This morning at the start of this week, following on as it did from this last weekend, we spent a bit of time chatting about the news, both happy and sad.
Then we looked at persuasive essays, or what are also known as argumentative essays. We brainstormed some examples’ topics for their body paragraphs.
Tomorrow we will read through an essay on coffee, and then spend time writing and proofreading in class.
This sunny Friday morning we spent time in a post-writing ‘cool-down’ session analysing the aspects of local life and thereby brainstorming future concepts for further development within prospective essays to be written in the near future.
It was another grim grey rainy day this morning, but it didn’t stop us from having fun starting class with a brainstorm of words that are good examples of assonance (such as the ‘eh’ vowel sound in ‘mellow’ and ‘wedding’ and ‘bells’).
We also looked at alliteration, such as the names of these well known cartoon characters: Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, Clark Kent, Spongebob Squarepants, Captain K’nuckles, Perry the Platypus, Bob the Builder.
Then we looked at the first and last sentences of the Bad Bunney Boys essay.
After we spent a bit of time reading and writing, we finished class by looking at the new papers’ topics we will go through tomorrow. They include a quick review of non-count nouns, and proof-reading practise for ‘fragment’ sentences, run-ons, and comma splices.
Homework:
Carry on writing whichever essay you are working on these days.
Do an online search for the topics listed in the last sentences above, in preparation for going over those things tomorrow.
This mellow, fallow morning we commenced communal study proceedings with a quick competitive brainstorm on synonyms to do with the word ‘car’. We found eleven different words that means ‘car’! (Well done, everyone!).
Then, to follow up, we shared another whole group brainstorm on cause/effect essays to do with cars. We planned two different cause and effects essays. That was really good.
After we spent some time working individually in class, we turned back to my Bad Boy Bunnies essay. We will check it out again in class briefly at the start of the session.
Homework:
1.) Keep writing! (And proof-reading!)
2.) Read the Bad Boy Bunnies essay; look for examples of
(i) alliteration
(ii) assonance
(iii) lists of things, especially in groups of two or three
(iv) similes, metaphors, and examples of personification
This morning we started class by looking briefly at correct use of apostrophes. You can read more about them here.
We then quickly reviewed the four different types of cause and effect essays, looking particularly at the example of global warming as a topical example. After that, we spent the bulk of class time reading and proofreading our own work individually.
We concluded class by talking about how useful English language word programmes or software is, compared to .hwp or ‘Hangeul 2007′.
Note: Please send all your essays to me in digital form, using an English language word software programme. They are better because they usually check spelling AND grammar. Please use the right-click button on your mouse to check their suggestions if your text is underlined in green or red.
Homework:
Keep working on any essay you have in progress now. Finish it as soon as possible.
Review use of synonyms. We will check them in class tomorrow.
This early morning at the start of this new week we began our study of ’cause and effect’ essays. We looked at the four different varieties of essays, depending on the number of different causes or effects we want to examine. We looked at the first example of an essay on cosmetic surgery, and the causes that lead people to wanting to subject themselves to the effect of going ‘under the knife’.
Then, we spent some time brainstorming together on possible topics on which we could write our own essays. Preferably, our own topic essays are local, or topical. We will look at more such examples tomorrow in class.
Note:
I will be offering feedback to you all on your essays so far this Wednesday. The more essays I have checked with you by then, the more accurate and useful will be my feedback. I also want to work with you to set goals for the second half of our course together.
Today we spent most of the time in class writing and proofreading work that is near completion stage. We finished class today by looking at similes.
This gloriously sun-shiny morning we started by having a brainstorming game. It was a race – in pairs – against the clock, to think of the greatest number of couples or pairs of people or characters. The people or characters could be real or fictional, dead or alive. Examples included BoA and Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Anniston, and Mashi Maro and Peter Rabbit.
After that we selected the most interesting ‘couple’ or pair, and brainstormed the similarities and differences between them. We then practised planning for an essay by choosing an order for writing about those three ideas. Then, we wrote quick introductions for those essays.
Then we finished off by looking at metaphor:
Examples of Metaphors Using Words and Phrases
• A refrigerator is very cold. In this example, “refrigerator” is a metaphor because it is being applied to “the inside of the car” to imply that the inside of the car was very cold.
• A bottomless pit can never be filled. In this example, “bottomless pit” is a metaphor because it is being applied to “the teenage boy’s stomach” to imply that his appetite could never be satisfied (that is, his stomach could never be filled).
This morning we read through the three example essays I gave out the other day. We noted the main topics of the body paragraphs of each essay, and saw how they were different between a comparison essay, contrast essay, and an essay which both compares AND contrasts.
We then had time to do more work on our own essays, whether that was brainstorming, planning, writing or proofreading.
To conclude today, we looked briefly at how we use capital letters in formal written English.
Notes:
We use capitals in two different ways:
1.) in titles, and 2.) in normal writing.
1.) In titles, traditionally, we capitalise everything except for smaller words like ‘the’, ‘a’, ‘and’, ‘at’, ‘of’, ‘is’, and ‘for’… UNLESS that word is the first word in that title.
For example: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
or: The Way Home
2.) In the normal text of our essays there are a couple of places where we need to remember capitals.
(i) In the very first letter of the first word of each sentence,
for example: ‘Thirty days has September…’
(ii) In the initial (first) letter of the names of people, places, and special things such as days of the week and months of the year,
for example: ‘ “My birthday party is going to be held at the Italian restaurant in Bongsun Dong named Sieti Belli, and it will be on Tuesday, the third of November,” said Bobbie Stevens.’
Homework:
Continue writing whichever essay you have going now. Process essays are still welcome any time from now until the end of the course. I am also really happy to read any compare, contrast, or compare/contrast essays, especially this week. If you have another style essay on any particular topic, you are welcome to write about it and email me or bring it to class.
This drippy-droppy soppy-rainy morning we commenced class by finishing off the proofreading activity based on the ‘bargaining’ essay.
We then read fairly quickly through a few pages from the good Blueprints book, including a couple of activities practising brainstorming for different types of essays, including comparison, contrast, and compare and contrast formats.
We spent a little bit of time brainstorming ideas for essays such as one comparing the features that are similar between Korean and English languages, and another considering the differences between them.
Please see the active links from yesterday’s blog post (below here) if you would like to read more about how to write these different essays.
Homework:
1.) Carry on working on any essays you have yet to finish. Please email them to me as soon as possible, or simply print them and bring them to class.
2.) Read through the three essays on the style for this week, to do with the two movies about children. We will look at them in class tomorrow.
