I have been working in the writing center, for about three weeks, and I have had alot of interesting encounters with students. Although it has been fun and eye-opening for me, any time that I get an ESL student in the writing center, it is always a struggle for me to help. In Breaking Ice and Setting Goals, Shanti Bruce takes you through the way an ESL student approaches tutoring in the writing center, and what plan you can make yourself as a tutor to help the student effectively.
On my first day of tutoring, I had an ESL student. She was from Japan, who moved to America a few years ago. I started the session off very slowly and asked her what she thought about America. She responded in a very angry tone, "I don't like America"! I thought to myself, Wow, this is a terrible way to start off a tutoring session". After that, whenever she spoke, I couldn't understand a word that she said. I tried asking her questions about her paper, but she just wouldn't talk. I read the paper at least three times, to get a grasp of what it was about. Every sentence had like a million problems with it. Because I am in the writing lab only one hour a day, I barely got through the three pages of her assignment. I felt really bad about that day, but I did the best I could. What I needed that day, was a simple plan.
What I truly love about this chapter, is that the author lays out for us a simple plan to follow and practice, whenever we tutor ESL students. His plan consists of five main points: Find out what the student knows about the writing center, Ask about the student's piece of writing, if necessary ask more direct questions, set goals together, and make the plan visible. Out of all of theses steps, I would say the most important step is to always ask more direct questions, because you can never ask a student too many questions when they are writing a paper.
I hope that the next time that I encounter an ESL student, I can be more direct and hopefully follow a plan similar to the one found in this chapter, that will help me to assist the students needs in writing. I hope that also, at the same time, the more ESL students that I encounter, I can help them to feel more comfortable with their issues in whatever is it that they are writing.
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It would be interesting to know what prompted such a reaction from your client. I'm guessing it had nothing to do with you or the writing center; you probably caught her on a very bad day, a day when she was wishing she had never left Japan for the U.S. Just as NES clients come to us with personal and emotional baggage - they may have just broken up with a boyfriend, or failed a test in math class, or lost a job - our ESL clients have their own personal issues, too, many of which have little or nothing to do with their papers or the writing center.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the texts we're reading for class are giving you the confidence to go on working with ESL clients, regardless of this difficult first experience. Hang in there, keep reflecting, and remember, we all have our disasters!
It is a surprise to me to hear that someone from Japan responded that way because the Japanese (or Asian in general) is careful not to say anything so direct that it'd hurt other's feeling. I agree with Dr. Hawkins that she might just had a bad day.
ReplyDeleteI think planning is an effective way to get our tutorial session more organized and productive. Yet I often forget or feel awkward to make one. Like you, I will try following those planning strategies suggested.
I think a plan will definitely help a session with any student, ESL or NES. However, I doubt a good, solid plan is a cure-all for all situations. We've all had the experience of someone coming in just because they are forced and expecting us to perform miracles on their paper without making any major changes. They are often in a hurry and do not really want to talk about improving as a writer. I think in this case it's best to suggest a plan of action, but you cannot force a student to stay or make changes. Sometimes, if they really aren't willing to work, you just have to let them make their own decisions, in spite of your plans.
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