The Soul of ESOL: November 2015

Monday, November 23, 2015

Engaging ELLs and Building Student Confidence in Oral and Written Commun...

Instructional Video - Web 2.0 Tools

Supplementary Materials:

Word Cards - Background Information

Storybird Rubric and Storybird Assignment Directions

Wikis Rubric and CH Wiki Page Directions

Thursday, November 12, 2015

English for Academic Purposes

Composition - Developmental Level

Composition Skills - The Basics

Composition Skills - The Research Paper

If you are new to higher level English Composition or need structured help with writing a mini research paper, you will find several documents here which will serve as your tutorial. I have used these lesson outlines/notes when I taught English Composition II. at BCC and English for Academic Purposes at GWU. My students seemed to appreciate the organized notes used from various sources. The lessons are numbered. Start with Lesson 1 and Lesson 16 will be the final document. Each lesson discusses a specific writing skill. By the time you are done with reading about them and practicing them, you should be able to put together a mini research paper! Let me know how it goes :-)

Here is the link to the EAP Google Doc

Vocabulary Building Strategies

“I have a spelling checker, It came with my PC
It plainly marks for my revue, Mistakes I cannot sea
I’ve run this poem threw it, I’m sure your please to no,
It’s letter perfect in it’s weigh, My checker tolled me sew”
— anonymous

You may be an English language learner or an English language teacher – all of you can find resources here to strengthen your or your students’ vocabulary range and acquisition skills! You should never sit or you should never have your students sit and memorize a list of words. Also, avoid translating words to your language. Chances are, the next day you will remember the list of words in your first language

So, what then? There are a lot of fun activities you can do alone or with other ELLs (English Language Learners)! You can easily learn new words and how to use them correctly in sentences by doing the following:

learn prefixes and suffixes
learn the root and other parts of speech/forms of the same word
use a dictionary or online dictionaries to determine meaning, class, word forms and collocations
learn an easy definition of the words
learn the synonyms and antonyms if possible
create word cards
use them in discussion
use them in writing/composition
use them in analogies! Challenging but rewarding and fun
focus on usage not just understanding

This video is a word card building tutorial. Creating a word card initially takes 20 minutes at least, then it becomes more easy and faster! I always ask my students to watch it before they start building word cards as part of their homework:

These two documents offer a more thorough explanation for synonyms, antonyms, collocations and analogies. Inside each document I recommend several websites and online dictionaries:

These two documents show you a vocabulary building strategy using google images. Teachers should assign no more than 15-20 words per week for students to learn. If you are a teacher, and you want to have your students learn more, well, make sure you give them enough fun practice in class. You can do this exercise in many different ways. Learners can do it alone or in groups of 2-3 students. After your students learn the words, type the weekly target words in Google images one by one and choose a good image. You can ask students to describe an image using one target word that you had in mind, or use several of the weekly words.

The first document includes the images/pictures only, the second one includes student answers as well:

This one is called “Guess the Word!” You can even assign it as a quick quiz. Show students the images and have them write down the word – or a complete sentence.

You should NEVER test your students’ vocabulary skills by dictating a list of words in English and ask them to give you the equivalent of those in your first language or vice versa. Instead let me show you a comprehensive way of testing their knowledge of both understanding and usage.

There are many more ways to strengthen those skills, so let me share one more with you; it’s called Vocabulary Composition or Story Time. You can easily do this as a student at home or assign it in class if you are a teacher. Basically, you can have your students keep either a regular or an online journal or blog and write paragraph long texts to practice using the weekly target words in sentences/paragraphs. You can ask them to write about a certain topic that you discussed in class that week, or the topic the textbook discussed.

Or, you can make it a bit more specific or focused for them and start a story (2-3 sentences) and have your students finish it! Then they can share their journal entry or blog entry and compare how they finished the story! It is always a favorite

For instance: It was a beautiful warm sunny Monday morning. Jack just left the house, and he was walking to school very slowly. He was kicking the fallen chestnuts on the ground. He did not want to go to school, and he found kicking them really fun! He was even thinking about skipping school or being late for it and playing soccer with the tiny brown “balls”. Suddenly, he looked up and this sweet red headed girl was walking in front of him. Finish the story! What happened to Jack and the girl? Use the following words from this week’s target words list and write at least 5 sentences: attitude – prefer – betray – aggravate – disapprove – eager – vanish – miserable

Alternatively, you can have 2-3 students write it together! They can even use a Google doc on Google drive where they can cooperate

Speaking and Listening Skills – Tips and Tricks

Motto: “People have to talk about something just to keep their voice boxes in working order so they’ll have good voice boxes in case there’s ever anything really meaningful to say.” ~Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Intermediate and high intermediate students should strengthen their skills through various structured assignments and activities if they wish to improve their general English or Academic English listening and speaking skills. I recommend activities which help language learners practice taking accurate notes, analyzing radio/news reports, lectures, and oral presentations: main idea and relevant details. There are activities which can also improve and develop using complex sentence structures, using advanced level vocabulary and appropriate meaningful questions when partaking in a group discussion. I find Academic Encounters 4 and Contemporary Topics great textbooks to build on.

Weekly activities that I recommend:

USA Today- reading the news together (homework and in-class activity: bring USA Today with you to class and discuss the articles you find interesting)
Listening practice and note taking activity: npr.org, www.wtop.com, VOA.com
Word Cards: min. 10 words per week
NPR–According to the News…(homework + in-class activity: listening to the news: main idea, relevant details)
News Journal (homework activity: listen, analyze and write about the news on your own)
TED.com 3 minute summary-based presentations must be topic related

Recommended activities in details:

Listening activities

News – NPR.org – Morning Edition, Tell Me More (play a segment 2x and have students take notes then discuss it in groups of 3’s) longer segments that students need to summarize (main idea, details, plus their opinion)

Ted.com - speeches relevant to each textbook unit (at the beginning of the course play it with subtitles 2x, mid course play it 2x only 1x with subtitles, very end of the course try some without subtitles and play it once) student take notes and discuss them in groups

TED talks and other videos that I have used in class based on given textbook topics:

Language and Communication

Juno – trailer with slangs
Jimmy Fallon slang/modern communication
The technologically challenged – slang
Blackberry is frozen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAG39jKi0lI
Language and National Identity
nancy_lublin_texting_that_saves_lives
Keith Chen – language and saving money
Reporting Crisis via Texting : http://www.ted.com/talks/erik_hersman_on_reporting_crisis_via_texting.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/laura_trice_suggests_we_all_say_thank_you.html
Connected but Alone? http://www.ted.com/talks/sherry_turkle_alone_together.htm
http://www.ted.com/talks/keith_chen_could_your_language_affect_your_ability_to_save_money.html

Social Stratification

Melinda Gates – quality of life
Rachel Botsman – collaborative consumption – Transient Lifestyle: watch the video and take notes. What is the main idea?http://www.ted.com/talks/rachel_botsman_the_case_for_collaborative_consumption.html
Richard Wilkinson – social status and inequality
Mark Pagel – humanity and communication

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/mark_pagel_how_language_transformed_humanity.html

“ Monkey see monkey do” – what does it mean? Is it true?
What is telemetry?
What is social learning?
What does cumulative cultural adaptation mean?
What was the human turning point?
What does the crisis of visual theft mean?
How does language establish identities?
Why does language impose a barrier?
What is the dilemma of a modern globalized world and what is the role of language in it?
What is FOXP2? What role does it play in language use?

Political Science:

Ivan Krastev – Democracy http://www.ted.com/talks/ivan_krastev_can_democracy_exist_without_trust.html
Paddy Ashdown – global power shift http://www.ted.com/talks/paddy_ashdown_the_global_power_shift.html
Also: Have them look at the map on transparency international, corruption index! http://www.transparency.org/cpi2011/results http://www.transparency.org/country
http://www.ted.com/talks/melinda_gates_let_s_put_birth_control_back_on_the_agenda.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_specter_the_danger_of_science_denial.html
A Time To Kill: http://youtu.be/7hfTnum9fVA

Learning:

http://www.ted.com/talks/michelle_obama.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html
Adora Svitak: What adults can learn from kids http://www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/diana_laufenberg_3_ways_to_teach.html
Sugata Mitra: The child-driven educationhttp://www.ted.com/talks/sugata_mitra_the_child_driven_education.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/colin_powell_kids_need_structure.html
http://www.ted.com/talks/alison_gopnik_what_do_babies_think.html

Astronomy: Sample student answer (note taking and summary)

TED http://www.ted.com/talks/stephen_petranek_counts_down_to_armageddon.html

Intro: Space travel is dangerous but curiosity and the desire to explore is stronger.

We might need to colonize other planets because life on Earth might not be sustainable due to lack of resources.

Mars is a contender for this mission.

There are 3 obstacles to overcome:

Design or build space crafts

The Martian atmosphere is too thin and present day space shuttles are not adequate.

We need to use a capsule. How to power it?

Propulsion – power source

– Ion propulsion engine: fast acceleration but it takes time

– Nuclear thermal propulsion: fast but heavy and environmentally unfriendly

– Plasma propulsion: fast but underdeveloped

Supply: water, air, food, fuel are needed but this cargo would be too heavy – couldn’t launch the shuttle
Length of travel: 14 months to get there but 18 months to wait for the proper rotation of the planet – it is about 3 years
Other obstacles to overcome: politics and bureaucracy

Main idea: There are two arguments for space exploration: survival, curiosity.

Survival: evolution shows that when the environment is in danger (shrinking) or it threatens life, endangered species look for a new place to live in order to survive. The survival strategy of evolution.
Curiosity factor: humans have the intellectual urge to explore the unknown (continents, mountains).

We are looking for the ultimate frontier, and satellites are not good enough.

Opposition: some say that space exploration is an unnecessary and expensive extravagance.

Pollution:

Student sample: note taking and summary:

Carbon dioxide is released into the oceans
Because of that the water is warmer and more acidic
The acidic ocean water is destroying the coral reefs because they are Calcium based
Corals are made of Calcium
Acid dissolves Calcium
It is not only happening in Australia but worldwide
It is an important issue because the coral reefs are home to lots of fish
Humans living near coral reefs depend on those fish
While the first scientist’s experiment is based on a sudden shock, in reality the oceans are going through a slow gradual change
The seconds scientist thinks that coral reefs may adapt to this change and the real damage may not happen until the end of this century
Tourism will also fade away

Aging

Queen: Who Wants to Live Forever? http://youtu.be/_TsOPjZEF6E
http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_buettner_how_to_live_to_be_100.html
hw: http://www.ted.com/talks/cynthia_kenyon_experiments_that_hint_of_longer_lives.html
hw: http://www.ted.com/talks/aubrey_de_grey_says_we_can_avoid_aging.html

Sociology – Marriage

– Apprehension measure – Willingness to Communicate

http://www.jamescmccroskey.com/measures/WTC.htm
http://www.jamescmccroskey.com/measures/prca24.htm
http://blog.ted.com/2013/05/24/chris-anderson-shares-his-tips-for-giving-a-killer-presentation/

Happiness:

Who was her first patient and her issue?
What does she specialize in?
What is “dating down”?
What is “mindful marriage”?
Who are “kdults”? Who talks about “extended adolescents”?
Who rob young adults from the “urgency of ambition”?
What do your 20’s have an impact on?
What does she mean by “identity capital”?
What are “weak ties” for?
What does she mean by explorations vs. procrastination?

Speaking activities

word cards (students create 10 word cards per unit/topic; word cards should include word forms, collocations, synonyms/antonyms, definition and sentence example), students then will test their knowledge of vocabulary in small groups by showing each other the front and back of the cards asking questions http://youtu.be/UydkGHgMz-0

Cultural/World Heritage Project (this project/portfolio explores students’ cultural background and promotes critical thinking) Individual presentation they might do it in PPP or Prezi.

Blue/Grey Azar English Grammar Textbook: Let’s Talk activities. I briefly discuss a grammatical structure and then put students in groups/pairs to try it out. 30-40 min activity. Or: https://jeopardylabs.com

NPR presentation (each student 2x/semester) they listen to a segment and then present it to the class. Play it once or twice asking the class to listen and take notes, and engages the class by asking 3-4 questions. The student then summarizes the main idea and adds relevant details.

TED presentation (each student 3x/semester) they pick a no shorter than 10 min segment. They watch it at home and take notes. Then in class in appr. 3 minutes they summarize it to the class. Then they play a 60 second clip from the speech which they find impressive.

Fun questions that students can discuss:

What are your weaknesses?
Describe yourself in three words
If you were a fruit or vegetable what would you be and why?
Describe a time when you have failed
What are your strengths?
If you were a flavor of ice cream, what would you be and why?
What has been your greatest achievement?
What type of job would you want to apply for?
How did you choose your career?
Which kind of job would you want to do the least? the most?

Controversial topics are always challenging but useful to discuss:

http://www.procon.org/

Discussion questions (topic specific) to recycle weekly vocabulary words:

Introduce yourself by talking about your goals for the future. Why are you at this college?
Talk about social stratification in your society/culture please. Use at least 4-5 target words from unit 3.
Explain a political system you are familiar with.
What method, used by the police, is the best deterrent?
Record a summary of one VERY INTERESTING piece of news you heard, read, saw this week/last week. Shocking? Outrageous? WOW? Record it here
Think about one global product and tell us how it is advertised in your home country, then talk about a local product and tell us how that one is marketed.
What do people/foreigners typically think and say about your culture? What is it really like?
How was your Spring Break? What did you do? Where did you go? Discuss while paying attention to correct grammar and sentence structures.
What is your plan to extend your lifespan? How, in what way(s) should or could you change your lifestyle in order to live more healthfully?
Describe the cultural concept of marriage in your society. Did you follow it when you got married? OR: will you follow it?
Summarize a movie about space in 3 minutes please: make sure that you include the plot, main characters, your favorite scene.
Which love song is your favorite one? Why? Summarize what the lyrics are about and why you like it so much

More topic specific questions to discuss: Expect students to constantly recycle the new vocab. Questions are based on units/vocabulary:

What is your plan to extend your lifespan? How, in what way(s) should or could you change your lifestyle in order to live more healthfully?
Do you think language change is inevitable? Why is it happening? How has your language changed? Is it very different from what it sounded or looked like 10, 50, 100, 500 years ago? Is there slang being used these days, or English words added to it? Are there words that no one uses anymore?
What do you think about the transient lifestyle? Collaborative Consumption?
Discuss the advantages or the disadvantages of using a single currency. Are you for or against it?
Think of a globally known product. How is it advertised in the U.S. and how is it advertised in your country? Make a comparison please.
Describe the cultural concept of marriage in your society. Did you follow it when you got married? OR: will you follow it?
Talk about a song that you think best represents the concept of being in love/ in a relationship. Tell us the singer and the title of the song.
Is it better to be 21 years old or 41 years old? Choose one OR the other. Introduce your choice with a clear reason and support it properly. What are the advantages or disadvantages of being 21 or 41?
Do you know a gifted and talented person? Please describe him/her. Discuss his/her talent(s) aptitude, interests, characteristics.
Summarize a movie about space or aliens. Title, characters, plot, any famous actors? Did you like the movie? Why? why not? What was your favorite scene?
What are some of the challenges planet Earth faces? What are the possible solutions? Which challenge do you think is the most imminent? Why? How could it be solved?
Do you think constant surveillance reduces crime? If so how? If not, why? What techniques do the police use to deter criminals in your society? What are sophisticated techniques that criminals use in your country?
What do civil liberties groups typically promote or oppose in your society?
Do you think that becoming affluent through heredity is always a good thing?
Is it acceptable to use violence to fight for something you believe in? For an ideology?
What is your stance about interracial marriages? How should people choose marriage partners? Why?
Talk about social stratification in your society/culture please. Where are you in the hierarchy?
How have the ways we communicate changed in the past 100 years?
I am particularly interested in the problems that parents of a gifted child might face. What do you think that these problems might be?
In your country, is texting widespread? Are there any laws prohibiting texting in your country?
Is the transient lifestyle we discussed in unit 3 appealing to you?
Do you feel that children of interracial couples may face bullying in school?

Including Additional skills (reading):

USA Today (students read the online or printed version of USA Today – can use the app, like the page and get the news feed on Facebook – Students must choose 3 articles and summarize them in class in groups of 3’s: It’s a 25 min group activity each Friday)

News Journals (based on an npr.org news segment)

News Journal

Name:

Date:

Journal number: 01

News Segment date: 28 January 2015

Station: www.npr.org Morning Edition

Length of segment: XX seconds (news No.X)

Main idea:

According to the news….

Relevant points and details:

there is…
also…
then….

Essential vocabulary:

1) forecast (V) to predict, calculate in advance

e.g. to forecast a tornado in Kansas

2) …

3) …

4) …

5) …

Note Taking Samples:

Play an NPR segment between 3-5 minutes twice. Play a TED clip once without subtitles. Students summarize them – main idea and support. Their notes will be assessed.

NPR segment: http://www.npr.org/2013/04/01/175714511/why-not-apologizing-makes-you-feel-better

To err and apologize for those errors is human.
From toddlers and talk show hosts to preteens and presidents people who have done stupid, silly and evil things, then told the world they’ve done nothing wrong.
Parents, educators and even public relations talked about the value of coming clean, and the psychological value of apologizing.
But psychologists recently decided: If so many people don’t like to do it, there must be psychological value in not apologizing, too.
In a recent paper, researchers reported on what they’ve found happens in people’s minds when they refuse to apologize. They find that parents who tell their kids that saying sorry will make them feel better have been telling kids the truth — but not the whole truth.
“We do find that apologies do make apologizers feel better, but the interesting thing is that refusals to apologize also make people feel better and, in fact, in some cases it makes them feel better than an apology would have,”
Okimoto surveyed 228 Americans and asked them to remember a time they had done something wrong.
Then asked the people whether they had apologized, they also divided the people at random and asked some to compose an email where they apologized for their actions, or compose an email refusing to apologize.
In both cases, Okimoto said, refusing to apologize provided psychological benefits —
The same thing happened when people were asked to imagine doing something wrong, and then imagine apologizing or refusing to apologize.
“ When you refuse to apologize, it actually makes you feel more empowered. That power and control seems to translate into greater feelings of self-worth.
Ironically, Okimoto said, people who refused to apologize ended up with boosted feelings of integrity.
The researchers are not suggesting that refusing to apologize is a useful life strategy: Okimoto himself said he has little trouble apologizing.
The interpersonal benefits of apologizing are huge, and an apology can renew bonds not only between people but also between countries.
Okimoto believes the research, in fact, may provide a clue on how best to get people to apologize.
Our conventional approach, especially with kids, is to force people to apologize.
But if people are reluctant to apologize because apologies make them feel threatened, coercion is unlikely to help —
Support and love, by contrast, may be a more effective way to counter the feelings of threat involved in an apology.

Daphne Koller: What we’re learning from online education TED clip

Main idea:

She discusses a new practice namely that top universities put their most exciting courses online for free — not just as a service, but as a way to research how people learn. With Coursera (the online program that they use), each keystroke, quiz, peer-to-peer discussion and self-graded assignment builds an unprecedented pool of data on how knowledge is processed.

Support:

In some countries education is offered scarcely or for an unaffordable fee
Degrees from Reputable universities are worth more/valued more
Online education for free offers a solution for both problems
Best universities offer their best courses and best instructors (640,000 students from 190 countries)
Real experience is offered thru videos, homework, tests and quizzes with real deadline
A Certificate is given at the end of the course and college credit is offered
Course components: short modular units instead of long lectures (basic, core, enrichment)
Personalized curriculum: listen to modules that fit your level
Engagement: short lectures and quizzes in between
Grading: technology is used heavily in the process (multiple choice is not preferred by instructors)
Effective strategy: peer grading (as effective as teachers’)
Global Community: study groups, 24/7 chat, is there is a question it is answered in 22 minutes average
Data is also collected on learning strategies, misconceptions on assignments
Technology is used to provide individual tutoring and personalized feedback
Old school: lecture + content, new school: problem solving + creativity
Active learning means: higher attendance, higher engagement and better learning
Top quality education for free: skills, life-long learning and innovation worldwide

http://www.ted.com/talks/daphne_koller_what_we_re_learning_from_online_education.html

Improving Reading and Writing Skills

Improving Reading and Writing Skills

Motto: “What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.” –Dr Samuel Johnson

This blog post is for intermediate - high intermediate ELLs and their teachers.

There are many great text books to choose from in order to improve reading skills and writing skills, but there is one grammar book that I truly recommend: Azar & Hagen. 2009. Understanding and Using English Grammar, 4th Edition. Pearson Education: NY. Students do the exercises in this book at home. They discuss answers in groups in class. We discuss the importance of the given structures. They write paragraphs with given structures. Then we go to www.jeoardylab.com I put students in teams (3’s) and have them compete. Fun stuff! :-)

At this level, ELLs should be focusing on improving these skills:

Write well-developed paragraphs with strong topic sentences, supporting arguments and conclusion.
Effectively edit written work.
Identify main ideas and inferences in academic writing.
Use context clues to understand meaning of new vocabulary.
Paraphrase and summarize factual and fictional reading passages.
Use simple, compound, and complex sentences.
Master verb tenses and subject-verb agreement
Use noun clauses, adjective clauses, and adverb clauses
Use transitional words to sound logical
Use passive and active voice appropriately.
Use real and unreal conditionals.
Use modals to emphasize degree of certainty
Correct pronoun reference/agreement
Correct use of gerunds, infinitives, and participles

Reading Activities:

The best way to improve reading skills is to read :-) Students need to understand the difference between scanning, skimming and analytically reading. I often quiz them to check the level of their preparation. Students are expected to read and complete exercises at home, and class is for discussion. Those who are unprepared need to leave the class and return once they finish reading the essay from a given chapter. They are not allowed to participate in a discussion based on an essay if they cannot contribute to it. :-(

Writing activities:

Make a chart on how different cultures write paragraphs and essays and how we write them in the United States.
The focus is on sentence structures, fluency and paragraph writing, different communication styles in paragraph writing.
Talk about identifying Subject, Purpose, and Audience and different prewriting activities.
Spend a lot of time on organization and topic sentences.
Students write several paragraphs each week. The topics revolve around the chapters/topics of the textbook and the grammar textbook so that they can show/practice what they know.
Online: Discussion Board - Forums. Students engage in meaningful discussions through paragraphs as they discuss a question form textbook chapters i.e. Guided Academic Conversations.
Do a weekly in class writing for 30 - 45 minutes graded by the teacher.
Do a weekly in class writing which is peer reviewed by other students using a revising checklists or rubric.
Do in class corrections of the student writing: put an example of a strong paper as well as one that needs a lot of improvement. This exercise takes a lot of time, but it’s worth it.
ELLs should write twice a week in class for at least 30 minutes and at least two more paragraphs for homework.
Students can also write daily journals or blogs recycling sentence structures/grammar and vocabulary.

To test students on grammar/sentence structures and weekly target words, I ask them to write a paragraph. For example: They have two topics: 1. Education (target words: bilingual, impose, dominant, widespread, immersion, emerge) 2. Business (target words: fuel, joint venture, boom, catch up, outsource, goal) they choose one topic and write a paragraph including all the target words. They need to use a variety of verb tenses in it as well.

Testing ideas:

Students write a paragraph, and the topics to choose from are the following: education, dangerous circumstances, transitions, Students will pick 5-6 words from a list of academic target words from the textbook and write a paragraph. They will be asked to use a variety of verb tenses and modals. They will have to underline tenses, modals and circle target words.

Choose one of the topics. Demonstrate your skills in sentence variety and advanced vocabulary usage - Use 5-6 words from the list in your fully developed paragraph. Use a variety of verb tenses, modals, and connectors in your paragraph.

acquaintance, achievement, annoy, approach, at stake, apparent, bilingual, boom, catch up, cling, crave, claustrophobia, commitment, concrete, deteriorate, dilemma, devote, dim, diminish(ing), dispose, dominant, distracted, discard, embark, embody, emerge/emerging, enable, envy, excessive, excruciating, frightened, frantically, fuel/fueled, familiarity, fury, goal, immersion, impose, incomprehension, indefatigable, indefinable, inevitable, irrational, joint venture, mundane, naïve, outsourcing/outsource, pollute, prowess, prosaic, preside over, pathetic, preserve, policy, phenomenon, prospects, status, prevail, rage, rejuvenated, regret, restriction, resentment, recreate sabotage, significant, significance, shabby, supplementing, sojourn, summit, spectacular, status, sufficient, visibility, widespread, weed out…

Topics: Educational Practices, Life Transitions, Dangerous Situations

OR:

Write a paragraph about “The most important characteristic(s) of your cultural heritage”) They spend 30 minutes on writing.

OR:

Writing Sample: Vocabulary and Modals Practice

Grammar: Degrees of certainty: future, past, present, progressive modals

Vocabulary: dilemma, phenomenon, prospects, weed out, at stake, status, annoy, approach, cling, crave, diminish(ing), dispose, recreate, sabotage, significant

Use at least 5 words form the list. You may use any word forms. Write a paragraph 6-10 sentences. (Topic sentence and support/details) Choose one of the topics:

Is it hard to find to find real love? What is real love? How do you know? Are there other kinds of love?
Is it a good solution to send the bare branches off with the army or emigrate to find women?
Why do man and women have difficulty understanding and communicating with each other?

When finished, please underline the modal structures and circle the target words.

Criteria	Unsatisfactory (0-11)	Limited (21-28)	Proficient (39-50)	Comments
There are 5-8 sentences at least in the paragraph	0	1	2
The paragraph has a strong topic sentence that identifies the topic and one problem/the focus	0-1	2-3	4-5
The description of the problem is full: specific examples and precise explanation	0-1	2-3	4-5
Grammar: there is sentence variety: modals, conditionals, joining words and verb tenses, adjective-noun-adverb clauses	0-3	4-6	7-10
There is little repetition (one key word repeated 2-3 times max) synonyms and antonyms used well instead	0-1	2	3-4
The writer finished his/her thoughts and made clear transition between thoughts	0-1	2-3	4-5
Vocabulary: target words are used properly Collocations are used correctly Word forms are used correctly	0-3	4-6	7-10
There is little awkwardness (sounding un-English) in the writing e.g.	0-1	2-3	4-5
Punctuation is mostly correct (commas periods), max. 2 errors	0	1	2
Spelling is mostly correct (2-3 errors are OK).	0	1	2

Using Rubrics:

Students see the rubric (posted online or handed out in class) so they know exactly what the expectations are, they can check boxes. They use these rubrics when they do peer evaluations. Clear guidelines.

Paragraph rubric

Criteria	Unsatisfactory (0-11)	Limited (21-28)	Proficient (39-50)	Comments
There are 5-8 sentences at least in the paragraph	0	1	2
The paragraph has a strong topic sentence that identifies the topic and one problem/the focus	0-1	2-3	4-5
The description of the problem is full: specific examples and precise explanation	0-1	2-3	4-5
Grammar: there is sentence variety: modals, conditionals, joining words and verb tenses, adjective-noun-adverb clauses	0-3	4-6	7-10
There is little repetition (one key word repeated 2-3 times max) synonyms and antonyms used well instead	0-1	2	3-4
The writer finished his/her thoughts and made clear transition between thoughts	0-1	2-3	4-5
Vocabulary: target words are used properly Collocations are used correctly Word forms are used correctly	0-3	4-6	7-10
There is little awkwardness (sounding un-English) in the writing e.g.	0-1	2-3	4-5
Punctuation is mostly correct (commas periods), max. 2 errors	0	1	2
Spelling is mostly correct (2-3 errors are OK).	0	1	2

Summary writing:

Criteria- Summary	Unsatisfactory (0-11)	Limited (21-28)	Proficient (39-50)	Comments
There summary is 10% of the original text in length	0	1	2
The summary opens with the title and the author	0-1	2-3	4-5
The summary opens with the main idea of the text	0-1	2-3	4-5
The summary of the text is full/complete: all relevant details and examples are added	0-3	4-6	7-10
There is little repetition (one key word repeated 2-3 times max) synonyms and antonyms used well instead to paraphrase	0-1	2	3-4
Grammar: there is sentence variety: modals, conditionals, joining words and verb tenses, adjective-noun-adverb clauses	0-1	2-3	4-5
Vocabulary: the key words of the text are used properly: Collocations and Word forms	0-3	4-6	7-10
There is little awkwardness (sounding un-English) in the writing e.g.	0-1	2-3	4-5
Punctuation is mostly correct (commas periods), max. 2 errors	0	1	2
Spelling is mostly correct (2-3 errors are OK).	0	1	2

Discussion Board Grading Rubric

Criteria	10 Excellent	7 Average	5 Needs Improvement	0-2 Unacceptable	Comments
Uniqueness	New ideas, new connections made with depth and detail	New ideas of connections lack depth and/or detail	Few, if any new ideas or connections made Rehash or summarize other postings	No new ideas, uses “I agree with...” statement
Timeliness of postings (original posting, replies and rewrite)	All required postings are made early (by Monday) and throughout the discussion	All required postings are made (by Wednesday) Some not in time for others to read and respond	All required postings are made (by Friday) Most at the last minute without allowing for response time	Some, or all, required postings missing
Target words	Uses 5 target words correctly to provide support in paragraph	Uses 4-5 target words to provide support in paragraph but only 3 are correct	Uses 4-5 target words to provide support in paragraph but only 2 are correct	Uses target words to provide support in paragraph but incorrectly
Spelling and Mechanics	Submits posts that contain grammatically correct sentences without any spelling errors.	Submits posts that have few (1-2) grammatically incorrect sentences and two spelling errors.	Submits posts that have several (3-4) grammatically incorrect sentences and three spelling errors.	Obvious grammatical errors (5 or more) Makes understanding impossible
Grammatical structures	Uses modals and conditionals correctly	Uses modals and conditionals and most of them are correct	Uses modals and conditionals but most of them are incorrect	Does not use modals and conditionals
Total Score
Maximum Points Possible					50