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Sunday, December 15, 2013
Friday, November 15, 2013
Sunday, October 27, 2013
Vidiomas 2013
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Four by Four
Express your ideas and opinions on a variety of topics. Choose any four of the following (unconnected) topics and blog four sentence paragraphs on each. Then make a point to comment on four of your classmates.
GENERALLY SPEAKING... (variation on above)Start with a statement, "Generally speaking,..." Give three reasons (complete sentences) to back up your statement, so you have four-sentence paragraphs. Repeat three times and blog. Then, comment on four peers and agree or disagree.
| Family | Personality | Sports |
| Music | Clothes | Animals |
| School | Vacations | Health and diet |
| Time | Town and cities | Movies |
GENERALLY SPEAKING... (variation on above)Start with a statement, "Generally speaking,..." Give three reasons (complete sentences) to back up your statement, so you have four-sentence paragraphs. Repeat three times and blog. Then, comment on four peers and agree or disagree.
Describing a Personal Experience
Write about a small or great kindness that happened in your life. Write 200-300 words. Use the paragraph plan below to help you.
Don't forget to include structures that add emphasis, such as cleft sentences, negative inversion, and perhaps an emphatic did, and do your best as this piece should be included in your portfolio.
| Paragraph 1: | Set the scene for the story. Remember to grab the reader’s attention at the beginning. Describe the surroundings or the situation, but don’t give them all the facts at once. |
| Paragraphs 2-3: | Describe what happened. What were you doing? Were you alone? Why did you need help? How did you feel? Whom did you meet? How did they help you? |
| Paragraph 4: | What happened in the end? Did you learn anything from the experience? |
Don't forget to include structures that add emphasis, such as cleft sentences, negative inversion, and perhaps an emphatic did, and do your best as this piece should be included in your portfolio.
Arguing Your Case - For and Against
Write an introduction, the pros, the cons, and your conclusion (about 250 words) on one of the following topics:
- The cell phone
- Traveling the world in your 20s
- Adult children living at home
| The plusses of my topic are... First... Second... Then there's... Finally, ... | The minuses of my topic are Above all, ... But there is also... Then again... In conclusion, ... |
Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Looking for Words of Wisdom
Why and when did they say what they said? Are their words still relevant today? What do they mean, if anything, in your own life? Blog it, please.
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Where Are Those Blogs?
While most of the students have set up blogs here on Blogger, there are still quite a few that are hiding from view. I wonder what they are blogging...hmmm. All blogs should appear in the list -->
with most recent postings up on top. So, if you don't have a blog, please create one, and if you already have one, but it has been several weeks since you've posted, please write something.
Thank you.
with most recent postings up on top. So, if you don't have a blog, please create one, and if you already have one, but it has been several weeks since you've posted, please write something.
Thank you.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Where Are Those Videos?
We're down to the wire, and I've seen very few videos for Vidiomas. Less homework than before. What's happening here?
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Oy, What a Quiz!
It was a quiz about Future Forms and it turned out badly. What are we going to do about it? Maybe if everyone visited their friends' blogs and left comments, we could raise a few points.
Tell me what you're thinking.
Tell me what you're thinking.
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
callow, defunct, infant, and white
He’s gone from this venue, but not defunct. He left some notes behind; musical notes, rather than the kind you’d find on little pieces of paper. You’ll hear them in the air, solitary, lingering at night on the beach. But please don’t go alone.
Featherless, unfledged, this callow bird took to the sky before he’d been weaned—like an infant, after hesitating first steps, being forced out the door to go to work as an adult—unsure, fearing to stumble, but determined to succeed; therefore earning the right of return, not as a babe in white, but wearing yellow and smiling.
Push, recall, and cheer; ponder your own success, but please don’t do it alone.
Featherless, unfledged, this callow bird took to the sky before he’d been weaned—like an infant, after hesitating first steps, being forced out the door to go to work as an adult—unsure, fearing to stumble, but determined to succeed; therefore earning the right of return, not as a babe in white, but wearing yellow and smiling.
Push, recall, and cheer; ponder your own success, but please don’t do it alone.
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Mama’s mustache reminded me of...
the little twirler over the lip of Pat, my first lover. He was Native-American and had trouble growing any kind of facial hair. I should say up front Mama was not my mother, nor anyone’s really, though he acted like a mother to all of us, the destitute, the disgruntled, the disenfranchised. We’d come to the city, some of the younger ones from broken homes beyond the Palisades, some of the older ones having lost a partner to the scourge or from mere wanderlust, and a few, very few, simply looking for a new playing field. Mama’s reputation was legend. Once he took a shine to you, he’d be there for mral support forever. That funny little mustache always supplied a spot of humor, except when it didn’t—when it reminded you of one you’d dearly loved and lost.
Monday, August 5, 2013
There was a drunk in the men’s room stall...
and he was singing in a low voice, “Ninety-six bottles of beer on the wall…” slurring rather. Not knowing how long he’d been on his throne, I couldn’t tell if he’d just recently begun or couldn’t, in his condition, get through the nineties.
His singing disturbed my concentration and dried up my stream. There were other things on my mind that might have the same effect, to be sure. I knew with the surgery I was soon to face, I shouldn’t even be in a bar, but then, I had no one waiting at home to provide consolation, and at least here, at the Dew Drop, there were lights and music, however dim and off-key. And Happy Hour was not to be taken lightly.
When the drunk stopped counting bottles and a thud sounding like a falling body followed, I thought to check if he was still seated upright but felt I had not enough self-constructed consolation to share.
His singing disturbed my concentration and dried up my stream. There were other things on my mind that might have the same effect, to be sure. I knew with the surgery I was soon to face, I shouldn’t even be in a bar, but then, I had no one waiting at home to provide consolation, and at least here, at the Dew Drop, there were lights and music, however dim and off-key. And Happy Hour was not to be taken lightly.
When the drunk stopped counting bottles and a thud sounding like a falling body followed, I thought to check if he was still seated upright but felt I had not enough self-constructed consolation to share.
Sunday, August 4, 2013
posthumous, nature, depth, and plumb
Did he really write so seriously and reach the depth of feeling for which he has been credited? Was he a poseur? Another Proust wannabe, or Fitzgerald plumbing for the reasons behind a Gatsby-like obsession; going for the posthumous ble ribbon? He was sensitive to the vicissitudes of the hard scrabble life as well as to that of privilege, but it was not in his nature to be consistent, certainly not for the length of a novel.
I believe faithful Tess had a hand in all his most acclaimed work and were it not for her contributions, we would not be sitting here talking about him. What does Carveresque mean anyway—that one has a tendency to cut away all the meat?
I believe faithful Tess had a hand in all his most acclaimed work and were it not for her contributions, we would not be sitting here talking about him. What does Carveresque mean anyway—that one has a tendency to cut away all the meat?
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