Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Participation, Missing Class, and Outside of Class Points

Hello ECA and ECI classes!

Remember: If you come to class, ask questions, participate in the discussion and put forth an effort to learn you will get 10 points every time you are in class.  



Work hard like these two students and you will do well. 


Coming to class and participating will only get you about 240 points. That only gets you a C in participation. If you only show up and sit quietly that is about 120 points or F.  That could really hurt your grade.

You need to do at least 5-6 out of class assignments to raise you participation points to an A. 

If you don't participate in class or miss a class, then you will need to do more. 

See below for ways to make-up missed class points and ways to lift your participation points if you are an especially shy student. 

I do not give you daily participation points if you are not in class, regardless of the reason why. It is simple: not in class=no participation points.

But it is possible to make up those points. See optional assignments below.

I only accept two assignments a week. DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE END OF THE SEMESTER. YOU CAN ONLY GET 14 POINTS MAXIMUM A WEEK.

Good luck!




How to get a good participation grade.

Here are three important things to say about your participation grade:
1.      Your participation score is your responsibility! Your teacher does not “give” you this grade – you earn it.
2.      Working hard in class is really important, but…
3.      To get an A for participation, you need to work hard outside of class, too!
In this class, your teacher will give you points for the work you do both in class and outside of class.

At the end of the semester, you can add up your points to find your grade.

Points
Grade
280+
A+
260-280
A
240-260
B
220-240
C
200-220
D
Less than 260
F


In-Class Points:
Come to class                                                                                                   5pts.

Participate                                                                                                          3pts.

Go above and beyond(volunteer, speak often, ask questions, etc)                             2pts.

Even if your absence is excused you do not get any points for participation.

Outside of class Points:
 (You must write a 50 word minimum summary in your notebook for all of these).
Task (see overleaf for examples):
Points Reward
Visit the English Help Desk, with a partner, for 15 minutes
7 per visit
Complete a learning activity online (see the back of this paper for more details)
7 per time
Read and write a review about an English language book or article
7 per time
Watch and write a review about an English language movie or TV show
7 per time
Write an article on a topic of your choice
7 per time
Complete a vocabulary record for each class
1 per class
* I will accept no more than 2 per week. Do not wait until the end of the semester.

Here are some examples of outside-of-class tasks:
Visit the English Help Desk: The Help Desk is near Mountain Coffee in the FLI Global Lounge. It is open every day from 9am – 4.30pm, and you can go any time. It is there to help you practice your English. You should not only go if you have a problem! It’s a fun way to practice.
You must:
1.      Choose a topic which you want to talk to a professor about, together with your partner – any topic is ok. Films, TV, music, foreign culture, how to improve your English… etc.
2.      Write a 50-word (min) summary of your conversation, including the time you went and the name of the person you spoke to. For example:
I went to the Help Desk on Thursday 33rd Octember with..., and had a conversation with Professor Jimmy about…. I told Jimmy that… He said… It was interesting/fun/boring because… I felt good/nervous/confused because… I learned…
Complete a learning activity online: There are loads of great learning resources online. Here are some:
Listen-and-Write (for listening): https://www.listen-and-write.com/
Cambridge English Online (language games!) http://cambridgeenglishonline.com/
BBC Learning English (everything!) http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/
You need to write a 50 word summary of this! What did you do? When? What did you learn?
Reviewing books, articles, movies, or TV shows: Anything is ok to review, as long as it is in English (for TV/movies, you can use Korean subtitles to help you).
You need to write a review of 100 words or more. The review should have two parts:
1.      A summary of the book/article/movie/TV show (what was it about?)
2.      Your opinion about it (Did you like it? Why, or why not?)
You should write the two sections in two different paragraphs.
Write an article on a topic of your choice: Tell me your opinion about something. Anything is fine. For example, write an essay about Kim Yuna; or describe your feelings about coming to university. Try to write at least two paragraphs; minimum 100 words.
Complete a vocabulary record: In your notebook, make a note of new words that you learn in class. Your vocabulary map will help you with this. You should include (as a minimum):
l   The word in English
l   The Korean translation
l   The word’s part of speech (noun, verb, adjective etc).
l   An example sentence including the word
l  The meaning in English

Good luck – I hope you all get A+!

Hello Monday Night Classes!

Hello to my new students on Monday night! I am glad to meet you.

As I told you, I will be substituting for Todd Teacher until he returns to school. He was seriously injured in an accident and needs to rest for at least 4 weeks. You might only see me 3 more times, or you might have me for the rest of the semester. It depends on how quickly Todd's injuries heal.


On this blog, I will try to keep you up-to-date on assignments and things we discuss in class. You can also comment below if you have any questions.

My 3:00 and 6:00 classes will be identified as ECG and my 4:30 class will be identified as ECG-1. Be sure that you are reading the right blog as I have 4 different classes this semester.

ECA-Tuesday (9 and 1:30), Friday (10:30 and 12)
ECI-Wednesday (1:30 and 3), Friday (1:30 and 3)
ECG-Monday (3 and 6)
ECG1- Monday (4:30)

Next Monday, bring your books, a notebook(not a laptop) and a pen!

Have a nice week and weekend!

Monday, September 15, 2014

Google Drive Instructions

Hello class! Here are some instuctions on how to write a Google Doc and then how to share it with me. Some of your classmates have figured it out. Ask your classmates or me for more help. Good luck!


1. Log into e-mail. Go to the top right and click on the "apps" icon (seen above circled in red).
2. Click on "Drive" icon under "app" icon.
3. In "Drive" click on "Create" on the left of the page. Then click on "Document."
4. Be sure to name your document in top left. Write in the document. Then click "Share."
5. Click Share in the top right after writing your essay. 
6. Add my e-mail address under "Invite People."
Now, I can see your essay, make corrections and send it back to you to rewrite or keep.

Friday, September 12, 2014

Welcome back!

Hello students! Welcome back from your Chuseok holiday. I hope you had a great and relaxing time with family. 


Over the Chuseok holiday, I went camping and hiking at Palgongsan with my son, my friend and my friend's daughter. What did you do?

Today in both my ECI and ECA classes, we will mingle, write rough drafts and start unit 6 in our Listening and Speaking books. We will also watch an interview with a famous Korean!

Bring your outlines from last week, notebooks, pens and  Listening and Speaking books.

See you soon!

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Greetings ECI students!

Hello my handsome, beautiful and lovely ECI students! It was a pleasure meeting you yesterday. Thanks to all of my proxies who represented me well. I hope by the end of the semester we can know each other well enough that it will be easy to answer questions about each other.

 
I was born in 1978..this ^^^ was the biggest hit that year. 

 The most important things to remember from yesterday: Come to class, be prepared, relax and speak English. If you do these things you should get a good grade in my class.

Also, get a gmail account and connect with me on Facebook. It will be easier to stay connected this way. Our writing assignments will be turned in via Google Drive.

Tomorrow, we are going to review paragraph structure and try to get started on some new material in our books. Please bring all of your materials: books, notebook, pen!

Remember the paragraph's structure?

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

ECA-First Day

Hello my lovely and smart ECA students. I hope you are ready to start the new semester. I am very excited about seeing your faces twice a week. I think we are in for a great fall semester.

I love Indian food. What's your favorite food?

It was nice to get to know you today and to answer some of your random questions. My favorite might have been: "When did you buy your pants?" A very funny question!

On Friday, we will work primarily on a writing assignment. I want us to make sure we are ready to attack our writing assignments with vigor. Be prepared to think, speak, write and edit!

We will be outlining our thoughts for an opinion paragraph. I want us to pay particular attention to organizing our thoughts. Oftentimes, this is the most important part of essay writing. If your ideas are not organized, it will make your essay very difficult to understand. While the outline seems like an easy exercise, it is also an important exercise. We must take our time and carefully organize our ideas.

ummmmm.....hamburger.


See you Friday!

Monday, September 1, 2014

Welcome to the Fall 2014 semester!

Hello students!

My name is Whit Altizer and this is my classroom blog. As you can see below this is a blog where I post ramblings, extra credit assignments, thoughts on class and other information. This is a platform where you can ask questions, review or post your thoughts. I hope you find it helpful.

This summer I biked from Incheon to Busan with a friend. What did you do? Comment below!

As we prepare for an excellent class this semester, let's remember that studying English will prepare you to be an active world citizen. It can unlock doors in life, business, love and travel. Come to class ready to learn and improve as a person! I look forward to watching you grow.

To prepare for class please do the following:

1. Connect with me on Facebook: Whitney Altizer.

2. Get a gmail account: example: "smartstudent@gmail.com" and e-mail me at mrwhitteacher@gmail.com and say "Hi!".

3. Relax. Smile. Speak.

See you this week.



Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Dead Poet's Society Recap

I appreciated all of your discussion yesterday about Dead Poet's Society. I am especially impressed by all of your willingness to speak English all of the time. That is really amazing and I appreciate your challenging yourself to speak only in English when in my classroom. Great job!
Roger Ebert wanted to "throw up," but I wanted to cry. I'm a sucker for the dramatic.
Yesterday we talked a lot about Welton Academy, Mr. Keating and our feelings on the movie.

We found that there were many similarities between Welton Academy and Korean schools. Both have a strict atmosphere and place a lot of pressure on their students.

Most of us also really like Mr. Keating for his passion, progressive thinking and his compassion.

A lot of us really liked the movie because it was interesting and inspirational.

Interestingly, we read a movie review that felt the opposite. Roger Ebert said he was "so moved, I wanted to throw up." And "the story is also old stuff, recycled.." He found Dead Poet's Society to be unoriginal and disingenuous.

That is the beauty of movies. You might love it, someone else might hate it. We're all entitled to our opinions!

Thanks for joining in the conversation.

Remember: We will discuss Little Miss Sunshine in the next class at 1PM on Monday! ;)




Thursday, July 3, 2014

Dead Poet's Society Review

Have you watched Dead Poet's Society yet? Me neither. But I have plans to re-watch it this weekend after not seeing it for years.



I went back in the news archives and found this old movie review by one of America's most famous movie critics, Roger Ebert. Take a look here. Does he like it or not? Why? After you watch the movie, read it again. Do you agree with him or disagree? Why or why not?
Roger Ebert started as a print journalist, but then became famous on television for his movie-review show. 
Movies are great because we all have a different experience when we watch them. We also relate to them on different levels.

So think hard about how you felt during this movie. What was your experience? How did you relate to it? Or did you?

Happy watching!  

Tuesday, July 1, 2014

Welcome to Movie and Drama class!

Hello class!

So we have the unique pleasure to enjoy and discuss films and television shows with each other for the next 5 weeks. I want us to take advantage of that opportunity and enjoy it!
It has been years since I've watched this movie. It is one of my all-time favorites. I hope you enjoy it too.

Think of this class as a movie club with your friends where anything you say will be heard and respected. Do not be afraid to speak your mind in my classroom. Most importantly do not be afraid to make mistakes. Learning a new language is about making mistakes. All of you are speaking English as your second language, mistakes are inevitable. Do not worry! I will always be proud of you for trying!

Remember that this week we will watch Dead Poet's Society at home and discuss it next Monday in class (June 7). I ask that you try to write a brief synopsis of the movie and prepare yourself for the questions at the end of the worksheet. Be sure to find some words or phrases that you do not understand from the movie. Finally, prepare a question or two that you think will create a class discussion.

If that seems too hard, just decide if you liked the movie or didn't like it and tell us why.

This class is to help you learn and enjoy learning English. How much you learn and enjoy it is entirely up to you!

Comment below if you have any questions!

Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Final Exam Review

Hello class!

By now you should have a good idea of what to expect on your final exam. We have covered units 4 and 5 since our midterm exam and we have spent a lot of time discussing games and family.





SPEAKING




The best thing you can do for the speaking exam is study the speaking exam game we played on Monday. Many of those questions will help prepare you for the speaking exam. If you can comfortably speak for 2 minutes beginning with each question then you should do fine. Also, check the book, worksheets and your notes for any questions we have discussed over the last few weeks. Remember to not feel trapped by the topic. Let your conversation flow naturally.

LISTENING
If you look in the back of the listening book you will find a website called www.Qonlinepractice.com. If you register and use your access code you can do some listening exercises. Please let me know if you have any questions. We have done lots of listening over the semester, but doing more is always helpful.


WRITING
By now you should know the structure of the paragraph. Be sure to use this structure and use transition words and phrases at the beginning of each sentences. Try not to begin your sentences with "because" or "and." Also, make sure you feel comfortable writing a conclusion sentence without writing the exact same sentence as your topic sentence.



Good luck! Please ask me questions on Thursday if you don't know how to do something.




Tuesday, May 27, 2014

What does family mean to you?

For the past week we've been talking about family. We've watched "Modern Family" and we've talked about our own families. In America, family is loosely defined. We think of our nuclear family as family and our friends as family.

Family has a different definition for everyone. What I think is a family, you might not think is a family.

So what does "family" mean to you?



Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Creating a game

I loved the games you all invented. It was a lot of fun to see how creative you could get. I'm not sure which one was my favorite. They all seemed to follow the theme, "win or get hit in the head!"
"Roll a 3 or get hit in the head!"
The most important thing to remember from this class was how to explain how do to something. 

Think about these things. 

What is the object? 
What are the rules? 
What do you do first? 
Then? 
After that? 
Finally?

The object of the game should explain the overall gist. What do you do and how do you win?

The rules should explain any restrictions that the game has. 

Then the sequence should explain how to play the game. 

This formula can be used to explain lots of activities that follow a sequence. Cooking, building or performing an action. 

For example:

The object of this blog is to help you review for the exam. 
There are no specific rules for accessing this blog. You should just have a curiosity to learn.

First, go to www.whitsclassroomcommunity.blogspot.com
Then, find the blog that covers the class you want to review.
After that, read the blog and try to remember all of the points we talked about.
Finally, review your book or worksheets to help you get a full picture of the material.

This should help you prepare for the final exam!





Sunday, May 11, 2014

How do you play? -Monday preview

Hey class! 

I hope you had a nice weekend. I did. I relaxed on Saturday and took a day trip to Pohang on Sunday! It was fun.

As you know, we are talking about games in Unit 4. On Monday, you will be asked to make up a new game. So we will need to focus on imperatives and giving instructions. 

IMPERATIVES
Imperatives are sentences that start with the verb and give a sharp order. "Get me a drink." "Write this down." Sometimes it can sound quite rude, but it depends on the situation.  Check out this website to get some extra help on imperatives.  


INSTRUCTIONS
For giving instructions (or directions) think about using these words: 

Here are instructions on starting your own webpage.:

First, open a text editor or word processor.
Then. choose File > New to create a new, blank document.
Next. create the HTML content as explained in the rest of this book.
When you've done that, choose File > Save As.
In the dialog box that appears, choose Text Only (or ASCII) for the format.
Next, give the document the .htm or html extension.
Then. Choose the folder in which to save the Web page.
Finally. Click Save.

So be ready to do a lot of listening and speaking in class on Monday. 
First, we will warm up. 
Then, we will play a game. 
Next, we will do a listening activity.
Finally, we will create our own game.

See you Monday!


Friday, May 9, 2014

Etiquette!

Hey class! Thanks for a great (short) week. I need to catch up on my blog posts! This is one from Unit 3 about manners and etiquette. I wanted to put some of the common rules of etiquette in Korea.

Check out the list! Think about how you would write about Korean manners! What would be your topic sentence? What about your ideas and supporting examples? Conclusion?

Korea table etiquette can be very important. Especially when you are eating with elders!

What rules of etiquette do you follow?

Bowing.
Speaking respectfully.
Eating quietly.
Receiving things with both hands.
Turning away when taking a drink of alcohol.
Giving up your seat to elders or pregnant women.
Sitting up straight.
Avoiding eye contact (in some cultures you should maintain eye contact)
Opening the door for women.
Putting the toilet seat up when in use and putting it back down when you are done!

Why do you do these things?

For extra credit write a paragraph in correct format about: Why are manners important in Korea?



Monday, April 14, 2014

Midterm Review (Reflection and Preview)

So, last week we finished up Unit 3 on "Why are good manners important?" We then began our review for the midterm exam. Here are a few things that will help you prepare for the speaking and written exam.








SPEAKING EXAM
1. Prepare yourself to talk on a topic for 2 minutes. Our major themes have been: trends, colors and manners. Think specifically about how we have discussed these themes. Be prepared to discuss those themes with your partner.

2. Review all the chapters we have covered and find questions from the book. Look at all of the speaking prompts I have given you in class. Study those questions. Get comfortable talking for 2 full minutes!

WRITTEN EXAM
1. Remember, for the listening exam you should only write 1-5 words as your answer. Be sure to study ALL vocabulary words in the books. Be sure to see the vocabulary tree on Google + or Lecture Support (강의지원).

2. For the reading exam please remember to write full sentences. Such as "Where is Whit teacher from?-->Whit teacher is from America." Borrow from the question. DO NOT ONLY WRITE: America. You will not receive full points.

3. In the writing section you should be sure to INDENT, WRITE A TOPIC SENTENCE WITH 2 SUBTOPICS, and WRITE ABOUT THE SUBTOPICS.

For example:

Question: What do you like to do on the weekend?

              My favorite weekend activities are reading a book and hanging out with my family. I love to read books on the weekends. I enjoy sitting on my couch with tea and reading a novel. I also like to spend time with my family. We often go to the park or take a trip downtown for lunch. Weekends are wonderful because I have time to do things I love to do. 

Did you notice I indented? Mentioned two subtopics? And wrote only about those subtopics? Do the same thing!

Okay class! Make me proud! You have tried very hard so far this semester. Put all that practice and hard work to the test!

화이팅!!!!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Capitalize, Punctuate and Linking Ideas

Today we will be talking about our upcoming weekends, giving advice, checking homework and preparing for our written exam. 
We also need to look deeper into our writing. We will build on our topic sentence and create a short paragraph. We will also look at punctuation, capitalization and conjunctions.

Please see below to prepare yourself for these 3 skills that you might be familiar with, but need a review. This will help! 

Conjunctions: (but, and, so, or, etc):
use a comma before the word.

Transition Phrases: (However, In addition, Therefore): use a period before the word

Capitalization:

Capitalize the first word of every sentence, proper nouns and 'I.'

Conjunctions (but, and, so, or, etc): lower case or not capitalized

Transition Phrases: (However, In addition, Therefore): upper case or capitalized

Common Connectors (Linking words and phrases)

If you are starting a sentence with the following words, consider putting a comma (not a period) before it, or use the words/phrases that follow after the period:

And:
Also,…
In addition,…
As well as this,…
Besides this,
Moreover,

Similarly,…
Furthermore,
Likewise,…

But:
However,…
On the other hand,
In contrast,…
Rather,…
Despite this, …
Nonetheless,…

So:
As a result, …
Therefore,…
Consequently,…
In this/that case,…

Because: (some don’t use commas)
Because of this,…
Due to this,…

This causes…
The reason why…
That’s because…