Jolly good! (And other such nonsense)

EC1 28/Sep/09

1. Today in class we ran through a basic revision of essay structure, then we looked at illustration essays.

2. Your homework for today is to finish the illustration essay draft you began in class. Bring your essay, plus eleven copies of it to the class on Wednesday. You also need to bring the first page of your paper copied onto OHP film/transparency.

3. The example in class is here: Download Public Health Dangers

ERS Section 1 28/Sep/09

Download Example illustration1. Today in class we looked at illustration essays. I wrote an example body paragraph on the board, and then you wrote one in a group in class. The example I did in class is here:

2. Your homework for today is to finish the essay you started in class. Print it, photocopy it onto OHP transparency, and bring it into class on Monday next week.

3. You also need to make sure that you buy a copy of the Advanced Grammar in Use book today, and bring it with you to the class on Wednesday.

PC4 23/Sep/09

Hi all, and welcome to PC4 L/S for this quarter. As all of you were in the class, I'm not going to repost all the information again. Everything I said was on the syllabus anyway. You should have taken a copy with you; if not, you can find one here: Download PC4 LS syllabus Q4 2009

You should have emailed me your topic already. You'll be getting a reply this evening. You're going to need an outline done by Wednesday next week.

EC1 23/Sep/09

Hi all, and welcome to EC1 for this term. Sorry about the cancellation on Monday--it couldn't be helped. I'm not going to repost everything that I talked about in the lesson. Some things (like the grading percentages) are still undecided anyway.

In the first lesson, I talked about the course structure, attendance, the uniform policy, and I got you to write an example essay for me. I'll be looking at those essays over the weekend.

Please don't forget about the uniform policy. I'm not kidding about it. Look down a few posts for an MUIC poster about the uniform. Follow what the poster says.

ERS Section 1 23/Sep/09

Hi all, and welcome to ERS for this quarter. All of you should be taking the course for the first time. If you're repeating, then you're in the wrong section and you need to move. Come and see me, and we'll arrange it. In the first lesson we went over grading, the course structure, the books you need, and the rules and regulations for the course. I'm not going to repost all that information here; you can find it in your students books on the first couple of pages. Don't forget: you need the Advanced Grammar in Use book for Monday next week.

Also, please don't forget what I said about uniform. I mean it. If you look down two posts, you'll see a poster about student uniform. Follow it.

Creative Writing 22/Sep/09

Hi all, and welcome to Creative Writing for this term. I'm not going to repost all the information I went through in the lesson--see me if you have any questions about the things I covered.

Don't forget: your homework for today is to find a short story, read it, and then think about the following:

Who are the characters in this story? What do they want? What problems do they have? What kind of person are they?

What happens in the story? What kind of problems do the characters deal with? How are the problems solved? (or maybe they're not solved. . . ) What happens at the end of the story? Why does the story end that way? Can you think of another ending that would work?

Where is this story set? When? Is it our world? Do you think the setting affects what happens or the characters in the story?

You don't need to bring this story into class with you next time, but you'll find next lesson more interesting if you spend some time thinking about the story you read for this lesson.

And don't forget the uniform. I'm not kidding about kicking you out if you haven't got it on. There's a poster underneath this message (in the ERS entry) that shows correct uniform.

ERS Section 8 22/Sep/09

Hi all, and welcome to ERS for this quarter. All of you should be taking the course for the first time. If you're repeating, then you're in the wrong section and you need to move. Come and see me, and we'll arrange it.

In the first lesson we went over grading, the course structure, the books you need, and the rules and regulations for the course. I'm not going to repost all that information here; you can find it in your students books on the first couple of pages.

Don't forget: you need the Advanced Grammar in Use book for Tuesday next week.

And here is the uniform poster I promise you. Remember, this will be enforced.

PC notes for Thursday 30 July

1) Oops. My mistake. Your mid term is next Thursday, not today. Still . . . make sure you get all the revision done for it.

2) Remember: no make-up class this week. We do have a make up class next week.

PC notes for Wednesday 29 July

1) Sorry for the cancelled class on Monday. The MUIC summer session began and I was stupidly busy. (Many problems.) We will be having a make up class--but it will be some time in the 9th week, probably. I will try and find a time that fits.

2) Our mid term exam (quiz 2) is on Thursday (tomorrow). Please don't be late. Don't forget that you need to have read the outside reading up to the end, and have learned the vocabulary from Units 1-4 and from word lists 1-3.

PC notes for Monday 27 July

1. You received your first quiz back on Friday last week. Remember, that quiz makes up 25% of your final grade.

2. Your second quiz (the mid term) will be on Thursday this week. The mid term also makes up 25% of your grade.

3. Mid term results will be an average of the two quizzes.

4. We have no make-up class this week.

5. For the exam on Thursday, make sure you have read the outside reading up to the end, and make sure you have learned the vocabulary in word lists 1-3 and from chapters 1-4.

PC notes for Thursday 23 July

1. Quiz #1 today. It's worth 25% of your grade. I'll hand back the results (I hope) tomorrow.

2. we have a make up class tomorrow from 10.00 to 12.00. It will be in the SCB building, the same as last time, and probably in the same room.

PC notes for Monday 20 July (late posting)

1. Just a reminder: we have a quiz on Thursday. You need to have learned all the vocabulary from Units 1-2 and from word lists 1-2. You also need to have read through and made notes on the outside reading from chapters 5-8.

2. The files from the class on Monday are here: Download Guessing meaning from context

PC notes for Friday 17 July

1. In class today we went through the practice quiz that you did yesterday.

2. We have the first real quiz on Thursday next week. It will follow the same format as the one we've just done.

3. For next week, make sure that you have:

A. Learned the vocabulary from academic word lists 1-2, and from units 1-2 in the book

B. Read and analysed the outside reading up to chapter 8. 

4. Your homework for this week is the exercises in the book for unit 3. Make sure you complete them all.

PC Reading notes for Wednesday 15 July and Thursday 16 July

1. Practice quiz today. Don't be late. I'll give you back the papers tomorrow. (We'll do some grading in class, and some will be done by me at home tonight.)

2. We have a make up class tomorrow. 10.00 a.m. It's not optional. The class will be held in the SCB building: 3rd floor. Just look around until you find the room that I'm in. Astonishingly enough, that will bethe room where the class is held.

3. Don't forget: we have our first real quiz on Thursday next week. Before Thursday, you need to have memorized the vocabulary from word lists 1 and 2, and also from unit one in your textbook. You also need to have read up to Chapter 8 in the outside reading.

4. Your homework for this week is to finish all the exercises in unit 3, except the pre-reading activities and the final paragraph. I will be replying to your paragraphs probably tomorrow (I'm coming in early to do it.)

PC notes for Thursday 9 July

1) Today in class we went through reading one in unit two. We also had a quick quiz on the vocabulary from unit one.

2) For homework, you need to finish all of the questions for reading one. You also need to make sure that you have emailed me your paragraph about urban exploration. (Some of you haven't done this yet.)

3) The outside reading for quiz #1 and the mid term exam will be Death of an Englishman, as the other book hasn't arrived yet. (Typical.) Make sure you have read up to chapter four by Wednesday next week. You can find the revised schedule here: Download PC2 Reading Outline Inside Reading Q3 09

4) Don't forget we have a make-up class tomorrow from 10.00 to 12.00. It's not optional.

PC Reading notes for Thursday 2 July

1) Today in class we went over the answers from the academic vocabulary list, and the answers for the reading from the book (Coober Pedy). We then went through the rest of Unit 1.

2) Homework for today (and the long holiday) is the following:

A) Read up to chapter 5 in the outside reading, Death of an Englishman. Make sure you can explain it, summarize it. Test yourself on it.

B) Go through the list of academic vocabulary. You need to focus on the words that you do not know. Then look at the words you know, but you can't use. You need to know the various forms of the words, and you need to know the different meanings. Yes, I know it's too much to remember in three weeks--but I want you to get started.

C) You MUST learn the words from Unit 1 of the coursebook: assume, create, emerge, environment, ethnic, immigrate, liberal, locate, notwithstanding, predict, similar, structure, technique, unique. (There will be a test next lesson.)

3) The dates for the quizzes have changed. The new quiz schedule is as follows:

Practice quiz #1, Thursday 16th July

Quiz #1, Thursday 23rd July

Quiz #2, Thursday 6th August

Practice quiz #2, Thursday 13th August

Quiz #3, Thursday 20th August

Quiz #4, Thursday 3rd September

Remember, we start testing the vocabulary in Quiz #1, which now comes on Thursday 23rd July (Thursday of week 4).

Creative Writing notes for Thursday 2 July

1) Last class today. We'll be going through the remaining stories, then finishing.

2) Grading will be as follows:

Coursework: 10%

Story 1: 20%

Story 2: 25%

Story 3: 25%

Attendance: 10%

Participation: 10%

3) Portfolios are due on Thursday next week. In your portfolios, you need the following:

a) All stories with all the drafts and notes you wrote. Indicate clearly which one is the final draft. (Which is the one I'm going to mark). Otherwise, I'll just take my best guess.

b) All your critiques of other people's stories. Notes, annotations on their drafts, formal critiques if you wrote them out (as I know a couple of you did at least once).

c) Any other coursework you have done during the term. Any coursework you handed to me during the course of the term is still with me. I haven't given it back--but I have read it. So if you've given something to me and you haven't got it back, then don't worry. It isn't lost; it's in my office at home. This category includes anything else you've done through the course; if your pen has touched paper or your fingers have touched your keyboard and it's at all related to creative writing, then put it in this section.

4) There's a lot of grading for me to do--and I can't do it quickly if I want to be fair (I start to lose my ability to discriminate between grades after one or two stories), so it's going to take me a long time to finish grading your work. Grades will be finished by 17th July--but it may be longer.

5) I want to create an anthology for this course (and for the courses for the past couple of years), so please send me your final drafts of all stories via email. I will post a notification on my blog when the anthology is done. I hope to get all of them finished during the summer holidays.

6) I'll be in my office tomorrow from 10.00 a.m. to around 2.00 p.m., so if you have any questions, come and ask me.

7) Please don't forget to email me final drafts of your stories.

8) You can find information for formatting final drafts here.

1) Last class today. We'll be going through the remaining stories, then finishing.

2) Grading will be as follows:

Coursework: 10%

Story 1: 20%

Story 2: 25%

Story 3: 25%

Attendance: 10%

Participation: 10%

3) Portfolios are due on Thursday next week. In your portfolios, you need the following:

a) All stories with all the drafts and notes you wrote. Indicate clearly which one is the final draft. (Which is the one I'm going to mark). Otherwise, I'll just take my best guess.

b) All your critiques of other people's stories. Notes, annotations on their drafts, formal critiques if you wrote them out (as I know a couple of you did at least once).

c) Any other coursework you have done during the term. Any coursework you handed to me during the course of the term is still with me. I haven't given it back--but I have read it. So if you've given something to me and you haven't got it back, then don't worry. It isn't lost; it's in my office at home. This category includes anything else you've done through the course; if your pen has touched paper or your fingers have touched your keyboard and it's at all related to creative writing, then put it in this section.

4) There's a lot of grading for me to do--and I can't do it quickly if I want to be fair (I start to lose my ability to discriminate between grades after one or two stories), so it's going to take me a long time to finish grading your work. Grades will be finished by 17th July--but it may be longer.

5) I want to create an anthology for this course (and for the courses for the past couple of years), so please send me your final drafts of all stories via email. I will post a notification on my blog when the anthology is done. I hope to get all of them finished during the summer holidays.

6) I'll be in my office tomorrow from 10.00 a.m. to around 2.00 p.m., so if you have any questions, come and ask me.

7) Please don't forget to email me final drafts of your stories.

8) You can find information for formatting final drafts here.

ERS section 7 notes for Thursday 2 July

1) Last lesson today.

2) Your grade will be calculated as follows:

Quizzes: 13% each, 39% overall

Assignments: 7% each, 21% overall

Final exam (two essays): 40%

3) Pass/Fail

You can pass if you:

a) Get an overall score of 70% or up.

b) Get a score on the final exam of 70% or up.

c) Are approved by majority vote in the meeting on Wednesday 15th July. The vote will be based principally on your final exam score.

4) Grades will be available from 12.00 onwards on Wednesday 15th July via email. Include your student number, name, and section number in the email. If any of those are missing, I won't tell you your grade. Don't phone me and ask (because the grades are on my computer, not in my head). Don't ask me about your friends' grades, because I won't tell you. If they want to tell you, they can.

And last, don't ask for the details of your grades (coursework score,e tc.) because I'm not going to tell you. Trust me, I've been teaching this course for a long time; if I think you should repeat it, I will have already checked your grade with other people (and they nearly always agree with me). Arguing with me about your score will only succeed in irritating me, and you'll still fail.

5) Final exam will be held from 8.00 to 9.50 on Monday 13th July, in room 1418/19. Do not be late. The exam starts at 8.00, which means you need to be there and ready by 7.45. I'm not going to wait for you, and I'm locking the door at 8.10

PC Reading notes for Wednesday 1 July

1) Hi all, and welcome to PC2 Reading for Quarter 3 of 2009. I'll be using this space to post files that may be useful for you, answers to some of the outside homework I set, and notes for the classes. I'm also going to post a summary of each lesson so that you can keep up with the course if you miss any lessons.

2) We have some cancelled classes this term, as I am still teaching at MUIC this week, we have the holidays next week, and then I have MUIC exams the week after. So, class is cancelled on the following days:

Monday 29th June

Monday 6th July

Wednesday 8th July

Monday 13th July

Wednesday 12th August

We will be having make up classes on the following days:

Friday 10th July, 10.00-12.00

Friday 17th July, 10.00-12.00

Friday 24th July. 10.00-12.00

Friday 7th August, 10.00-12.00

Friday 14th August, 10.00-12.00

3) The dates for the quizzes will be as follows:

Quiz 1 (25%): Thursday 16th July Thursday 23rd July

Quiz 2 (25%): Thursday 30th July Thursday 6th August

Quiz 3 (25%): Thursday 20th August

Quiz 4 (25%): Thursday 3rd September

On Thursdays when we do not have a quiz, we will probably have a practice/mock quiz.

4) A large part of your grade for this course comes from learning the words in the academic headword list. You can find a list of the words in the syllabus I gave you. You can find a list of definitions here: Download THE_ACADEMIC_WORD_LIST_definitions_2.

For the words in the list, you need to be able to do two things: (1) recognize the word and be able to give its meaning (passive understanding), (2) be able to choose the appropriate word to fill a gap in a sentence, or be able to use the word in your own language (active understanding). When you are learning the words, make sure that you can use them in a sentence, not just recognize the meaning.

You should start learning the words immediately. Do not wait until the end of term to start trying to learn them. Learning these words will also help you in your other classes at PC, not just reading.

You need to have learned all the words, from all six lists by the end of week 3.

Yup. You have three weeks to learn the lot. Get moving.

You can find revision exercises for the words here.

5) You also need to keep up to date with the outside reading for this course. Check your syllabus for how much of the outside reading you need to have read for each of the quizzes. The questions on the quizzes may be factual questions asking for specific information. Be warned. Read the book carefully.

6) Homework for today is to:

A) Finish the academic vocabulary word quiz I gave you in class

B) Go through the word list and divide it into three parts: words which you can use, words which you can understand but not use, and words which you do not understand. Email me the list as soon as possible.

C) Go through the first reading in the book (Coober Pedy) and answer the reading comprehension and the first group of questions.

EC1 notes for Wednesday 1 July

1) Last lesson today. I'm so sad.

2) Final exam is Monday 13th July from 8.00 to 9.50, in room 1504. Do not be late. The exams starts at 8.00. You need to be there by 7.45. I'm locking the door at 8.10.

3) Your final grades will be calculated as follows:

Narrative: 12.5%

Illustration 12.5%

Mid term: 20%

Compare/contrast: 12.5%

Classification: 12.5%

Final exam: 30%

Normal grade bands apply.

4) Grades will be available via email from 12.00 on Wednesday 15th July onwards. Include your student number, name, and section number in the email. If any of those are missing, I won't tell you your grade. Don't phone me and ask (because the grades are on my computer, not in my head). Don't ask me about your friends' grades, because I won't tell you. If they want to tell you, they can.

1) Last lesson today. I'm so sad.

2) Final exam is Monday 13th July from 8.00 to 9.50, in room 1504. Do not be late. The exams starts at 8.00. You need to be there by 7.45. I'm locking the door at 8.10.

3) Your final grades will be calculated as follows:

Narrative: 12.5%

Illustration 12.5%

Mid term: 20%

Compare/contrast: 12.5%

Classification: 12.5%

Final exam: 30%

Normal grade bands apply.

4) Grades will be available via email from 12.00 on Wednesday 15th July onwards. Include your student number, name, and section number in the email. If any of those are missing, I won't tell you your grade. Don't phone me and ask (because the grades are on my computer, not in my head). Don't ask me about your friends' grades, because I won't tell you. If they want to tell you, they can.

ERS 1 notes for Wednesday 1 July

1) Last lesson today.

2) Your grade will be calculated as follows:

Quizzes: 13% each, 39% overall

Assignments: 7% each, 21% overall

Final exam (two essays): 40%

3) Pass/Fail

You can pass if you:

a) Get an overall score of 70% or up.

b) Get a score on the final exam of 70% or up.

c) Are approved by majority vote in the meeting on Wednesday 15th July. The vote will be based principally on your final exam score.

4) Grades will be available from 12.00 onwards on Wednesday 15th July via email. Include your student number, name, and section number in the email. If any of those are missing, I won't tell you your grade. Don't phone me and ask (because the grades are on my computer, not in my head). Don't ask me about your friends' grades, because I won't tell you. If they want to tell you, they can.

And last, don't ask for the details of your grades (coursework score,e tc.) because I'm not going to tell you. Trust me, I've been teaching this course for a long time; if I think you should repeat it, I will have already checked your grade with other people (and they nearly always agree with me). Arguing with me about your score will only succeed in irritating me, and you'll still fail.

5) Final exam will be held from 8.00 to 9.50 on Monday 13th July, in room 1418/19. Do not be late. The exam starts at 8.00, which means you need to be there and ready by 7.45. I'm not going to wait for you, and I'm locking the door at 8.10.

1) Last lesson today.

2) Your grade will be calculated as follows:

Quizzes: 13% each, 39% overall

Assignments: 7% each, 21% overall

Final exam (two essays): 40%

3) Pass/Fail

You can pass if you:

a) Get an overall score of 70% or up.

b) Get a score on the final exam of 70% or up.

c) Are approved by majority vote in the meeting on Wednesday 15th July. The vote will be based principally on your final exam score.

4) Grades will be available from 12.00 onwards on Wednesday 15th July via email. Include your student number, name, and section number in the email. If any of those are missing, I won't tell you your grade. Don't phone me and ask (because the grades are on my computer, not in my head). Don't ask me about your friends' grades, because I won't tell you. If they want to tell you, they can.

And last, don't ask for the details of your grades (coursework score,e tc.) because I'm not going to tell you. Trust me, I've been teaching this course for a long time; if I think you should repeat it, I will have already checked your grade with other people (and they nearly always agree with me). Arguing with me about your score will only succeed in irritating me, and you'll still fail.

5) Final exam will be held from 8.00 to 9.50 on Monday 13th July, in room 1418/19. Do not be late. The exam starts at 8.00, which means you need to be there and ready by 7.45. I'm not going to wait for you, and I'm locking the door at 8.10.

Creative Writing notes for Tuesday 30 June

1) We're going through three more of the third stories today.

2) I've fixed the following times for seeing people: Friday 10.00 to 2.00. I'll be in my office, so just drop in if you have any questions. Sorry it's got to be on Friday, but I have research and PC classes in the afternoons.

ERS section 7 notes for Tuesday 30 June

1) Classification quizzes today. Don't be late.

2) I'll give you back your classification quizzes and assignments on Thursday.

EC1 notes for Monday 29 June

1) We're going through the content of your classification essays today.

2) Final drafts of this essay are due on Thursday 9th July in my in-drawer.

ERS section 1 notes for Monday 29 June

1) Classification quiz today. Don't be late.

2) I'll give you back your graded papers on Wednesday.

ERS section 7 notes for Thursday 25 June

1) Today in class you edited your practice classification quiz for grammatical errors, then I gave you a  list of things to look for on the content for your classification essays.

2) Homework for today is to rewrite/edit your classification essay. The final draft is due on Tuesday next week. You need a cover sheet, references page, blah blah blah, you know the drill by now.

Creative Writing notes for Thursday 25 June

1) Today in class we went through three more of your stories from the list here.

2) Homework for Monday: read through the next three stories, please.

EC1 notes for Wednesday June 24

1) Today in class we reviewed the outlines for your classification essay, then you drafted some/most/a tiny piece of the essay in class.

2) Homework for today is to finish the draft of your essay. Bring the draft with you to the lesson on Monday next week.

ERS section 1 notes for Wednesday 24 June

1) Today in class we looked at the grammar in your classification essays.

2) Homework for today is to rewrite your classification essay.

3) Classification quiz is next lesson. Don't be late.

Creative Writing notes for Tuesday 23 June

1) Today in class we looked at stories from the first three people listed in the stories post from Saturday. (Chinnavut, Ilada, Kittikanda.)

2) Story for this week was the one I handed out in class. Make sure you read it.

3) Homework for this lesson is to read through the next three stories on the list.