the extracurriculum
Like Beverly Moss, Anne Ruggles Gere shifts away from the academic in her article “Kitchen Tables and Rented Rooms: The Extracurriculum of Composition". She explores “literacy practices outside formal education” and “self-sponsored pedagogically oriented writing activities outside of the academy” (80). While it stands as a gatekeeper to students' education, the English as a Second Language Institute (ESLi) at the University of the Arts can also be considered part of the extracurriculum. This juxtaposition of both sponsoring/withholding English literacy until the students meet a certain level of proficiency, and providing extracurricular enrichment experiences is a complex concept. The international students we interviewed gained great benefits to their writing and reading through the extracurriculum of the ESLi and International Student programs. As in the Women's Tenderloin Writers Workshop and the Lansing, Iowa Writers Workshop featured in Gere's study of the extracurriculum, "these writers bear testimony to the fact that writing development occurs outside formal education” (70).
ESLi is a non-college credit bearing language center which offers literacy experiences crafted around the cultural offerings at the University of the Arts and the surrounding Philadelphia area. The institute facilitates visits to galleries, performances, film screenings, and social events, then the students create responses to these experiences through reading, writing, art, and/or performance in order to gain the English language proficiency necessary for credit-bearing study at The University of the Arts or other universities of their choice.
ESLi is a non-college credit bearing language center which offers literacy experiences crafted around the cultural offerings at the University of the Arts and the surrounding Philadelphia area. The institute facilitates visits to galleries, performances, film screenings, and social events, then the students create responses to these experiences through reading, writing, art, and/or performance in order to gain the English language proficiency necessary for credit-bearing study at The University of the Arts or other universities of their choice.
We witnessed two interesting subsets of the extracurriculum during our interviews. The first was the very venue in which we encountered our interviewees - a Thanksgiving luncheon. A feast inspired by the American South was served, complete with collard greens and cornbread stuffing, as well as the traditional turkey and pumpkin pie. Students from around the world were milling about, eating together, and experiencing an aspect of American culture unfamiliar to them. Students from Poland, Russia, Japan, and Saudi Arabia sat crowded together at tables eating, practicing English, and forming relationships which will require them to speak, read, and write in English.
The other occurrence was the UArts International Student Jazz Band who performed at the luncheon. Students from the Netherlands, South Korea, and Germany, were playing Jazz as the students ate and socialized.
The other occurrence was the UArts International Student Jazz Band who performed at the luncheon. Students from the Netherlands, South Korea, and Germany, were playing Jazz as the students ate and socialized.
Many literacy events in English need to take place before a successful performance can happen. Emails and text messages to set up rehearsals, text prepared for promotional materials, and reading the English lyrics and notations of the Jazz standards they play are just a few of the English-based literacy events the band must complete before a performance. As Gere notes concerning writing workshop participants reading their stories aloud, “opportunities for performance provide a major incentive for writers to develop their skills” (77). This notion can be extended through all of the performance opportunities available through ESLi, both artistic and English language learning based. Our interview subjects spoke of how the presentations they did helped them acquire the literacy necessary for the eventual acceptance by and English literacy levels required for matriculated study at The University of the Arts. The presentations, just as a Jazz band performance, required preparation that included reading and writing English.
The other important aspect of the extracurriculum relevant to our interviewees is “constructed by desire, by the aspirations and imaginations of its participants. It posits writing as an action undertaken by motivated individuals who frequently see it as having social and economic consequences...” (80) Every interviewee and example of student work we viewed expressed a strong desire to study in America because of their artistic dreams.
The other important aspect of the extracurriculum relevant to our interviewees is “constructed by desire, by the aspirations and imaginations of its participants. It posits writing as an action undertaken by motivated individuals who frequently see it as having social and economic consequences...” (80) Every interviewee and example of student work we viewed expressed a strong desire to study in America because of their artistic dreams.
The opportunities available in the United States simply do not exist in the home countries of our interview subjects.
Each of the students we talked with and many of the examples of student writing we viewed focused on their strong wishes to study in America, and the requirement for the fulfillment of that desire is English literacy.
Gatekeeping works two ways. It can serve as a barrier, but it also presents a door through which students may enter. The extracurriculum of ESLi and international student programs provide a necessary space for literacy acquisition and development before and during matriculated academic work. Cultural connections are formed, and are used as a basis of work on reading and writing skills. Authentic and relevant opportunities for performance and practice are provided. Most importantly, it provides the key to the international students’ greatest desire: mastering English literacy so that they can study in America.
Gatekeeping works two ways. It can serve as a barrier, but it also presents a door through which students may enter. The extracurriculum of ESLi and international student programs provide a necessary space for literacy acquisition and development before and during matriculated academic work. Cultural connections are formed, and are used as a basis of work on reading and writing skills. Authentic and relevant opportunities for performance and practice are provided. Most importantly, it provides the key to the international students’ greatest desire: mastering English literacy so that they can study in America.