Week 7

     First, I have to say how much I enjoyed Saturday's Marty. I had no idea work meetings could be so much fun. It seems almost unfair to everyone who works anywhere else. The food was great, the environment was nice, and the company is really unmatched. It is so great to be in a room of people who are enthusiastic conversationalists and share a passion for writing. We really do have an outstanding group of individuals. I had the opportunity to meet some writing center folks I had only seen before and talk to a lot of the people I don't get to work or be in class with.

     On a more serious note, I gleaned some important insights about working with multilingual writers this week. The subcategories of ESL writers in the first chapter of ESL Writers will be really helpful in knowing where to start with a writer. It's not that we should use the categories as a formula for how to work with various groups of students, but as a basic jumping off point from which we can get to know the individual writer and how we can best help them.  There is just as much variety within the group titled "ESL writers" as there is within the group titled "native English speakers." Every writer has their own background and set of experiences that makes them unique, so the way that we interact with them must also be unique. That's not to say that having a general understanding of a group isn't valueable. Because of the limited amount of time we have in a session to get to know an individual, having a general idea of some experiences, opinions, and struggles they may have will help the session get off on the right foot. Still, we should be wary about making assumptions and clumping people into categories.

     "Cultural Conflicts in the Writing Center: Expectations and Assumptions of ESL Students" pointed out some of the ways that multilingual writers and consultants may be working against each other, or at least in different directions. Being aware of these differences and proactive about addressing each party's assumptions and expectations can ensure that the session is productive and the writer is as comfortable as possible. Many international students come to the writing center expecting to have their questions answered and their problems solved--they expect to have a passive role. Tutors assume the opposite. They expect to pose the questions and problems, helping the writer work toward their own solutions. It's obvious how this could frustrate both the writer and consultant. I'm wondering what the tried-and-true strategies are for negotiating assumptions and expectations with ESL writers. What specific things can I do at the beginning of a session to make sure we're on the same page?