LESSON 5: Writing Rules for Our Summer Class

STUDENTS: Ten motivated Korean children 10~13 from Shanghai International School. They are at different stages of fluency, from high-intermediate to advanced.

OBJECTIVE: Get them to the point where they can write a 200-word story in English.

GOAL: I have set 25 goals for this "10-week" intensive summer class which meets 3 times a week for 1.5 hrs. per session. In this VOICE THREAD presentation I will only address 5 issues that we are having in class now. This is Week #3.

1. Write neatly and legibly.
2. Learn to use tenses properly.
3. Respect the margins on the paper.
4. Respect punctuation.
5. Use capitalization correctly.


STEP 1: You will go to the online VOICE THREAD presentation and listen
carefully. If you don't understand something, you can repeat and listen again.

STEP 2: Please go to my WIKI to get the letter that you will need to give your parents to read and sign. To get into my WIKI type royalsolomon@yahoo.com & PASSWORD: 123456)

NOTE: When you go to my WIKI, and you enter, click where it says: themusketeer.pbworks.com. Once you go into the page that says FRONT PAGE,
click on "PAGES & FILES." Scroll all the way down to get to the letter called:
LETTERKOREANPARENTS.doc

STEP 3: After you finish watching the presentation, I want you to review your
verbs. For a quick reference for PAST TENSE verbs, click here:

STEP 4: You need to know the verbs very well in order to write. So please take
an online QUIZ to see how well you understand verbs. You should get a score of 14 or 15, anything below that means you need to start reviewing your verbs quickly.
Please click here to take test!

ATTENTION: The ONLINE quiz is only for myself. I need it in order to be able to help you. It will tell me how to better teach you this summer. This quiz will not affect your grade.

STEP 5: You also need to review rules for CAPITALIZATION. Here you can learn 17 rules of capitalization. There are many more such rules but this is a start. CLICK HERE!

STEP 6: Please print a list of the verbs. Keep the list in your writing journal for quick REFERENCE. Please click here:You can bring these to class and use as reference.

STEP 7: You are now ready to go to your VOICE THREAD presentation.

(((One little problem. When you go into VOICE THREAD, you will see that the first slike is AVATAR. That is wrong. Please scroll back all the way to the #1 slide which is a picture of Teacher Aramis standing up. That's slide #1))) Sorry for this inconvenience.

STEP 8: After you have finished with the PRESENTATION, I would love to hear from you to see how you liked it. Should you have any further questions, you can contact me at royalsolomon@yahoo.com Thank you!

.................................................................................

1. How will you use this resource to meet the needs of your instructional purposes?

I am excited about using this new technology. There is something very dynamic happening here. Instead of me having to repeat myself constantly, I can just send a student to the above exercise. Also, because in the private school where I am children tend to come and go, and even miss class. So if someone missed these instructions and they were given once, it would present a problem. Also, having to take valuable class time to go over these rules is a waste of time. In this way, I can avail myself of this venue to deliver this message over and over again. I can even adapt it as time goes by and make it better. Also, students will not feel that they have a "preachy" teacher telling them what they MUST or MUST NOT do. This is a rather impersonal, yet professional way to deliver an important message.


2. Why is this application and format appropriate for the lesson you plan to create
(e.g., level of authenticity, relevance to target language, register, accuracy,
interest level, and motivation?

I think it is relevant because we are learning to write. My students are at all levels. Some are quite fluent but I still cannot understand why when it comes to putting something on paper, they still say "My mother go yesterday," when they know fully well that the 'past tense' of 'go' is 'went.' Something is failing between the time they access this information in their brain and the moment they need to put it down on paper. So my only recourse is reinforcement and constant reminders. Also, letting them be fully exposed to as much good writing as possible and this we are already doing at our school.

3. What handouts or directions will you provide students to focus learning and
adapt this resource for your instructional purposes?

I have already provided them with a number of handouts on capitalization, punctuation, grammar rules and so forth. So this "Presentation" is only going to reinforce things which we have touched upon before. This information will definitely not be new to them. However, I have referred them to some resources that they can easily download. I will also make them available in class.

5. What are the potential problems, either language based or technical that you
may need to troubleshoot or prepare for?

The only problem I see is getting them to really do it. On the other hand, Korean children love technology and this may be a new sort of toy for them, something I want to get them excited about because I am excited. One real threat is parents who may think we are playing games or are not being serious. I plan to prepare for that by sending a letter home to the parents explaining the importance of ON-LINE learning. I want to let the parents know how much extra mileage we would be able to get from engaging in this type of online exercises.