{"69595":{"#nid":"69595","#data":{"type":"news","title":"International Students Hone Writing Skills for Free at Language Institute","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EGeorgia Tech\u2019s incoming freshman class is 10 percent\ninternational students; for the overall student body, that number is about 18\npercent. For many, coming to Tech is the first time these students have used English\non a regular basis in a rigorous academic environment.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ETo serve those students, the Language Institute began\noffering free writing assistance to all students last fall. With very little\npromotion, the 10 hours per week allotted to help students was consistently\nbooked throughout the last year.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe goal was to provide a service to the Georgia Tech\nstudents that we knew was very much needed, and running the pilot has\ndefinitely confirmed that,\u201d said Mo Burke, a Language Institute instructor. Since\nits inception, the program has served about 150 students each semester, many\nvisiting on a regular basis.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EStudents work one-on-one with instructor Jane Chisholm in\n20-minute sessions. Though the focus is\non writing support, Chisholm also assists with speaking and presentation\nskills, customizing the time to students\u2019 needs.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWhen I came to Tech for digital media, the literature\nexpectations were much higher, and I didn\u2019t have as much experience since my\nbackground was in graphic design and art,\u201d said Hye Yeon Nam, a digital media PhD\nstudent from South Korea. \u201cI wanted to improve my skills because it\u2019s important\nto communicate with my students and other people in my field.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ENam met with Chisholm on a weekly basis and has recommended\nthe service to numerous friends and classmates. Though other classes were\nhelpful, Nam improved the most from the one-on-one time, for which she would\nhave paid a significant amount per hour outside of Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe best part about working with students is sending them\naway feeling as if they have learned what kinds of problems they have, how they\ncan improve their writing and what makes good writing,\u201d Chisholm said. She\u2019s\nalso able to serve as a source for editing students\u2019 writing outside of their\nprofessors and advisors, providing a relief for faculty as well.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EChisholm hopes to expand the capacity of the service and\nwill implement an online appointment scheduling system this fall. For now, those\ninterested in writing or communications support can visit the Language Institute\nin the O\u2019Keefe building or contact Chisholm to make an appointment.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EThe Language Institute offers free writing and communications assistance to all Tech students.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"The Language Institute offers free writing and communications assistance to all Tech students."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2011-08-25 10:45:35","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:09:59","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-08-25T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2011-08-25T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/esl.gatech.edu\/","title":"Language Institute"},{"url":"http:\/\/facebook.com\/languageinstitute","title":"Language Institute on Facebook"}],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2183","name":"communications"},{"id":"4406","name":"Language Institute"},{"id":"4720","name":"writing"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:jane.chisholm@esl.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJane Chisholm\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELanguage Institute\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kristen.shaw@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKristen Shaw\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003C\/a\u003ECommunications and Marketing\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}