Tag Archives: week 2

2019 WS, Writing Strategies

WS1: Week 2, April 19TH, 2019

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Homework

Send me an email using correct email format as shown in the image here: https://sheffnersweb.net/blogs/classblogs/dwc/email-format/

  • Your name
  • your class
  • comments about today’s class

Today’s class

  1. Principles of academic writing (thinking academically)
    1. Ask questions BEFORE judging, deciding, writing or speaking in order to get correct and accurate information
      1. what?
      2. when?
      3. where?
      4. why?
      5. how?
      6. who?
    2. Define your terms. E.g. “define cat – what category is a cat and how is it different from other animals in the same category?”
    3. We read the first story, “The Pot with the Hole”.
    4. We wrote a summary of the story in 3 sentences.
    5. Students wrote a  response paragraph.
2019 AS, Academic Skills

AS1: Week 2, April 19TH, 2019

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Homework

Send me an email using correct email format as shown in the image here: https://sheffnersweb.net/blogs/classblogs/dwc/email-format/

  • Your name
  • your class
  • comments about today’s class

Today’s class

  1. Draw a map of Britain WITHOUT looking at last week’s map or using the Internet. Use your own head.
  2. Principles of academic writing (thinking academically)
    1. Ask questions BEFORE judging, deciding, writing or speaking
      1. what?
      2. when?
      3. where?
      4. why?
      5. how?
      6. who?
    2. Define your terms.
    3. Write a definition for each of the following:
      1. What is “Britain”?
      2. What is the United Kingdom?
      3. What is England?
      4. What are the British Isles?
    4. Why do you study? Watch the video below .
    5. Meaning of “liberal arts education”.
    6.   Education for free people (not for slaves)
      1. Education to train people to think for themselves and make their own judgements without relying on others (see #1 above – drawing a map of Britain)
      2. Education for self-defence, so as not to be tricked by others
2018 WS, Writing Strategies

WS2: Week 2, October 5th, 2018

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Homework

  • Write the story of “Gotta Go! Gotta Go!” as far as we read in class.
  • The theme of “Dragons and Giants” was ‘bravery’. What is an important theme of this story, do you think?

Today’s class

  1. Read again the story of Frog and Toad “Dragons and Giants”
  2. Worksheet questions:
    1. Write your answers to the worksheet questions
    2. discussion with classmates in small groups
    3. Write a short comment about the discussion
  3. New story: “Gotta Go! Gotta Go!”

 

2018 AS, Academic Skills

AS1: Week 2, April 20th, 2018

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Homework

  1. Read the textbook pp. 5-12.
  2. What are the key points? Write them in a comment on this blog.  (For your privacy, I suggest you only use EITHER your FAMILY name or your GIVEN name, not both.)
  3. Watch this video. (You may find it easier to watch with no sound!)

Today’s class

  1. What? (e.g. what is academic writing?)
  2. When? (e.g. today’s date – keep a record of when you wrote your notes).
  3. Where? (e.g. where was Plato’s Akademia?
  4. Who? (e.g. who was Copernicus?)
  5. How? (e.g. how has British history influenced modern Japanese culture and society?)
  6. Why? (E.g. why study academic writing?)
  • Presentation on academic writing (download the handout here: what is academic writing_short_v3
  • fill in the blanks in the worksheet
  • Discuss in small groups and write your answer based on the mini-presentation.
  • What are the key points of the Adam and Eve story according to the Bible?
    • Discuess in smaal groups and write your answer.
2017 AS, Academic Skills

AS2: week 2, October 6th, 2017

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Homework

  1. Choose a topic of US history for your independent study
  2. If you wish, find classmates to study with.
  3. Begin your research.
  4. Read chapter 1 of “In the Heart of the Rockies” (ITHOTR). You can download it here: ITHOTR_MS_Simplified_ch2_v2

Today’s class

  1. Explanation of textbook: instead of a textbook, we will read and discuss together a simplified version of the story “In the Heart of the Rockies” by G.A. Henty
  2. Changes to the class:
    1. More time for one-to-one conferencing  (for giving feedback to written work and presentations)
    2. Independent study (alone or in groups)
    3. Choice as to what you produce as a result of your research.
  3. Student announcements
2017 WS, Writing Strategies

WS1, week 2, April 21st, 2017

2 Comments

Homework

  1. Send me another email, using the correct format as shown here. If you cannot send  (if your email comes back), please try sending from your university email address <*@dwc.doshisha.ac.jp>  as this is white-listed. If even that does not work, please leave a message on this blog. Thanks.)
  2. Read chapter 1 of “The Magician’s Nephew”.
    1. Look up things you do not know, e.g.
      1. when Sherlock Holmes “lived”
      2. who the Bastables were (what book they appear in) and when these books appeared
      3. what an Eton collar is
      4. Jane Eyre and Treasure Island
      5. any other British cultural reference you find in chapter 1
  3. Choose a book from the reading list (you can download it here:    ws_easy_reading_library_list   )   read it, and write a short report about it.

 

Today’s class

  1. The Hometown game
  2. Mini-lecture on fairy stories and why C.S. Lewis called the Narnia stories “faairy tales” not fantasy stories.
  3. We started reading chapter 1 together.
2017 AS, Academic Skills

AS1, week 2, April 21st, 2017

1 Comment

Homework

  1. Send me another email, using the correct format as shown here. If you cannot send  (if your email comes back), please try sending from your university email address <*@dwc.doshisha.ac.jp>  as this is white-listed. If even that does not work, please leave a message on this blog. Thanks.)s.)
  2. Textbook
    1. p. 4, answer the questions
    2. read (again) pp. 5-12
    3. p. 13 ①　and ② answer the questions
    4. p. 14 ④ answer the questions.
  3. (for May 12th) Choose a movie OR a book from the lists, watch/read it, and write a short report
    1. Title (English)
    2. Title (Japanese)
    3. Author / Director
    4. When released (or when book published)
    5. Story:
      1. When does the story take place?
      2. Where does the story take place?
      3. Who are the main characters?
      4. What happens (give a short summary of the story)
      5. What did you learn about British history from watching this movie/reading this book? (You may need to do a little bit of research).
      6. Your comments (short, please)

Today’s class

  1. Hometown game
  2. Mini-lecture on the reasons why Japanese students can benefit from studying British history.
  3. Write a paragraph summarising the mini-lecture.
  4. Compare notes about the movie or book you chose last week from the list.

 

 

 

 

 

2016 WS, Writing Strategies

WS1, week 2, April 22nd, 2016

22 Comments

Welcome to Sheffner’s AW class blog. This is a record of each week’s lesson, plus the homework. I may sometimes add related information or videos for you to watch or read. I will update this blog each Friday evening usually, and by Sunday evening at the latest.

NB:  Next class (week 4) will be in 2 weeks’ time, on May 6th.

Homework:

  1. List of British fantasy movies (download the list here: Brit movie List
    1. Find the Japanese title and write it on the form
    2. Are these movies in the DWC library? Mark those movies with a check mark in the “library” column.
    3. Is there a book of this story? Mark those movies with a check mark in the “book?” column.
  2. Read chapter 1 and answer the MCQs. (Download the MCQs document here: MN_MCQ_ch1
  3. Leave a comment here about
    1. today’s class
    2. your questions and notes about paragraphs 1 and 2 of chapter 1.
    3. To leave a comment you must
      1. Click the words “Leave a comment” at the bottom of this post,
      2. type in your name (use your family name only for your privacy)
      3. type in your university email address (this is not public; only I can see this)

Today’s class

  1. Introduction
    1. Hi, I’m Marc Sheffner, born in Britain, have French and English parents.
  2. In this class, we will do lots of reading, writing, speaking and listening.
  3. Interest survey (download it here and complete if you were absent): Interest survey
  4. How to annotate a text:
    1. circle any vocabulary words you are unfamiliar with
    2. underline key phrases
    3. note anything that seems to you important or confusing
    4. write any questions you have about the text
  5. Read paragraphs 1 and 2 of chapter 1 and annotate