Many instructors new to teaching English composition at the college level feel frustrated with what to teach and how to teach it. To learn about the context of support for these instructors, this small scale pilot study asked current ESL composition instructors in a large Midwestern research university to respond to a questionnaire aimed at revealing how experienced teachers give advice to new teachers. The participants included 16 experienced English composition instructors--eight teachers with five or fewer years of teaching experience and eight teachers with more than five years of experience. From each open-ended question response, emerging themes were coded and counted; additional data were qualitatively analyzed. Results showed that no differences in the number of themes per response were found between the two groups; however, similarities and differences regarding the orientation and content of advice given were found. Based on what was learned from this study, the researcher discusses how experienced teachers can better mentor new L2 composition teachers.