Learning any new language can be a daunting task.<\/p>\n
But learning a language that is no longer spoken, such as ancient Greek or Latin, comes with its own set of challenges.<\/p>\n
The Department of Classics has found an effective way to help students through language courses, offering peer support to make the learning process easier.<\/p>\n
\u201cEach week in a language course builds on the previous week\u2019s knowledge, so it can quickly become too complicated for students who fall behind, and they don\u2019t know where to begin to correct things,\u201d says Assistant Professor of Classics Roberto Nickel.<\/span><\/p>\n That\u2019s where the Classics Peer Mentorship program comes in. Peer mentors are available in the department for drop-in help during the week.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cStudents feel more comfortable asking senior students for help than professors,\u201d Nickel says.<\/span><\/p>\n The peer mentorship program started in 2013 as a formalized way for first- and second-year language students to get help from senior students, but quickly expanded to include students seeking help with essay assignments in large Humanities context courses.<\/span><\/p>\n Chosen by faculty from among the graduating class, peer mentors have all previously used the mentoring services themselves.<\/span><\/p>\n Each mentor is available for two to three hours a week. Instructors share course essay assignments with the peer mentors, so they are better able to support students.<\/span><\/p>\n There are three peer mentors currently participating in the program: Julie Simmonds, Keegan Bruce and Alex Mirosavljevic.<\/span><\/p>\n Simmonds was motivated to become a peer mentor in part due to her own experiences coming to University as a mature student and using the service. She now enjoys helping students with essays, whether it\u2019s developing a thesis, proofreading a draft or formatting their paper.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to be able to help students with some of the knowledge I\u2019ve gained over the last three years,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a great service for students.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The program is volunteer-based, although mentors are able to include the experience on their resum\u00e9s and receive letters of reference from faculty for their work. The experience is valuable\u00a0<\/span>for future careers within education or that require mentoring or teaching skills.<\/span><\/p>\n Nickel points to the drop in attrition rates in the first-year Greek course as a sign of the program\u2019s success. Prior to its inception, up to 30 per cent of students dropped the course each year. In recent years, that number has plummeted to zero, he says.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe mentors and the students they are mentoring are peers,\u201d says Nickel. \u201cThey\u2019re of the same generation, with the same experiences in education. Professors have a different experience and their undergrad experience is further away. Peers understand what the students feel confident about and what they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n What:<\/strong> Peer mentoring in the Department of Classics Learning a new language can be a daunting task.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":57195,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[37,1,4],"tags":[1583,30,4969],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57194"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57194"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57210,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57194\/revisions\/57210"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/span>When:<\/strong> Tuesdays 9 to 11 a.m. and 2 to 4 p.m.; Wednesdays 9 a.m. to noon and 1 to 3 p.m.; Thursdays 9 a.m. to noon; Fridays 9 to 11 a.m.
\n<\/span>Where:<\/strong> Department of Classics, GLB 347<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"