Syllabus | Schedule | Tronclass
NEN10801 English Reading
Th 6:25-8:20, Rm R0402
Intensive Reading
Articles for intensive reading this semester are posted on Tronclass. Please print them out and read carefully two or three times before class. Weekly quiz questions will mostly be related to these articles and short stories.
Extensive Reading and Reading Journal
Extensive reading in English for this semester will be chosen by yourself. Read on your own and record your reading in your English reading journal. You can choose any book you like whether novel or non-fiction. I have a few books you can choose from if you want to borrow one of mine. Otherwise, you can find your own.
Reading Journal.
- Write in your journal once or twice a week from 50-100 words each time.
- Before each entry, write the date and which pages you read since your last entry.
- First entry: Tell the name of your book, what it is about and why you chose it. Also tell how many pages it has and how many pages you plan to read each week. When you finish this book, do it again with each new book you choose.
- All other entries: Simply tell what happens, what you learned, or what you found interesting related to what you read,
Reading Responses
Purpose: These responses help you to develop your ability to think critically and explain and defend your own ideas in English.
How we write can help us better understand how we read. The acts of reading and writing support each other. Each writing assignment should be about one page, double-spaced (around 300-400 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 2.5cm margins around the page. See the format page for more details.
Each paper should have one clear 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 and spelling mistakes 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 and/or classmates 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.
Reading response 1: How do you feel about your English reading?
Write about how you feel about English reading. How easy or difficult do you find it? What do you enjoy or not enjoy about it? What are some things you have read that you enjoyed or did not enjoy? Why? What goals do you have for your English reading? You can write about some of these questions or other ideas that occur to you as long as you are writing your own ideas about English reading.
- Remember that it is better to go into more detail about a few interesting points than to make many points but say little about each one.
- Remember to give your paper an interesting title.
- Remember to read all instructions above and to format your paper properly.
Purpose: I want you to think about your own feelings about reading in English? When you understand your own feelings, ideas, and goals, that will help you improve more quickly.
Reading Responses 2, 3, and 4
These are exactly the same as last semester: Share your own idea about something you read. You need to write four reading responses this semester. Each response is related to one thing you read for this class. It can be a lesson from the textbook or a part of your extensive reading. Do not write a summary. Simply focus on one main idea you have about the selection you choose to write about and then explain your idea using details or quotes from the reading. Here are a few ideas
- Describe how easy or difficult the passage was for you to read.
- Tell why you liked or didn’t like a particular article or passage.
- Tell about something you strongly agree or disagree with from the passage.
- Tell how you relate to the passage and why.
- Tell how the passage is similar to something else you read or heard and explain.
Be sure to clearly tell what article, story, or book you are responding to.
Read-a-Round
Bring an interesting article or short story to class to share with others.
Purpose: To think about the kinds of reading you enjoy and other classmates enjoy.
- This article must be in English only (no Chinese)
- It should be around 1,000 words (no less 600 and probably not more than 1,200)
- It can be about any topic you think would be interesting for other class students.
- It must be brought to class on paper (not electronically) .
- Everyone will choose another one or two articles at random from other students to read in class.