Summer is coming to an end, folks!
Today was the last round of conferences for our summer ESL students.
Every summer a large group of students from Waseda University and Nagoya-Gaukin University (both in Japan) come to Coe to get some preliminary ESL training, and to develop a stronger knowledge of American culture. I have been working as a mentor and conversation assistant for these students, which is always a challenge, but incredibly fun. Two of my students will be staying here at Coe for the year, so it will be nice to see their progress as they become more comfortable with our American way of life.
As summer WC consultants, it is our responsibility to make ourselves available for conferences with these students. This evening, Karin, Tara, Malyssa and I did 12 conferences, which although not a WC record, it was indeed a hefty number considering we haven't been opened all summer.
On of the most interesting and challenging things about ESL conferences has always been the varying levels of English proficiency that these students come in with. Some are nearly fluent while others are struggling to form complete sentences. And some are quite excellent writers while they remain completely hesitant to speak in English. So are the woes of a WCer! My favorite part about the summer ESL students is how eager they all are to learn. All of them make great efforts and show significant improvement during their week or two weeks at Coe. It is really quite remarkable.
Katie B.
Showing posts with label esl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label esl. Show all posts
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
maybe she just wants free tea
Bob is absent, but Holly reads his words:
-Don’t make WC brew and the other coffee at the same time – it’s wasteful
-We need 20 people to sign up for conferences on Moodle before the end of the week. The University of Iowa student writing his thesis on the WC needs conferences to observe. edit: Every person on staff is to schedule, on Moodle, one writing conference during the next two weeks and to record that conference in the database. As of 8pm this evening, only two people have done this. That's a response rate of under 4%. Come on, people.
-If you must miss a shift or will be late, you need to call ahead of time (and preferably find a replacement). No exceptions.
We have two guest speakers at the meeting: Japanese exchange student from Waseda, Ikue, and ESL professor, Phyllis Rupert. Ikue is overwhelmed by our sheer numbers, but he tells a story about writing three papers for a marketing class: one was WC-conferenced and the others not. He did well on the WC-conferenced paper, not well on the others. That’s good, right?
Hm. Then she gave a nice presentation about what the ESL department does. They split intl. students into three unofficial categories: beginner, intermediate, advanced. As beginniners, they work on clauses and writing and speaking with specific details. Intermediate students focus on grammar and asking/responding to questions. Advanced work on paraphrasing, learning citation, and organizig arguments.
The goals of intl. students are twofold: to make friends and gain English fluency.
Our American-ish names all sound the same to the Japanese students.
A WC success story: after conferencing with Kevin, a Japanese girl named Aie asks Phyllis if she can come back to the WC every day. Then again, maybe she just wants free tea.
Fin.
-Don’t make WC brew and the other coffee at the same time – it’s wasteful
-We need 20 people to sign up for conferences on Moodle before the end of the week. The University of Iowa student writing his thesis on the WC needs conferences to observe. edit: Every person on staff is to schedule, on Moodle, one writing conference during the next two weeks and to record that conference in the database. As of 8pm this evening, only two people have done this. That's a response rate of under 4%. Come on, people.
-If you must miss a shift or will be late, you need to call ahead of time (and preferably find a replacement). No exceptions.
We have two guest speakers at the meeting: Japanese exchange student from Waseda, Ikue, and ESL professor, Phyllis Rupert. Ikue is overwhelmed by our sheer numbers, but he tells a story about writing three papers for a marketing class: one was WC-conferenced and the others not. He did well on the WC-conferenced paper, not well on the others. That’s good, right?
Hm. Then she gave a nice presentation about what the ESL department does. They split intl. students into three unofficial categories: beginner, intermediate, advanced. As beginniners, they work on clauses and writing and speaking with specific details. Intermediate students focus on grammar and asking/responding to questions. Advanced work on paraphrasing, learning citation, and organizig arguments.
The goals of intl. students are twofold: to make friends and gain English fluency.
Our American-ish names all sound the same to the Japanese students.
A WC success story: after conferencing with Kevin, a Japanese girl named Aie asks Phyllis if she can come back to the WC every day. Then again, maybe she just wants free tea.
Fin.
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