In Their Own Words

In today's American college classrooms more and more international students are enrolling at a rapid pace. This happened in my classroom sevearl years ago. I had taught for over twenty years at the time but I did not know how to approach these students who possessed varying levels of English proficiency. My traditional methods did not work and all I could do was speak louder-as if an increased volume would increase their learning.<p>Because I considered teaching a vocation I did not want to give up. Instead I enrolled in a doctoral program in Adult Education and chose Teaching English as a Second Language as my Cognate.<p>In one of my doctoral classes I had to do a research project. I decided to conduct interviews with my new students and simply ask them how they prefrred to learn how to speak and write in english. The results fascinated me!<p> Based on what they told me and what I found in the literature I totally revamped my composition classes. Gone were the days of lecture! Instead with student input I created a film based approach to teaching writing that seemed to emancipate my students and they became proficient writers of English! Along the way I was emancipated too and I knew that my classes would never be the same.<p>This book is a result of my experienceand I hope it can be used as a jumping off point for positive change for any college composition teacher who truly cares if their students learn!