Re: Habla espanol? (fwd)

[Eric Crump <wleric@showme.missouri.edu>]

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1996 09:37:33 EDT
From: Tom Sullivan <tomsulli@mcs.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list WCENTR-L <WCENTR-L@MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU>
Subject: Re: Habla espanol?

On Wed, 25 Sep 1996 22:03:53 -0500 you wrote:
>Subject: Habla espanol?
>
>Near the end, Graciella asked me, "Katie, what are we going to do about
>the writing in classes like mine?"  She teaches Intermediate Spanish and
>Spanish Composition.  Gulp.  We started brainstorming.  "What about the
>w.l. hiring students proficient in writing in Spanish who are available
>certain times each week?"  "What about if these tutors also are available
>to assist ESL students taking English writing classes?"  Graciella noted
>that she was not so concerned with things like punctuation and
>translation, but moreso with voice, formal standard Spanish language use
>for academic writing, etc.  They were the same concerns writing teachers
>have obviously.  I told her I'd ask this group.  Are any of your writing
>labs/centers directly involved in providing writing assistance in this
>way?  Any ideas on how to go about this?
>                        Katie Fischer

At our school ESL covers not only Spanish but Arabic, Polish,
Korean, Japanese, Greek, and speakers of other languages.  The
informal soultion within these groups is that those who have the
strongest English language skills help the others, especially
their friends.  Often this help is given in the Writing Center
(with the paper due in an hour!).  I can't imagine a formal
arrangement that would improve on this situation -- at least not
one that is even remotely within our means.  It doesn't seem
fair, given this situation, to single out Spanish speakers, even
though they are probably the largest ESL group.

Tom Sullivan
Moraine Valley Community College


________________
Tom Sullivan
tomsulli@mcs.com