OK, class, I see a few names on the sign-up sheets for presentations. This is good.  If you haven't, please sign up for a time to give your presentation.

I have added the presentation to the Homework Assignments list on the right.  Click here to see it.

Also, there is one more assignment that you have to do before the end of the semester.  It is the Reflective Essay 3.  You have done 2 of these already, so this one shouldn't be too difficult.  Keep it short, but please give good feedback.  We take these reflections seriously in order to improve our teaching and the classes you take.

Reflective Essay 3

See you at your conference.

Good job in class today, everyone!  I hope this lesson about public speaking and giving presentations was helpful to you.  Don't forget to review the lesson here:

Lesson 25 Review

If you come to class at 12:30, please go to this link to confirm your schedule:

ESL 500N1 Presentation Schedule

If you come to class at 3:30, please go to this link to confirm your schedule:

ESL 500L Presentation Schedule

Do NOT forget your conference!  Remember, if you don't come, it counts as 2 absences!

See you on Thursday.

Hello, ESL 500 members.  Today's lesson gave you a lot of information about doing your debates.  I hope you all understand your tasks and can perform well on Thursday.  We'll see which team can persuade others better.

If you need to review the lesson, you can go to the Lesson 23 Review page.

Good luck, and see you on Thursday.

Capital Punishment Source

Hello again, class.  Here, I have a link to a good article for some pro-con information about the death penalty.  You can use this for today's class and also for the debates on Thursday.

Death Penalty

I hope you have prepared for today's lesson.  See you in class.

I just wanted to remind ESL 500N class of your teams.  They are:

Pro:        Xi, Yao, Yu, Tigran, Ruiheng, Mingu

Con:       Yuqiao, Xuesong, Ping-ju, Trong, Elena, Bushra,

Mod:     Albert

PLEASE!  Get in contact with your group members (e-mail, phone calls, Facebook, etc.) and get ideas of the main points of your topics.  You will need to use them in class on Tuesday, and you will need to write your arguments after class to prepare for the debate on Thursday.

In addition, I put a link in my FYI list (right of this post, scroll down) that goes to the CRAAP method to evaluate your sources.

Hello, ESL 500 students.  I wanted to remind you that the debate lesson will be on Tuesday, and you will actually conduct the debate on Thursday.  This means you need to get in touch with the other members of your team and make sure everyone has their roles assigned.  If you are pro, you need to make sure everyone researches at least one of the five points.  If you are con, you need to make sure everyone researches at least one of the other five points.  You may want to actually meet in person to discuss these, and come prepared with a lot of material that will support the point (or points) you have.  If you are not clear about what your teams are or what your main points should be, send me an e-mail and I'll let you know.  You can use the internet or any other sources to find this information.

Good hunting.

Hello again, classes!  I think everyone did well today practicing opposing arguments.  Now that you see how hard it can be, think about how you can find those topics for your argumentative essay.

Next Tuesday, we will begin learning about doing debates.  In order to debate correctly, I will teach a lesson about the strategies and vocabulary you should use when debating.  In order to be more prepared for the lesson, you need to prepare to research the topic.

The topic we decided for this debate is Capital Punishment (being able to execute prisoners). There will be a moderator who will manage the debates and direct the flow of it.

For the Pro team, you will have 5 main points you need to research and present as part of your debate.  The 5 points are:

1. Capital Punishment provides justice for the victim's family.
2. Capital Punishment ensures the criminal will no longer be able to commit crimes.
3. There is a serious problem with overcrowding in American prisons.
4. Most American people support Capital Punishment.
5. In some states, it is more expensive to keep a person incarcerated for life instead of executing them.

For the Con team, you will have 5 main points you need to research and present as part of your debate.  The 5 points are:

1. There is a possibility of executing innocent people.
2. It is not proven to deter others from committing crimes.
3. In some states, Capital Punishment is more expensive than keeping a prisoner incarcerated for life.
4. The government should not have the right to decide who lives and who dies.
5. Execution methods are barbaric and inflict great pain on the victims.

You should all have a list of who is in your group.  Please contact your group members and decide which points of the topic you want to research for the debate.

I'll see you all on Tuesday.

Update

Hello again, everybody!

I have updated some information in the Source-Based Argumentative Essay page.  Please take a look at it when you have a chance.  I included a link that can show you a good example of an argumentative paper.

On Thursday, we will practice making opposing arguments and refuting them.  I will also give you time in class to work on your introduction to this essay.  Make sure you have a thesis statement ready to include with that introduction.

Also, we will do a debate next week.  I will introduce a topic to you and assign teams.  One team will be pro, one team will be con, and one team will judge the debates and determine which team (pro or con) was more convincing of their point of view.  I will assign those teams on Thursday.

See you in class!

Hi, everyone!  Good work in class today.  I hope you understand the importance of opposing arguments and refuting.  Please review the lesson here:

Lesson 21: Opposing Arguments and Refuting

On Thursday, we'll do a little more work on refuting with some useful vocabulary and we'll practice good opposing arguments.

See you then!

Change of Plans

Hi again, everyone.  Things have changed since I posted that last message.

One of our teachers needed to leave the school due to personal reasons, so I have taken her class.  I will teach a second lesson on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  I want to keep both lessons on the same page.  It will make things easier for me and all the students.  That means we will change the schedule a little.

For Tuesday's lesson, instead of Evaluating Sources, we will go ahead and do the Opposing Arguments lesson, and on Thursday we will practice refuting and I will give you time in class to work on your essays.

If you haven't selected a topic, do so before class tomorrow, and then search for your sources.  You need at least 5 sources.  We will talk a little about evaluating a source to confirm its legitimacy and I will show you a database filled with journals, articles, and books you can use to find good materials to support your argument.

You need to find those sources by Thursday night.  Upload a bibliography of them to your Dropbox account.

See you tomorrow.

Hello, class!  I hope you all had a good weekend.

For Tuesday's class (11-6-12) we will change the lesson from the syllabus.  We are going to talk about evaluating your resources.  This means you will need to bring some sources with you to class so that we can evaluate them.

If you have already found resources to use for your argumentative essay, please use those.  Otherwise you can use textbooks from your other classes or websites that you use for information.