What Every ESL Student Should Know: A Guide to College and University Academic Success | 
| Author: Kathy Ochoa Flores
Publisher: University of Michigan Press/ESL
Category: Book
Buy New: $14.95
New (3) Used (4) from $14.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 755960
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 128
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.5 x 5.3 x 0.4
ISBN: 0472032860
Dewey Decimal Number: 428.34
EAN: 9780472032860
ASIN: 0472032860
Publication Date: January 31, 2008
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
Clear, practical, and affordable April 27, 2008
What should every ESL student know?
Beats me. One size fits all philosophies often seem a bit strange to me. Can anybody really answer this question for every international student and ESL college student? Really? Don't circumstances, needs, and desires differ?
On the other hand, administrators, teachers, future college students, and current international ESL students constantly face this common question. What should every ESL student know?
Fortunately, braver and more confident souls feel comfortable answering this reasonable question. That's why a small green and purple book, What Every ESL Student Should Know: A Guide to College and University Academic Success, caught my eyes at a recent English teachers' conference in California. Kathy Ochoa Flores, the author, has both more confidence and deeper insight into this essential, yet puzzling, question. In 119 pages, she displays considerable wit while dispensing practical advice to international students and immigrants preparing for college.
"My students always want to know what they should do to learn English," notes Flores in chapter 2. "I tell them to marry an American - one who is a native speaker and rich. That way, they can have someone to practice with every day, and they won't have to worry about working and studying at the same time. Unfortunately, this advice does not work for most of my students."
So Flores goes on to advocate, since many students are already married or too young to get married, to at least make some American friends. In bold print, she argues: "Native English speakers are everywhere. Use them. They are like free tutors." How? Take the bus, sit down next to some nice looking American, and start talking. Seek out the elderly since they tend to have both more free time and might be lonely. Talk to children, meet a school counselor, and ask many questions. "Talk to the telemarketers who call you during dinner time, and ask them lots of questions about their products." I completely agree.
This affordable book provides dozens of these imperative statements followed by detailed advice. Written in a clear manner, the concise format and friendly style make this book a wonderful book for newcomers. Easier to read, smaller in scope, and less than controversial than the popular book What's Up, America?, this book serves a slightly different purpose. Both titles help international students adjust to American college campuses, but What Every ESL Student Should Know focuses more on survival skills. International counselors, orientation coordinators, and even English language schools could provide a real service to their students by including this thin book in their orientation sessions and pre-college materials. The minimum cost will pay for itself by reducing ESL student stress.
Meanwhile, future international students should find it and buy it. This "one size fits all" work offers enough tips to satisfy any ESL student - and even a sceptical ESL university teacher!
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