Fall 2012 HOMEWORK
For Wednesday –– first class with Jen — have done:
1. Grammar Troublespots 18 (Relative Clauses) and
2. AVS — crossword puzzle and review tests for unit 2 (pp. 58-66)
Monday, November 5: INDIVIDUAL STUDENT CONFERENCES in office 214
SCHEDULE Please come for your assigned time.
9:oo Sarra
9:10 Khalid
9:20 Dervis
9:30 Amy
9:45 Jenny
10:00 Sunny
10:10 Artykzhan
10:20 Leo
10:30 Assem
10:45 Armando
11:00 Kais
11:10 Sweay
11:20 Alina
11:30 Yurika
For Friday, November 2:
1. AVS– Do ch. 10 & prepare for a quiz on 9.
2. KC2: pg. 63, finish Activity 27, keeping in mind that –unlike the authors of this book — this teacher and her colleagues do not agree with using 2 semi-colons to combine independent clauses. This teacher recommends that you use only one semi-colon, and that you separate out the other one with a period. Otherwise, the sentence is too cumbersome.
3. Finish the handout on pattern 4 sentences: changing pattern 3 sentences using prepositions of cause, concession and condition.
4. There will be an exam on clauses: identifying ICs and DCs, identifying which kind of DC you are dealing with (NC, Adj Cl, or a subordinate adverbial clause that uses a “star” word). Also, correct usage and punctuation of transition signals (know your sentence patterns!)
For Wednesday, October 31:
1. We will have the reading test in the second half of class. In the first half we will work on vocabulary, and the KC2 pages on clauses. There will be an exam on this on Friday.
2. Study the transition signals and noun clauses in preparation of Friday’s exam.
3. Conferences will be held Monday.
Dear class,
As you have probably just heard, there will be no classes on Monday. Please stay safe and dry; we do not know yet what the extent of the storm will be. Caution and safety are primary. This storm is supposed to be of historic proportions.
I will wait to see what happens with the storm before I determine how to proceed with midterm evaluative activities. For the moment, I will say that I will go ahead with the reading test on Wednesday, but I will update this on Tuesday, so check back.
Take care of yourselves and take care of those who are important to you.
For Monday, October 29:
1. Read Where Do We Stand and prepare to discuss the Main Ideas and Supporting Details questions that follow.
2. AVS: chapter 9
3. KC2: Today in class we covered pp. 58-59: Sentence Essentials about the 3 types of complex sentences (made with adjective clauses, adverb clauses, and noun clauses.) If you were absent today (Friday), read these pages and do Activities 21, 22 & 24. Everyone should also read pp. 60-62 and do Activities 24, 25 & 26.
4. Monday we will write a timed essay in the MLL. On Wednesday we will do a reading test and a short grammar test. The grammar test will be about the transition signals and sentence patterns that we studied earlier and the information in this chapter about compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences, including noun clauses.
Friday you will have individual conferences with me to discuss your progress so far.
Have a wonderful weekend, and do get to Salem to join in the early Halloween festivities if you can.
For Friday, October 26:
1. AVS: chapter 8; review for quiz for chapter 7
2. Contrasting cultural orientations: using the reading you discussed today, choose several cross-cultural orientations for which you identified differences between your culture and another culture. Write statements contrasting these differences using the subordinators whereas and while. Give explanations of the differences. For example:
“Americans are low context communicators, whereas Japanese are very high context communicators. Americans often express their ideas directly using words rather than subtle gestures, and they may even be confrontational. In contrast, Japanese tend to convey their message indirectly, especially if it is negative, and they try to maintain harmonious relations at all times.”
For Wednesday, October 24:
1. Read “The Meaning of Information” and fill out the handout, identifying the other end of each spectrum, and explaining what the categories mean. Be prepared to discuss this on Wednesday. Where do you think your culture falls on each spectrum? (Remember, it can fall at an extreme or anywhere in between.)
2. AVS: chapter 7; review for quiz for chapter 6.
3. Your AUTOBIOGRAPHY ! Be sure to follow all conventions for written work — especially, double space!
For Monday, October 22:
1. KC2: Do the exercises which follow the reading (Activities 15-18.)
2. AVS: chapter 6
3. Continue working on your autobiography. To help you with the verb tense usage, do the exercises on past and present verb tenses in Grammar Troublespots (7&8.)
4. Get out and enjoy the weather! Go someplace you have not visited.
For Friday, October 19:
1. Prepare for the two quizes on Friday as needed: Unit Test One of AVS, and another version of the Parts of Speech quiz. For this, study the handout with the Calvin and Hobbes cartoon at the top. Both of these quizes together will take no more than 25 minutes.
2. KC2 — keep reading and working through the activities on pages 46, 47, 48 & 49.
3. Start work on our autobiography, which will be due next Wednesday, October 25th.
For Wednesday, October 17:
1. AVS: Do the crossword puzzle and review tests that follow, including the analogies. There will also be a quiz for ch. 5.
2. GT ch. 6: Ex. 3 Pg. 44 #s 1,2 & 5: Using a perfect tense (either past perfect or future perfect, as appropriate), write 3 sentences with meaningful content. (Meaningful for you, and meaningful for me!)
3. KC2: please do the first reading in the Cultural Anthropology chapter. pp. 42-46, activities 1 through 6.
On TUESDAY 10/16 someone will be coming to class to take a class photo for the Semester Book. Please dress the way you would like to be remembered!
For Monday, October 15:
1. KC2: pg.24 SENTENCE ESSENTIALS through pg. 28. Do the exercises in the book — this is a great follow-up to the work we did today on transition signals–clauses in general, and especially patterns 1 and 2, compound sentences.
2. Transition Signals sheet: do the second side — analyze for the sentence pattern etc.
3. Read the Cultural Rhetorical Preferences sheet. Be aware of the differences in communication style between your language (written and oral) and English (written and oral.) Note the differences you find with people from other cultures.
4. Review the vocabulary for Monday, and review the dreaded Parts of Speech! This quiz will be coming back soon (but not on Monday.)
For Friday, October 12:
1. Read the handout “The Essentials of Writing.” Pay particular attention to the 2 sections that follow each segment description, especially What to Avoid in an Introduction/in Body Paragraphs/in a Conclusion. Again, be prepared to articulate how this is similar to or different from the conventions in your language(s).
2. Revise your essay on online courses — make corrections, respond to suggestions (‘explain in detail’, ‘develop your idea’, etc.) and resubmit as draft #2.
3. Do GT ch. 6: verb tense system. You only need to hand in the exercises which ask you to write something, or which are not in the answer key in the back of the book. (Or ones you are not sure about.)
4. AVS: do ch.5. review for ch. 4 quiz.
5. I’m sorry we didn’t get to the HW from KC2 for today; we will go over that on Friday for sure, and move on to the next chapter!
For Wednesday, October 10:
1. Read “Ways of Reasoning”. Summarize the important points, and highlight the differences with the conventions of your language.
2. AVS: do ch. 4 and review for the ch. 3 quiz
3. KC2: pp. 17-22: do reading 2 and the exercises that follow
4. THIS WEEKEND: try to get out of Boston to see the beauty of foliage season. Head north, especially to Vermont, or to western Massachusetts. You are looking for a place where the foliage is peaking (i.e., at the height of its color.) IF YOU CAN’T GET OUT OF BOSTON: take the T to Harvard Square and walk around in Harvard Yard and the residential areas. Especially recommended is the area around Brattle Street (beautiful old historic houses like the Longfellow House with huge yards and lots of trees.) Also, Garden Street, which goes along the Cambridge Common, past the Sheraton Hotel.
For Wednesday, Oct. 3:
1. AVS: complete chapter 3 exercises; study for chapter 2 quiz
2. Grammar Troublespots: Chapter 15– do on paper to hand in
3. Writing: RESPONSE PAPER Write your thoughts about the online course possibilities that we heard about in the NPR story. (Go back and listen again if you need to. ) Minimum one page, double-spaced, word processed.