Summer Quarter, Week 4, Day 3

Good morning!

Yesterday, we began class with "foot the bill." That led us to our short discussion on our problems with the phone company. Never let a company take advantage of you. If you don't feel comfortable advocating for yourself over the phone, be sure to ask a friend or family member to help you. As I said in class, phone companies had the highest number of consumer complaints when I looked at the Attorney General web site a few years ago.

We reviewed the grammar yesterday. I expect most of you to do quite well on the test. We have spent a lot of time on grammar so far this quarter, so we will need to take a short rest next week to catch up on Social Studies.

Then, we talked about connectors (we will follow up on Monday). The reference sheet (on green :)) that I passed out is one way to connect ideas. Although there are lots of ways to connect, I think it's best at this level to give you the basics so you can master one way. The important thing for me is that you are connecting ideas because our writing style needs more connecting words than some other cultures.

We began talking about the causes of the American Revolution (again, we'll follow up on Monday) and had another presentation. As you can, each presentation has been unique and interesting. Find a topic that works for you. Work with a friend if that makes you feel more comfortable!

I was talking to some of the students after class yesterday about CASAS scores and what to do next quarter. If you are curious about your testing history, tell me-- I can print it off in (literally) seconds for you. It is never to early to begin planning next year. Talk to me/send me an e-mail if you have questions.

I'll see you very, very soon!

Summer Quarter, Week 4, Day 3

Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed this beautiful summer day! Right after class, a friend of mine came over with her son and we went to a couple of parks in Camas. There was lots of shade, so the heat wasn't so bad. I never realized how many parks Camas has until this summer. If you haven't checked them out, I recommend them!

We began class with a "The Far Side" cartoon. We got some new vocabulary (ex. I've had it), but I was really hoping you'd get the joke and laugh. Maybe you feel that way with English? I know that's how I've felt in situations when the main language wasn't my native language!

After that, we returned to adverb clauses (meaning of cause) and added more ways to express cause. Yesterday, we worked on prepositions (due to/because of) and added due to the fact that. Today, we included so and therefore/consequently/thus/as a result to connect the ideas. The difference is that these words match up with the effect instead of the cause. Also, the grammar is different. So is a conjunction and will be found in the middle of the sentence with a comma. Therefore, etc. will be found at the beginning of the sentence (my preference), between the subject and verb, or at the end of the sentence. Commas are needed for each. EX. Because we are having hot weather, I will not exercise in the late afternoon. Because of/Due to the hot weather, I will not exercise in the afternoon. We are having hot weather, so I will not exercise in the late afternoon. We are having hot weather. Therefore, I will not exercise in the late afternoon./I, therefore, will not exercise in the late afternoon. I will not exercise in the late afternoon, therefore.

We finished up the test-taking practice-- when you are taking the CASAS/Compass/GED, be sure to narrow down the choices if you can (just like what you did when you wrote your questions). We also finished up our final social studies GED reading. The GED readings introduce the general ideas very well. Now, we can use this foundation to focus on the specific causes and effect of the Revolution.

Thanks again to our Storytime readers. We still have a few more weeks to read. Consider participating-- it's speaking practice!

See you in the morning!

Summer Quarter-- Week 4, Day 1

Good morning! Yesterday was a fun day...we began class with "chicken"...don't chicken out, you'll do fine on our quizzes on Thursday!

We moved on a bit in the grammar even though yesterday and today's lessons won't be on Thursday's quizzes. I want to keep moving on in the grammar because our schedule will be getting tighter and tighter as the quarter continues with presentations, service project, etc.

The grammar point was short, but important because students do make errors using because of/due to. Because of and Due to show causes, but only a noun can follow. Remember that you need a subject + verb when using because & due to the fact that. EX. Because of/Due to my bad knee, I can't go jogging anymore. Because/Due to the fact that I have a bad knee, I can't go jogging anymore.

Marguerite brought up a good question on suffixes and changing back and forth among the different parts of speech. We do this informally almost every day. With my quick examples on the board, I hope I showed you that you already can do this somewhat. Since a few students have never had such a lesson on suffixes (and it's an important part of vocabulary building), we will do a lesson on it this week or next.

After the break, we returned to social studies and finished the test-taking practice. We'll go over the questions that you made today and the reading.

I hope you're staying cool! Summer has definitely returned!

Summer Quarter-- Week 3, Day 4

Good morning! Our last class was a busy one! We began with a few idioms/slang from a clip from Everybody Loves Raymond. We had a tune up, to loosen up & to check this out.

We returned to adverb clauses/phrases with an article on the Missouri Family (whose picture ended up life-size in a grocery store in the Czech Republic). There were lots of good vocabulary in that article. We had a few adverb clauses/phrases. In newspaper articles, there tends to be a lot of noun clauses (reported/direct speech) and adjective clauses/phrases, so it can be difficult to figure out which is which. It seems to me that you should do well on the upcoming quiz.

After break, Marisol gave a fantastic presentation on Folkloric Ballet of Mexico. Many thanks to her models (Mayuko, Roeuk, Crystal) and her technical assistant (Jose). After you have seen two presentations, I hope you are feeling more comfortable with the goals of the assignment.

We concluded class with the test-taking practice on the Social Studies reading. Today, we will go over the examples and I will collect your questions and make them into an exercise for tomorrow.

I hope you're enjoying this beautiful weather. See you very soon.