Pukman @ WinK: the community that time didn't forget

For the country that you are writing about for your final essay, please answer the following questions. Please link to this post in your answer.

5. ¿ǝɯıʇ ǝǝɹɟ ɹıǝɥʇ uı op ǝldoǝd op ʇɐɥʍ
4. ¿sʇɹodxǝ snoɯɐɟ ǝɯos ǝɹɐ ʇɐɥʍ
3. ¿(uɐdɐɾ oʇ uoıʇɐlǝɹ uı ؛sɹǝʇǝɯolıʞ ǝɹɐnbs ˙ƃ˙ǝ) ʎɹʇunoɔ ǝɥʇ sı ƃıq ʍoɥ
2. ¿ʎʇıɔ ʇɐɥʇ ɟo uoıʇɐlndod ǝɥʇ sı ʇɐɥʍ puɐ 'ʎʇıɔ lɐʇıdɐɔ ǝɥʇ sı ʇɐɥʍ
1. ¿spooɟ ǝʌıʇɐʇuǝsǝɹdǝɹ ɹo snoɯɐɟ ǝǝɹɥʇ ǝɹɐ ʇɐɥʍ

˙pǝsn ǝq oʇ sı ǝƃɐnƃuɐl ɐ ʍoɥ ɟo sǝlnɹ ƃuıuɹǝʌoƃ ǝɥʇ ǝɔɹoɟuǝ oʇ sǝıɹʇ ɥɔıɥʍ 'uoıʇdıɹɔsǝɹd ɔıʇsınƃuıl oʇ pǝsoddo sɐ 'ɹɐɯɯɐɹƃ ǝʌıʇdıɹɔsǝp ɐ pǝllɐɔ sı ǝƃɐnƃuɐl ɐ ɟo suoıʇɔnɹʇsuoɔ lɐɔıʇɐɯɯɐɹƃ ǝɥʇ ƃuıqıɹɔsǝp ʎlǝʌıʇsnɐɥxǝ ɹɐɯɯɐɹƃ ʇıɔıldxǝ ʎllnɟ ɐ

˙"ɹɐɯɯɐɹƃ ɐ" ʎldɯıs ɹo "ɹɐɯɯɐɹƃ ǝɔuǝɹǝɟǝɹ" ɐ pǝllɐɔ sı ǝƃɐnƃuɐl ɐ ɟo ɹɐɯɯɐɹƃ ǝɥʇ ƃuıqıɹɔsǝp ʞooq ǝɔuǝɹǝɟǝɹ ɐ ˙sǝlnɹ ǝsǝɥʇ ɟo sısʎlɐuɐ ɹo ʎpnʇs ɔıɟıɔǝds ɐ sı "ɹɐɯɯɐɹƃ ɥsılƃuǝ uɐ" ˙ɟlǝsʇı ǝƃɐnƃuɐl ɥsılƃuǝ ǝɥʇ ɟo sǝlnɹ ɟo ʇǝs ǝɥʇ sı "ɹɐɯɯɐɹƃ ɥsılƃuǝ" ˙ɹɐɯɯɐɹƃ ʇɔuıʇsıp uʍo sʇı sɐɥ ǝƃɐnƃuɐl ɥɔɐǝ

˙sɔıʇɐɯƃɐɹd puɐ 'sɔıʇuɐɯǝs 'ʎƃolouoɥd 'sɔıʇǝuoɥd ʎq pǝʇuǝɯǝldɯoɔ uǝʇɟo 'xɐʇuʎs puɐ ʎƃoloɥdɹoɯ sǝpnlɔuı ʇı ˙ǝƃɐnƃuɐl lɐɹnʇɐu uǝʌıƃ ʎuɐ ɟo ǝsn ǝɥʇ ƃuıuɹǝʌoƃ suoıʇuǝʌuoɔ ǝɥʇ sɹǝʌoɔ ʇɐɥʇ sɔıʇsınƃuıl ɟo plǝıɟ ǝɥʇ sı ɹɐɯɯɐɹƃ

Hi everyone, the final essay topic for this semester is to introduce a country that you think is interesting or that you like very much. If you have written about a country in a previous essay this year, please choose a different one. This is a good chance to find out about a country you don't know much about.

The last class this calendar year is December 19th. Then we meet January 9th. The test is provisionally scheduled for January 28th.

Try QWERTY Warriors!

Today, let's talk about some ways to join sentences together to make longer sentences. The 3 key words you need to know to understand the explanations are:

1. conjunction
2. compound sentence
3. complex sentence

Below are some excerpts from the website we will use today:

The 'magnificent seven' conjunctions (the most commonly used) are:

and, although, as, because, but, if, or

When you make a compound sentence, you are joining two or more simple sentences together with a conjunction. If you took the conjunction away, the sentences would be complete and they would still make sense.
e.g. 'I hate curry, but I like Thai food.'= 'I hate curry' + but + 'I like Thai food'

Complex sentences don't just divide into neat, complete, simple sentences if you take out the conjunctions. In complex sentences the conjunction is used to join together clauses. A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb. Some of these clauses might be complete short sentences, but in a complex sentence at least one of them will depend on the conjunction for its meaning.
In other words, if you take the conjunction away, the sentence won't divide into complete units that make sense by themselves.

e.g. 'The dinner was burned because she had forgotten it.'
= 'The dinner was burned' + 'because' + 'she had forgotten it.'

We will visit the lesson Putting Sentences Together at the BBC Skillswise site.

If you have some free time, please try Alpha Attack!

First of all, please note that this is the last class in November. There will be 3 classes in December (5th, 12th, 19th). After that, there's only one class scheduled in January (9th) and then, unless we do a hokou class, the exams start! So you don't have so long to catch up if you're falling behind! Note that, before the exams start, you need to have written 60 posts for the semester (5 posts a week over 12 weeks). At least 12 of those posts should be book reviews.

In today's class, you need to record your most recent essay ("My favorite...") and post it on podOmatic. Please be sure to write a post on your blog linking to your new podcast episode (and make sure your first podcast episode is also linked to in the same way).

Remember that recording can take longer than you expect. Please DON'T wait until the end of the class. If you're unable to finish during the class, please take the initiative in your free time or in a future class to finish the work. Note that I recommend using GarageBand to record so that you have a file to upload again if there is any problem with podOmatic.

If you need grammar help, please call me. But bear in mind that the priority this week is recording, so there is no guarantee that I will have enough time to help you.

If you have free time during the class, please consider reading one of the books I have brought to class and writing a review of it.

One more thing: at the end of November/beginning of December, please remember to update your weblog report.

In today's class:

I hope you enjoyed the campus festival last week!

Today, after Juppun ha Juubun, it's time to do our first weblog assessment for this semester. Download the weblog report file from http://public.me.com/ricklavin2001 and then import into Google Docs http://docs.google.com

We'll start work on the next essay (see the next post) if time allows.

30 posts, including a podcast episode. This episode must be linked to from your Blogger blog.

(If technical problems stopped you doing this, make sure you have saved an MP3 file ready for uploading.)

Most of you asked me to help you correct your work for the first assignment. Because for many of you this was the first time to have a "live" correction session, you probbaly were most concerned with finishing with a good "product".

However, the most important thing with correction is what you learn from it. So for assignment 2, we're going to rework something you did in the first semester (or any other older piece of work if you didn't take the Writing 3 in the first semester). We'll do a "live" correction for this assignment, too, but the key this time is to remember what kinds of corrections were made so that you can avoid the same patterns in the future.

The first thing to do is to find a piece of work from the first semester that you are interested in reworking, and to copy it to a new post in your blog. Make sure the title of the post (or the top of the body) includes "copied from DATE" with a link to the original. Don't edit this post. Then you should copy the post one more time to yet another post and start looking for ways to improve it. You can edit directly in the post or do this in TextEdit or Word and then paste into the new post.

(Please do this after finishing the previous assignment!)

NOTE: No class next week (October 31st)

On today's menu:

1. Juppun ha juubun
2. Finishing recording/uploading/linking to podcast
3. Listening to and commenting on others' podcasts
   
4. List: Places in Japan I would recommend to visitors from overseas. (Do this for homework if there isn't enough time in class.)
   
5. Starting Assignment 2
   

With the campus festival approaching, don't forget that you should be writing 5 posts a week. That means that, before the next session on November 7th, you should have written 30 posts*. We will do a Weblog Evaluation on November 7th.

*"30 posts" includes all posts on your Blogger blog (lists, juppun ha juubun, book reviews, essays, essay prep, diary posts, etc.) and all posts on your podOmatic blog/podcast. (Make sure that you have linked to your podOmatic blog/podcast from your Blogger blog.)

Note that this is counted from August, so if you blogged during the summer your requirement during the semester is correspondingly less.

On today's menu:

1. Juppun ha juubun
2. Recording your assignment on a place, and uploading the recording to podOmatic (continued from last week). Everyone needs to do this today.

To give you plenty of time for recording, we won't do a list in class, but the topic of this week's list is Books I Like, or Books I Recommend. Please make this list whenever you have time.

Also, please remember that you should be writing 5 posts a week. A typical week's posts would be:

1. Juppun ha juubun (in class)
2. A list (usually in class)
3. A book review (usually outside of class)
4. Some kind of diary post (usually outside of class)
5. Something related to the current assignment. This might be the main assignment itself, essay prep, or a post (episode) on podOmatic.

After doing a juppun ha juubun post, let's move on to our main topic, the assignment on a place. (Perhaps no time for a list today.)

If you have finished writing the first draft of your essay (and posted it on your blog), you need to call me to give you individual help with correcting the essay. (You can then post a second version on your blog.) When we have finished that, you can try recording.

If you haven't finished your first draft yet, you need to get working quickly. If you are working with a partner, you should both take a careful look at your grammar and spelling before calling me for help.

So at any one time, some of you will be writing, some asking for help with correction, and some recording.

Alternatively, if you see that few people are using the microphones, try recording a very short piece to practise. You can replace it later with a better recording.

On today's menu:

1. Make sure you've posted about one or more of the sites you've visited, including a link! (Ask for help if you can't make a link.)
2. Make sure you have written 5 posts including a book review and juppun ha juubun before next week's class.

1. Target is 15,000 words (minimum 10,000).
2. Some assignments will be spoken.
3. With spoken assignments, you will be expected to be careful with spelling and grammar. You will have opportunities for feedback from friends and your teacher.
   

1. Welcome to Writing IV: explaining the syllabus
2. Juppun ha juubun
3. Today's list (with links)
   
4. Ma.gnolia & Links
5. (Introducing the first assignment)
6. (Comments)
   

Go to Ma.gnolia through winkhome.

Here are the rules on copying that I have already sent to students by email:

Your blog needs to be YOUR OWN WORK. That means not generated by computer, and NOT COPIED from Wikipedia, books, or other sources.

The exception is as I explained in class. If you want to cite (=quote = "inyou suru") something, for example part of a book, you can do that but there are 2 rules:

1. You MUST mark the copied part clearly.
2. The copied part can NEVER be more than 49% of your blog post (number of words).

That means, for example, that if your blog post is 100 words long, a 50-word citation is too long and MUST be shortened. (In general, you should try to keep quotes to less than 30%.)

Please understand that these rules are very important. If you don't understand, please ask. If you break the rules, that will be considered cheating. It might also be illegal.

Things to do to ensure a pass:

Things to do in the last few weeks (last two classes plus make-up period):

1. Final essay (1-05): Self-Introduction (10 years in the future)
2. Get your blog assessment up-to-date. (Your final blog assessment will be in the exam, July 25th. It's important that you master how to do it before then.)
3. Check your blog sidebar/footer.
4. Ask any questions or get help with any technical problems.
5. Make sure you have 12 book reviews, 5 "essays", more than 60 posts, and lots of words.
6. Make sure that your posts are your own work. Copying sentences from books or websites is stealing, unless it's done in a specific way. From an educational point of view, it's like cheating in an exam. It's also a legal problem.
7. Add the books you've read to LibraryThing.
   

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