Writing poetry can be challenging in itself, but writing it an unfamiliar language presents a whole new level of difficulty.
Twelve international students from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have accepted this challenge.
“A Sense of Place,” part of the library’s celebration of National Poetry Month, is scheduled for April 19 at 7 p.m. in the north side of Love Library.
Patrick T. Randolph, a UNL professor involved with Programs in English as a Second Language (PIESL), said he suggested the idea when he realized the library hadn’t previously done anything to celebrate National Poetry Month.
Randolph said he teaches his PIESL students to write about what they know and how they feel. PIESL is a program offered by UNL that helps bridge the gap between the differences of an international student’s previous education with an American college experience.
For this event, Randolph said he encouraged his students to write about any place they feel at home.
“By ‘A Sense of Place’ I mean anywhere that makes them feel comfortable and cared for,” Randolph said.
Nina Radulovic, a sophomore psychology major from Serbia, is participating in the event. She said her poetry describes her first semester at UNL.
“‘A Sense of Place’ for me meant going back to my happy moments, wherever they were,” Radulovic said.
Randolph, with the help of Charlene Maxey-Harris, associate professor and chairperson of University Libraries, created “A Sense of Place” for two main reasons: to encourage international students to write more creatively and to help integrate them into the UNL community.
Randolph said many PIESL programs make the mistake of trying to teach international students to first write academically, then creatively. He said most of these students aren’t yet ready to deal with the formulaic writing style that comes along with academic writing.
“Creative writing gives them [international students] a chance to develop three important elements: comfort, confidence and control in their writing,” Randolph said. “These aspects will then, in turn, help them later on with their academic writing.”
He said there are a lot of UNL professors in the PIESL program who are on board with implementing a more creative writing style for international students.
Randolph said this event is beneficial for international students because it gives them an opportunity to leave an impact on the UNL community.
“So often the international students are seen as merely ‘students’ that come and go,” he said. “I’d like to see the students who will present their poems leave their footprints in UNL history, and help them bring back a memory back to their home country.”
Radulovic said “A Sense of Place” will be a valuable event for not only the students who are participating, but also for non-international UNL students who choose to attend. She said people sometimes forget that international students at UNL can be different from the people in their home counties.
“This event [A Sense of Place] is different because we recite in English, our second language, about things that are so dear to us,” Radulovic said. “It’s the perfect opportunity for everyone to see international students’ diversity and share it with the campus community.”