Hi everyone,

Wow!  There was so much to do in yesterday's class.  I can't believe how quickly three hours passed!

Opinion Giving and Discussion Leading:
We had a short review activity about the expressions for giving your opinion and for agreeing and disagreeing with opinions.  Make sure to support your opinion with a reason and/or example.  When you want to ask for somebody's opinion, you can use these expressions:
1.  What are your feelings on this?
2.  What do you think about this?

Group Discussions:
I was very impressed with your discussions yesterday, especially your preparation.  Most of you were able to give your summary without your notes!  Great work!  

However, remember these points to improve your discussions next week:

1. Make eye contact with your group members.
2. Speak loud enough to show that you are confident.
3. When you give your summary, make sure you pause and check your group's understanding.

Persuasion Essay:
For the writing section of our lesson, we learned about the purpose and structure of a persuasion essay.  

A persuasion essay gives the writer's opinion on a topic and the writer wants to convince the reader to support his/her position (either for or against something). 

We read a sample persuasion essay and identified the different parts.  Remember that we'll be learning about each part in more detail over the next few weeks.  All of the materials are in the Writing-->Persuasion Essay section on the website.  

Finally, we also brainstormed a variety of topics that you can choose from for your topic.  

Journal:
You exchanged journals with your writing partner.  You will keep your partner's journal this week and write 3 pages in your partner's journal:
a.  one page of comments on your partner's writing
b.  two pages on this week's new topic

Homework:
1.  Discussion preparation (see schedule)

• Remember to prepare vocabulary cards (see the handout after the blog question)

2.  Journal entry #2:  English learning experience
3.  Essay Structure Activity
4.  Choose essay topic
5.  Blog posting #2

Enjoy your week!

Blog Question #2:

Tell me about one of your childhood experience in your hometown (include the name of your hometown in your post).

* Write 8-10 sentences.
* Use capital letters, punctuation and spelling correctly.
*  Submit by Tuesday, April 23 by 6:00pm.

Hi everyone,

It was really great to meet all of you yesterday.  I'm really looking forward to our lessons this year. 

Syllabus and Schedule:
In the first period, we had a short introduction activity in which you got to meet your classmates.  We then went through the syllabus and our course schedule.  All of this information is in the IE 3 Course Information section. We have a lot of work to do this semester, so if you have any difficulties with our course, make sure you let me know so that I can help you. 

Discussion Worksheet:
We learned how to complete a discussion worksheet. You will have to download the worksheet and complete it before your discussion.  The discussion sheets are in the Discussion Skills section.  You can either type or write your worksheet.  There are also links to different English language newspaper sites in the Useful Links section. 

The power point presentation on How to Complete your Discussion worksheet is also in the Discussion Skills section if you need to review it while completing your worksheet.

Opinion Giving:
We had a short activity to help you learn some expressions for giving your opinion and for agreeing and disagreeing with opinions.  Make sure to support your opinion with a reason and/or example.  When you want to ask for somebody's opinion, you can use these expressions:
1.  What are your feelings on this?
2.  What do you think about this?

Homework:
1.  Journal entry #1 / Topic:  self-introduction
2.  Discussion Preparation 
3.  Blog Posting #1

Have a great weekend!

Blog Question #1:

What has been one of the most memorable experiences in your life? 

* Write 8-10 sentences.
* Use capital letters, punctuation and spelling correctly.
* Submit by Tuesday, April 16 by 6:00pm.