It’s week 9 of the ESL writing class. Time to get back to thinking and writing and thinking.
Semester Review (10)
- Week 9 (April 30) Regular classes
- Week 10 (May 7) Review requirements for short story analysis (10%)
- Week 11 (May 14) Start short story analysis
- Week 12 (May 21) Study quiz #2 (10%), hand in short story analysis, NO CLASS ON TUESDAY – BUDDHA’S BIRTHDAY
- Week 13 (May 28) Quiz #2
- Week 14 (June 4) Review final exam questions, make test schedule, return quiz #2
- Week 15 (June 11) Make up week – no regular classes
- Week 16 (June 18) Final exams
What have we done? (5)
In the first half of the semester, we practiced basic writing skills. Mostly we learned and practiced:
- writing interesting descriptions of people and things (adding details, words that connect with senses)
- writing with style (sentence variety, word choice, good first sentence, parallel structure, complex sentences with one subject)
- improving basic conventions (grammar, spelling, articles, organisation, paragraphs)
- being a good writer (editing, writing drafts, paraphrasing words and sentences)
What’s Next? (5)
In the second half of the semester, we are going to build of these skills and add something new: writing clear ideas and critical thinking with words.
For example, we will learn to:
- DESCRIBE: tell us the facts
- EXPLAIN: tell us why the facts are important or useful, teach us the meaning, help us understand what comes next, give a reason for something, tell us the cause and the effect
- TRANSFORM NUMBERS: how to read basic data charts (numbers) and write sentences to make sense of it
- THINK CRITICALLY: use writing to understand the why and how, not just the what
Writing Activities
Click on this link to get the writing lesson. It will take you to the writing lessons for this week.