much easier for them to realize that something isn't right. And after I point it out to them a few times myself, they usually figure it out on their own thereafter as we read through their essay.
Tutoring ESL students has certainly been stressful at times, and out of all of the people who come into the WC, they are the ones who generally need our help the most. But, that's precisely why I think helping ESL students is definitely one of the most rewarding experiences in the WC.
When I first applied for this internship and began talking to some of the current tutors in the Writing Center, I was consistently boggled that everyone had the same summation of their experience: "It's a lot of working with ESL students." This instantly took me aback and made me nervous, because it's something I hadn't even considered before coming to the Writing Center, and because I didn't know if I would be able to take on that challenge successfully.
ReplyDeleteI feel really ignorant now for harboring that mindset. I've realized through the past couple weeks, especially with the short film we watched during last class, that there are few resources on the UA campus that are specifically tailored to ESL students (TESL aside.) That being said, it feels great to be part of the Writing Center where ESL students feel comfortable coming with their concerns. I agree with Ravae when she says "I feel that in America there is a constant struggle between embracing diversity and acknowledging it." As much as we flaunt our diversity and individuality, at the same time there's an overwhelming pressure for non-native English speakers to assimilate to the culture we've cultivated here and learn English and become Americanized as quickly as possible.
My experience with ESL students has mostly been positive. I've only had a few students with whom the language barrier was impenetrable, or they were so steadfast on focussing on grammar that the session came to a deadlock. My strategies so far are still developing, but I think the best method I have is just to treat them like normal students, but be more aggressive. I find myself asking A LOT of questions with ESL students, and I really push them to answer. I know this might make some of them uncomfortable, but it usually ends up being productive. Also, I just try to be as genial as possible. Most of the ESL students I've worked with so far have been extroverted, which helps the session out a lot, but with the few shyer ones, I eased into the session with less force.
In terms of grammar, I've also used the 'read-aloud' method, like Pritha, and it really does help for the ESL students to hear their paper being read by a native English speaker to identify the issues. Usually they can identify them on their own, which is awesome. I'm also starting to look for patterns, one of which is article placement, which is extremely difficult to explain! I have been abusing the turnstile of grammar sheets. Teaching basic ingrained rules of English is really tough, and I can only imagine how hard it is to learn them as an ESL student.
Working with ESL students has become one of the best parts of the Writing Center, personally, because although it can be tense and frustrating at times (for both me and the student) I really feel like the Writing Center is being used to its best advantage. I've become more conscious of the thousands of variations of writing and the idiosyncrasies of different cultures, and I think that's pertinent, especially at such a diverse university. Ignorance is a powerful weapon and it's really a detriment that so many ESL students find little outlet on campus for their concerns. I'm glad we can help :)
Wow, you guys all have good blogs...um...I hope this adds something worthwhile to the discussion.
ReplyDeleteAs a tutor, I’ve tried to keep a heightened sense of how I carry myself, especially with ESL students. There are lots of things I don’t even think about when I go through my daily life here in America. My concept of the right way to act towards elders or members of the opposite sex, or how to act in public, or (especially) how to act in a writing center tutoring session may be really different from that of an ESL student. So, I focus on being welcoming, courteous, straightforward, friendly-but-not-creepy, and patient when tutoring. For whatever difficulty or question they have regarding their writing, I say to myself internally: this is the most important thing in the world for this half-hour.
The Powers article really reassured me on a lot of things in my sessions with ESL students. I wasn’t sure if my approach was right, or if it was too much or too little. But now I know IT’S OKAY to be more directive and to write out or map out things so the students can visualize them. I myself am so much more comfortable learning a language or writing concept when I see it performed in real life by a person who knows what he or she is doing. Reading that same concept in a book is helpful, but it can only teach us to a certain extent. In the real world of real grades (and REALLY confusing cultural differences which are foisted upon international students), ESL writers come into sessions looking for real, practical, concrete advice. I no longer feel bad about writing out how a sentence should be, or mapping out an argument structure, or explaining the “terms of writing.” If it helps the student to be more self-aware and self-sufficient in their writing process, I'm doin' it.
If anything, tutoring ESL students has made me extremely thankful. I am thankful that I live in the country I do and that I can attend this university. The quality of education and opportunities offered in American universities are good enough for international students to leave their countries and spend ridiculous amounts of money to come here. In addition to this, the freedom of ideas and expression, inside and outside the classroom, is in many cases much greater than what these students would have ever encountered in their native cultures. So my enrollment here and my command of English (which is not only becoming the world’s lingua franca, but something much more powerful and frightening) are nothing I should take for granted. I repeat: nothing I should take for granted. The more I think about this, the more thankful I am. Furthermore, I have a great level of respect for ESL students. Learning, writing, and even beginning to master the English language has to be one of the hardest endeavors in academia.
Your posts always rock, but I'm with Ben. Wow. (And Ben, you're included in my "wow.")
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