And you speak English! (blog 16)

For data collecting, specifics are key - they are the only true evidence because a summary much more interpretive, which isn't fact.  And research demands fact.


Notes from today when I was at a loss...


(This session is with an ESL student with somewhat low proficiency, and we are looking at a paper she wrote on obesity.  I get hung up with a paragraph that has several long, run-on, discombobulated sentences - I'm having a hard time figuring out which subject goes with which verb.)
Me: I don't understand what you mean here (pointing on page)


Writer: -explains, reading many of the same phrases from the paragraph that I don't understand-


We go back and forth... I'm repeating what I think she is saying, several times she says, "No.. [explains again]."  We shift between looking at each other and looking at/pointing to things on paper.  Finally I say what I think she is trying to say, and she agrees that I understand her correctly.  


Me: (looks back at paper, picks paper up, squints... trying to think of how to now help her write this idea more clearly).  Ummm.  (I'm trying to think how to help her see the problems, but it's so hard for me to identify what's going on that I don't know how to talk her through it.)  -pauses- Hmm.  -pauses-  Okay.  Well, this should be... (took directive approach, pretty specifically telling her what to do)


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I'm still not sure if this is specific enough - I can't remember exactly what we said as far as the content of the paper.  I think it's hard to remember because we really weren't communicating well.
When I was "umm"ing and stuff, I was thinking, "I have no idea what to do.  I can't just tell her she's on her own, but I really can't figure this out."  So I kind of came to the decision that I had to do something... I had to just plow through it and make some improvements, even if it wasn't going to be perfect.  That's when I became directive, justifying that's what she needed because of the situation.
I felt like I had been kind of negative during all that, so I tried to follow it up with some encouragement...


Me:  Okay, you're doing a good job.  I know this is really confusing, and even I don't know the right answers sometimes.  How long have you been studying English?
Writer: 3 semesters.
Me: Okay wow.  Yeah, you're doing a great job.  I really respect anyone who tries to learn English.. or any other language really.  I speak a little of some other languages, and I know it's tough.  But yeah, I definitely respect you for this.
Writer: (laughs) Thank you.


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Throughout the rest of the session I tried to keep up with the reinforcements -"Yeah, that's right!"  "Exactly."  "Oh, okay, that's a much better example than mine!"  I even said, "English is tricky.  I've been speaking it my whole life, and I still have problems, so don't worry too much."  And when I would say, "Oh man.  I'm not really sure...," she would laugh a little and say, "And you speak English!"
I wanted to let myself be a little more vulnerable than maybe I usually am because the opening was so rough -- I wanted to help her understand that it's hard to be perfect with English, and she shouldn't feel bad because even native speakers get it wrong.