Reflection #1: HOCs vs.

LOCs

​ Working with multilingual students taught me the nuance of being a tutor. At the Adult
Education center, I was placed in a classroom with the lowest level of their multilingual students,
meaning that they barely understood any English; the most they were able to do without any
guidance was an introduction and some simple sentences. On my first day, I was placed with two
new students who had just registered the day before. I learned quickly that I couldn’t use a lot of
methods I have learned in my past teaching experience. With a barebone understanding of
English, I had to find a way to communicate with the students without using my words. A thing I
started doing was using my body language and context clues on the worksheets. While body
language may not be universal, there were lots of motions that could help communicate what
each word meant. For example, miming swimming or playing different sports helped them come
up with hobbies to write about.

​ A point of conflict came to an exercise where the students had to write down three things
they could find in different parts of a house. (For example, you could find a stove, table, and
fridge in the kitchen.) While other students were able to breeze through the assignment, the pair I
was working with had trouble even finding the correct section of the dictionary to start their
work. Eventually, one of the students I worked with just started to read the words down the
dictionary list. Not sure what to do to get him back on track, I figured that I would just help him
pronounce the words to get him more used to listening and speaking the foreign words on the
page. As the time came to an end for this assignment, the head teacher came around and noticed
his empty worksheet, prompting us to get back on task.

Throughout class, we have been emphasizing the importance of HOCs, especially in the
setting of a writing center. In this context, a beginner’s grasp of English forced an emphasis of
LOCs in order to progress. Like mentioned in class, one needed to know the rules in order to
break them. In this particular challenge, I felt that conflict with HOCs and LOCs. Should I focus
on just pronunciation and helping them get used to the language, or should I encourage them to
work on the assignment to get a more broad understanding of English words? While it was
important for them to learn definitions and their importance, I felt that it was also important to
start with the basics, especially since they barely had any experience with English. As I continue
to assist in their classroom and learn more about the students, I hope to be able to make correct
judgments in order to help them become better English learners. Whether it be a callback to the
basics or helping them make a connection with English and their mother tongue, I want to be a
tutor that can be of help to them on their English-learning journey.
 Reflection #2: Putting Students First

The last couple of weeks at the Adult Education center have been eye opening. Now that
my first day is over, I had an expectation going into the classroom. These students were here to
learn English, and I was supposed to aid them with their various exercises. While I have only
been with this class for a short time, I felt like I understood their struggles, especially since I’ve
attempted to learn a different language before. In addition with my previous experience with a
classroom setting, I felt a sense of false confidence as I stepped into the classroom for the third
time this quarter.

​ A group of four students sat in the front, and my attention was always drawn to them. As
someone who has a basic understanding of Chinese, I knew that I could help them the most,
since their native tongue was Chinese. I was warned ahead of time of the students and their
shyness, and I respected their boundaries the first day. As an introvert myself, I would also have
trouble asking for help from a complete stranger, especially in a foreign tongue. Then, on day
three, one of them asked for my help in disjointed Chinese to help me understand, and the others
joined in. I felt helpful— needed. This was something only I could do, and I would do my best to
help them. But when one of them opened up their struggles to me, my idealistic version of how
the day was going to go disappeared. She used to be a chemical engineer, her translation app told
me. She felt dumb because she didn’t know simple, lifestyle English, and she was struggling to
keep up with the head teacher. I reassured her that everyone was in the same boat as her, and that
there are many online resources to help her memorize vocabulary.

​ For some reason, her story stuck with me for the rest of the day. I think that somewhere
along the way, I misconstrued the purpose of this engagement opportunity. While it was true that
this opportunity was to give me experience in tutoring, I realized that the main goal was to help
the students in the short amount of time we had. It should have been about the student, not the
tutor. In class, we’ve seen many examples of tutors pushing their agenda; in one of our recent
readings, DiPardo (1992) brings up a tutoring session between Fannie and Morgan, showcasing
the harm of a tutor pushing their own agenda. The writer doesn’t get to voice their own opinions,
and eventually she just agrees with whatever the tutor was saying. While my situation isn’t
entirely a one-for-one with this scenario, I realized the potential of my line of thinking. If I went
into the classroom thinking about what I could do, then that would defeat the purpose of my role
in the classroom. Instead, I should first learn what the student wants in order to support them to
the fullest of my ability.
 Reflection #3: The Privilege of Technology

In the current day and age, technology is such a versatile tool for education. In this
week’s class, the students were given the opportunity to use a website called “Learning
Chocolate.” It had various categories and exercises for them to use to practice on their own, and
it looked like a good way for them to get some practice in before their upcoming test. But, there
was a caveat: the laptop was in English. As beginner-level English learners, they were having
difficulties getting to the website. In addition, age played a factor. For those on the older side,
they don’t have much experience with laptops, so it was even more difficult for them to get onto
the site. There was also an issue with the pop-up ads that appeared on the website; many students
were clicking “yes,” causing the laptop to freak out.

I decided to title this “privilege” because this experience made me realize the
double-edged sword that was privilege. As someone who grew up in the age of technology,
operating a keyboard came as easily as writing words on a piece of paper. Growing up, internet
safety was one of the many internet guidelines that was heavily drilled into my mind. When I
went around the classroom assisting the various students with the laptop, it really sunk in how
privileged my life has been. As someone who’s learned a different language, I always knew I had
online dictionaries and resources to help me on my journey. With a quick Google search, I would
be able to find more detailed explanations of grammar structures or flashcard makers to help
with vocabulary memorization. Yet, this privilege has caused me to see common sense from a
very entitled point of view. Not everyone grew up with Apple or Google, and a lot of technology
in America is very English-based. Even AI tools like ChatGPT or Gemini can be tricky to use if
you don’t understand English. What I thought was a convenient, easy-to-use website to help the
students practice at home was actually a difficult tool to master if they wanted it to be of use.

In regards to tutoring, international students would have grown up with a different

technological experience. While some websites—Google, for example—are global, not
everything is. In addition, many aspects of college classes are very American-centric, and it
would be unfair for international students to be held to the same standard as native American
citizens when it comes to history or politics. Like Faith mentioned in our panel this week: how is
a Canadian supposed to help with middle school American history? With my privileged
background, I can be of help to those who don’t quite know English to the level a native would;
with an open mind, I can provide the help and resources they might not know about. If I expand
my thinking to a broader perspective, I can continue to be a helping hand to the ESL students at
my placement, as well as anyone else I tutor in the future.
 Reflection #4: The Power of Visual Resources

In assisting in the ESL classroom for a couple of weeks now, I’ve used many methods to convey
meaning without relying on the English language itself: charades, hand gestures, and—most
importantly— pictures. Along with the textbook, the head teacher supplies worksheets with
picture examples to aid the students in their English learning journey. In my most recent session,
the students were being introduced to the simple past tense of verbs, having only learned simple
present in the previous classes. They were given a picture of a boy sitting next to the window.
Various animals and simple household objects could be seen in the picture. With only this one
picture, the head teacher was able to both review the past grammar structure they learned, as well
as introduce the new one.

In this exercise, I learned about the universal understanding of pictures. Seeing how pictures can
be used in language learning was a good reminder that actions are a universal concept; humans
are humans no matter what language they are speaking. Just pantomiming the concept of
swimming helped the beginner-level students understand the meaning of the word “swimming.”
While they could copy what the teacher said or read what the letters showed, many of them
didn’t really know what it actually meant. With the picture assistance, they were able to visually
see the definition of the unknown word, creating a connection with their own language to the
new one they were learning. It’s easy to learn the alphabet, but learning the definitions of the vast
vocabulary of the English language is a difficult thing to do. The modern utilization of images

This experience reminded me of the many models and flowcharts my previous English teachers
have used. I always thought they were pointless— why would you need to see how an essay
should be written? As a self-proclaimed visual learner, I realized how much I’ve taken these
infographics for granted. Even the simplest things, like the grammar structure of a sentence or
the class five paragraph essay format, can be complicated when learning a language for the first
time. This can be useful in a tutoring session because the internet provides a variety of visual
guides that make it easy for a student to follow along. For example, certain writing formatting
can be confusing. If the student in need of assistance is an international student, they are most
likely not used to MLA formatting compared to an American native. As such, providing visual
resources can give them something to reference for any future projects, since academic writing
often requires a certain format.
 Reflection #5: Going With the Flow

Having been in a teaching position before, being a teaching assistant wasn’t an unusual task for
me, which I was grateful for. Although it is a vastly different demographic than what I was used
to, I still felt that I learned a lot from the head teacher. Specifically, teaching has to be flexible.
While you can have a basic schedule, there is no telling where the day is going to take you.
Being able to go off-script is important for the students’ education, especially in a class such as
an English learning class. While it might be hard to do this in all kinds of educational scenarios,
having the ability to go with the flow of a tutoring session is an important skill for a tutor to
have. People are unpredictable creatures; there is no way to guarantee that things will go your
way.

In class this week, we played a bunch of different games to help the students with the vocabulary.
Snakes and ladders and charades are some examples of the games that we played. For the first
game, they had practiced playing it earlier in the week, so this was just putting their practice to
use. Yet, I could tell that many people were still confused about the exact rules. They didn’t take
the ladder to skip ahead, and the snake was simply ignored. As I was observing, I was tempted to
correct their gameplay, but I held myself back. The point of the game was to practice their
newly-learned vocabulary; why should it matter if they’re following the rules of a game they
barely understood? So, I went along with the group I was with— praising them when they were
able to correctly interpret the picture and jokingly admonishing blatant cheating. (Re-rolling a
low roll was a concept that was definitely not bound by language!) Charades was another game
we played. It actually didn’t start off with charades. The head teacher was going through some
picture words. This dealt with a different set of vocabulary, and she learned fast that there were
some words that were too difficult for the students at their current level. Afterall— How do you
explain the difference between a glass and a mug? They knew the word “cup,” but the specific
intricacies were a bit beyond their understanding of English words. She started to act out the
words, and the mood of the classroom shifted, leading to s game of charades being played in
small groups.

In many online media, school has an image of being a strict and rigid environment. Teachers
have an itinerary that they must get through in order to get through all the content they need to
teach. On the contrary, this couldn’t be further from the truth. Humans are unpredictable. Stray
questions can cause a side-tangent and a lack of understanding requires a quick break to review
the confusing topic. Even the mood of the students can cause a teacher to stop lecturing and
instill a five-minute stretch break. In regards to tutoring, a tutor has to be willing to be flexible in
their session. It should be more of a conversation; there is no set script that needs to be read.
Since sessions should be focused on the student, it is ultimately up to the student to lead the
conversation. A tutor’s job is only to guide the student in the right direction, providing their own
insight when needed.