9/29/08

Short exercise on Do/Does/Doesn't. Students interviewed each other, and responded in a whole class format. 

Small groups discussions of chapter 10 and 11 of La Línea. 

Homework: 

Read CR3 P 51 through 53

Read La Línea Chapter 12.

9/22/08

CR3 Quiz

1. What is one way that Meri Nana-ama Danquah tries to change her identity?

2. What marks* Meri as African and Not African- American?

*"marks" means made to feel or look a certain way. 

3. Define: Nostalgia

4. What does her daughter teach or show her?

5.  Respond to the passage "My Life as an Alien": try to write a paragraph.

Whole Class: Discussion of Quiz answers and the reading.

Return and Discussion of Linea Chapter 1-9 Test. 

From students own journals, students chose 3-4 vocabulary words, wrote them on the board and the whole class corrected spelling, eliminated some words and changed others to their root forms. This vocabulary list will be used for future exercises and quiz.

Homework:

1 day extension: Journals due on 9/29/08

Read Chapter 11 of La Línea.

9/22/08

Test on Chapters 1-9

Discussion of Hours by Arrangement including displaying the assignments turned in so far. 

Hours by Arrangement Link: http://elt.heinle.com

Students in pairs discussed some examples of Summaries and Responses necessary for the Hours by Arrangement assignments. 

Whole class discussion of the first part of "Life as an Alien"

Homework:

Read all of "Life as an Alien" (to page 42) and 

Remember to write in your journal. Journals are due on Wednesday, 9/24/08

9/17/08

Students worked in pairs to discuss chapter 9. They were asked to work together to write a paragraph to explain all Miguel's emotions by the end of his going-away party. 

The whole class reported out the various emotions that he was feeling. I wrote a chart of the emotions as Noun and as Adjective. Two groups volunteered to read their paragraphs. 

Same pairs then discussed the 3 or 4 most important events that have happened since the beginning of the novel. They built a list and then had to agree on a topic sentence for a paragraph. 

As a whole class we built a list and then decided on the most important events (and grouped some events together): the letter asking him to come, confronting his sister, learning from Don Clemente that he could have gone earlier, and realizing the danger of his trip. 

Students than read Chapter 10 and had to answer the following questions:

- What does Miguel see in the mirror (big picture)

- Where is Elena?

- What does his Abuela give him?

 

Homework: Read CR3 pages 35-39

Review Chapters 1-9- fill in Journal. 

9/15/08

Class began with the Question:

When and where do you find time to read? As a whole class we practiced the bubble/brainstorm technique to pull out and connect ideas. As a whole class we constructed one possible paragraph to answer the above question.

Hand back of Quiz #2 on Chapter 7. Students also received two copies of good paragraphs and the edits that they required. Students asked to read both and pick one and rewrite it. 

Whole class discussion of CR3 P 23 and 29. Students read and constructed a Paragraph using the excersises on pg 31 and 32. 

Homework P 9 and 10 of La línea work sheets

So, yes, read chapter nine of la línea. 

We had a quiz on CR3 pages 14 through 19:

Name one thing the dominant group did in 15th Century Spain

Do Sociologist care about the race of Biology? Why or Why not?

What are two Characteristics of a Minority Group?

Write a paragraph: what did you learn from the CR3 reading?

We then discussed the reading including pair groups on the subject of Melting Pot vs Salad Bowl.

Whole class: we listed adjectives to describe Elena.

4 Groups discussed and listed adjectives for Abuelita, Lalo/Chuy, Don Clemente, Juanito

Home work: Read Chapter 8 of la Línea.

Home work: Read and answer questions in CR3 Page 23, 29- 31 (all). Preview and Practice exercise 15 on Page 34

9/8/08

Here is a Summary of what we went over in class today. 

I showed students more specifics about how to do their "Hours by Arrangement" assignments. In assignment #1 for example the trick is that after going to the Census link the student choose what to read. The "Summaries" be in any form (bullets, incomplete sentences) but the "Responses" should always be in the form of a paragraph. We practices examples of generic or standard introductory sentences. 

We had pair discussions of chapter 5 and 6 (Refer to pages 9 and 10 of the La Línea worksheets).

We also discussed pages 10-13 of CR3 (College Reading 3) and a practice quiz. Make sure you understand what sociologists mean when they talk about "dominant groups."

Homework is to read all of CR3 chapter 1 #2 (pages 14 through 19). Make sure you understand the vocabulary. Also Read Chapter 7 of La Línea. 

See you all Wednesday. 

Attendance was 70 percent.  Attending every class is important.