2010 Writing 2: May 2010

Friday, May 28, 2010

Class notes for May 28

Today we worked on a worksheet that summarized most of the content of Unit 1. We also did a few exercises directly from Unit 1. Most students were able to work quickly and get the correct answers for most questions, so I think there is a good understanding of the ideas of Unit 1. There is a short homework for next week (to finish Unit 1) and we will begin Unit 2. We may also do an activity for asking questions and writing a paragraph.

Which hand do you write with?

There seem to be many left-handed people in our Writing class. That's unusual. Left-handedness has links to language-learning, intelligence, and creativity. Many Nobel Prize-winners, writers, and artists are left-handed. For unknown reasons, more than half of recent U.S. Presidents and presidential candidates were left-handed!

Left-Handed U.S. Presidents
James A. Garfield (1831-1881) 20th
Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) 31st
Harry S. Truman (1884-1972) 33rd
Gerald Ford (1913-2006) 38th
Ronald Reagan (1911 -2004) 40th
George H.W. Bush (1924-____) 41st
Bill Clinton (1946-____) 42nd
Barack Obama (1961-____) 44th

Hot weather (but not here)

We are having beautiful sunny weather with big white fluffy clouds and a temperature of 23 degrees C today. I was shocked to hear of a heat wave in Pakistan and temperatures above 50 degrees C! I know that global warming is coming, and it is said that Japan's weather 50 years from now will be similar to Thailand's weather now. I hope we never have 50 degrees C weather here, because I think I would die. In my hometown, we have had 25 and 30 degrees below zero, -30 degrees C. Cold is also dangerous, but we can fight it with warm clothing. I don't think there is any way to fight against super-hot 50 degree temperatures. Perhaps they have to stay in a bath or pool of water, or hide underground in the day. It is like a high fever.

Friday, May 21, 2010

May 14 and May 21 class notes

Last week we began the textbook and only got up to Activity 4 in Unit 1. This week we did Activity 4, 5, and 6 (homework) in class and did a Brainstorming Workshop. We practiced List-Making, Mind-Mapping （diagramming) and Free-Writing. Next week we hope to finish Unit 1 with a quiz or worksheet and go on to Unit 2.

I added some student blogs to the sidebar. Is yours there? Why don't you try writing something and I will link to your blog from the sidebar!

Posted via email from Writing 2

What to blog?

Some students have asked about what to blog. I have three suggestions.

First, you could blog about current events, news, the things you hear in the news. You may have opinions about these things, so you get a chance to express your opinion, reduce your stress, use and practice English, learn some vocabulary, and increase your writing fluency when you write about something in the news that impacted you. When you write about something, you can provide a link back to the source of the news.

Secondly, you could write about something that you did. For example, I went to the National Museum of History in Sakura City, Chiba, and it took me four hours to get through there! I am interested in the Yayoi, Jomon, Kamakura Period, Chiba area, 20th century, technology, housing, and so on. The grounds of the museum were large, the remains or ruins of an old castle or fort. I would like to provide a link to the museum's web site (RekiHaku).

Third, let me advise you on what NOT to write. I would not write my e-mail address, street address, place of work (I put Bunkyo, but you can be more careful than me!) or personal information. I wouldn't write about things that are too ordinary or banal more than a few times. I wouldn't write "I drank a beer tonight" every day, because it's not really good practice for you and it's not interesting reading for anybody else, either. Perhaps there should be an idea or a point behind it, or you could record something you'd like to remember. I hope these ideas are helpful to you!

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Friday, May 7, 2010

May 7 class notes

May 7, 2010

Review E-mail points
+ Internationalize your Sender's name by using Roman letters in that field.
+ Use a signature file to identify yourself.

Blogging:

Here are 3 popular sites for writing a blog.
Blogger(=blogspot) (Google=Picasa=Gmail=Google Docs, 1GB, multilingual)
http://www.blogger.com/
Wordpress (3GB of space for photos, music, etc. English?)
http://wordpress.com/
Posterous (Create a blog by sending an e-mail. "Autoblog" to Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress, Blogger, etc. Easy) (English only?)
http://posterous.com/

How long does it take?
10:52-11:08 (16 minutes to set up posterous and "autoblogging" to Blogger)

http://writing2.posterous.com/

It is automatically re-posting to http://2010w2.blogspot.com/
too!

Try it! You will learn how to do it! If you are successful in setting up a blog, send the URL to me at bbrinkman...
Then you can write your first post, or help another person to set up theirs!

Be careful to NOT put your e-mail address in your signature if you are using that email to post to Posterous! If you do that, you may accidentally post your e-mail address in a public space (the blog) which will attract SPAM!

Book Introduction
+ Unit 1

Posted via email from writing2's posterous