To Kill a Mockingbird

On Tuesday, September 26, approximatley thirty students showed up to discuss forming a Book Club. After hearig a description of the novels available for reading a voting process began.

After several rounds of voting the choice was narrowed down to Ragtime and To Kill a Mockingbird. A tie vote resulted and was broken when another student arrived and cast her vote for To Kill a Mockingbird.

Caroline Hsieh, the Book Club Coordinator, has ordered the books, which should be available for distribution on Saturday, September 30.

The next meeting for the Book Club has been set for Tuesday, October 10 at a time and place to be announced later.

Book List for Reading Group

The following novels are available for the group to select.

* A Gathering of Old Men by Ernest J. Gaines
* Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
* Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck
* Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow
* The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
* The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
* The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
* To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Description of College English Reading Group

The College English Reading Group is an optional activity for students in Ron Corio's and Ye Fan's College English classes. The purpose of the group is to read a novel in English for pleasure and to improve reading comprehension and vocabulary.

The plan is to select a novel for everyone in the group to read and discuss. The discussions will be held in bi-weekly meetings and online using this Nicenet Internet Classroom Assistant.

Participation is the group is voluntary. There will be no tests and no grades. Just reading and exhanging reactions and ideas about what we have read.

Guidelines for the News Reports Assignment

News Reports is the name for an activity whose purpose it to help improve listening comprehension and speaking skills. Follow these steps to prepare a news report for use in a classroom activity.

1. Listen to an English language news program on the radio or on the Internet. The radio and Internet are better than television because they rely more on listening skills, whereas television provides visual input. The Internet has the advanctage of repeated listenings for better understanding.
2. Take notes of the key information, e.g. who or what is the story about, when, why, and where did it happen.
3. Prepare a one to three minute oral report of the story. You will tell give your news report to your groupmates in class.
4. A few students will be asked to give their news report to the whole class.
5. Do not read your news report. You may refer to your notes, but should use your own words to tell the news story.

Guidelines for Writing a Summary

Columbia University Writing Center
Hunter College Reading/Writing Center
Write To Learn
St. Cloud University

CE, Section 36: Presentation Assignments

Unit One Presentations, Friday, September 22
1. A White Heron, Alberta and Alvin
2. The Nutrients in Food, Alice and Charles
3. Creativity Will Dominate Our Time, Amity and Christian

Unit Two, Friday, September 29
1. I Have A Dream, Angela and Darren
2. Books, Angelina and Jack
3. Ecosystem in and out of Balance, Anna and Kevin

Unit Three, Friday, October 13
1. Kid with a Knife (Part I), Candy and Max
2. Kid with a Knife (Part II), Carol and Robert
3. You Call This a Muging?, Cecilia and Charlotte

Unit Four, Friday, October 20
1. Man Searches for Life in Space, Christine and Cindy
2. Journey to the Bottom of the Earth, Clare and Dan
3. Entropy, Delia and Emily

Unit Five, Friday, November 10
1. On the Seventh Day of the Christmas, Evelyn and Flora
2. The Borrowed Daughter, Helen and Idea
3. The Night before Christmas, Irene, Jade, and Jane

Unit Six, Friday, November 17
1. A Boy with a Mission, Jessica and Julia
2. This Boy's Life, Laura and Luch
3. My Brother's Way, Lynn, Michelle, and Nancy

Unit Seven, Friday, November 24
1. The Brewer's Son, Portia and Rainbow
2. When the Wolf Was at the Door, Sarah and Seven
3. The Spark She Can't Explain, Sherry, Space, and Stella Lei

Unit Eight, Friday, December 1
1. Dolly's False Legacy, Stella Shen and Susan
2. Unlock Your Own Creativity, Tanya, Tiffany, and Tina
3. Sleep and Dreams, Ting, Woody, and Zoe

Presentation Assignment
1. The presentation should include the following
* a brief summary
* an analysis
2. The presentation should last between ten and fifteen minutes.
3. All members of the group must do a part of the oral presentation.
4. Powerpoint may be used to make the presentation.
5. The presentation is worth five percent of your final grade. The final grade will be based on the content, clarity, organization, and tme of the presentation.

CE, Section 32: Presentation Assignments

Unit One: Friday, September 22
1. A White Heron, Alice Two and Allan
2. The Nutrients in Food, Alice One and Allen
3. Creativity Will Dominate Our Time, Briant and Caroline

Unit Two: Friday, September 29
1. I Have A Dream, Celia and Han
2. Books, Edwina and Jack
3. Ecosystem in and out of Balance, Ella and Joy

Unit Three: Friday, October 13
1. Kid with a Knife (Part I), Elyn and Lucky
2. Kid with a Knife (Part II), Emma and Nick
3. You Call This a Muging?, Jennifer and Philip

Unit Four: Friday, October 20
1. Man Searches for Life in Space, Iris and Shao
2. Journey to the Bottom of the Earth, Ivy and Tracey
3. Entropy, Jackie and Vincent

Unit Five, Friday, November 10
1. On the Seventh Day of the Christmas, Jingle and Joyce
2. The Borrowed Daughter, Maggie and Sophie Yang
3. The Night before Christmas, Nice and Pauline

Unit Six, Friday, Novermber 17
1. A Boy with a Mission, Rainy and Rosy
2. This Boy's Life, Sally and Samantha
3. My Brother's Way, Sophie Li and Viky

Unit Seven, Friday, November 24
1. The Brewer's Son, William and Winning
2. When the Wolf Was at the Door, Lynn and Wu
3. The Spark She Can't Explain, Yang

Unit Eight, Friday, December 1
1. Dolly's False Legacy, Yoyo
2. Unlock Your Own Creativity, YueQi
3. Sleep and Dreams, Henry

Presentation Assignment
1. The presentation should include the following
* a brief summary
* an analysis
2. The presentation should last between eight to twelve minutes.
3. All members of the group must do a part of the oral presentation.
4. Powerpoint may be used to make the presentation.
5. The presentation is worth five percent of your final grade. The final grade will be based on the content, clarity, organization, and time of the presentation.

Comments

Receiving comments on blog entries is nice.

Thanks to those who have written comments to this blog.

Guidelines for writing comments:
1. Include your name, so I can tell who the writer is.
2. Include your edress, if you would like me to respond.

Introduction to My Fudan Students

Dear Students,

Thank you for your written introductions. Writing to each of you individually would be an onerous task, given that there are over 120 of you. Thus, I am using this means to introduce myself to you.

When I was born, the United States was beginning to come out of The Great Depression. Franklin D. Roosevelt was the President of the United States, and he was leading the country in a recovery from very difficult economic times. For this, and other reasons, many people think of him as one of the greatest U.S. Presidents.

My mother named me Ronald, after the famous British actor Ronald Coleman. Ralph, my middle name, was my father's name. I was born in Punxsutawney in the state of Pennsylvania, a town known world-wide as the Groundhog Town. On February 1 each year, a groundhog comes out of its hole. The goundhog predicts how many more weeks of winter remain according to whether or not it sess its shadow. The film Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray, is based on this event.

My three children, Joe, Anne, and Jennifer and two grandchildren, Raven and Sam live on the west coast of the United States. Since I live on hte east coast, in Richmond, Virginia, I see them once or twice a year. However, we keep in touch by telephone and email.

My first career was in banking, where I specialized in mortgage lending and real estate management. In 1992 I received a Master's Degree in linguistics with a specialty of Teaching English as a Foreign Language. My first teaching job was at Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. One year later I took a teaching job in the English Language Program at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia.

When I am not working I like to ride my road bike, cook and dine out, work crossword puzzles, and read. I also enjoy spending time with friends, either over dinners at home or at a restaurant or going to see a film.

I am excited to be at Fudan University and to be teaching English for one year. I look forward to meeting and working with many students there.

Teaching and Learning

In the classroom, where learning is the goal, the line between teaching and learning is often blurred. The teacher's job is to create the environment and provide the tools that foster learning.

The studetns are not the only ones who learn; the teacher is not the only one who teaches. It is a two-way street in which every participant brings knowledge to the table. In a good classroom that street is kept open for two-way traffic. Everyone benefits when knowledge is shared.

Paolo Friere articlulated this in his book The Pedagogy of the Oppressed.

Tomorrow, I begin teaching my first English classes at Fudan University, and I am relying on the students to share their knowledge with me, to teach me. What is the classroom culture? What are their expectations? What do they want to learn? How does the overhead computer projection system work? Where is a good place to eat lunch?

Let the knowledge traffic flow . . . two-ways, of course.

Fudan University

On August 24, 2006 I arrived in Shanghai to begin a one-year teacher exchange at Fudan University.

In the Fall 2006 semester I will teach an academic writing class and two sections of college English to level Three students.

In these classes I hope to use this blog for students to post comments or to give them instructions on opening there own blog on Blogger.

Welcome to Ron's ESOL Classroom

Hello Readers,

Welcome to this blog, where students of English for Speakers of Other Languages in my classes can meet to write, opine, question, and discuss.

Please join in.