Journal 4

Hi class,

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I want you to practice writing narrative articles, so I come up with a series of topics for you:

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(1) the most unforgettable event in my life

(2) the worst thing that has ever happened to me

(3) the best moment in my life

(4) an unbelievable day

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Make sure you make your journal a narrative-style piece. That is, you need to use proper time order words or correct verb tenses so that you can lead your readers to see the event, day, or accident happening in an understandable time order. Good luck!

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Requirements:

1. Post your work on your blog

2. Word limit: 201 words or more

3. 記得分段

4. Deadline: By Friday midnight on the 28^th of May

5. You know what I always say for point number 5!

About your journal 3

Hi dear students,

I finally finished reading your journals and managed to leave some useful comments for every single one of you. Hope you will find them helpful and manage to revise them.

Also, I would like to thank you for sharing interesting episodes that happened to you when doing cleanups. I had a lot of fun, especially when learning how nasty and awful your cleaning partners were. (The modern Cinderella goes to Stella. If you want to know how unfortunate she was, please go visit her blog! ).

Banson composed a very nice piece of writing; I hope you will all go and take a look.

See you this Friday!
John

By the way, I don’t mind that some of you didn’t post your journal 3 (like Tom, Joe, Winnie, and Robert Ro). SERIOUSLY, I DON’T MIND AT ALLLLLLLLL! Just...take good care, you guys. You know...the semester...is about to be OVER...


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Extra journal topics (Extra credits!)

Extra journal topics (Extra credits!)

Dear students,

I know some of you really want to get into the habit of keep an English diary; however, sometimes you are either too busy to write or have no ideas about what to write about. So, I figure that I can help you in this matter by listing some topics for you. If you are interested in developing your writing ability and at the same time earning some extra bonuses for your final scores, you may select any topic from the following list and write a journal. Notice that you can write more than one extra journal based on the list. Also note that there is no word limit for your extra works. So feel free to write only 50, 100, or 200 words.

1. Please talk about a course that you think is interesting or useful. Remember to support your choice using specific reasons and/or examples.

2. Please talk about your best friend(s) in college. Remember to use specific reasons and/or examples to explain why you regard her/him as your best friends.

3. If you could return to a certain point in your life to change an event, in what life stage would you choose to go back to and what were you to do?

P.S. 1. I will come up with more new topics for you. Keep tuned!

P.S. 2. Please post your journal on either your student blog or Lang-8!

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Material for 5/14

Hi class,

Remember that you need to attend my lecture tomorrow because the Department said so. I'll see you tomorrow, then. By the way, don't forget to log in your LMS to download the material for tomorrow morning (May 14).

Bests,
John

Sharing: vocabulary learning

Hi class,

The other day I was reading some journals on Lang-8 and saw a Japanese ask for people's opinions about how to learn vocabulary efficiently. I thought about it and from personal experience, I think the best way to increase one's vocabulary is to read many good books and magazines as often as you can.

Through reading, you will know how words are actually used in a natural way by native speakers. (Sentences in vocabulary books are not so natural sometimes, especially those written by non-native speakers). Besides, reading articles on similar topics frequently will help you to remember groups of words that are commonly used in this context. Most importantly, reading gives you additional knowledge that cannot be found in vocabulary books.

However, there is only one case when I will recommend you study from vocabulary books: if you need to take an English exam soon. If you are a student and there is a test waiting for you, I say go and study vocabulary. If you are taking a TOEIC or TOEFL and don't have much time, I also say go and study vocabulary. However, if you have plenty of time and hope to improve your English ability for yourself not for school studies or exams, I say it's time for you to read English articles or magazines regularly.

Last but not least, having a large vocabulary doesn't mean you will have good reading ability. They are related, but not necessarily the same. Developing a good reading ability is surely more helpful than simply building up a big vocabulary bank.

Hope this can be helpful.

Regards,
John

(P.S. For magazines, I don't refer to those magazines designated for language learners, but those like Vogue, Travelling, Science, Times, National Geographic where you can absorb helpful information or knowledge).

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Journal 3 -- Labor Education

Dear students,

It is time to produce another journal. This time, I would like you to share your thoughts about the labor education on campus. I heard a lot of freshmen complaining about it, and no one seems to like it or think it is meaningful.

I want you to carefully think about this issue and put down your thought in this journal in a well-organized and well-argued manner. It doesn’t matter whether you react to the labor education positively or negatively, my goal is for you to learn to think thoroughly about an issue in your daily life and talk about it in a decent manner.

Requirements:
0. Post your article on your student blog
1. Deadline line: May 14, Friday by midnight
2. Word limit: 201 words or motr
3. Other(s): No late assignment will be accepted.
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Ask John a question Here / Contact Me

Hi my students and friends,

If you happen to have any questions regarding writing, grammar, assignments or anything else, you are more than welcome to ask me by leaving me a message (click comment below.) Or, drop me a line at johnlinminghuei@gmail.com

Looking forward to hearing from you.
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