Week 5 Expository Essays and Modal Verbs

We are already in week 5! Yikes! and so far off of the homework calendar...

I fear that I have over planned your semester, but this week we'll try to get back on track. 803 is slightly ahead of 804, but this week we'll try to catch up...

On Monday, you'll sign up for your expository essay topic: the master list came from things which are pertinent to the world we live in. Consequently, there are not a lot of happy or cheerful topics;however, there are some which are extremely positive and uplifting. 

The purpose of the expository essay is to inform your readers and this essay is different in so many ways than others. First of all, in length it is 1,000 words BEFORE you add your bibliography; it will consist of your 5 point Outline (with 3 links to websites where you have found information) this Friday (3/1), the expository essay (in two weeks 3/15), the bibliography (3/15), the abstract (3/22), and the apendices (3/15). Each piece will be graded separately. 

The Mid-Term is rocketing towards us, so you'll be having more listening activities in these next three weeks!

Please discuss the book. We still haven't begun the historical things about the United States which creeped me out the first time I read it, but they are coming. Are you going back and rereading at night for greater understanding? What do you think of it? Does it make you want to go to New York and visit the places the book has talked about? What do you think of biblical prophesy? Have you read any of the prophetic books of the Bible? Some of them are pretty harsh!

Week 4 Writing Exam on Thursday!

            This week we’ll read, do some listening activities, review grammar and play a game, before the writing exam. 

             Not many of you have written the essays or the poetry for this class and a number of you have not sent any of the quizzes. It will be very hard to pass the class without doing the work. 

             This week is the first Writing Exam, do you feel prepared? Is there anything that you need to work on before Thursday? The essay will be a persuasive essay and the topic will be “In the case of capital murder which do you believe is more just the death penalty or life in prison?” As always you’ll write 350 words in one hour. 

Week 3 Prepositions and Writing...

This week you are going to take a break from writing new essays. After two weeks of grading essays around the clock, I have concluded that we need to focus on getting you all focused. This week we'll look at English grammar and some of its nuances that seem to be giving you trouble. 

The purpose of the "Vacation" essay was to get you all thinking in past tense... but for the most part you didn't. The "Death Penalty" essay was to put you into subjunctive and conditional verbs and many of you struggled with that too. So this week we'll step back and take another look at the various verb tenses and how and when to use them.

In 800 English, to pass your grammar has to be nearly perfect, some of you are almost there, but VERY FEW OF YOU.

On Thursday we'll listen to an amazing orator Martin Luther King Jr. He had a real gift for speaking, we'll hear a speech he gave the night before his assasination. This will be a L-O-N-G listening activity, but excellent practice at listening and reading along.

• By now I am assuming most of you have experienced some literature in English, be it novels, poetry, biographies, or even songs. Please share about your favorite English author. Feel free to share links and excerpts. 
• Remember the poetry prompts we used last semester? Pages 9-12 Copy Packet... I would like you to revisit those prompts and share your poems here.

Remember to post your comment and then return to help your classmates with grammar errors and comments on the poetry.

See you in class!

Cindy;-)

Week 2 History

It appeared during our introduction to this semester that you do not know much history outside of Mexican history, or maybe you were simply reluctant to share. This week I want to know what you know of World history... 

• What European groups came to settle in Mexico, Central and Latin America? Are there bilingual English/ Spanish, English/ Porteguese, Porteguese/Spanish, etc speaking countries in Central of Latin America? Do these countries declare any official language/s?
• Where are the English speaking countries located? Are there countries which declare themselves to be English speakers? (Hint there are 88 countries where English is a main language and in 3 of these English is the de facto or only language spoken) Where are they?
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_English_is_an_official_language (Check this site out! List something which surprises you.)

Do not forget that you need to post and reply to two classmates before Sunday night. Blogging is 10% of your participation grade in my class...