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Help ! Non-native speaker mom want to learn to write


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I think something like The Lively Art of Writing would be best.

 

It's small, really cheap, and straight to the point. I say this because I wouldn't want to go through weekly assignments that are broken down into too many steps for children.

 

You could go through something like Art of Writing and do it at your own pace. After that, you might look at the rhetoric materials that SWB suggests.

 

I hope that helps,

 

Kimberly

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Teaching a student to write an English composition when he is not a native speaker means that he needs to learn how an American thinks. The pattern of our writing is straight forward, one thought to the next. If we want to add a sub-point which is not part of the main theme, we add it with a footnote, not to the paper; some language groups put all the footnotes and more into the paper, and if they were not there, it would seem to be a poorly written composition. Some cultures write in "circles"--I recall my Japanese friend noting that when she wrote a letter home she had to go through a whole set of hoops on what was the right way to write her letters--hoops that Americans would find redundant and beside the point. The Hebrew Bible shows another way of redundancy: He is God, the Lord, the Most High...type of thing where who is being spoken of is repeated twice or three times before moving onto the thought that is the main idea. We do not write like this in our papers!

 

Before a person can write like an American, he must learn to formulate his thoughts like we do.

 

I Googled "compositon for ESL students." I did not go through all these websites to see what they really say, but they looked like they would be worth skimming. Perhaps you could find other sites and recommended books. I've been out of this area for too long, and I don't have any book on my shelf that I would recommend. Sorry I can't be more specific.

 

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/651/01/

 

http://www.eslbee.com/

 

http://www.my-english-writing.com/

 

Another option would be to use Format Writing. which gives a very narrow description of the structure of the paragraph, the essay, and the research paper. It includes other structures, too--the resume and precis, for example. This might help her see what type of straight-forward, thought-to-thought writing process is considered "acceptable" in our stream of thought when put down on paper.

 

HTH,

Jean

 

Gee...I just reread you post and realized that YOU are the mom, right? LOL! I thought you were looking to help someone else (read the post too fast once again). Well, the recommendation still stands. How good is your English? Obviously it is pretty good since I did not pick up on the fact that you were the student. :) Tell me more...does what I am describing fit your needs or are you looking for something else?

 

J

Edited by Jean in Wisc
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The Lively Art of Writing is an excellent book, but in my opinion, I think it might be difficult to implement if you are a non-native speaker yourself. I like Jean in Wisconsin's suggestions for speakers of English as a Second Language (ESL).

 

Another suggestion would be the Institute for Excellence in Writing. It relies quite a bit on its DVD component and might be helpful for both you and your children to watch. The instructor, Andrew Pudewa, is an excellent teacher.

 

HTH!

 

ETA: I think with the ages of your children, you would use the components Teaching Writing: Structure & Style and Student Writing Intensive: Level A.

 

Another thought: From your signature line, it looks as though your oldest child is still relatively young. I would then recommend reading the section in The Well-Trained Mind concerning having your child do simple dictations (i.e., where you would read a sentence aloud to him or her and then have them write that sentence down, and also narrations (i.e., where you and your dc would read together a chapter from a book, or from Story of the World, or a science book that you're using, and once you've read that selection together, have him or her narrate or say back to you his/her own understanding of what he/she just read).

Edited by Michelle in MO
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Hi Michelle, I'm the student, not my children. They're way too young. :D

 

Anyway Jean and Michelle....

 

May be I should phrase this differently. I'm looking to improve my writing. I used to be a student and graduate student and worked in research for a couple of years after that.

 

However, I have difficulty in formulating my thought in writing concisely. I tend to be long-winded. I also want to improve my sentence variation so the reader is not going to be bored. Think about writing to entertain, inform and express opinion.

 

I am also aware that I just cannot sense when a word needs articles (a/an vs the vs nothing) or plural vs singular in abstract noun like action vs actions, law vs laws, etc. When I was a graduate student writing my dissertation and paper, I asked my advisor about this and she only said, "oh ... I can sense when I need to use articles because I am a native speaker." Not much help, does it ?

 

Looking forward to hear your opinion about this. Thanks.

Edited by mom2moon2
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It sounds like you're looking for additional help with grammar and composition. I don't know what your native language is, but my best advice would be to find a good resource in your city that teaches English as a Second Language. I can recommend some good American grammar texts, such as Rod & Staff or Abeka, but they both come from more of a Christian perspective. I think Jean has a better handle on other grammar texts. I've heard good things about Analytical Grammar, but I'm not sure if it includes a writing component.

 

I would imagine learning English as a non-native speaker would be challenging indeed! Yes, for us it's relatively simple, but to make those distinctions such as the various plural forms, English spelling (which is confusing even for native speakers! :) ) and English vocabulary. Whew!

 

When we used to live in St. Louis, I volunteered at the International Institute of St. Louis. They taught ESL to students from around the world. However, you're already much more advanced than most of these immigrants were, and what you need is additional help with your grammar and writing. Still, I would think that if you know of a similar ESL program where you are in Texas that you could talk to them and ask for their advice regarding a good grammar and composition text. Also, if your time and financial resources allow for this, I would also check at your local community college. There are often good beginning-level English courses at the various community colleges.

 

Best wishes to you! I hope this helps a little.

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Perhaps Writeguide or one of the others geared towards middle or high school students? They are not terribly pricey, and they could probably give you the individualized feedback you need. My daughter is doing the eighth grade one-semester course from Writeguide, and she writes and uploads a paper each week. The instructor comments on it and posts it for her to review, revise and resubmit the next week. The instructor comments on grammar, structure and style. Her assignments are short, though they are probably longer in higher grades.

 

Terri

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However, I have difficulty in formulating my thought in writing concisely. I tend to be long-winded. I also want to improve my sentence variation so the reader is not going to be bored. Think about writing to entertain, inform and express opinion.

 

It may be that your difficulty in writing concisely is related to the difference between the "normal" writing style of your native language. I have found that writing more concisely has come with practice--I have found that the longer I have blogged, the better my writing has become. Do you keep a journal or do you write every day? That alone could help you. Perhaps you need a penpal. :)

 

I am also aware that I just cannot sense when a word needs articles (a/an vs the vs nothing) or plural vs singular in abstract noun like action vs actions, law vs laws, etc.

 

I have worked with a number of students who struggle with this. Since I work with them 1-on-1, I am able to deal with each word/problem as it comes up in their writing. I can see where it would be difficult to learn this without a tutor.

 

Depending upon where you live, you might be able to find a tutor--if you live near a university, you might be able to get a tutor through the English department (less expensive than a certified ESL teacher). Or you might find someone interested in sharing--you teach them your 1st language and they work with your English.

 

Cindy Marsh might work with you on this--http://www.writingassessment.com/index.php?pr=Home_Page. She is good.

 

There are ESL English books that deal with this, but the problem tends to be that after you get to a certain level of English proficiency, the textbooks do not help a lot--they are giving generic instruction for people of any language.

 

A good dictionary will help with somethings--I use to sit with my Franklin while working with my students trying to figure out how to explain the differences and nuances and usage rules--sometimes we native speakers need to figure out the why's and whatnot's of our own language ourselves before we can clearly explain things. LOL! I was always challenged (in a good way) by those students!

 

I don't know if this helps you any or not. I hope you can find someone to work with.:001_smile:

Jean

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However, I have difficulty in formulating my thought in writing concisely. I tend to be long-winded. I also want to improve my sentence variation so the reader is not going to be bored. Think about writing to entertain, inform and express opinion.

 

I am also aware that I just cannot sense when a word needs articles (a/an vs the vs nothing) or plural vs singular in abstract noun like action vs actions, law vs laws, etc. When I was a graduate student writing my dissertation and paper, I asked my advisor about this and she only said, "oh ... I can sense when I need to use articles because I am a native speaker."

 

If it's any encouragement, by your posts here I'd never have guessed that English was not your native language.

 

English IS my native language but I have been greatly helped in grammar and writing by studying R&S along with my oldest child, and by helping him learn writing skills (via methods in TWTM and with R&S). This is all stuff I've never learned before, but because it's geared to kids, I can understand it and learn slowly. If I wanted to speed up, I would do so with R&S (and TWTM methods and resources for writing). Like your professor, I might sometimes "sense" when something sounds right or not, but until I started systematically learning grammar and writing, I couldn't tell you why or how to improve it.

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