ESL tutoring (2)

So our second time meeting with our ESL students I had a very much different experience than the first. My student on the first go around had been bumped around from country to country, she knew several different languages, but had a hard time remembering the differences in grammar and writing style. This time my student was a born American citizen, both of her parents are Ecuadorian and came over to the United States before she was born. I was slightly surprised when meeting her that she was in this program because she spoke perfect English, her paper was amazingly written (though she did have her teacher read it over once, so its hard to tell how much help she had), and she didn't seem to have any trouble articulating her thoughts onto paper.

I asked her why she was in the program, considering when you hear ESL you think a student who can't really speak English. She told me it was because they got special consideration when applying to U of R and a deduction on tuition (wish I knew about this program when I applied lol).

Upon hearing this explanation I asked myself why did I automatically assume that she in some way did not understand English or had some kind of problem in general with her writing. Then I thought about the article I had written my review on for class:“Creating a Common Ground with ESL Writers” by Mosher, Granroth, and Hicks. I had then realized I had made myself almost prejudiced to ESL writers, NOT in the bad way we think of prejudiced but in the sense that I automatically thought that she didn't speak or write English very well because of her participation in the program. I then thought about the article and reflected on my feelings about our meetings with the ESL students.

My first student was typical of what the article described: When working with an ESL writer normal techniques will not suffice. Instead, the idea of becoming a ‘cultural informant’ will allow the consultant to assist the writer with rhetorical patterns that shape both how and what should be said in one’s writing. When assisting on rhetorical patterns in the English language one also needs to keep in mind the cultural differences between the languages that are primary between the consultant and the writer. (taken from my article review of the article)

However, we should not assume that all ESL students are on the same level! Yes some students you may need to my a cultural informant, but in some cases just because a student did not learn English first we should not assume that they need any special assistance; other than what we would give to any student who asked for our help in a consultation. I think the article has definitely forgotten about this other half to ESL students, those who were either born in the US or those who studied English in their own country and know it well. But I think on the other hand that the article has justly stated the need for consultants to be aware that some ESL students do need some special considerations in a tutoring section.

I think this connection with ESL students and tutoring is what I will focus on my advice page to future writing consultants. There is a balance of insturction each consultant needs to be aware of, especially with ESL students, and it would be a shame not to put these specifc considerations into practice.