Writing, Writing, Writing

Now that the comps are over, I feel like I am finally catching a bit. Also, I just finished a marathon grading session. I don’t know why I have papers from 4 different classes due on the same day and, worse, I promised the students that they will be returned in a week!!! Oh well, I got them graded and returned at the expense of several brain cells and blurred vision. Grading papers for ESL students is definitely a challenge. The process involves some degree of deciphering, not because of grammatical errors, but because the idiomatic elements of English pose continual difficulties for the students. I find that if you read closely, most of the time there is a very logical use of the language to communicate meaning. (No surprise of course) I have a student who persists in using the idiom “to make do” as a synonym for management! He gets frustrated with literal and nonliteral usage, with good reason! It is easy to take for granted how much of the odd intricacies of English we, as native speakers, never question. In spite of these issues, it is really kind of interesting to view my native language through someone else’s eyes. Also, as I read the papers, I continually come across phrases that, I am absolutely convinced, are not incorrect or accidental. Another student of mine commented about when she graduated from Architectural design school in her country and she described the feeling as “sunshine on my heart”. I thought it was a beautiful way to show the excitement of a new future and the relief of having survived 4 years of hard work. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t rhapsodize about every unusual statement, some of them are down right confusing or wrong but some are really a breath of fresh air. If I ascribe to any rule of writing it’s that a fresh way of seeing the same thing (or feeling) is really a noble goal and more often that not, my students accomplish that goal without even realizing it. On a more disheartening note, I am shocked that some teachers still insist on grammatical correctness as a measure of intelligence and good writing. Of course, that is a part of the process. But I don’t think you need to know how a combustion engine works before you can drive a car. A bad analogy I am sure. But I have been really concerned about some students in other classes that are struggling because their teacher only marks surface errors on their papers, and apparently makes to effort to try and understand what they are trying to say. I really get upset about this! I can’t believe the remnants of the Stone Age pedagogy are alive and well in some corners of this campus!! I am going to walk my dogs and vent further….