Friday, October 28, 2016

Midterm Exam Review

The midterm exam will be on 11/4. There will be four main sections: 1) vocabulary, 2) reading comprehension, 3) reading skills, and 4) language for writing. Please review the following pages:

Vocabulary:
Unit 5 - p. 96 and p. 103
Unit 6 - p. 118 and p. 125
Unit 7 - p. 142 and p. 150

Reading Comprehension:
Unit 5, Lesson A - "The New Face of Tourism"(pp. 97-100)
Unit 5, Lesson B - "Geotourism in Action: Three Success Stories" (pp. 104-108)
Unit 6, Lesson A - "The Poet of the Outback" (pp. 119-122)
Unit 6, Lesson B - "Retracing the Mother Road" (pp. 126-131)
Unit 7, Lesson A - "Straining Our Resources" (pp. 143-147)
Unit 7, Lesson B - "Eight Steps toward a Sustainable Future" (pp. 151-156)

Reading Skills:
Unit 1 - Identifying main and supporting ideas (p. 9)
Unit 2 - Identifying a sequence of events (p. 31)
Unit 3 - Identifying reasons (p. 56)
Unit 4 - Organizing your notes (p. 77)
Unit 5 - Analyzing causes and effects (p. 101)
Unit 6 - Understanding referencing and cohesion (p. 123)
Unit 7 - Interpreting visual information (p. 148)

Language for Writing:
Unit 1 - Making comparisons (pp. 17-18 and p. 22)
Unit 2 - Review of modals of obligation and possibility (pp. 41-42 and p. 46)
Unit 3 - Using the simple past and used to (p. 64 and p. 68)
Unit 4 - Using parallel structure (pp. 87-88 and p. 92)
Unit 5 - Using If..., (then)... (p. 109 and p. 114)
Unit 6 - Adding information with appositive phrases (pp. 132-133 and p. 138)
Unit 7 - Using adjective clauses to add information (p. 157 and p. 162)

Please let me know if you have any questions. Good luck!

Friday, October 7, 2016

Formal Essay #1

Formal essays should be typed on Microsoft Word and emailed to me before class on 10/28. Please see the files in the Dropbox folder for more details about the formatting requirements. Choose ONE of the following topics:

Comparative essay

Choose two cities, or two popular travel destinations, and write about the similarities and/or differences between these places.

Choose two characters from a film or novel, and write about the similarities and/or differences between them.

Cause-effect essay

Imagine Korean universities decided to stop using the Suneung exam for university admissions. Write a cause-effect essay discussing the possible effects of this decision.

Write about the possible effects of a current issue you have read about in the news recently. For example, what are the causes (reasons for creating) and the possible effects of (changes that will result from) the Kim Young-ran Act? Or why has Donald Trump become a popular candidate for the U.S. Presidency, and what might be some of the possible effects of a Trump Presidency? You can choose any current issue, as long as you focus on the causes and possible effects.

Explanatory essay

Choose a piece of art, such as a painting, sculpture, song, film, or work of literature, and explain the meaning behind the work.

Think of some aspect of Korean culture that you think might be confusing to foreigners. Explain some of the historical, social, traditional, religious, etc. reasons for why this cultural tradition is important to Koreans.

E-journal post #2 - Unit 6 (Importance of place in a book or movie)

For this e-journal post, you will revise the essay you worked on in class today (10/7). You should write about a movie or book in which the setting/place is very important. The essay should include details and examples to explain why the place is such an important part of the movie or book, or why the story could not have occurred in any other place. You can see the example essay about Midnight in Paris on page 136 of the textbook. Use the suggestions made by your partner to improve your essay and then post the final version on your e-journal. Posts should be made before midnight on Monday 10/24.