Tatiana Schlote-Bonne Week 3

 I've had a bit of experience working with Chinese students in my Gen Ed Lit class. I'm always happy to help them figure out strange English mechanics, and many still email me asking for help, often with questions about where to place words like "of" and "do" in a sentence, and if/when these phrases are even needed.

In GEL, my second language students mostly ran into trouble when a book incorporated informal language, or when the author was suddenly playing with the rules of grammar and language. We read The Road by Cormac McCarthy, and McCarthy occasionally omits verbs and this was naturally confusing. 

As far as tutoring similarities with native English speakers and 2nd language students, I think many students know what they want to say, but struggle with putting their ideas into clear, articulate written statements. I've had students tell me good ideas vocally in office hours, but when they submit the written assignment, the idea is convoluted and unclear on the page. To help students with this, I suggest that they read their statements and ask themselves how a reader could interpret their words, and that they try reading their work aloud to hear if it's jumbled. 

Comments

  1. Jose Di PaolaSeptember 16, 2020 at 1:00 PM

    That is great to hear your students respect you so much that they still email you for advice! Was mechanical advice (Like the "of" and "do" example) helpful for them?

    Your example also makes me wonder about the intersection of reading and writing in another language. For my higher level Spanish classes, I had to read books like Don Quixote. These were often difficult for similar reasons to your Road example; they used unusual, flowery, colloquial, or outdated language. But at the same time I think they helped me get better at Spanish. When there isn't a straight and easy translation, you have to rely on context clues and word roots. Do you think recommending English reading to multilingual students is a good idea?

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