Pre-University: Lab 12 (This I Believe)

Radio listening and writing – This I Believe

This I Believe is a project on NPR in which listeners can submit essays about their personal beliefs.

“[Host] Allison and [producer] Gediman say their goal is not to persuade Americans to agree on the same beliefs. Rather, they hope to encourage people to begin the much more difficult task of developing respect for beliefs different from their own.”

These are good examples of personal essays.

A. Listening

Listen to the following essays once before you read them.

There Is No Such Thing as Too Much Barbecue (5:25)

“Jason Sheehan heard our series on his car radio and told us he liked the concept because for many people, belief is just a nebulous clutter of half-held convictions, but the process of putting them down on paper helps cement those few things a person truly believes: the core of a principled life.

“He also noted that the subject of his belief was sitting on the seat next to him in two plastic bags.”

Vocabulary:

• soul food
• comfort food
• barbecue
• civil rights
• putting on airs
• sides
• portions

How does Jason Sheehan believe that barbecue helped change culture in the Deep South, which was racist against African Americans?

The Connection Between Strangers (4:36)

“[Sometimes the most important events in our life are just short moments.] These moments may seem insignificant at the time, but they reverberate afterwards, and even become the basis of a life’s credo. This is what happened to Miles Goodwin.”

Vocabulary

• tour of duty
• wept
• compassion

Why was Miles Goodwin nervous on the airplane?

What happened that “touched” him (gave him a good feeling in his heart)?

B. Writing

Read the details about the rules these writers were using when they wrote their essays.

• Tell a story.
• Be brief.
• Name your belief.
• Be positive.
• Be personal.

What would you say? Write a short essay about a belief you have. Try to be personal and specific. (More personal and specific than, for instance, “I believe in God” or “I believe in my country.”) Try to follow all of the rules above. Don’t forget to illustrate your belief with a story!

You may write or type your short essay, but please be legible!

Pre-university: Reading nonfiction, Article #3

Nonfiction Reading Series Article #3 – reading guide

“Unmarried, With Children” by Barbara Kantrowitz and Pat Wingert – Newsweek May 28, 2001

Vocabulary

• move in together
• “make it legal”
• ambivalent
• headed by
• out of wedlock
• unwed
• cohabiting
• stigma
• prerequisite
• compatibility
• “settling”
• sperm bank
• “the altar”
• unstable
• monogamy

Topics to notice while you read

• Introduction: hypothetical illustration
• Characteristics of single mothers today
• Reasons for single motherhood
• Disadvantages for children of being raised in single-parent homes
• Other family situations that are bad for children
• The issue of marriage in politics
• Conclusion

Cultural reference

At the beginning of the article, the writer refers to an American TV show from the 1950s, Leave It to Beaver. This family sitcom (situation comedy) featured a mother and father, Ward and June Cleaver, and their two sons, Wally and “Beaver” (“the Beav”).  Here is a scene from Leave It to Beaver.

Pre-University: Exam 2 study guide

We will finish Book 1 of our textbook soon and will have Exam 2. Following are the pages and topics you should study for the exam:

Unit 7

• p. 59 #3 Adverbs with the past and past perfect
• p. 61 #8
• p. 63 #3 Present perfect vs. past
• p. 63 #4 Past vs. past continuous

Unit 9

• p. 74 #1 Vocabulary

Unit 11

• p. 95 #3 Future perfect and future perfect continuous
• p. 95 #4 Gerunds as the object of prepositions
• p. 99 #3 Mixed conditionals

Other: Describing a process

Pre-university: Workbook homework for Units 1, 3, 5

We will have our first test on Friday, Sept 25. To prepare for this test, you may use the study guide I gave you in class and do activities in the workbook.

Unit 1

• p. 1 #2
• p. 4 #2
• p. 5 #4

Unit 3

• P. 13 #2
• p. 17 #3

Unit 5

• p. 25 #1
• p. 28 #1
• p. 29 #3, #4

This is homework, due Thursday. We will talk about these exercises in class on Thursday, so please be prepared if you have any questions.

Also, see the previous post for information about our class listening activity.

Pre-university: Narrative structure activity

In class on Monday, we started an activity which included listening practice and a discussion about narrative structure (stories). We are watching the PBS Nature documentary “The Wolf that Changed America.”

If you would like to watch the beginning of this 45-minute film, you can go to the PBS video page here. (This is optional.) On Monday, we watched the first three segments of the program. On Wednesday, we will finish it.

Some elements of a story:

• Characters (the people and/or animals in the story)
• Conflict (the problem or problems for the characters)
• Climax (the highest action in the story, where the story “turns”; usually takes place near the end)
• Conclusion (helps you understand the theme or purpose of the story)

Vocabulary for this film:

• bounty
• assassin
• naturalist
• “piece of cake”
• far-fetched
• demon / demonize
• “throw caution to the wind”
• adversary
• villain vs. hero
• regret

Questions:

• What is the setting of the story? (Time and place)
• Who are the main characters?
• What are the conflicts in the story?
• What is the climax of the story?
• What do you think is the theme or purpose of this story?

If you are interested in reading more about the history of wolves in America,  there  is a  good article here: “Wolf Wars: America’s Campaign to Eradicate the Wolf.”

Pre-University: Fall 2009 reading projects schedule

Welcome to Shayna’s class! This semester, we will do some fiction and non-fiction reading projects. I will give you a handout with the schedule, but in case you need to access it online, here it is:

August

• 31 (Mon) – discuss book report process and choosing books

[If you need ideas choosing a book, there are some ideas in this post.]

September

• 2 (Wed) – book choice due to teacher by email or in class (Teacher will approve choice or suggest something else)
• 4 (Fri) – book choice form due in class (Lab 1)
• 7 (Mon) – Book Progress Report 1 (15 minutes in class, summarize what you read in the past week)
• 14 (Mon) – Book Progress Report 2; deadline to change book (new book must be approved by teacher)
• 21 (Mon) – Book Progress Report 3
• 28 (Mon) – Book Progress Report 4

October

• 5 (Mon) – Book Progress Report 5
• 12 (Mon) – Book Progress Report 6
• 13 (Tues) – talk about book report essays
• 16 (Fri) – deadline to finish reading novel
• 22 (Thurs) – written book reports due
• 26 (Mon) – talk about non-fiction; assign topics for nonfiction-related speeches; hand out Article #1
• 27 (Tues) – talk about oral book reports (presentations)
• 30 (Fri) – Article #1 quiz and discussion; oral book report presentation drafts due

November

• 2, 3 (Mon, Tues) – oral book report presentations in class
• 2 (Mon) – hand out Article #2
• 6 (Fri) – Article #2 quiz and discussion
• 9 (Mon) – hand out Article #3
• 13 (Fri) – Article #3 quiz and discussion
• 16 (Mon) – hand out Article #4
• 20 (Fri) – Article #4 quiz and discussion

* This schedule could change as we go on, but this is our goal.

Reading resources

If you would like to do more reading for practice and pleasure, here are some ideas. Most of these are books and resources I think would be good for middle- to upper-level adult ESL students. (The Storybooks section has some links for beginning level ESL students.)

Novels
Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder (easy history, American culture)

books by Lois Lowry

Big Fish by Daniel Wallace

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (American culture)

The Dark Is Rising books by Susan Cooper (fantasy)

Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell (political satire and future fiction)

The Little Prince (English translation) by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

books by Ernest Hemingway

books by Elizabeth George Speare

books by Roald Dahl (some are for children, but are interesting and culturally relevant)

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

Non-fiction articles
Time or Newsweek magazine (higher reading level)
Reader’s Digest – easy, short stories about many subjects

Graphic novels (comic books)
17 Free, Downloadable Graphic Novels

Storybooks

Children’s Storybooks Online has illustrated books for beginning readers to more advanced readers. Scroll down for lists for young children, older children, and young adults.

Other resources
Searchlit.org

This website helps you find many free online texts. It lets you choose which level of reading you want to look for (beginning, middle and strong readers) and you can search by “grade” level (for instance, 7th graders are about 12 years old) and you can choose short stories, poems, novels and plays.

I will add to these lists as I have more ideas. I hope they help!

(Updated 1 June 2009)

Pre-Univeristy: Lab 10 (Poetry)

In class this week, we will be discussing literature. One type of literature is poetry.

1. Go to one or more of the following poetry websites:

• Poets.org ( http://www.poets.org/audio.php )
• BBC Arts – Poetry Out Loud ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/poetry/outloud/ )
• Plagiarist.com – (http://plagiarist.com/poetry/poets/ )
• Poetry X – ( http://poetry.poetryx.com/ )

You may also use other poetry resources you know of: books or other websites.

2. Browse. Read or listen to some poems.

3. Choose one poem you like. (Please do not choose song lyrics.) Print it out.

The poem does not need to be originally written in English, but if it isn’t, you need to provide a translation.

Also remember to include the poet’s name (the author of the poem).

4. Write a paragraph describing why you like the poem. Use detail and examples!

Do you like it because of…

• the subject matter? (does it remind you of something?)
• the message/meaning?
• the way it sounds? (rhythm, rhyme, alliteration)

5. Bring the poem and your paragraph to class Friday, April 10. If we have time, you will have a chance to share your poem with the class.

For an example of a poem I chose for this assignment, see here.

Pre-university: Lab 9 (This I Believe)

I. Listen to Jon Carroll’s essay “Failure is a Good Thing” located here

1. What is the essayist’s job/career?

2. What does he believe in?

3. Which is more natural, first-time success or first-time failure?

4. What does he say is good about failure?

a.

b.

c.

5. What did the essayist’s daughter do that he uses as an example?

6. What would he like to tell his granddaughter?

II. Browse other essays on the NPR site or the This I Believe site.

Choose one other essay to listen to.

1. Name of essay:______________________________

Author of essay: _________________________________

2. Briefly summarize the essay.

The author’s belief is _________________________________

He or she supports this main idea in the essay by…

III. Think of a core (personal) belief that you have. Briefly (in one paragraph) summarize this belief. What is your belief and why do you personally believe this? Use reasons and examples from your own life, not general statements, to support your belief.

Pre-University: Lab 5 (Six Word Stories)

Look at the article “My Six Word Memoir” by Michael Sean Symonds.

(memoir: noun - an account of the author’s personal experiences)

Symonds gives a famous example of a story the author Ernest Hemmingway wrote in only six words. Could you write a story in six words? Symonds challenges readers to summarize their lives in a six-word memoir:

“If YOU had to write the story of your life as it was, is and as you hope it to be, in six words or less what would you say?”

This is the ultimate challenge in summarizing!

For examples, read the comments in the Ode Magazine article page. On another site, you can find examples of six-word stories about love & heartbreak, motherhood, and food. (Be aware that the language in these stories is not edited.)

Examples of six-word Presidential inauguration speeches are in the audio of the NPR story here.

Assignment: write a story using six words only. The grammar does not have to be formal grammar, but it needs to form an understandable message. The story can be about your life, or a fictional story like the one Hemmingway wrote.

Post your stories by following the instructions on the class Wiki here.