Some rules about posting for this class

Hey all,
Just a quick reminder, as you post your reading journals for this class, please start your each title with "Week No. Reading Journal - (Optional topic) ".
                                                                   

For example, this week's journal will be "Week 2 Reading Journal - "Free to See: 10 U.S. Historic Sites"

Notice that you don't have to have a topic in the title, it is up to you. Simply type in "Week No. Reading Journal" is good enough.

Let me know if you are confused. :)

Now that you have your blog, what to do from here?

Hi class,

Thank you so much for your patience today (the computers in the lab are so slow...). I hope you all had fun creating or revisiting your blogs. 

I probably was not as clear as I thought, and I would like to explain a little bit more on what you should do with this assignment.

Basically, I would like you to write down your reflection and journal about what you read outside of class on your own.

Where to find readings...


The resources can be news, either online or traditional newspaper, magazine articles, books, recipes, professional journals, technical journals, novels or some famous authors' personal blog that you follow constantly. Be creative but make sure it helps people learn.

After you read...

What you have to do is to summarize what you read, where can we find the articles or the readings, and how you feel or what you think about the readings.
A lot of TOEFL readings are from National Geographic website, http://www.nationalgeographic.com/, so if you visit the site and read articles from there, you might find a lot of useful and interesting information.

Why are we doing this???


There are two purposes of doing this reading journal.

First, I would like to see how much self-study you do on your own outside of class. To read only the TOEFL textbook is not enough. You have expand your reading interests and area of learning by reading various topics.

Second, I would like to make this class resourceful. It is our class, so I would like everyone to contribute to it by sharing useful information and readings with each other. You might not read what other people write if you don't know them, but you are more likely to read what your friends write. (I hope...)

How much should you write...


Basically, I only require three entries per week. But you can definitely go beyond that if you browse the internet quite often and you'd like to share what you find interesting. Learning strategies, websites, news articles...etc., you can share just about anything that is useful and interesting.

Summarizing an reading/article is an advanced skill to have, and it shows your understanding of a text. Writing summaries for certain articles can also help people easily enter some difficult texts when they first encounter them. You are learning more this way than just passively reading whichever is in the textbook or just memorizing those vocabulary that you are never gonna use in your daily life.


Am I missing anything? Ask me questions here or in class!!!

Lastly, enjoy reading and writing! :)

Cheers,
Cynthia

Assignments deadlines

Aloha everyone,

Here are the deadlines for your reading journals and vocabulary sheet from week 2 to week 8:

1. Week 2, Saturday, November 5,  by 8 pm

2. Week 3, Saturday, November 12, by 8 pm

3. Week 4, Saturday, November 19, by 8 pm

4. Week 5, Saturday, November 26 (Thanksgiving week, NO Vocab sheet homework this week , but you still have to write your reading journal) , by 8 pm

5. Week 6, Saturday, December 3, by 8 pm

6. Week 7, Saturday, December 10, by 8 pm

7. Week 8, Saturday, December 17, by 8 pm

Please let me know if this is confusing to you and I will explain to you in person if you have questions.

Cheers,

Cynthia

TOEFL Reading assignment (Please read)

Aloha class, 

You won't believe how much time I have spent on setting up this blog. Technology is my weakness.:p

This is the reader's journal assignment for everyone in our class, and there is a reason why I am asking you to do this reading journal. 

A lot of times we read without writing down what we think about the readings, and usually we have something to say but we just don't take the initiative. I want to help you practice writing down what you think, and also reflect on what you read.  Another reason why I think, or I should say I "know" that this is going to be helpful is because I have done this in a writing class myself as a student, and it was really fun and interesting to write and to read my classmates' summary or reflection. 

So, here comes the project, and I really hope that you will enjoy doing this. 

All the members are expected to keep a reading journal by yourself every week on blogger.

• Read for 20 - 30 minutes each day.
• Read things that are interesting to you.
• Read on a variety of topics.
• Read books, magazines, newspapers, and web pages. 

Here's what you have to do for this class, and this assignment worth 10% of your grades: 

1. Post three summary or reflection of something you read outside class (it is recommended not to use the readings from your TOEFL textbook) every week by Saturday night  (You can post anytime during the week, but no later than Saturday night).  
2. I will check your post on Sunday to make sure you are writing.  The minimum number of words of each of your posts is 150 words. You can write more, but not less than 150 words. (We changed this to 100 words minimum, and let's try it for this week)
3. You are also expected to respond or make comments on at least two people's articles each week. I will check your comments every week Sunday to make sure you are posting comments.
4. Visit my blog for announcements or just to talk to me! :)
5. Enjoy reading! 

Notice that if you fail to post your reading journal (3 posts per week) on time (By Saturday night), or to comment on your friends' journals (two comments to different people), you will be taken out 3 points (out of 20 points) each time.

Comments or questions? Let me know. :) 

See you in class and I hope you all have a great semester! 

Cynthia

P.S. If you finish reading this article, please leave a comment so that I know you have visited and read this. :)