Wednesday, 3/30

Classwork

• Reviewed Grammar Dimensions, Ex. 9, pg. 324.
• Did Activities 2 and 5, pg. 329 and 330.
• Typed the final 10-minute paragraph, Task 12: Your city has decided to build a statue or monument to honor a famous person in your country. Who would you choose? Use reasons and specific examples to support your choice.

Homework

• Grammar Dimensions, Ex. 11, pg. 326-327
• Ex. 12, pg. 327
• Ex. 13, pg. 328

Tuesday, 3/29

Classwork

• Used an answer key to correct Ex. 1, 2, 3, and 4 from the handout.
• Studied Focus 5 (Grammar Dimensions, pg. 321) and Focus 6 (pg. 323).
• Typed Task 11: A foreign visitor has only one day to spend in your country. Where should this visitor go on that day? Why? Use specific reasons and details to support your choice. Students were allowed to use their brainstorming notes for help.

Homework

• Task 5 Draft 3: Some people think governments should spend as much money as possible exploring outer space (for example, traveling to the moon and to other planets). Other people disagree and think governments should spend this money for our basic needs on Earth. Which of these two opinions do you agree with? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.
• Grammar Dimensions, Ex. 9, pg. 324

Monday, 3/28

Classwork

• Discussed Zuckerberg lecture.
• Spelling Test 9 (recommend to studying)
• Brainstormed new prompt, Task 11: A foreign visitor has only one day to spend in your country. Where should this visitor go on that day? Why? Use specific reasons and details to support your choice.
• Wrote two sentences for the task, using the vocabulary words generation and expansion from AWL Sublist 5A. Good examples include the young generation, for future generations, for past generations, my generation. Also Kiev's history is a reminder of Russian expansion. (These are also listed on the Google document under "Collocates.")
• Studied Appendix 9 in the back of Grammar Dimensions. This chart is a great review of articles.

Homework

Finish brainstorming Task 11. You should have 3 reasons and 3 examples. Type them and print them for class tomorrow. You can use them as you write your 10-minute paragraph. Please don't email it because you will need a copy for class.

Thursday, 3/24

Homework

• Take 30-minute essay test on Friday in the lab.
• Study for Monday's Spelling Test 9 (recommend to studying).
• Ex. 1, 2, 3, and 4 in workbook handout.

Wednesday, 3/23

Classwork

• Studied Grammar Dimensions, Focus 4, pgs. 318-319.
• Completed Ex. 5 and 6, pg. 319-320.

Homework

• Ex. 7, pg. 320
• Read Focus 7, pg. 325
• Ex. 10, pg. 326

Tuesday, 3/22

Classwork

• Studied Focus 3, pgs. 315-316.
• Did Exercise 3, pg. 317 together.
• Typed a 10-minute paragraph, Task 10: Some people prefer to get up early in the morning and start the day’s work. Others prefer to get up later in the day and work until late at night. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice.

Homework

• Grammar Dimensions, Ex. 4, pg. 317

Monday, 3/21

Classwork

• Brainstormed tomorrow's Task 10: Some people prefer to get up early in the morning and start the day’s work. Others prefer to get up later in the day and work until late at night. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your choice.
• Wrote three sentences for tomorrow's task, using the vocabulary from AWL Sublist 4B.
• Started Grammar Dimensions, Unit 19: Articles in Discourse. Studied Focus 1 on pgs. 312-313 and completed Ex. 1, pg. 313. Studied Focus 2 on pg. 314.

Homework

• Ex. 2, pg. 315

Tuesday, 3/15

Classwork

Grammar Test 2

Homework

Rest!!!

Monday, 3/14

Classwork

• Spelling Test 8 (possess to recognize)
• Grammar test review.

Homework

• Study for grammar test.

Thursday, 3/10

Homework

• Study for Monday's Spelling Test 8 (possess to recognize).
• Combine the two sentences in the "Similar or Equal Idea" section of the handout using each transition word from the same section of your transition words chart. You will write approximately 15 sentences. Please type them, and then email or print them.
• Study for Tuesday's grammar test.

Wednesday, 3/9

Classwork

Typed a 10-minute paragraph, Task 9: Some high schools require all students to wear school uniforms. Other high schools permit students to decide what to wear to school. Which of these two school policies do you think is better? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

Homework

• Grammar Dimension, Ex. 8, pg. 195
• Grammar Dimension, Ex. 9, pg. 197

Tuesday, 3/8

Classwork

Students

• Learned the difference between because and because of. Because is a subordinating conjunction, so it is followed by a subject and verb: Because food in the vending machines is convenient, many students eat it. Because of is a prepositional phrase, so it is followed by a noun only: Because of its convenience, many students eat food from the vending machine.
• Studied example sentences with effective connectors. Please see our class Google document under the tab "Punctuation Examples" and "Connectors."
• Reviewed unnecessary repetition with coordinating conjunctions on page 192 in Grammar Dimensions, noting especially the inverted word order for negative conjunctions (nor, neither, not only) in example sentences i and j.
• Completed sentences 1, 2, and 3 in Exercise 5 on pg. 193.
• Typed a 10-minute paragraph, Task 8: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Boys and girls should attend separate schools. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Homework

• Grammar Dimensions, Exercise 2, pg. 188.
• Grammar Dimensions, Exercise 3, pg. 189.
• Grammar Dimensions, Exercise 6, pg. 193. Please type this exercise (but not Exercises 2 or 3). You can then email it to me or print it and bring it to class.

Monday, 3/7

Classwork

Took Spelling Test 7

Reviewed folders and filled in missing information on charts.

Reviewed yellow handout on unnecessary redundancy.

Brainstormed tasks for this week:

• Task 8: Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Boys and girls should attend separate schools. Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
• Task 9: Some high schools require all students to wear school uniforms. Other high schools permit students to decide what to wear to school. Which of these two school policies do you think is better? Use specific reasons and examples to support your opinion.

If you were absent, you will need to write out your brainstorming for me. Because our brainstorming activity was brief and informal, you will need to spend only 5 minutes for each topic, and I will accept handwritten work. We discussed the following vocabulary and phrases: interact (v), interaction (n), with members of the opposite sex, taking advantage of different learning styles.

Homework

Complete Task 4 Draft 3 (Roads vs. Public Transportation)

Thursday, 3/3

Classwork

1. AWL Sublist 3B Review: Use as many words as possible from this list to describe an experiment involving food. Include your research question and expected outcome. Also include information about the subjects (the people who will participate in the research) and your method. Study the example below:

• Research Question: Is there an interaction between protein and university students' ability to concentrate?
• Subjects: male and female college students, ages 20 to 25, include minorities
• Method: Create two groups with specific diets. The experimental group will eat a diet with a high proportion of protein. The control group's diet will have a higher proportion of carbohydrates. Then I will give each group a task that requires concentration. For example, I might ask them to memorize a sequence of numbers. I will then compare the results.
• Expected Outcome: I anticipate a positive relationship between protein consumption and students' ability to concentrate.

2. Revisions for Task 5 Draft 2

• Less/fewer: Less is for non-count nouns (less poverty, less public transportation). Fewer is for count nouns (fewer hospitals, fewer cars).
• Articles: When you refer to our planet and our moon, you use the article the. (The moon orbits the earth.) When you refer to space, you use no article. (The rocket flew through space.)
• Also see the Collocations tab in our class Google Document.

3. Grammar: In parallel structures, you need to include only the new information. In other words, you need to remove (eliminate) unnecessary repetition (redundancy). For example, in the sentence Children can receive easy assignments, such as setting the table, doing the dishes, making their beds, and they can even take out the trash, you can remove they can. You don't need to repeat it. You also need to make take out a gerund. The sentence is better as Children can receive easy assignments, such as setting the table, doing the dishes, making their beds, and taking out the trash.

Homework

Make revisions for Draft 2 of Task 5 (2/23, Basic Needs vs. Outer Space).

Complete the yellow handout on eliminating redundancy.

Prepare for Monday's spelling test.

Sign up for a time to take the 30-minute essay test tomorrow (Friday, 3/4).

Wednesday, 3/2

Classwork

Review these comments on brainstorming.

• Transitive and intransitive verbs. Reduce is transitive, so you cannot say Traffic would reduce; you should say Traffic would be reduced or Improved public transportation would reduce traffic.
• Familiar relationships should be family relationships or familial relationships because the adjective form of family is familial.

Task 7 (3/2): Some people prefer to eat at food stands or restaurants. Other people prefer to prepare and eat food at home. Which do you prefer? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Homework

Find example sentences for the two words you've been assigned on the Google Document "Word Families." I've already typed in the different word forms, so all you need to do is find the example sentences. In other words, if a box is blank, you don't need to worry about it.

Tuesday, 3/1

Classwork

This sentence is not parallel. Revise it: Government should use more money for improving public transportation in terms of traffic jams, environmental, and people who need help.

Study these more academic vocabulary items: potholes for holes in the road, allocate funds or invest funds in for spend more money on, asphalt for road, poor conditions for bad conditions.

Don't use public transport but public transportation.

Task 6, Draft 1 (3/1): Nowadays, food has become easier to prepare. Has this change improved the way people live? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.

Homework

Task 4, Draft 2 (2/22): Should governments spend more money on improving roads and highways or public transportation? Why? Use specific reasons and details to develop your essay.