A GUIDE TO TEACHING INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS: NYU PROFESSOR DENICE MARTONE EXPLAINS HOW SHE DOES IT
by Marita Vlachou
In her international writing workshop class of 12 students a few years ago, NYU professor Denice Martone announced the last assignment for that semester. Students would be required to pick a problem in the world and write about it using sources from literature.
Kishan Kishan, a freshman from India and a student in that class was excited about this final assignment. He had decided to write his paper on human impact on the environment. Martone read his draft carefully and sent him a response that was longer than the paper itself, Kishan recalls.
After countless emails and private conferences with Martone, what Kishan thought would be an essay on the environment turned out to be a paper about why humans love pizza.
While Kishan was fluent in English, he was missing the cultural nuances in U.S. society and therefore he was struggling to make sense of his ideas in an organized way. Martone was there to guide him through.
“There’s a certain flexibility you have to have when working with people not only from different cultures, but also other ways of thinking and approaching writing,” Martone said leaning on her office chair putting her hands behind her head. “You just have to be open to seeing that there are ways of expression that are just different.”
Having a liking for students who are different, Martone, 58, the director of the International Writing Program and the associate director of the Expository Writing Program at NYU has devoted her career to working with international students. Through her position at NYU, the number one destination for international students in the 2013-2014 academic year, she has taught 1,000 students how to develop their own ideas on writing and help those who still have trouble bridging the language barrier.
“It requires patience and interest,” said Martone about the nature of her job.
During the 1990s, John Maynard, director of the Expository Writing Program at the time, invited Martone to help develop a unique curriculum for international students within the College of Arts and Science. Martone believed there should be no distinction between the curriculum for American and international students. The only difference she proposed would be for foreign students to complete the requirements over two semesters.
Martone was working at the American Language Institute at NYU, the department that focuses on teaching English as a Second Language students, at the time following her training on the subject through the Master’s and PhD in English Education she received from the NYU Steinhardt School of Education.
While this formal education contributed to her understanding of teaching writing to international students, she says her ability to identify the needs of foreign students came more from personal experience.
“I’ve seen a lot of life from a perspective that’s not American and I have a lot of respect for everything they’ve already done just to get here,” Martone said.
Her partner of 30 years is Brazilian and did not have much exposure to English prior to visiting the U.S. Through this relationship, Martone learned Portuguese, the only foreign language she speaks and also came to know first hand the problems faced by foreigners coming to the U.S.
Being aware of those problems, Martone has tried hard to communicate the realities of foreign students to faculty members who express an interest in teaching international writing. Currently, only 15 of the 100 professors in the Expository Writing Program teach the international writing. Martone has been working on increasing those numbers.
David Cregar, pedagogy coordinator for the program, is one of the people Martone chose for the International Writing Program. While he was always interested in teaching a diverse group of students, he spent a lot of time working closely with Martone on the tools to teach those students effectively.
“She told me once, ‘Your discomfort with calling on students especially with international students is matched by their discomfort in volunteering,’” Cregar said. “That seemed like something clicked when she said that.”
Martone has had to overcome this discomfort herself when dealing with challenging cases of students. A few years ago, Martone had a Korean student from the Tisch School of Arts who had already failed the introductory writing class for international students twice. While Tisch faculty were concerned about the situation, Martone did not hesitate to take that student into her class.
This particular student could not write more than three sentences for each assignment and despite his failing record showed no motivation to improve his writing. However, she encouraged him to stay in the course, participate in class and put in at least the minimum effort required.
Thankfully, her student was able to pass the class on his third try, offering Martone a moment of relief and satisfaction. While many viewed her student as a lost cause, Martone was able to see through him and help him develop both as a thinker and as a writer.
“The way to reach people who are struggling is to be generous with your time,” said Martone who spent many hours working with the student to help him improve his writing.
While Martone is devoted to her work, she also enjoys her other passion, photography. Her love for pictures is evident in the way her office is set up. A large assortment of cameras is placed on the top shelf of her office above her countless books.
Martone has tried to incorporate this love for art into her writing curriculum to give students more breathing room. Through screening documentaries and discussing images with students in the classroom, she tries to help them think ‘outside the box.’
“What works so well in Denice’s teaching is a balance between guidance and freedom in the way she works with students,” said Dara Regaignon, the director of the Expository Writing Program at NYU about Martone’s approach to learning.
It is likely that her instinct to combine art and teaching stems from her family background. Martone grew up in a family of five children in Connecticut, with her father who was a college professor and her mother, an artist.
During her childhood, she developed a sense of curiosity for things that were outside the norm. As a child, she would love to go to the beach and collect the “ugliest rocks,” the ones that seemed most fascinating to her.
“I was just attracted to things that were not mainstream, that were almost on the edges,” Martone said.
Despite the occasional challenges, this element of the unexpected is what keeps Martone still going in her teaching career of more than 30 years.
“Every way of approaching an idea or a thought is different and so there are lots of surprises,” Martone said. “That’s challenging and fun.”
Kishan, now a senior studying biology, recently surprised Martone when he emailed her with an unusual request. He wanted Martone to write him a letter of recommendation for his medical school application.
Martone, was initially shocked as most people applying to medical school get recommendations from professors teaching science courses. However, Kishan explained that she supported him when he was taking a critical turn in his life, adjusting to college level courses in the U.S. after having spent his entire life and high school years in India.
“She was the one that gave me those tools to allow this transition to occur and for that I’m always grateful,” Kishan said.
Despite providing him with tools that proved very useful while in college, Kishan said Martone stood out from any of his other professors at NYU simply because she would always take the time to listen to her students.
“Every single student has an interest thing to say, an interesting place to go if you ask for it,” Martone said.
In her international writing workshop class of 12 students a few years ago, NYU professor Denice Martone announced the last assignment for that semester. Students would be required to pick a problem in the world and write about it using sources from literature.
Kishan Kishan, a freshman from India and a student in that class was excited about this final assignment. He had decided to write his paper on human impact on the environment. Martone read his draft carefully and sent him a response that was longer than the paper itself, Kishan recalls.
After countless emails and private conferences with Martone, what Kishan thought would be an essay on the environment turned out to be a paper about why humans love pizza.
While Kishan was fluent in English, he was missing the cultural nuances in U.S. society and therefore he was struggling to make sense of his ideas in an organized way. Martone was there to guide him through.
“There’s a certain flexibility you have to have when working with people not only from different cultures, but also other ways of thinking and approaching writing,” Martone said leaning on her office chair putting her hands behind her head. “You just have to be open to seeing that there are ways of expression that are just different.”
Having a liking for students who are different, Martone, 58, the director of the International Writing Program and the associate director of the Expository Writing Program at NYU has devoted her career to working with international students. Through her position at NYU, the number one destination for international students in the 2013-2014 academic year, she has taught 1,000 students how to develop their own ideas on writing and help those who still have trouble bridging the language barrier.
“It requires patience and interest,” said Martone about the nature of her job.
During the 1990s, John Maynard, director of the Expository Writing Program at the time, invited Martone to help develop a unique curriculum for international students within the College of Arts and Science. Martone believed there should be no distinction between the curriculum for American and international students. The only difference she proposed would be for foreign students to complete the requirements over two semesters.
Martone was working at the American Language Institute at NYU, the department that focuses on teaching English as a Second Language students, at the time following her training on the subject through the Master’s and PhD in English Education she received from the NYU Steinhardt School of Education.
While this formal education contributed to her understanding of teaching writing to international students, she says her ability to identify the needs of foreign students came more from personal experience.
“I’ve seen a lot of life from a perspective that’s not American and I have a lot of respect for everything they’ve already done just to get here,” Martone said.
Her partner of 30 years is Brazilian and did not have much exposure to English prior to visiting the U.S. Through this relationship, Martone learned Portuguese, the only foreign language she speaks and also came to know first hand the problems faced by foreigners coming to the U.S.
Being aware of those problems, Martone has tried hard to communicate the realities of foreign students to faculty members who express an interest in teaching international writing. Currently, only 15 of the 100 professors in the Expository Writing Program teach the international writing. Martone has been working on increasing those numbers.
David Cregar, pedagogy coordinator for the program, is one of the people Martone chose for the International Writing Program. While he was always interested in teaching a diverse group of students, he spent a lot of time working closely with Martone on the tools to teach those students effectively.
“She told me once, ‘Your discomfort with calling on students especially with international students is matched by their discomfort in volunteering,’” Cregar said. “That seemed like something clicked when she said that.”
Martone has had to overcome this discomfort herself when dealing with challenging cases of students. A few years ago, Martone had a Korean student from the Tisch School of Arts who had already failed the introductory writing class for international students twice. While Tisch faculty were concerned about the situation, Martone did not hesitate to take that student into her class.
This particular student could not write more than three sentences for each assignment and despite his failing record showed no motivation to improve his writing. However, she encouraged him to stay in the course, participate in class and put in at least the minimum effort required.
Thankfully, her student was able to pass the class on his third try, offering Martone a moment of relief and satisfaction. While many viewed her student as a lost cause, Martone was able to see through him and help him develop both as a thinker and as a writer.
“The way to reach people who are struggling is to be generous with your time,” said Martone who spent many hours working with the student to help him improve his writing.
While Martone is devoted to her work, she also enjoys her other passion, photography. Her love for pictures is evident in the way her office is set up. A large assortment of cameras is placed on the top shelf of her office above her countless books.
Martone has tried to incorporate this love for art into her writing curriculum to give students more breathing room. Through screening documentaries and discussing images with students in the classroom, she tries to help them think ‘outside the box.’
“What works so well in Denice’s teaching is a balance between guidance and freedom in the way she works with students,” said Dara Regaignon, the director of the Expository Writing Program at NYU about Martone’s approach to learning.
It is likely that her instinct to combine art and teaching stems from her family background. Martone grew up in a family of five children in Connecticut, with her father who was a college professor and her mother, an artist.
During her childhood, she developed a sense of curiosity for things that were outside the norm. As a child, she would love to go to the beach and collect the “ugliest rocks,” the ones that seemed most fascinating to her.
“I was just attracted to things that were not mainstream, that were almost on the edges,” Martone said.
Despite the occasional challenges, this element of the unexpected is what keeps Martone still going in her teaching career of more than 30 years.
“Every way of approaching an idea or a thought is different and so there are lots of surprises,” Martone said. “That’s challenging and fun.”
Kishan, now a senior studying biology, recently surprised Martone when he emailed her with an unusual request. He wanted Martone to write him a letter of recommendation for his medical school application.
Martone, was initially shocked as most people applying to medical school get recommendations from professors teaching science courses. However, Kishan explained that she supported him when he was taking a critical turn in his life, adjusting to college level courses in the U.S. after having spent his entire life and high school years in India.
“She was the one that gave me those tools to allow this transition to occur and for that I’m always grateful,” Kishan said.
Despite providing him with tools that proved very useful while in college, Kishan said Martone stood out from any of his other professors at NYU simply because she would always take the time to listen to her students.
“Every single student has an interest thing to say, an interesting place to go if you ask for it,” Martone said.