I want to thank all of you for making semester one so enjoyable for me. I have really enjoyed teaching here at TNPU. I look forward to great times in 2012.
Things to look forward to:
1. English club is going to be fun and exciting. A new year always kicks teachers and clubs into gear.
2. Ma Bunn is visiting. My students will have a chance to visit the coolest lady in the world (besides Tina Fey and of course yours truly).
3. More English and teaching seminars.
4. Holiday celebrations (I'm thinking about St. Pattie's Day and Mardi Gras).
5. It's the year of the dragon, I'm sure it's going to be a hot year.
So there you go. Now you have something to look forward to.
Thanks to group 33.2 for the awesome shirt you gave me. I'm actually wearing it while I write this.
Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year!
Hey guys! It's been a fun semester. I only have six more classes this week and then I'm done for the year. I'll see you back at the end of January. I already know that semester two is going to be great. Have a great rest of 2011 and I'll see some of you later this week.
What we write is important. It’s important for us to write well so that the people who read what we write understand our intent and we communicate what we want to. When we write sloppily, the reader loses interest and might not finish reading whatever we wrote. I want us all to become better writers. Don’t just think of me as your American teacher of English. Think of me as Professor Sharece, writing coach. Here are a few tips I have to help us all become better writers.
· Only use exclamation points when you need them. Try shouting the sentence. If it sounds terrible or you realize that the exclamation point is unnecessary, put a period.
· Use your editor. Before any paper is turned into the teacher, two people should have edited it. First, you should have read it and edited it. Then, your editor friend should have edited it and suggested changes.
· Do not start sentences with and or but. I am actually a fan of using and or but to begin sentences but not in our classes. Our writing assignments are not the kind in which and or but at the beginnings of sentences are welcome.
· Avoid idioms. Idioms take away from the writing and they sound cliché.
· Do not use abbreviations. Write out something. Do not abbreviate words. To abbreviate words in writing assignments is just lazy.
· If you introduce something new that the reader may not know about, explain what it means.
· Do not use parenthesis as smiley faces. Turning in papers is not like using a chat room or writing messages on facebook. Smiley faces are unnecessary and unwelcome.
· Please don’t begin sentences with “speaking about” when you are writing. You are not speaking when you are writing.
· “I with my girls” is not the correct way to form this idea. “My girls and I” is the appropriate word order.
· Writing “I felt myself very poor,” is not a good sentence. If you “feel yourself” that means that you are literally touching yourself.
· Capitalize the main words in the titles of your papers.
· Double-space your papers.
I hope this helps. Keep these tips in mind next time.
Sharece
Any rewrites from group 33.1 are due tomorrow. If students in 34.1 or 33.2 want to rewrite their papers, they have to pick up their graded papers from me tomorrow (Monday) and then their new final draft is due on Thursday.
If you turn in a rewrite and forget to include your original edited piece and the other drafts, your paper will not be graded. Expectations for the rewrite were explained in class and posted to the web.
I'll see you all this week. Enjoy the end of your Sunday.
According to Webster’s New World Pocket Dictionary, a cliché is “a trite expression or idea.” In case you don’t know what the word trite means, it is an adjective meaning “worn-out or stale.”
I’ve had some students ask me about idioms. “Why don’t Americans use idioms?” One girl went to New York and started talking about wanting to paint the town red and she said the people looked at her as if she belonged in an insane asylum. There is a reason why Americans don’t use idioms. It is because people use the idioms over and over so much that they become stale and boring. I know that for you guys, it’s exciting to learn the idioms in your books. That’s fine. Learn them. Get excited about them. Your other teachers love them. When writing papers for me, your American teacher, please leave idioms where they belong, in speech but not in written form. When you use idioms in descriptive works, the meaning gets lost. Be direct. Write what you are trying to say. Idioms are just fancy phrases people use to mean something else. I’d rather you use real words and phrases when writing for my class. Don’t use clichéd idioms. Write better. Write for real.
I understand that in Ukrainian, you might say, “Що робити?” but the proper English translation is NOT “what to do?” It is better to say, “What should we do?” “How do we fix this?” “What do you think?” When smart, educated students make this silly mistake and ask “What to do?” it irritates their American teacher very much.
Keep this in mind when writing and speaking in English.
Hey guys! I hope your Saturday is going well. It's winter and it's snowing but it's really gross, isn't it?
Thank you to everyone who came to the SEEDLING WORKSHOP on Friday. It was a lot of fun. My Peace Corps friends said they enjoyed it. I hope that more of you will be compelled to join in on other workshops in the spring. :)
Also - don't forget about the final day test/activity. You must show up to class in order to take the test. It's worth 20 points and you should be able to pass it with flying colors. All you need is your brain, a pen, and some creative juices.
I look forward to seeing you all for our last week before my Christmas vacation!
Have a great weekend.
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