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?

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!

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.

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! ;)

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!  

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!

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.