Letter of Evaluation from an ESL instructor

[organicmodel]

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Hello all.

I am an immigrant from India, who came to the states about 12 years ago. I am very fluent in English, but I've decided to take an English course to improve my grammar skills a year ago.

The course code was from the English department, so i thought this wouldn't be a big issue (it says it is an English course NOT an ESL course on my transcript)

However, I've decided to ask my instructor for a letter of evaluation for the non-science letter this week, and he said that he will have to write the letter as if I took a course aimed at ESL students.

Is this a huge deal? I don't know any other non-science profs very well and I'm taking another English course in the Fall term.

Also, does it matter that I took an ESL course at the university? The course was mainly grammar mixed with writing short stories and a few essays. Thanks everyone for your help.

 

[n4pher]

Well, since I am an immigrant too, I think I can help you out a bit. First of all, you need english composition I and II for med school. So as long as you have the two, you're good. Also, no, it does not matter if you took ESL, but again, you need the two I mentioned before.

Now, I am not sure if it's a good idea if he wants to speak of you as if you were an ESL student. I would rather pass on it and ask someone else. Perhaps the person who was/is/is going to be your eng comp instructor?

 

[organicmodel]

Well, since I am an immigrant too, I think I can help you out a bit. First of all, you need english composition I and II for med school. So as long as you have the two, you're good. Also, no, it does not matter if you took ESL, but again, you need the two I mentioned before.

Now, I am not sure if it's a good idea if he wants to speak of you as if you were an ESL student. I would rather pass on it and ask someone else. Perhaps the person who was/is/is going to be your eng comp instructor?

so are you saying that this course will not count as an english course? Do you mean that I can ask the person who is going to be my english composition instructor for a reference?

Also, can I use my calc prof for a reference letter to satisfy the non-science letter requirement? Thanks

 

[n4pher]

It depends what course we're talking about. There is english composition for ESL students, where a student takes two classes which later counts as eng comp I (yes, one class). Then they take the regular eng comp II. However, I would recommed you take eng comp I instead of taking the ESL classes (if you haven't taken eng comp yet). Eng comp is the basic 100 level class that you usually take as a freshman. Now, you didn't really say what class it was, so if it was indeed a regular eng comp class, then your instructor has no rights to label you as an ESL student since it was NOT an ESL class.

Letter from a calc professor is fine.

 

[organicmodel]

It depends what course we're talking about. There is english composition for ESL students, where a student takes two classes which later counts as eng comp I (yes, one class). Then they take the regular eng comp II. However, I would recommed you take eng comp I instead of taking the ESL classes (if you haven't taken eng comp yet). Eng comp is the basic 100 level class that you usually take as a freshman. Now, you didn't really say what class it was, so if it was indeed a regular eng comp class, then your instructor has no rights to label you as an ESL student since it was NOT an ESL class.

Letter from a calc professor is fine.

Hi. The course is called "Introductory Written English" on my transcript. On the description, it says the course covers grammar, sentence composition, essay (expository, argumentative, etc.)

There were a lot of writing assignments in the course (about 6-7 essays and other writing assignments in total), so I believe it is more of a writing course than a grammar course.

Are you sure this doesn't count towards English pre-reqs? I think most schools just require 2 english courses, not an eng composition course specifically?

Also, would you rather get a calc prof who doesn't really know me (other than going to his office hours almost every week for help) than getting a letter from the ESL instructor? I took calc last winter (1 year ago), so I don't even know if the prof even remembers me... Actually I think he only had MSc degree... thanks