The Student Learning Commons is announcing our 4th annual undergraduate writing contest. 

Read on to hear from last year's Lower Division contest winner (and current SLC Writing and Learning Peer, Austyn). 

You can read past winning papers and find more contest details here. 

In this blog post, SLC EAL Coordinator Dr. Timothy Mossman shares some writing that he did during his doctoral studies in a class (EDUC 925 - Critical Literacies in Multilingual Contexts) led by Dr. Dolores van der Wey. 

The SFU Library recently issued the following statement about anti-Black racism and white supremacy: https://www.lib.sfu.ca/help/academic-integrity/solidarity-black-lives-matter 

We in the Student Learning Commons recognize that race-based violence is not new, nor simply an issue for us to pay attention to during "flashpoint moments" like the one we are currently experiencing. With this post, Tim shares part of his journey learning to see his own privilege. 

We share this post as encouragement for others as we take on this troubling, difficult, and necessary work. 

Trigger warning: this post includes references to residential school trauma and to homelessness. 

SLC Graduate Writing Facilitator Kate E. invites folks to join her for the Write OUT program -- a joint initiative of the Student Learning Commons and Out On Campus. 

Summer WriteOUT! sessions will include tips and tricks for:

• Time Management (June 8^th)
• Writing Logically and Cohesively (June 15^th)
• Offering and Receiving Feedback (June 22^nd)
• Writing for Different Audiences (June 29^th)
• Making your Writing Interesting (July 6^th)
• Writing in English as an Additional Language (July 13^th)
• Respecting Writing in Different Disciplines (July 20^th)
• Descriptive and Creative Writing (July 26^th)

All sessions are 11-1pm on Mondays. 

By Dr. Timothy Mossman, SLC EAL Services Coordinator 

In this post, Dr. Timothy Mossman introduces and invites submissions to the new Multilingual Students' Story Hub. The Story Hub is a forum for multilingual students to share their stories about events or critical incidents that occurred while learning or using English. 

Guest blogger and English as Additional Language Peer Educator, Ashley K. writes this week about her experiences with EAL Peer training. In particular, she reflects on a lecture presented by Dr. Ena Lee, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education. Dr. Lee's talk focused on the "commonsense discourses" of English language learning, and how these "commonsense" ideas are often actually wrong. 

Ashley connects this talk with her experiences doing a "Pluriligual Identity" exercise and reflecting on her own connections with language learning, identity, and culture. 

For the third year in a row, the SLC will host an undergraduate writing contest. 

All contest details, and the submission page, can be found here: https://journals.lib.sfu.ca/index.php/slc-uwc

The contest opens on November 29th and  submissions will continue to be accepted until January 5th 2020 (at midnight).

On July 29th, Julia Lane (SLC Writing Services Associate) did an interview with Ciara Reid on CJSF. Check out the link in the post to listen to the interview and learn about the SLC's forthcoming Inclusive Writing resources.