Halfway

Halfway through the semester now!  Yikes.  I guess if we made it this far, we can make it through the rest!  This week, I don’t have any specific topic I want to write about, just some random thoughts.

I had a consultation this week with a guy who was about to graduate with an Environmental Biology degree.  He was applying for a job with a mining company in Challis, Idaho.  He brought in a resume and wanted my opinion.  He wanted to know what formats he should use, (he didn’t like the current one), and how he could make it more professional.  I was a little worried about this consultation when I saw it on the schedule, (“resume” was all he had given me to anticipate), simply because I don’t want to give faulty advice about something so crucial.  I was happy to discover that the company requirements for the resume were very lenient.  I recommended that he go to Microsoft Office Online to search through their resume templates, and we discussed ways to make his resume more professional, all of which came very easily to me.  I really enjoyed this consultation.  It makes me wonder, though, if this is where people should be bringing their resumes.  I thought that was more for the Career Center than for us.  (Not that I’m complaining!  I liked it.)

I had a consultation with a girl in Christi Nogle’s English 102 class.  I also took English 102 with Christi, so I was familiar with the assignment.  She had written a paper about the conspiracies of 9-11.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to read the entire essay- I am interested in her topic.  However, this consultation ended up being one of my favorites out of the 14 I have done so far.  (I’m trying to keep track as long as I can!)  We went through and read her essay for clarity and talked about a few minor grammar things, like “is” versus “are”.  (She had brought in some purple beads that someone was handing out on campus.  I pointed to them and said, “this bead IS” and “these beads ARE”.  I think she will probably refer to the bead memory when she is unsure about is/are!)  I taught her a few tricks, and provided her with the punctuation handout, (my favorite).  At the end of the consultation, she told me that I helped her a lot, more than other consultants have.  She said that I “actually taught” her things.  WOW!!!  I was elated!  It seems rare that we get that sort of direct feedback from our students, and I told her how much I appreciated hearing it.

I had my first hour-long consultation this week, with an ESL student from Turkey.  (Actually, English is his third language- Turkish was first, and he is also learning Russian.)  I was a little intimidated by the hour-long consultations, because the one that I observed seemed challenging.  However, the hour was up before I knew it.  We didn’t quite make it through his five-page essay for Management 301.  He had only been learning English for four years, and he had a lot to work on.  There were times I was slightly frustrated with myself for not being able to think of a way to explain a grammar “rule” on the spot.  I want to get better at that- desperately!  A few things I think I did well, though: I asked questions about his English language background, I asked how his day was going at the beginning, I was naturally patient (like so many of our readings this week recommend), and I tried to encourage him with little stars on parts of his paper that I liked.  I thought this was really interesting, and I’ll probably always remember it: the first star I drew, (next to a great transition), he got really excited about it and said, “Yes! A star!”  After that, I remembered all that we have been reading about the importance of encouragement in ESL consultations, and I made it a point to draw more stars on parts of his paper that were good.  I drew stars next to places that he used colons correctly, (because he messed up on one earlier), next to especially well-written sentences, and places were he was consistent with his past-tense writing style.  In the end, he ended up with eight stars!  And he had counted the entire way through!  It left an impression on me- just how much encouragement really matters.  I always try to be encouraging, (because, as I have said before, the last thing I want is to discourage anyone from writing), but I was initially more cautious during that consultation, simply because I wasn’t sure what his expectations were.  He seemed the type that wanted to get down to business.  But as the consultation progressed, I was able to get to know him better.  It’s magical!

Ahhhh… I love the Writing Center!  As a writer, I do not like the idea that something can be inexpressible through words, but honestly, I’m having a hard time explaining just how much I love the work I am doing in the Center.  Melissa, you mentioned in class that if this isn’t the work for us, we are under no obligation to keep going with it next semester.  That’s crazy talk!  I love it.

Okay, the end.