1. Prof. Nicholas Anderson
egl1002
Prof. Nicholas Anderson

2. EGL Overview
Goal: to provide additional support for ENC1930 and improve student writing and English abilities.
Activities:
Class discussion
Group work
Blog writing
Draft writing
Essay conferences
Grammar instruction
Native Accent
Book groups
Game shows
Movies
Note: We will review the syllabus and specific course policies during the next EGL class period

3. class DISCUSSION: English Complexities
What were your experiences like learning English? Was this something you enjoyed or disliked?
Where/how did you learn English?
Was there anything about English that you found particularly difficult, strange, or counterintuitive?
Consider: reading, speaking, spelling, vocabulary, sentence structure, etc.
What do you still want to learn about English or its usage?

4. class DISCUSSION: English complexities
“It is not easy to calculate all the costs of English spelling. What is the price of demotivation and turning large numbers of young children off learning at a young age? Teachers are regularly reminded that when it comes to motivation, 'Nothing succeeds like success'. English spelling ensures that many children have to become accustomed to failure from a very young age. Presumably the obverse of success is true of failure, and therefore 'nothing fails like spelling failure'?
[...] The most serious drawback of English spelling, however, is undoubtedly that it dooms around 20 % of all learners to guaranteed failure. For about 1/5 of all school children it is quite simply too difficult.
When a system is too difficult, large numbers of people inevitably fail to cope with it. We have seen a vast expansion in the use of computers once they became more user friendly. If one country had decided to stick with the DOS system and forbidden the adoption of windows, the use of computers in that country would almost certainly still be very low. The refusal to modernize English spelling has a similar effect. We insist that English spelling must stay fiendishly difficult, even though it is clearly beyond the intellectual powers of many millions (7 mil. in the UK, 40 mil. in the US.)
Inability to read and write reduces an individual's life and job prospects in many ways. For example, in the summer of 2000 it was reported in the UK that around 25% of British women fail to take up the offer of free breast screening. How much is illiteracy responsible for this? May functional illiteracy also be the reason why millions of people living in poverty regularly fail to claim the benefits which are aimed at alleviating their problems? How many resort to theft and robbery instead because they cannot cope with filling in an application form?
In June 1999 the Los Angeles Times carried a full page advertisement for voluntary classroom reading assistants. This claimed that some US states project future numbers of prisoners from child illiteracy rates. According to a recent audit by the UK's Youth Justice Board, half of all young men in custody in the UK have a reading age of 11 or below. The US and the UK both jail a relatively high percentage of their populations. The UK's rate is by far the highest in Europe. English spelling may well be at least partly responsible for this difference. “

5. class DISCUSSION: English complexities
Should the United States consider changing the English spelling system based on these difficulties? Why or why not?
Examples of spelling difficulties:
Night
Knight
Nite
What are some other examples of words with difficult spelling in English?
English has the most second language speakers of any language in the world. How do you think this has affected its development?

6. Class discussion: English complexities
Listen to the two passages representing Old English and Middle English respectively.
Where you able to understand any of the passages?
What might have caused these changes?
How do you think a speaker of Old English or Middle English would react to the English we speak today?

7. Class discussion: English complexities
English, and in fact all languages, change drastically over time
English can be a difficult language to master due to its:
Outdated and counterintuitive spelling system
Influences and loan words from many different languages
Phonotactic constraints that allow for long consonant clusters
Complex verb phrase system
Constant influence from technology and globalization
However, since you are present in this class, having passed the TOEFL and other exams, you have already completed the hard part! You are all English speakers. Now, our job is to make you masters of the English language.

8. Short write
Take a few minutes to think back on your own experiences learning English
In 2-3 paragraphs, describe the most important parts of your English learning experience. You may wish to include information such as:
Where, when, and how did you learn English?
What do you like about the English language?
What do you find difficult or troublesome about English?
How does English compare to your native language?
Consider this to be a formal writing assignment, so make sure your writing is well edited and professional
You should turn in one sheet of paper with your name on it

9. interlude Take the next 10 minutes to relax and refresh your mind
Please return promptly by: 12:52
In future classes, attendance (and tardiness) will be counted after the break session

10. Class discussion- blog writing
Do you run a professional or personal blog?
How is blog writing different than other forms of writing?
What are some of the most common topics in blog writing?
Why is blog writing so important?

11. Journal/Blog Entry Instructions
For this class, you will be required to maintain an online blog or journal
All journal entries will include a topic to focus on as well as several questions. The questions are there to guide your entry but you are not required to answer all of them as long as you stay on the topic of the entry
Unless otherwise noted, always answer blogs in essay form rather than individual answers to questions
Take a few minutes to talk amongst yourself and decide upon a blog platform for the class. We will then take a vote on it and all students will use that platform to post their blog assignments

12. Journal/Blog Entry Instructions
All journal entries should be 100+ words and appropriately labelled with the entry number.
Your blogs will NEVER have points deduced for grammar or spelling errors
Blog entries will be done for homework as well as in class. The entries written in class will not be collected. Instead, it is your responsibility to upload these to your blog
From time to time you will be asked to read and evaluate entries from your classmates’ blogs, so make sure your entries do not contain information you are uncomfortable with others reading
Example blogs from previous students:

13. blog entry 1
Focus: What is a significant way that media has impacted your life?
Take a few minutes to think back and reflect on how media has impacted your life. Try to identify one (or a few) source of media that has impacted you the most. This could be a television show that inspired you to a career or even a social media site that you use to stay connected with friends and family.
You may wish to consider:
What effect did this media have on your life?
Was this a positive or negative impact? Or both?
How did you come across this media? Do you still interact with it today?
What would have happened if this media was never a part of your life?
How will this experience affect you in the future?
When finished, submit your blog URL or username to

14. Blog Creation Create your blog on the specified social media platform
Write your username on the attendance sheet

15. homework Acquire Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing
Post Blog Entry 1 by Friday 8-25