Back to Classes, Fall 15!

That's right, today is the first day of classes (for me anyway) in the fall semester of 2015. This semester's going to be fun and challenging (for students anyway) again. In the Writing II B class, we're going to be using manaba (what a great program) in addition to more blogging. Most students have already started blogs, but we're going to add to them, post comments to my blog, post comments to friends' blogs, and blog blog blog about more things.

Of course, we won't forget about our trusty textbook. It's good for students to learn basic English sentence structure. For this reason, we'll be using the book for basics. Much of the book will be done via homework, and the answers will be checked in class. Writing aspects will be more fully explained in class as well. manaba will be completed in both realms - for homework (definitely weekly) and sometimes in class. Blogging, too, will be completed in class (so checking/advising can be done together) but will also be done for homework, in the form of updating/uploading or expanding on blog posts.

One more thing - don't forget to check this blog at least weekly! New assignments, answers to questions, quiz information, quiz answers and also test answers may be posted here. This is a good way to help you get used a routine of checking, writing, commenting, and posting.

That's it yes for this blog. Don't hesitate to have a blogging good time of it. It's easy and fun to express your feelings, thoughts, ideas, and dreams in the form of a blog. Blog away!

How is your English communication ability?

Part of my research is assessing English communication ability. What you need to do:
1) record a short message 2) click on save 3) email  your recording to me: morejeff@gmail.com

It's that simple. I'll listen to your recording and let you know your English level on a scale of 0 (no ability) to 5 (advanced ability). Good luck!




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September...Isn't that a song?

Yes, it is a song. By Earth, Wind, and Fire if you didn't remember. That song came out when I was quite young...in 1971. I won't tell you how old I was then. Oh what the heck. I was 7, to be exact, in the 2nd grade of elementary school. I still remember it playing on the radio.

Another item that was popular back then was a TV kids' show called, "The Electric Company." How many of you remember that one? Hehehe...if you're older than 45 you probably do, just about. Do y'all remember who was in that show who became a biiiiiiiiggggggggg star? Yes, that's right, Morgan Freeman, one of my favorite actors. What a cool cat he is. Very natural.

And September is good for other things too. It's the 9th month of the year, and named after the Latin, Septem. This was because it was the 7th month in the Roman calendar, very different from the Gregorian calendar we use today. In that calendar March was the first month.

September is the first month of school in the west. I'll never forget the feeling I had in August during summer when I realized that school was about to start again at the beginning of September. And other nice things about September? It starts to get cool, and the food is great!