Week 1: Introduction
to Writing, Course Syllabus, Personal Introductions
Week 2: The
Writing Process
Week 3: Review of
Punctuation and Capitalization Rules
Week 4: Diction
(Word Choice)
Week 5: Combining
Sentences (Compound, Complex, and Compound-Complex Sentences)
Week 6: Sentence
Variety
Week 7: Effective
Paragraphs
Week 8:
Development of a Paragraph by Time
Week 9:
Development of a Paragraph by Process
Week 10:
Development of a Paragraph by Space
Week 11:
Development of a Paragraph by Exemplification
Week 12:
Development of a Paragraph by Generalization
Week 13:
Development of a Paragraph by Comparison and Contrast
Week 14: Development
of a Paragraph by Cause and Effect
Week 15:
Development of a Paragraph by Classification
Week 16: Development
of a Paragraph by Definition
Week 17: Final
Exam
So, this week, I did the first two weeks’ lessons. The first
time I saw each class (Monday and Wednesday), I first introduced myself—the
students generally personally know very few foreigners, and so they find it
interesting to hear about the life of an American. I made a power point with some pictures of my
family, my parents’ house in Tennessee, scenery from Tennessee and Columbia
specifically, and of things Tennessee is known for (music, mostly—although actually,
whenever I’ve mentioned I’m from Tennessee when traveling in several countries,
the first thing people always think of is…Jack Daniels. However, I decided not to use whiskey as a
claim to fame for my students). I told a
bit of my history—where I went to college, that I was an English major like
them, my time in Italy, that I had lived in Jingzhou for a year—and also some
of my interests: I like photography, genealogy, I’m a Christian, etc. I opened
it up for questions afterward—told them it was their chance to be nosy (not
that they always need one). My first
class, 1106, asked plenty of good questions, but my other two were shy and didn’t
come up with anything.
Next, I had each student stand up and introduce themselves
to me—my students in Jingzhou (I know, I feel like I’m constantly comparing
Jingzhou vs. Wuhan, but that’s my only frame of reference right now) barely
squawked out their names, hometown, and struggled to come up with an interest: “My
name is Echo…I’m from Enshi, in Hubei province…I like…badminton…and reading.” These
students, on the other hand, weren’t shy at all. I almost had to cut a few short , even—each and
every one of them spoke for at least two minutes; not only a list of their
hobbies, but why they like and what they don’t like and what their friends
think about it. I do think it would be
fun to teach spoken English sometimes—but I am firmly entrenched as a writing
teacher.
After our personal introductions, I gave an intro to the
course, going over the syllabus and talking about written English as opposed to
spoken English as a form of communication.
Finally, I had a bit of fun with the students—to help both me learn
their English names as well as them learn each others’, we played the name
game. The first person says, “Hi, I am
Helen.” The second says, “I am Jane, and
this is Helen.” The third says, “I am
Lily, and this is Jane and Helen.” And
so on, until the last people have to give everyone’s name. I usually start at the back and work towards
the front, because the best students usually claim the front row to vie for
attention as teacher’s pet, so I figured they could use the challenge. Finally, I rattled them all off—they always
seem to be impressed that I do this without much effort—but I’ve been paying
attention as we go through it over and over, and besides, it’s easier for me as
the names are at least familiar name (or words) to me.
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