I look forward to seeing most/many of you on Saturday night beginning 6-6:30 at the Old City Station Pub
in downtown Nanaimo as a sort of end of class party and send off for Omar (plus belated birthday celebration for Jason).
If you really want to test your English knowledge and skills, try describing what you see/what happens in this short video clip from of the funniest television sitcoms of the 20th century, Seinfeld.
Jerry leaves Kramer to mind his apartment for the day.
I hope you have begun reviewing your notes and the many materials I have given you in this course. This is also a good way of organizing these notes and handouts.
A reminder for Thursday (NGO Thursday) ...
* review and bring your notes from last Thursday's lecture -- you will need them for the in-class writing
* read and think about the discussion questions on the handout you received today
For next Tuesday ...
* In S&S -- Unit 11 -- pp. 372-376 Read and complete all exercises (you've already done most of
exercise 1)
* In S&S -- read 'In Flanders Fields" p.221 and Do Part 1 (Reader's Response) and Part 3 (Historical
and Sociological Dimensions). I will ask students in groups to present their answers in a panel.
* Choose a favourite poem (in English or your first language) or a favourite quotation and share with the
class the significance of it for you. You can read a bit of it or present it how you wish. You will only
have 30 seconds to talk about it. Think about the very first lecture I gave about literature -- and that
early blog post.
* Re-read the two short stories from this second half of the semester and start reviewing the parts of S&S
we have studied. You need to know the vocabulary from this textbook.
To help you prepare for next Tuesday's final AWL vocabulary quiz, I recommend you do this on-line spelling quiz for sublist 9 & 10 here
and these flashcards for sublist 10 here
Remember for Tuesday:
1. Final academic wordlist (sublists 9 and 10) quiz. Don't just study with a translation list.
2. Literary essay final draft is due. On the front will be a full typed double-spaced essay -- all five
paragraphs un-edited. You will get marks for 1) intro & conclusion draft 2 2) body paragraph 3 draft 1
and 3) the whole thing all together. Please submit everything you have done and I have done with it
to date.
3. COC -- Read pp. 166-171
4. Complete and bring your self or peer evaluation from the Owl Creek oral presentation. This should be
like this:
Voice Quality--- How well can you understand what the person is saying. (1 = weak; 5 = strong)
1 2 3 4 5
Answering these questions will help you evaluate the summary contents:
Did the speaker mention the main characters and briefly describe them? Yes or No.
Did the speaker mention the main parts of the story plot in correct sequence? Yes or No.
Did the speaker touch on any important elements of literature? Yes or No?
Did the speaker’s summary have a point? (Was there a thesis or main idea in the speech?) Yes or No?
Summary Contents
1 2 3 4 5
Total mark /10
5. Try to complete your NGO survey by Thursday. After Thursday, your group should be analysing
and summarizing the data to make it meaningful for a persuasive presentation. You should be starting
to play your actual presentation.
Watch the oral summary from your group and complete this peer evaluation (Only one per group).
Plus, if you are watching yourself, do a self-evaluation.
Consider these factors in your peer and self evaluation.
Voice Quality --- How well can you understand what the
person is saying. (1 = weak; 5 = strong)
1 2 3
4 5
Answering these questions will help you evaluate the summary contents:
Did the speaker mention the main characters and briefly describe them? Yes
or No.
Did the speaker mention the main parts of the story plot in
correct sequence? Yes or No.
Did the speaker touch on any important elements of
literature? Yes or No?
Did the speaker’s summary have a point? (Was there a thesis or main idea in the
speech?) Yes or No?
Summary Contents
1 2 3 4 5
After watching the video and answering the questions, provide a score out of /10
(5 +5). Please print up a copy of your summary and bring to class on Tuesday.
The book I recommended today. Hereis a good review. I would suggest downloading the e-book from Amazon to your e-book reader or tablet computer.
I also recommend a movie I watched last weekend that is about reinventing oneself and about effective English communication. The movie is called Larry Crowne and stars Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. You can read a review from imdbhere. Watching this movie will also help you better understand American culture. I watched it for free via a trial subscription of zip.ca
About your NGO presentations ...
You should complete the interview before next Thursday. The information from the interview will help you to prepare a survey (if you have chosen to do that). Remember the survey is not only about NGOs, but about your specific NGO. I would complete the survey by the following Thursday (March 29th).
I liked our NGO discussion in class today. I will ask for two different students to lead the discussion next Thursday. I will give the discussion questions on Tuesday. Remember that a good leader doesn't talk too much and/or do the work of the participants. A good leader draws in all the people around the table.
About homework ...
1. Remember to study your notes from todays COC lecture and think about possible questions.
2. Read Ch.6 in COC -- pp.143- 160 (Do activity 2, 4, 6 and 7)
3. Read Treblinka Gas Chamber in SOS pp.240-241 and Do parts 1, 2 and 3 from p.241 (I suggest doing this in pairs or groups). I will ask groups to discuss and present on Tuesday.
4. Study the rest of the academic words and review previous words in sublist 9 and 10. There will be
a final quiz on Thursday. It will be a slightly longer one.
5. In your groups, prepare and practice a 100 word summary of the short story, "An Occurrence at Owl
Creek Bridge". Practice before Tuesday. Everyone in your group will receive a mark for the content
and spoken presentation. The speaker must not be someone who summarized on Thursday.
I hope everyone had a good weekend. From Facebook postings, it appears many of you were kept busy working on your research essay for Sue. Don't forget me.
First, some notes from last week.
I failed to put up the answers to S&S pp. 330-331. Here they are:
Exercise 13
1. colour colour color
2. travelled travelled traveled
3. either judgement judgment
4. defence defence defense
5. honour honour honor
6. centre centre center
7. cheque cheque check
8. dialogue dialogue/dialog dialog
9. reflection reflexion reflection
10. neighbour neighbour neighbor
Exercise 14
1. The trunk of our car is full of old books.
2. The tap in our bathroom is leaking.
3. Every Thursday night, I watch reality shows on TV.
4. Yesterday, a thief stole my sister's purse.
5. Would you like some dessert? It's chocolate cake.
Also, Ruizen noted an error in my marking of Vocabulary Quiz #3. The syllabification of compilation
has two options: stress on first and third or only on third syllable -- 4/1,3 or 4/3. Hence, I will add a point to everyone's quiz who I marked that wrong, which will amount to 3%.
Finally, homework for Tuesday.
1. Literary Essay introduction and conclusion paragraphs draft 1 are due.
2. COC -- lecture part 1 notes -- you will use these notes in pairs to give a spoken summary.
3. S&S -- Read and do pp. 63-70 "An Occurrence at Owl Creek" and writing pp.347-352
This scene from The Fugitive came to mind as I read the short story. A great movie.
4. And don't forget the next ten academic words to study.
This will be a busy week for AP5 students. I intend to push you mentally in order to ready you. Listening only once. Speaking faster. Using bigger words. You need to be organized and mentally prepared and attuned. Get ready.
A number of things will happen on Thursday. First, homework ...
1. Literary Essay -- Draft 2 is due. Please do a peer edit and complete the peer editing form. Submit this
along with your outline and previous drafts.
2. COC -- read pp. 125-126; 127. I also encourage you to do some of the online activities related to
Chapter 3 and Chapter 5. Use the COC companion website here.
3. S&S -- read pp. 328-332; do exercises 13, 14, 15 (odd numbers) and 16.
4. NGO presentation -- meet with your group before Thursday and do some planning.
5. Answers and Questions worksheet -- write questions for #2,4,6,8,9,13.
6. Re-read/review "Beware of the Dog" as there will be a short writing activity based on it.
(Hint -- think about 'theme').
I hope you enjoyed the two presentations today. They are good models for how to make a presentation.
Did you wonder how or why their presentations were so smooth? The presentations were both informative and persuasive. I suspect that similar presentations are made when these NGOs are seeking funding, governmental permission to operate, and volunteers. So, they must be good in order to succeed.
In case you haven't yet Googled the organizations, here are their websites"
