Friday, September 30, 2005
Hello Students:
We had an interesting class today. Please be sure to review with your classmates the formula I described regarding the timed writing:
INTRODUCTION
TWO BODY PARAGRAPHS
CONCLUSION
We also discussed UNITY and COHERENCE. Unity is that each paragraph has only ONE IDEA and a clear TOPIC SENTENCE telling the reader what you are going to write. COHERENCE means that you use TRANSITIONS and CLEAR LOGIC throughout the ENTIRE PAPER!
Your homework:
1) Read over the entire book and get a feeling for how each chapter is organized
2) Read "Advertising to the World" on page 2 once more, practicing the skimming and scanning techniques I mentioned.
3) On page 6-7 do 1-4 and 1-8.
4) Please read over all of Unit 1 also.
5) Think of questions to ask me about how to become a better writer ... reader!
We had an interesting class today. Please be sure to review with your classmates the formula I described regarding the timed writing:
INTRODUCTION
TWO BODY PARAGRAPHS
CONCLUSION
We also discussed UNITY and COHERENCE. Unity is that each paragraph has only ONE IDEA and a clear TOPIC SENTENCE telling the reader what you are going to write. COHERENCE means that you use TRANSITIONS and CLEAR LOGIC throughout the ENTIRE PAPER!
Your homework:
1) Read over the entire book and get a feeling for how each chapter is organized
2) Read "Advertising to the World" on page 2 once more, practicing the skimming and scanning techniques I mentioned.
3) On page 6-7 do 1-4 and 1-8.
4) Please read over all of Unit 1 also.
5) Think of questions to ask me about how to become a better writer ... reader!
Friday, September 23, 2005
CLASS MEETING #2 (September 23, 2005)
What We Did in Class Today:
1) Dr. J collected students' name-cards and teacher-student contracts
2) 20-Minute Timed Writing:
Do you think you should enjoy the money you spend now or save it for the future? Please describe your answer with specific details and reasons.
3) Dr. J gave every student a sheet of TOEFL questions and we analyzed, briefly, the different types of questions and found that each question, or at least almost every question, has this sentence: "Please describe your answer with specific details and reasons," which is usually used to confuse and distract you. Therefore, you should not waste time reading it and getting confused.
4) Dr. J handed out next week's readings because the textbook has not yet arrived. Please be sure to read pp. 4-5, entitled "Advertising All Over the World." Please prepare to discuss this article and answer some questions regarding in the form of a short quiz.
5) Dr. J returned to the topic of timed writings and we discussed the importance of planning our writing. If you have a 30-minute timed writing, be sure to take at least one minute to plan out WHAT YOU PLAN ON WRITING! This way, the rest of the writing project will be very easy and, as we will see later, even FUN to do.
~HOMEWORK FOR NEXT WEEK (September 30, 2005)~
1) BRING NAME CARDS AND CONTRACTS IF YOU FORGOT THEM
2) Prepare to discuss the format of the ideal timed-writing formula
INTRO [with grabber sentence and grabber statement]
BODY PARAGRAPH 1
BODY PARAGRAPH 2
CONCLUSION ;with restatement of main idea of essay and conclusion sentence]
3) "Adversiting All Over the World." Read pp. 4-5, entitled "Advertising All Over the World." Please prepare to discuss this article and answer some questions regarding in the form of a short quiz.
Friday, September 16, 2005
DAY #1 (September 16, 2005)
Activities Completed:
1) Dr. J introduced himself (yawn!) and the basics of language-learning strategies
Remember that LANGUAGE IS A SELF-DEFENSE WEAPON and not a TOOL.
2) We looked over the course description and the contract students must sign saying they have read the course description and requirements (some parts are subject to change, depending on student abilities and interest levels)
3) Dr. J discussed the NAME-CARD that you must please present next week (a small card with your photo in the right corner and your Chinese and English names in the left top corner ... And something about yourself that you want me to know (anything is fine...e-mail address, hobbies, special talents or needs you might have)
4) We talked about textbook purchase ... and all of those exciting details.
Activities Completed:
1) Dr. J introduced himself (yawn!) and the basics of language-learning strategies
Remember that LANGUAGE IS A SELF-DEFENSE WEAPON and not a TOOL.
2) We looked over the course description and the contract students must sign saying they have read the course description and requirements (some parts are subject to change, depending on student abilities and interest levels)
3) Dr. J discussed the NAME-CARD that you must please present next week (a small card with your photo in the right corner and your Chinese and English names in the left top corner ... And something about yourself that you want me to know (anything is fine...e-mail address, hobbies, special talents or needs you might have)
4) We talked about textbook purchase ... and all of those exciting details.
HOMEWORK
- Complete the NAME-CARD and bring it to class next week
- Read over the Course Description and bring signed contract form to class
- Create a weblog ("blog") named any name you like and bring the URL to class so that we can link all URL's together. NOTE: You will be posting homework on the class blog and not on your own blogs. Your own blog is for you to find relevant web-sites and articles using "BLOG THIS" on THE GOOGLE TOOLBAR!
