HW for Monday, Nov. 28th and Tuesday, Nov. 29th

Monday's HW:
1. Cause-effect draft #1
*please email me questions if you have them.

Tuesday's HW:
1. Compare-contrast Essay Final Portfolio

Journal #10 (Week 13)

Hi!
This is our second to last journal question, so make sure to write as much as you can!

This week's question is from Satsuki. Here is the question:

What is your most precious experience in your life?

I look forward to reading your responses.

Happy writing!

Josh

HW for Monday, Nov. 21st

1. Journal #10 (blog)
2. Cause-effect outline (Monday)
3. Two outside sources for Cause-effect Essay
4. Ex. 12 (p. 200) (collected)

HW for Thursday, Nov. 17th

1. Writing a good "Hook" Practice Website. Click Here to practice identifying and studying good hooks for your introduction.

2. Compare-Contrast Essay, Draft 2 (email it to me if you like!)

3. Cause-Effect Essay Topic (first side of handout from class).

HW for Monday, Nov. 14th

1. Run-on Sentence Practice
Run-on Sentence Review
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
2. Comma Splice Practice
Comma Splice Review
Exercise 1
Exercise 2
3. Ex. 11 (p. 125)
4. Ex. 36 (p. 223)

HW for Thursday, Nov. 10th

1. Compare-Contrast Essay Draft #1
2. Ex. 2 (p. 114)
3. Ex. 18 (p. 206) (collected)
4. Read p. 207 (correlative conjunctions)

Journal #10 (week 11)

Hi!

Thanks to those of you who have responded to last week's question.

This week's question is from Yu. Here it is:

Is having a career important for you? Why or why not?

Have a good weekend.

Happy writing!

HW for Monday, Nov. 7th

1. Compare-Contrast Outline (handout)
2. Ex. 9 (p. 123) (collected)
3. Journal #9 (see blog post above)

HW for Thursday, Nov. 3rd

1. Ex. 1 (p. 113)
2. Ex. 5 (p. 117)
3. Choose a Compare-Contrast Topic (p. 118)
4. Complete Connecting Words Handout (from class)
5. Ex. 8 (p. 121-122)

Journal #9 (Week 10)

Hi Students,

Click on comments below for this week's question.

Thanks!

Enjoy the weekend.

Josh

HW for Monday, Oct. 31st and Tuesday, Nov. 1st

Monday's HW:
1. Bring questions about Paragraph 3, Draft 3
2. Ex. 8 (#5-6) (P. 167)(collected)
3. Ex. 9 (choose 2) (p. 167)(collected)
-Write thesis statements with specific controlling ideas.

Tuesday's HW:
1. Ex. 55 (p. 238)
2. Paragraph 3, Draft 3 Portfolio
3. Read Article (letters) (p. 111-112) + Answer Questions 1-8 (p. 112-113)

HW for Thursday, Oct. 27th

1. Ex. 8, #1-4 (p. 167)
-rewrite as thesis statements with specific controlling ideas (including main points)

HW for Tuesday, Oct. 24th

1. Draft #2 (email it to me please!!!!)

Journal #8 (Week 9)

Hi!
While putting together the mid-term grades, I re-read your previous journal responses. There were tons of insightful comments,and the diversity of responses was exactly what I had hoped for. Keep up the good work!

This week's question is from Ramadan; here it is:

WHO IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON HAVE YOU EVER KNOWN?AND WHY?

Happy writing!

Journal #7 (Week 8)

Hi!

Please take the time to read some of the responses that students posted for last week's questions. This week's question is from Tastuya, and the topic is a little similar to last week's question in that it has to do with your future. However, this time, the question is not about your personal life but rather your professional life. Here is the question:

What's your dream of future?
What do you want to be/do in future?

Happy writing!

Josh

HW for Monday, Oct. 17th

1. Paragraph 3, Draft 1 (Analyzing Reasons Paragraph)
2. Journal #7 (see blog post above)
3. Present Perfect Handout, Part 2 (Tuesday)
4. Read p. 235 (top)(Tuesday)

HW for Thursday, Oct. 13th

1. Ex. 9 (p. 82)
2. Groupwork: Add connecting words to in-class paragraphs; email paragraphs to me by Thursday.

Journal #6 (Week 7)

Hi!

Last week's question generated some interesting and varied responses. I enjoyed seeing that everyone was able to express their sometimes differing persectives in such a respectful and objective way. Nice work!

This week's question is also an interesting personal question. Here is Shiki's question:

Do you want to get married in the future?
Why or why not?

Happy writing and enjoy the weekend (despite the weather)!

Josh

Here are student responses:

Leslie's Response:

I don’t yearn for the wedlock due to two reasons. First, it is economy pressure, once you have marriage with someone. You have to buy a new house to live. But in my country, it is not easy to purchase a new apartment due to low pay. Generally speaking, the annual salary of teen is $14,400. People should save the money for forty years to afford their home because the property in the center is becoming more expensive. Besides, once you have a babe before marriage. Raising the baby is one of the most expensive things. According to the statistics from the center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion (2010), the report indicated that if you want to raise one, you should have the bundle of money on hand, because you will spend an enormous $222,360 to raise a second child born in 2009 through age 17, but the typical families make from $56,670 to $98,120 per year. Second, I enjoy the single life. I would like to the freedom in my whole life. The marriage is legal contract between two people. If I got marry, I have a responsibility as a father or husband very seriously. I have to give up the leisure time to take care of my family. For instance, I need to do some overtime or work the graveyard shift to make some extra money. I think it is a terrifying nightmare for me. I don’t want to this kind of life in my lifestyle. In short, the marriage life is not suiting me. I look forward to having liberty and achieving financial freedom in the future.

Lino, Mark. (2010). Expenditures on Children by Families, 2009. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion. Miscellaneous Publication No. 1528-2009.


Yu's Response:
I want to get married in the future because it's one of my dream. I like children, so I want to have them. However I think it is not necessary for me to do it. I want to do my best anytime in my life. When I get married someome and have children, I don't want to stop to my job for it. I have another dream. I want to be a career woman and succeed in my job in the future. If I give up to work and I knoe I regret. I want to manege to work and keep house. It is hard for me to choice job or marrige.

Shiki's Response
I really want to get married in the future. There are three reasons for it. First, I do not want to die alone. When I will be on my deathbed, I will be happy if I am surrounded by my family such as my husband and children. If my husband’s death is earlier than mine, I’m sure my children will be with me. Second reason is that I really want to have my children. I would like to raise my children as my parents brought up me. I would like my children to experience various things such as playing the piano, swimming, dancing, playing sports or etc. In addition, I think they will be able to find things that they are good at through these experiences. Besides, I would like to take my children to a lot of places because I think it is important to see many places and to talk with a lot of people. Through these experiences, they will be able to understand that there are a lot of beautiful places in the world and many people who have various personalities. Finally, I really want to stay with the person I love very much. I think I will be able to live happily with my husband because we will be able to encourage each other when we will be disappointed. Moreover, we will be aim same or almost same goal together, and we will be able to help each other when we will face something difficult. However, I would like to say strongly that I also want to do what I really want to do. I want to work and achieve something I can be proud of, because I think my life is only one time and very precious things. Therefore, I would like to get marry when I will be 27 or 28 years old.


Satsuki's Response:
I want to get married in the future, because I want to spend my life with the person who I really love and I want to get child in the future. Firstly, I want to get job in the future before get married. To work is very important for me, because I am studying now to get job in the future and I want to work that I am interested in or only for me. Also, working is very important to get money for me and family in the future, so I want to get married after worked. I love my family and thankful to my parents, so I want to make family like my family and I want to be a parent like my parents. Then, I want to get child and I want my child to do anything that I couldn’t do that. Also, I want my parents to see my child in the future. When I meet with my grandparents, they are very kind and taught many things for me. I like the time that I can see my grandparents, so I want my parents to see my child of future. If I can do, I want to continue to work after get married. Someone thinks all man (husband) have to work for family. Generally, wife is do housework at house, and husband is work for family, but I want to continue working after get married. I don’t think that wife has to do house work and only husband has to work for family, so I think working both wife and husband is good. Therefore, if I can get married, I can spend my life with the person who I really love, get child and I can continue to work or things that I am interested in. So, I want to get married.

HW for Monday, Oct. 10th and Tuesday, Oct. 11th

Monday, Oct. 10th
1. Journal #6 (see blog post above)
2. Read p. 85 (outlines)
3. Read p. 86 (topics--#1 under Prewriting)
4. Bring narrative draft 2 grammar questions

Tuesday, Oct. 11th
1. Final Narrative Portfolio (including draft 1, 2, and final draft)
2. Ex. 7 (p. 81)
3. Outline (for paragraph 3)

HW for Thursday, Oct. 6th

1. Ex. 2 (p. 74)
2. Read Connecting Words (p. 79-80)

Journal #5 (Week 6)

Hi!

Here are the questions presented to me by Shogo.

Do you have religion? Decribe it.
Do you think people need religion? Why or why not?

Please write as much as you can in response to these questions. Also, because this is a somewhat more personal topic, it's important that we remember to respect everyone's views.

I look forward to reading your responses.

Have a good weekend!


Shiki's Response:
I believe in a kind of Buddhism, but I don’t know well about it. It is because generally, I have not used it. My family and I use it only when we perform a funeral, wedding ceremony or new year’s days. I think in my country, Japan, most people are in almost same situation as me. For example, on new year’s day, most Japanese people go to shrine or temple to pray to god. While we pray, we say appreciation or some wish to god. When my family performed a funeral for grandmother, we invited a specific priest who believes our religion and, he said a sutra. In addition to that, we had to wear black clothes and have only vegetables and law fishes for one week. My grandmother and grandfather believed their religion more than me. There is a household Buddhist altar in their house. Furthermore, they clean it and pray to god in front of it almost every day. I think the people who believe religions come to reduce gradually. But I don’t know its reason. In my opinion, people need religion but, it is not good to depend it strongly because probably, we want to need the power we cannot see when we get into difficulties. I usually pray to god when there is nothing I can about something. For example I pray to god just before I take a very important exam. However, there were a lot of wars all over the world because of the people who believed their religion strongly. I think such people came to be blind through they depended on their religions. Religions sometimes help us but, sometimes they cause a big war or problem. Therefore, it is the most important thing to respect other religions and not to depend on one religion hard.

Yu's Response:
I think it is the hard question. I don't have religion, but I believe the god. Many people have the same idea in Japan, and sametimes it is regarded as unusually thing. For exsample, the man has the religion, and he has mental illness and needs to be able to believe something. We think so. But I think therefore it is needed by people. Sometimes it can support people. If we don't believe anything, we can't keep usually our mind. I don't know what is about religion so much,so I can't say anything. But I think we can choice we have religion or just believe the god.

Satsuki's Response:
Honestly, I don’t believe religion. I think religion is important in the world, but not necessary thing for people. I think religion is connecting many things. When I was high school student, my school is Christian, so I used to worship every Monday at school. A preacher always did preach for us and we sung a hymn. This is not interested for me, but there were many things to study. Religion has some rules, some rules are strict and some rules are important or pleasant. I can’t understand well about these rules. It means not criticism for religion, but believing religion is difficult for me. In Japan, there are many people who are an unbeliever, but there are many events that connecting to religion. For example, most Japanese people aren’t Christian, but they are celebrating it on Christmas day. It becomes habitual event in Japan now, but usually almost all Japanese don’t think about Christian. Also, Japanese people who are an unbeliever always go to shrine or temple to worship for the gods and Buddha. I don’t know what is right about religion, but I think people should have jointly that important, pleasant thing of religion.

Shogo's Response:
I may be not more religious than others, but I am a Buddhist. I went Buddhist temples when these are traditional times to visit Buddhist temple, like the New Year in January, an annual visit to our family burial site in August, or memorial service, for example. And I visit the temples to enjoy the beauty I find there. I think that religions are not needed for people, but if you think that it is need, it is need. For me, it is not important that I have a religion. Actually, most Japanese don’t have it, they are not more religious. I ‘m not pretty positive, one of the reasons, we have a big rate of suicide. Sometimes, religions make sadness like war, but it makes happy like excusing. I mean that it depends on their selves that the a religion is need or not.

Homework for Monday, Oct. 3rd

1. Narrative Paragraph Draft 2
2. Ex. 3, p. 75-76
3. Journal #5 (see question on blog)

HW for Thursday, Sept. 29th

1. Reading (p. 71-72) + Reading Questions 1-5 (p. 72)
2. Ex. 1 (p. 73)
3. Ex. 10 (p. 40)
4. Connecting Words Handout from class
-complete and chewck (p. 40-41)

Journal #4 (Week 5)

Hi!

This week's question marks that start of responding to topics chosen by you, the students! Salim has volunteered to come up with this week's question; next week I'll ask another student to do the same. Hopefully, everyone will get the chance to ask a question that they would like to present to the class.

Just a reminder: try to write as much as you can in response to each question. The more thoughts you provide, the more interesting and unique your response will be.

Here is Salim's question:

While living here in Missoula, what is the one thing from your country that you miss the most? Please explain your answer fully. Provide any details you can in your response.

If you would like to read about what I missed when I was in South Korea, please feel free to check out my response below.

Thanks for writing!

Have a good weekend!

Josh


Josh's Response:

When I was in South Korea, there really wasn't much that I missed. I mean, I was able to fish every week, I had good friends (both Korean and foreigners), the food was great, I loved my job, and in general, life was good. Of course I missed my family (especially my mother) and my good friends back in the States. Family aside, the one one thing that I really missed (this is going to sound sooo American) was............pizza! That's right. While I thoroughly enjoyed the variety of cuisine that Korea had to offer (great food!!!), about once a week after eating Korean food for lunch and dinner every day, I would really "pine" for a nice, cheesy pizza pie.
Now, I'm not saying that there wasn't any pizza in Korea. To the contrary: every country I've visited (close to 20 now) has had pizza in some shape or form. The problem was that Korean pizza just didn't taste like pizza. To be exact, the sauces were strangely sweet, the toppings were eclectic but not in a good way (squid? on pizza?), "stuffed crust" meant stuffed with sweet potato, not cheese, and there always seemed to be something in the sauce that just wasn't right. I even went to old pizza standbys like Pizza Hut and Papa John's but to no avail. Even in these "American" restaurants, the pizza had been thoroughly Koreanized.
I was at a loss, and my longing for a margharita with just the basics (red sauce, mozzerella, and basil) grew to point where I made it my mission to find the right slice to satiate my need.
One day while wandering the many back streets of Andong, where we lived, I ran across an inconspicuous pizza stand whose sole advertisement was a picture of a slice of pizza on a white sign. I asked the woman working the stand if she indeed made pizza and she nodded "yes." As I watched her throw together a simple mini-pizza, I made sure to ask her to leave out the corn and other odd toppings. After six minutes, my pie was done. One bite later, I knew that I had found my slice of Korean pizza heaven. It was delicious! Cheesy, saucy, and thoroughly "normal." In fact, I promptly ordered another pizza for the road. I thought to myself that my worries were over.
A week later, when I could no longer curb my pizza cravings, I went straight back to the little pizza stand with high hopes. To my dismay, the stand was closed, the sign was gone, and the litte woman was nowhere to be seen. Two weeks later? Nothing. For the rest of my stay in South Korea, I continued to miss my favorite American food. And even to this day I ask myself, "What happened to my simple little pizza stand with the nice woman who made such delicious pizza?"

HW for Monday, Sept. 26th and Tuesday, Sept. 27th

Monday, Sept. 26th
1. Short descriptive paragraph (handout--about a place from childhood)
2. Paragraph 1, Draft 1 (Narrative)
3. Journal #4 (blog)
Tuesday, Sept. 27th
1. Ex. 12 (p. 41-42)
2. Ex. 47 (p. 232)

HW for Thursday, Sept. 22th

Writing Homework
1. Ex. 2 (p. 31)
2. Write a topic sentence for you narrative paragraph.
3. Paragraph 1, Final draft portfolio (including draft 1, 2, and 3)

Grammar HW
1. Ex. 45, (p. 230-231) check answers (handout from Tues.)
2. Ex. 46 (p. 231)

Journal #3

Hi students,

Thank you for you interesting responses to last week's question. I love learning new things about other languages.

For this week's journal, I'd like you to think about a memory that you have of some significant historical, political, or social event. For example, you might write about an important election (I'll never forget the day Barack Obama was elected president). On another topic, I remember the night our football team (University of Nebraska) won the national championship--I almost cried! Maybe you remember the night you celebrated the millennium (2000). These are just a few examples. In your response, please describe the following: when, who was involved, what happened, how you felt, and the impact of this event (if any) on your life.

If you like, you can read my example response below.

Happy writing!

In 2008, I was living and teaching in South Korea, but I wasn't out of touch with the polical events of that important year. Every day I would skim news article on the Internet to find out what was happening between Barack Obama and John McCain. All through the summer and early fall, it seemed that the impossible might become reality: the U.S. would elect its first black president. For me, the excitment of that election season didn't have so much to do with the prospects of having a Democrat in the White House after 8 years of Republican rule (to be sure, I sort of liked both Obama and McCain). Rather, I began to realize that I was experiencing (albeit from overseas) a change in my country's political and historical history.

The day of the election is still as clear as can be in my mind. All of the English teachers gathered in the teacher's lounge of the language center and tuned in to CNN international (the only English station we could get). Soon the the results started pouring in. As we sat fixated on that red and blue screen (red for Republican, blue for Democrat), we couldn't believe it: Obama was dominating! Even after it seemed clear that Obama would win, my disbelief in how much my country had matured lingered--just 45 years ago, black people STILL couldn't vote in some states! Had we really come this far? Was it possible to leave our controversial history behind us and move on to an era when a person's character truly meant more than the color of his/her skin? I was hopeful but reluctant to believe that Americans would move past our racial past. Fortunately, my pessimism was unwarranted: by 11 am South Korean time (it was 10 pm or so in the U.S.!), the United States had a new president; and I had renewed faith in my fellow Americans.

HW for Monday, Sept. 19th and Tuesday, Sept. 20th

HW for Monday:
1. Choose narrative topic (p. 37-38)
2. Journal #3 (see next post!)

HW for Tuesday
1. Ex 3 (p. 32-33)
2. Part One on grammar handout from Thurs. (past tense)
3. Ex. 45 (p. 230 and 231)

HW for Thursday, Sept. 15th

1. Ex. 2 (p. 16, 17)
2. Ex. 1 (p. 31)
2. Reading (p. 29-30)+ Comprehension Questions 1-5 (p. 30)

Please don't forget to email me draft 2 by 3 pm tomorrow.

HW for Tuesday, Sept. 13th

1. Writing:
-Look at teacher's comments for draft 1; bring questions about comments.
-Optional: use the "Specific Supporting Details" handout to think of specific details for your paragraph.

2. Grammar
-Study for the grammar quiz (see handout from last week).

Quiz #1 Grammar Review

These activities are optional. I'm posting them so that you can review some of the more important grammar points we've covered so far this semester.

1. Clause Review
a. Exercise 1
b. Exercise 2

2. Subordinating and Coordinating Conjunction Review
a. Exercise 1
b. Exercise 2

Week 3 Journal Question

Hi students!

First, I'd like to say that I really enjoyed reading your responses to our first journal question. Nice job!

For this week's question, I'd like to stick to the topic of writing. I heard some students discussing punctuation in their first language, and that conversation gave me an idea for this week's question. To be exact, I'd like you to describe how writing in your langauge is similar to or different from writing in English. You don't need to write a long paragraph. Rather, you can focus on one aspect of writing in both languages; for example, you might discuss differences in punctuation, or you could talk about the alphabet. You could even talk about a particular difference causes confusion. There are many other possible ideas.

I look forward to reading your responses.

Have a good weekend!

Josh

HW for Wednesday, Sept. 7th and Thursday, Sept. 8th

HW for Wednesday, Sept. 7th
1. Write 3-4 main supporting ideas for your topic sentence. Email your supporting sentences to me by 3 pm.

HW for Thursday, Sept. 8th
1. Paragraph 1
2. Ex. 2, p. 6
2. Ex. 14-15 (p. 19)

HW for Tuesday, Sept. 6th

1. Journal #1 (post your response on the blog)
2. Read p. 10, "Support"
3. Do Ex. 7 (p. 11).

Have a good weekend!

HW for Friday, Sept. 2nd

Please email me your topic sentence by 1 pm, Friday.
You can email it to me at joshua.rosenberger@mso.umt.edu.

Thank you!

HW for Thursday, Sept. 1st

1. Word Families Vocabulary Handout (check your answer on p. 5-6 when finished)
2. Ex. 5+6 (p. 8-10)
3. Choose a specific paragraph topic: 1. brainstorm for your general topic 2. look at your ideas and choose a specific topic 3. bring your topic to class on Thursday.

Week 2 Journal Question

Hi!

Welcome to our first online journal question. I hope that you will use journaling as a way to express your ideas, opinions, and experiences with your teacher and other students. Please remember that your online journal reading responses are more informal than the paragraphs and essays we will write in class. However, it is important that you write complete sentences and express your ideas completely. I look forward to reading your journal entries. Happy writing!

Week 2 Question

How do you feel when you write in English? Why?

HW for Tuesday, August 30th

Hi!

1. Read WG 4 syllabus.
**There will be a short syllabus quiz tomorrow.