Dear Val, You write that you want to "help ESL students build rapport with colleagues and fellow employees in their technical writing." I also think building rapport among the students is very important. These students have a hard enough time trying to get along on a day-to-day basis in a foreign language, and most of them are terrified of English class. Building a non-threatening atmosphere in the classroom can help them learn and enjoy English. I try to eliminate situations where the students compete with each other for grades. The grades depend on their successful completion of tasks, and not competition with each other. I also have them work on problems in groups of two or three before we discuss their conclusions as a whole class, so they can organize their ideas and discuss them with each other before they have to present them to the class, and the ideas they present can be the group ideas and not reflect on any one person. I let them form the groups, so if there are people who truly cannot get along for any reasons, it doesn’t form a problem. When it comes to situations where they give each other advice -- in my writing class these are workshops where they review each others’ papers -- I grade the comments on whether the student came up with insightful and helpful suggestions, and I don’t worry about use of English. There are other situations where I can help them understand how the language works. Certainly, when the vocabulary is weak they can be misunderstood, but a non-competitive situation can improve the relationships among the students so that they can really enjoy helping each other and becoming friends. Hope this works for you. Jean Waldman