Experiences as a second-language writer. I have found that my ESL experiences is personal because of my upbringing in a predominantly white culture. You're expected to fit in, know cultural things, and experience the same perspectives and emotions of life events that others experience.
My experience of ESL since I was young was negative. My parents speak Spanish fluently, but when we moved to a predominantly-white school and neighborhood, my parents were strongly discouraged from teaching us Spanish so as not to "confuse the kids and make it hard of them in school."
When I think of this and ESL second-language students, it goes beyond having compassion and confidence in those who are unfamiliar with a culture and trying to perform at a high, collegiate level in another language. For me some lack of resources or classroom inclusion comes down to lack of education for teachers and lack of ESL representative in higher education.
My experience of ESL since I was young was negative. My parents speak Spanish fluently, but when we moved to a predominantly-white school and neighborhood, my parents were strongly discouraged from teaching us Spanish so as not to "confuse the kids and make it hard of them in school."
When I think of this and ESL second-language students, it goes beyond having compassion and confidence in those who are unfamiliar with a culture and trying to perform at a high, collegiate level in another language. For me some lack of resources or classroom inclusion comes down to lack of education for teachers and lack of ESL representative in higher education.
I really resonate with your use of the word compassion -- it's very easy to give up or get frustrated with a paper riddled with errors and that's where compassion for this student has to come in, and our knowledge of how much harder they have to try at university to succeed should inform our relationship with them.
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