Week 8 Course Evaluations, PowerPoint Presentations, and Mid-Terms

This week will bring all stress levels up just one more notch! Remember to breathe and do not come to class hyped up on chemicals! Have yourself a nice cup of Chai Tea with milk before class and blink a couple of times—it’ll be all over and you can move on to something else.

On Monday we’ll begin with the presentations, I hope you all remember that this is NOT the week to have any absences because they will bring your participation grade down one point for each day missed—check the syllabus—this whole week is in the grey box!

All pending work is due this week; that means everything we have done up to now is due by Thursday if you hope to receive any credit for it. On Monday October 6^th, I will deliver a piece of paper to each student with your current grade for the entire course. I have found this to cause fewer disillusions at the end of the course when your final grade is NOT such a surprise.

This week, on the blog I would like to see you write about each other’s presentations; (for example, things which you found surprising about another person’s topic, new information which you did not even imagine to be true). In reading some of your essays I have learned many facts about these topics which I did not know, some have compelled me to go to the sources and learn more. Also discuss your feelings about getting up and sharing in front of the group (Was it difficult? How did you feel? What would you do next time? What wouldn’t you do again?)

 If any of you are planning to do a Master’s Degree outside of Mexico in an English speaking country you should know that MD programs are known for students teaching other students much like what we are doing this week!

English 800: Week 4: Exploring the World Around Us, Exams etc.

English 800: Week 4: Exploring the World Around Us, Exams etc.: Last week you spoke of travel, where you've been or where you'd like to go. This week I would like you to visit this web site:  htt..



Even when government figures believe it is very disturbing that the matter of corupsion is so common and constant Personally I had no idea about countries like Denmark who will head the list in a positive direction.
There are countries that I would like to visit but Presis this information makes me doubt, must be terrible being at the mercy of a corrupt system rightly or not in a country like this.
Sorry corrupsion senciblemente indices in Latin America are so high. It's a shame.

Week VII: Preparing for Presentations and Thoughts

For the past six weeks we have been busily growing your English skills. The book we have been reading works specifically on 4 crucial areas of your language skills: pronunciation, fluency, vocabulary and listening. You have all shown significant growth! I would encourage you to find a book in a genre that you like and be reading in English in your free time and whenever you can be reading aloud. There is scientific proof that reading improves ALL language skills EVEN SPELLING and GRAMMAR.

This week you should be putting together your PowerPoint Presentations which are due on Monday September 30^th, but if they are ready you can bring them into class this week and load them into my computer.

This week on the BLOG I would like you to share about your perceived weakness in English (if you believe you have any) I would also like to hear what things surprised you MOST about your Expository Essay Topic. Next week is your Mid-Term Exam: is there anything special you feel like you want to work on during the last six weeks of class?

Week 6: Writing Exam II, Exploring Other Countries a Little More...

This is going to be a very short week. Tuesday we'll have guests. Wednesday we'll prepare for the Exam on Thursday and talk about the Abstracts for your Expository Essays which are due next Monday September 23rd by 10:00AM.

So for your Blogger topic this week, I would like you to visit 2 web pages : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_percentage_of_population_living_in_poverty  and  http://earthsendangered.com/search-regions3.asp  

The first web page is a list by country of the poverty index; Please find two countries that interest you without duplicating another student and post on its' poverty level. I have gone and investigated this and it is pretty scary stuff.

The second web page is the endangered species list by country: Please find the standing of the countries which you  investigated above and list 3 animals which are endangered that you find interesting.

Week 5: Progress Reports, A Movie, Expository Essays

This week I will take time either Monday or Tuesday to speak with each of you individually about your progress (or lack of progress) in English 800. This level is harder than any other as it should be, but not all of you are keeping up. If you aren't blogging every week, it is really going to hurt your grade in the end.

We'll see a film this week, called "The Interpreter" it is one more effort on my part to keep you thinking of international job opportunities where your English is an asset. The United Nations has ambassadors from all over the world and always has positions for bi or multi-lingual people. Also there are international news correspondents world-wide how must be bi or multi-lingual people.

Finally, I would like you to share with your classmates a little bit about your Expository Essay topic and two things which intrigue you about your topic. Do not forget to be correcting each other's errors.

Week 4: Exploring the World Around Us, Exams etc.

Last week you spoke of travel, where you've been or where you'd like to go. This week I would like you to visit this web site: http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2012/results/  And look up the countries you talked about visiting, below the big map on this web site there is a list of every country in the world and its' corruption index. The corruption index is based and 9 categories of corruption and each country's corruption level is decided by its' citizens not the government! So check it out and report back here.

I was disappointed by the Writing Exams, many of you did not do well, some of you did an excellent job with scores of 10.5, but that being said the class average was an 8.0 which means there were more low grades than high ones. If you did poorly based on writing conventions, please make time to see me or at least go to the CAADI and get some help before the next exam.

Also I would like to see your feedback about the book, the class, the game, and the topics for the Expository Essays which will be posted for you to choose from starting today. I would like everyone to choose a topic before Thursday, Remember the topics are not central to Mexico they are WORLDWIDE to get you to think outside what is known to you. Please if you plan to study, practice or work abroad I would also like you to talk about that here, Please do not forget to be correcting each other.