Hi friends. So today I have decided to blog about the writing center advisor profile we just submitted, because honestly, I have so much more to say. I wish we had a chance in class to discuss our thoughts on the assignment and what we all learned from our interviews. Maybe we’ll have a discussion about it next week. I never really know what to expect from our class.
Well I’ll have to admit, I was initially really scared of the profile assignment. It made me nervous to have to interview a writing center advisor. I expected this situation:
“Hi I’m Sarah. Someday I’ll be a writer center advisor too. Please share your wealth of knowledge with me!”
Super awkward. Also, I was nervous that I wouldn’t ask the right questions. Maybe my questions would sound stupid. Maybe I wouldn’t ask the questions I needed answered for my profile. I was additionally nervous about the format of this assignment. While I read the example profile mike sent us, (like five times) I didn’t feel confident that I would do it right. The example profile seemed a little dry, and void of a significant thesis or conclusion. I still don’t know if I did it right.
When I was conducting the interview, however, I was very engaged and happy with the discussion. I worked with Alexandra, who’s a senior East Asian Studies major and an ESL specialist. I didn’t even know that certain advisors could have a specialty! It was very apparent that she loved her work with ESL students, and I was interested to hear her perspective. Naturally, our discussion seemed to focus on her work with ESL students. I was a little worried about our strict focus on her work with ESL, because I knew our profiles weren’t supposed to focus on one aspect of their job, but at the same time it was a unique, interesting discussion.
I’m sure I’m not alone when I admit that I have some apprehension when thinking about working with ESL students. Working with someone who doesn’t fully understand the language seems like it would be so much more difficult. Plus there’s the added difficulty of the language barrier. What if I don’t understand the ESL student? What if they don’t understand me? This didn’t seem to be a problem for Alexandra.
Alexandra said she loved sessions with ESL students because they were always really sweet. They valued the appointment and they were eager to learn. Sometimes they brought her little presents, and whenever she saw them around campus they were excited to see her. If a student has that much energy and appreciation, how can an appointment go wrong?
Alexandra said her least favorite appointments were the ones where she was with someone who wasn’t ready to learn. She hates “the kid that won’t talk at all: the empty session with a kid that just wanted a spell check, the slip that said they went to the center.” At the same time, she hates the kids that fight her. The kids who don’t listen to what she has to say, they don’t value her knowledge. She can’t stand “the kids who won’t stop talking. How right they are. They’re validating their own mistakes, or they’re embarrassed and trying to explain what they’ve written. Then we don’t get anything finished.”
Compared the kids who refuse to learn, the ESL kids sound great. I never thought about it like that.
Alexandra does admit that working with ESL students is a lot of work. It’s a long process. Everything is very stop and go with an ESL student. You have to explain the little things that you wouldn’t normally have to explain. “You focus on grammar, commas, and the details of writing… There’s more poetry with the English speakers”.
She used a sweet metaphor when talking about finally working with a native English speaker after having a bunch of ESL kids: “It’s like driving in city traffic all the time, then finally getting to go on a road trip.”
Mad respect. Loving the metaphor.
Anyways, I just thought I would share my experience will all of y’all.
À bientôt,
My thoughts are in French right now… super cool.
Sarah:)
Wow! I'm intrigued. When you first mentioned that she works with ESL students my initial thought was "shoot that has got to be even more difficult that working with native English-speakers." After you explained it, though it honestly makes so much sense why it may be more rewarding. Did you talk to her about how she got to be the ESL writing center tutor? It sounds like a challenge, but I think I would really love and enjoy doing this when we start working in the writing center.
ReplyDeleteThis was really fun to read, Sarah! I think the direction you took with the profile was certainly unique-a trait that is very important to Mike in our assignments. After reading this post, and foreshadowing that we're going to talk about how to tutor ESL students in class this week, I would love to read your profile. Of course, this is totally up to you, but I would love to see Alexandra's perspective from your formal paper. Also, the quote is sweet... the diversity of students that come into the Writing Center make the experience so rewarding. Now that I think about it, do you think the metaphor could also be used to describe the time when the non-native speaker understands a concept that the tutor has been trying to teach? In other words, you're continually at a stop-go kind of progress, when all of a sudden, the traffic breaks and you're cruising onto a new skill. That's just a little spin on her awesome quote :)
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