Culture and Writing

["Roseanna Almaee" <ralmaee@dmail.dartnet.peachnet.edu>]

Dear Listers,
A teacher on my campus has asked me for help and I'm not sure how to 
respond, exactly.  It seems she has a student in her class from 
Somalia.  The student speaks English very, very well, but has 
extremely poor reading and writing skills.  The teacher asked how she 
should approach teaching reading and writing to the student.  She 
indicated that Americans are typically linear learners whereas 
Orientals are typically circular learners, and she wanted to know 
what style of type of learning/teaching to use with the Somalian 
student.  Now I have taught English as a Second Language many, many 
years ago, but I am not familiar with the approaches she is talking 
about - even though the ideas do make sense.

Can anyone on the list help me out with information and/or sources??
Roseanna Almaee, Director
Darton College Writing Center
2400 Gillionville Rd.
Albany, GA 31707
(912) 430-6880