Freshman English Reading
BEN10802 英文閱讀 Ｂ組
104b (Spring 2016) Assignments
Reading Journal (top)
You will continue your own, very personalized reading journal this semester. This is a reflection journal of your own reading, not a class notebook. You should have another place for taking class notes.
Your journal includes a record of what you have read in English and thoughts, opinions, and ideas about what you have read. You are encouraged to decorate your notebook how you like and include drawings, pasted in pictures, etc. This is purely for your own ideas about your English reading.
Each week should include at least two entries (you can write more if you wish)
- Write the date for each entry. Write the title, page numbers, source, etc of what you read.
- For example. “March 5 Sunday. Curious Incident: pages 1-5”
- At least one entry each week must be related to reading for this class. .
- The other entry can be anything you want to write related to any English reading you have done during that week whether in this reading class or another class or on your own.
- You can write anything you want, but here are a few ideas
- Tell how you felt about an assigned reading in another class
- Attach a picture that relates to something you read and explain the relationship
- Agree or disagree with something you read
- Draw a picture or a diagram or family tree, etc. related to something you read.
Further ideas/questions for reading journal
- What did you like/dislike about a book/article/reading assignment?
- How was the reading difficulty? What made it easy or difficult?
- How does the reading relate to something in your life?
- How does the reading relate to something else you have read?
- How does the reading relate to something in the news?
- Would you recommend this reading to a friend? Who? Why? Why not?
- What new thing(s) did you learn from the reading?
- What new ideas or thoughts were inspired from the reading?
- How has your own English reading changed this year (ability, strategies, time, interest)?
- How do you read differently in English and Chinese?
- How is your English reading rate? How is it different for different kinds of reading?
- Do you want to improve your English reading rate? How will you try to do it?
- How have you worked on improving your English reading vocabulary?
- What has been the most enjoyable English reading you have done?
- What has been the most useful English reading you have done?
WRITING ASSIGNMENTS (top)
Each writing assignment should be one or two pages long, (400-500 words), and printed out on A4 size paper. Use a font that is easy to read. The font size should be 12. You should have one inch margins around the page. See the assignments page for more details.
Each paper should have one clear main idea. Underline the sentence or part of your paper that gives your main idea.
These papers should be carefully written. You should finish with enough time to proofread carefully. Plan to proofread at least twice for such items as verb tense and use of prepositions. I care more about your ideas than your grammar, but poor grammar makes it difficult to understand your ideas clearly.
Share your writing: I strongly believe that writing improves when you write about things you care about and when you share your writing with others. Of course, you will most likely share your writing with others if you write something you find interesting. I suggest you get friends or group members to read your papers. You can ask them for grammar help, or just see how they react to your ideas. Always think about new ideas for your writing and how to improve.
Paper 1: Your Semester Break Book (top)
Write a book review about the book you read over the semester break. This should include three parts.
- Write the author's name, book title, publisher, and publication date (if it's a reprinted book, be sure to include the original publication date. If you read an abridged version, indicate that as well).
- Write a short summary of the book (100-200 words).
- Write your own comments about the book (200-300 words). Be sure to cover areas such as reading difficulty, your own interest in the story, important ideas or themes, and the names and actions of important characters. I will post your book reviews to my website, so other/future students can read them, so think about other English department freshmen as your audience. Make your book review useful for them.
I will respond to your paper and grade it, then you will revise it further and e-mail it to me to post on the class website.
Paper 2: Advice about how to be a good reader (top)
Write advice to high school graduates telling them something about how to be a good reader. This should not be about how to prepare for high school reading tests.
By now, you have developed many ideas about English reading. What ideas have helped you the most? What has made a difference to make you a better reader? Be specific. Use good examples. Focus on one main idea rather than giving lots of helpful hints.
You can write about how to be a good reader in general, or you can focus on reading in English. You can choose a specific skill or technique that has been helpful to you. You can focus on reading for college classes, or reading on your own. You can focus on intensive or extensive reading. You can give information and advice about such topics as what to read, how to read, bad reading habits, reading skills, how to find good things to read, attitude, etc.
Whatever you choose, make sure you have a clear main idea and stay focused and relate this paper to something discussed in this class.
Purpose: What you write will be shared with freshmen next year. You have a chance to give practical advice that could really help others. You should also reflect on what has really helped you.
BOOK PRESENTATIONS (top)
Reading Group Presentation 1 (6-8 min.)
Each group will give one quick and concise presentation related to The Watsons Go to Birmingham--1963. Briefly Summarize your section (in one minute or less) and then focus on ideas, language, information, or background that could help your classmates to better understand what is happening in your section.
- Each group will review and be "reviewed" by another group.
- You must not go overtime
- Use visual aids such as PowerPoint, posters, handouts. If you use the computer, make sure it is set up before the beginning of class.
- All members must participate equally
- You must prepare well, so that you do not waste time on stage. Speak loudly and clearly and use a microphone if you wish.
- You can use drama, puppets, charts, songs, short video clips, or any other creative idea.
- Click here for the presentation critique form.
Your goal is to make this as entertaining and clear to your classmates as possible. Every classmate should be able to clearly know exactly what is happening throughout your presentation, and better understand the book afterward.
Your Group’s Book
In the second half of the semester, your group reads a book together.
- You will have a few minutes of each class to discuss your book with your group members.
- You will make a presentation to the class on the last day of class.
- Choose the book you will read before the spring break.
- You can choose any book, but each of you must read it all, so make sure you make a practical choice.
- Discuss ideas with Jonathan in the first half of the semester.
Each week you will have class time to talk about your book (TAYB).
- During the first week you will make the plan for the rest of your weeks.
- You will decide how many pages you will read each week and what section you will discuss, and you will determine the discussion leader for each week.
- Each week must have a leader to prepare for and guide the discussion.
- Use the handouts available in the moodle system to guide your discussions and help you prepare.
Group Book Presentation (15 min.)
- 15 minutes
- Prepare a handout for classmates and print enough for everyone.
- One page, neatly formatted
- Include at least one image
- Include a very short summary: just two or three sentences.
- Use charts, graphs, diagram of characters, time line or any other way to make it easy to understand
- You don't need to write in sentences or paragraphs
- During this presentation, you want your classmates to understand this book and you want to make them interested in reading it. In your presentation, you should introduce the book's background including information about the author and cultural context from which it comes. Use your handout to help you make the presentation. Your presentation should tell why it could be a good use of your classmate's time to read this book during their summer vacation. But be careful not to give away too much information and ruin the ending of the book for your classmates.
Read-a-Round
Bring an interesting article to class to share with others.
- This article must be in English only (no Chinese)
- It must be around 1,000 words (no less than 900 and no more than 1,500)
- It can be about any topic you think will be interesting for other class students.
- It can be printed out on A4 size paper or be in a magazine or newspaper (if there is no Chinese).
- Everyone will choose another one or two articles at random from other students to read in class.
(top)
|
