Process: Han YM (5.2 / 5)

 

1. Goal of the writing: to give information about Halloween

2. Reader: General public, especially parents and children enjoying Halloween

3. Main idea of the writing: History of Halloween

4. Organizing main idea

Introduction

Halloween; annual holiday on October 31

Decoration, pumpkins

Costumes, sweets

History of Halloween

Originated from the Celtic festival of Samhain

Name: All- Hallows-Eve

Costume, food, game and activity

Costume: witches, demons, Vampires -to disguise oneself in order to ward off harmful spirits

Food: pumpkin pie, apple candy

Game: apple bobbing

Activity: telling of ghost stories and viewing of horror films, going to the haunted places, trick or treat

Religious perspectives

Christian attitude: diverse-as a fun event/ concerned

Conclusion

 

5. First Draft

Introduction

Bright orange pumpkins are everywhere.  There are prank cards and flies that informed of Halloween on the streets.  It is a season of fall festival, Halloween.  Houses are decorated with pumpkins, corn husks and scarecrow and children are ready to carve a pumpkin into a jack-o-lantern.  On one hand, many churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in the churches where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy, but other Christians feel concerned about Halloween and reject the holiday.  On the other hand, children are happy to choose their costumes and eat sweets.  Do you know the origin of Halloween?

History

According to historian Nicholas Rogers, Halloween is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of old Irish Samhain.  The name is derived from Irish and means “summer’s end”.  The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the other world became thin on Samhain, allowing both harmless and harmful spirits to pass through.  To ward off harmful spirits, they wore costume and masks.  Their purpose was to disguise themselves as harmful spirits and thus avoid harm.  The word Halloween represents All-Hallows-Eve (hallows means saint, and eve means evening), that is, the night before All Hallows Day, or All Saints Day.  Therefore, the spelling “Hallowe’en” was frequently used, deleting the “v” and shortening the word.  Symbols associated with Halloween are pumpkins making of jack-o-lanterns.  

Another festival was a day to honor the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains to the tradition of “bobbing ’’for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

Costume, food, games and activity

             Halloween has become a confusing mixture of tradition and practices from pagan culture, and Christian tradition.  Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening face with soot were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits of the dead who might be roaming around.  This is the origin of Halloween masquerading as devils, imps, and other demonic creatures.  The jack-o-lantern is the festival light for Halloween and is the ancient symbol of a damned soul.  In traditional Celtic Halloween festivals, large turnips were used to carve with faces.  When the Irish immigrated to America they could not find many turnips to carve into jack-o-lanterns but they did find an abundance of pumpkins. Pumpkins seemed to be a suitable substitute for the turnips and pumpkins have been an essential part of Halloween celebrations ever since.  Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face and place it on their doorstep after dark. Pumpkins were cut with faces representing demons, which were originally intended to frighten away evil spirits.  One common game associated with Halloween is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin.  Another common game involves hanging up syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands, an activity that inevitably lead to a very sticky face.  The telling of ghosts’ stories and viewing of horror films are common activities of Halloween parties.  Because the holiday comes in annual apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples), caramel or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.

Trick-or- treating and guising

Trick-or- treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween.  Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy with the question, “trick or treat?’’ the word “trick” refers to a “threat” to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.

Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after monsters such ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils.  Over time, the costumes selection extended to include popular characters from science fiction, celebrities, television, and cartoon characters, and princesses.

Conclusion

Halloween is not celebrated in all countries.  Since celebration in the US and Canada has hah significant impact, it has extended to places such as South America, Europe, Korea, Japan and other part of East Asia.  Halloween still has a bit magic.  It’s time when children are give license to be strange and scary, to wander around at night and eat normally forbidden sweets.

 

6. Revise

Introduction

Bright orange pumpkins are everywhere.  There are prank cards and flies that informed of Halloween on the streets.  It is a season of fall festival, Halloween.  Houses are decorated with pumpkins, corn husks and scarecrow and children are ready to carve pumpkins into a jack-o-lantern. Many churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in the churched where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy, but other Christians feel concerned about Halloween and reject the holiday.  Children are happy to choose their costumes and eat sweets.  Do you know the origin of Halloween?

History

According to historian Nicholas Rogers, Halloween is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of old Irish Samhain.  The name is derived from Irish and means “summer’s end”.  The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the other world became thin on Samhain, allowing both harmless and harmful spirits to pass through.  To ward off harmful spirits, they wore costume and masks.  Their purpose was to disguise themselves as harmful spirits and thus avoid harm.  The word Halloween represents All-Hallows-Eve (hallows means saint, and eve means evening), that is, the night before All Hallows Day, or All Saints Day.  Therefore, the spelling “Hallowe’en” was frequently used, deleting the “v” and shortening the word.  Symbols associated with Halloween are pumpkins making of jack-o-lanterns. 

Another festival was a day to honor the Roman goddess of fruit and trees. The symbol of Pomona is the apple and the incorporation of this celebration into Samhain probably explains to the tradition of “bobbing ’’for apples that is practiced today on Halloween.

Costume, food, games and activity

             Halloween has become a confusing mixture of tradition and practices from pagan culture, and Christian tradition.  Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening face with soot were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits of the dead who might be roaming around.  This is the origin of Halloween masquerading as devils, imps, and other demonic creatures.  The jack-o-lantern is the festival light for Halloween and is the ancient symbol of a damned soul.  In traditional Celtic Halloween festivals, large turnips were used to carve with faces.  When the Irish immigrated to America they could not find many turnips to carve into jack-o-lanterns but they did find an abundance of pumpkins. Pumpkins seemed to be a suitable substitute for the turnips and pumpkins have been an essential part of Halloween celebrations ever since.  Many families that celebrate Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face, which was originally intended to frighten away evil spirits, and place it on their doorstep after dark. Pumpkins were cut with faces representing demons, which were originally intended to frighten away evil spirits.  One common game associated with Halloween is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a tub or a large basin of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin.  Another common game involves hanging up syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands, an activity that inevitably lead to a very sticky face.  The telling of ghosts’ stories and viewing of horror films are common activities of Halloween parties.  Because the holiday comes in annual apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples), caramel or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.  Pumpkin pies are also common on Halloween.

Trick-or- treating and guising

Trick-or- treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween.  Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats such as candy with the question, “trick or treat?’’.  The word “trick” refers to a “threat” to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.  Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after monsters such ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils.  Over time, the costumes selection extended to include popular characters from science fiction, celebrities, television, and cartoon characters, and princesses.

Conclusion

Halloween is not celebrated in all countries.  Since celebration in the US and Canada has had significant impact, it has extended to places such as South America, Europe, Korea, Japan and other part of East Asia.  Halloween still has a bit magic.  It’s time when children are give license to be strange and scary, to wander around at night, and to eat normally forbidden sweets.

 

In the revision, I corrected spellings, and deleted subtitles and some redundant sentences.  Also I changed order of sentences and added some sentence to clear my writing.

 

7. Editing- final draft

 

Bright orange pumpkins are everywhere.  There are prank cards and flies that informed of Halloween on the streets.  It is a season of fall festival, Halloween.  Houses are decorated with pumpkins, corn husks and scarecrow.  Children are happy to choose their costumes, and ready to enjoy the holiday.  On one hand, many churches view Halloween as a fun event for children, holding events in the churched where children and their parents can dress up, play games, and get candy.  On the other hand, other Christians feel concerned about Halloween and reject the holiday.  Do you know the origin of Halloween?

According to historian Nicholas Rogers, Halloween is more typically linked to the Celtic festival of old Irish Samhain than to the festival of Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit and trees.  The name of Samhain is derived from Irish and means “summer’s end”.  The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the other world became thin on Samhain, allowing both harmless and harmful spirits to pass through.  To ward off harmful spirits, they wore costume and masks.  Their purpose was to disguise themselves as harmful spirits and thus avoid harm.  Wearing masks and other disguises and blackening face with soot were originally ways of hiding oneself from the spirits of the dead who might be roaming around.  This is the origin of Halloween masquerading as devils, witches, and other demonic creatures.  The word Halloween represents All-Hallows-Even (hallow means saint, and even means evening), that is, the night before All Hallows Day, or All Saints Day of Roman Catholic church.  Therefore, the spelling “Hallowe’en” was frequently used, deleting the “v” and shortening the word.

             The jack-o-lantern is the festival light for Halloween, and the ancient symbol of a damned soul.  In traditional Celtic Halloween festivals, large turnips were used to carve with faces.  When the Irish immigrated to America, they could not find many turnips to carve into jack-o-lanterns but they could find plenty of pumpkins.  Pumpkins seemed to be a suitable substitute for the turnips.  Ever since pumpkins have been an essential part of Halloween celebrations.  Many families celebrating Halloween carve a pumpkin into a frightening or comical face, which was originally intended to frighten away evil spirits, and place it on their doorstep after dark.  One common game associated with Halloween is dunking or apple bobbing, in which apples float in a large basin of water and the participants must use their teeth to remove an apple from the basin.  Another common game involves hanging up syrup-coated scones by strings; these must be eaten without using hands, an activity that inevitably lead to a very sticky face.  The telling of ghosts’ stories and viewing of horror films are common activities of Halloween parties.  Because the holiday comes in annual apple harvest, candy apples (known as toffee apples), caramel or taffy apples are common Halloween treats made by rolling whole apples in sticky sugar syrup, sometimes followed by rolling them in nuts.  Pumpkin pies are also common on Halloween.

Trick-or- treating is a customary celebration for children on Halloween.  Children go in costume from house to house, asking for treats with the question, “trick or treat?’’.  The word “trick” refers to a “threat” to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given.  Halloween costumes are traditionally modeled after monsters such ghosts, skeletons, witches, and devils.  Over time, the costumes selection extended to include popular characters from science fiction, celebrities, television and cartoon characters, and princesses.

Halloween is a confusing mixture of tradition and practices from pagan culture, and Christian tradition.  Halloween has begun to lose its religious meanings and becomes more secular children’s holiday.  Halloween is not celebrated in all countries.  However, since celebration in the US and Canada has had significant impact, it has extended to places such as South America, Europe, Korea, Japan and other part of East Asia.  Halloween still has a bit magic.  It’s time when children are give license to be strange and scary, to wander around at night, and to eat normally forbidden sweets.  As the days get shorter and the nights get colder, people look forward to parades, costumes and sweet treats to endure the winter season.

 

 

References

1.      Wikipedia

2.      Washington post

Process : Han SH (5/5)

Write a five-paragraph-essay on a topic that you chose. You should show me seven parts of the process of your writing.

 

1. Please state the goal of your essay

100 years have passed since the Japanese annexation of Korea is finished and it’s time to create an atmosphere of the true reconciliation and partnership. However, one of the hottest issues between Korean and Japan is the Dokdo territorial dispute, which has been acting as a thorn in the two nation’s sides. Most Koreans show furious interest when this matter is being a major issue of mass media, nonetheless we need to teach our students why Japan tries to make the islets a part of their territory and what importance the islets have for the two nations to stop the absurd argument and keep the islets safely for generations.

 

2. Tell me who the ‘reader/audience’ of your essay is/are.

My target customers are the six graders who learn the modern history of Korea in a class and my essay would be a supplementary material for providing information and a discussion topic.

 

3. State the main ideas

To fight against Japan and keep our territory eternally, we need to know the significance of the islets from various points of view such as geographic, economic, and military.

 

4. Organize the main ideas (list in order)

Introduction – start by raising a current issue surrounding the islets between the two nations and get readers attention on the importance of Dokdo.

Development – explain the three key points of significance one by one.

Closing – synthesize and conclude.

5. Write the first draft of a five-paragraph-essay

Have you ever been to Dokdo? Do you know the position of Dokdo? Yes, it’s in the far east side of Gyeonsangbuk-do in Korea and divided into two islets, Dongdo and Seodo. However, Japan has claimed that the islets are theirs from  ancient times and has been trying to deprive them of our nation. Do you know why they have wanted the islets so badly making a conflict with their neighbor? How much importance do the islets have for Japan despite of making bad emotions from Korean? Let’s find out what importance the islets have.

 

First, geographically, Dokdo is located between Korea and Japan making a border in the sea. Thus having the islets mean expanding maritime territory and having rights within a radius of 370km around the islets. They could get a large amount of natural resources and power.

 

Next, economically, the islets have enormous energy potential because hydrates, a substituted energy source to oil, have found from near and the deep sea of the islets with which Korea can use at least more than 50years as a alternative energy source not to mention other resources such as beautiful underwater scenery and various living organisms.

 

Last, militarily, the location of the islets is very important. They can be used as a military radar base to detect surrounding nations such as China, Russia, and Pacific region. The value of the islets is way more than we can imagine.

 

Japan has been trying to achieve the islets for these reasons above. It provides a enormous territory of ocean, alternative energy and natural resources, and useful military base for the future. For this reason, Dokdo is very important to our nation as well as Japan, thus we need to get more attention and know the islets for blocking Japan’s evil will and keeping them eternally for generations. Now let’s think about what you can do for it and discuss them with your friends.

 

 

6. Review it and make a comment on it (self-check)

- Goals of the writer

  The main message is to give information about what kind of importance do the islets have for our students and let them think about it with their friends. There no problem in the first draft I think.

 

- Model of the reader

  I wrote this for the six graders with a certain tone considering their prior knowledge and interest, but I think it can be rather difficult for them in relation to their level of English, thus it needs to be written more easily and simply.

 

- Gathering ideas

  I already know a lot of this topic and gathered information from various resources before writing and it was easy to gather them as it has been an major issue for me.

 

- Organizing ideas

  Before I wrote this I think of the structure and organize them into three parts for giving explicit message and easy understanding.

 

- Ideas to text

  Actually it was not easy to write quickly because it will be used for a class and I think it’s easier to talk about the ideas directly than to write them.

 

- Reviewing

  I followed the procedure when writing and checking them and I tried to write clearly but I could still improve this text suitable for the level of six graders.

 

- Editing

  I could find several misspelled words through spellchecking and consulted a dictionary, corrected some errors, and changed several sentences for effective message delivery, but I still feel insufficient and incompetent.

7. Write the final draft of the essay.

 

 

 

Have you ever been to Dokdo? Can you find the islets on your map? Yes, it’s in the easternmost part of Gyeonsangbuk-do in Korea and divided into two islets, Dongdo and Seodo. However, Japan has claimed that the islets are theirs from ancient times and has been trying to deprive Korea of the islets. Do you know why Japan has wanted the islets so badly making conflicts with our country? What importance do the islets have? Let’s take a look at the main three points one by one.

 

First, the islets are located between Korea and Japan in the east sea bordering on the two countries geographically. Thus, for Japan, having the islets mean expanding maritime territory and having rights for a large amount of natural resources and power within a radius of 370km around the islets.

 

Next, economically, the islets have enormous energy potential because hydrates, an alternative energy source to fossil fuel, have been found from near and the deep sea of the islets with which Korea can use at least more than 50years as an alternative energy source not to mention other resources such as beautiful underwater scenery and various living organisms.

 

Last, the location of the islets is militarily important. They can be used as a military radar base to detect surrounding nations’ naval forces such as China, Russia, North Korea, and Pacific region. The value of the islets is way more than we can imagine.

 

This is why Japan has been trying to achieve the islets. It provides an enormous territory of ocean, alternative energy and natural resources, and useful military base for the future. For this reason, Dokdo is very important to our nation as well as Japan, thus we need to know well about the value of the islets and let the world know that Dokdo is our territory for keeping them eternally for generations. Now let’s think about what you can do for keeping the islets from Japan and discuss them with your friends.

Midterm: Seo CO

(1)   The difference between first and second language reading process

I have seen from Hollywood movies the scene that in a bookstore, not in a library, an adult read a storybook aloud, surrounded with lots of children. Although I couldn’t hear it at all because the scene was just background, I could imagine the voice was so clear, soft, and vivid enough to arouse every child’s curiosity. All children sitting down floor was about 5 or 6 years old. That is, I would like to mention, the difference between first and second language reading process. We start learning to read in first language at the early age, in the course of living their lives like washing hand, having three meals, and sleeping at night. I mean, they are not aware that they have to do the reading. The thing which is not associated with what they should or should not is much easier to form it as a habit. The reading which became a habit naturally triggers mature of mental ability, that is inner curiosity, as the children grow older. At this point, two factors should be pointed out when it comes to learning to read in first language. In order to follow this process, children should know basic vocabulary and structures before they started to read books. Children acquire their first language since birth, so they can start to read without stopping or labor. The other factor is that the first book should be easy, interesting and familiar – they have already heard it from parents or others – story. It gives them the impression that reading is interesting and in turn, causes them to read books as a way of enjoyment like watching moves, playing games, or playing sports. On the other hand, second language reading process starts when learners should learn the second language. The time is at least when they start a regular formal schooling. Although they start reading in second language at the age of 7, because the thing they learn in school accompanies the sense that they have to do, it is really hard to form learning in second language as a habit, that is to say, the reading beyond intensive reading for academic analysis to extensive reading for enjoyment. Besides, readers don’t have enough vocabulary and structure to read the book in second language. Therefore, they have to ‘study’ the vocabulary alone before they are absorbed in the story itself, or they have to ‘study‘ structures while they are reading so as to follow the tread of the story. It is easy to give readers the impression that reading is another study. For average people, keep reading in second language takes a lot of effort, or self-consciousness. To sum up, the differences between first language and second language process are when to start to reading, how willing to read, and how much of a basic knowledge of vocabulary and structures.

 

(2)   What intensive reading means in ESL setting

 Intensive reading means intensive study of reading texts in order to increase learners’ knowledge of language ultimately for getting better chance in life, such as getting good job. Intensive reading, not one in first language, is based on grammar translation. However, it no longer only means explaining the meaning of a text sentence by sentence without thought of its purpose, main idea, and theme, but it means comprehension of a text and development of reading strategies, as well. Also, the change in the reading text being dealt with is noticeable. Rather than more difficult, abstract, and academic text, such texts are dealt with in class as more practical text easy to contact at anytime and at any place, to develop a writing skill, or to develop a mental ability. That is to say, a reading text consists of language features contributing to the communicative purpose. Through this intensive reading, readers learn basic linguistic knowledge needed to understand what is read with no interruption at times in order to analyze the sentence itself in superficial sense, not to read between the lines. Through this intensive reading, a reader can step up extensive reading, so that he/she can satisfy his/her intellectual need. Therefore, intensive work on a reading text deals with comprehension, sound and spelling relations, vocabulary, grammar, cohesion, information structure, genre feature, and useful reading strategies. These works appear as forms of questions in written or oral exam in order to ascertain that readers is performing the reading well. These kinds of reading exercise can afford to lead a learner to comprehend texts, not comprehension of a text. It means that what is dealt with in intensive reading can be found in almost any text. Also, a reading exercise can afford to trigger a learner’s curiosity about what the book is about – contents, and in turn, it causes a reader to go further into other related book – an act of expanding a thinking power. A reading exercise also keeps a teacher and a learner interacting, proceeding toward supposed direction. Therefore, intensive reading needs a systematic plan and careful fulfillment. This is the reason why a reading text is made according to a sequence of a linguistic feature from simple to complex, such as grammar ingredients, social issues, themes, and reading strategies.

 

(3)   What extensive reading means in ESL setting

Extensive reading is letting readers keep reading books which have only a few unknown vocabulary and grammar items, or have no unknown items. Readers can consolidate previously learned vocabulary and grammar knowledge, and can learn new vocabulary and grammar from extensive reading at a variety of levels of proficiency. The most important thing is to make readers keep engaging large quantities books, consequently enabling readers to gain knowledge of the world. Therefore, it is important to select books which satisfy this requirement. The real value of extensive reading lies in the fact that readers gain reading skill and fluency in reading, and most of all, their reading enjoyment. Therefore, during extensive reading, we have to check whether learners, or, readers gain extended knowledge, skillful reading, and knowledge of world where they are involved. Consequently, well-planned and systematic reading program should be made and monitoring activities should be also planned in order to keep both learners and a teacher interact. This extensive reading program needs inevitably long-term, and reading outside a classroom. Because extensive reading is a form of learning from meaning-focused input beyond learning special language features, it has to be varied, self-oriented, enjoyable reading at a reasonable fluent speed. For learners to gain adequate comprehension with proper speed, graded readers should be used as texts because they arrange a range of words which are appropriate for graded readers. First, diagnose learner’s current level of vocabulary. Second, select books which keep learners interested in reading with words repeating and new words extending. Third, develop several techniques and procedures that can be used to motivate learners to do this and keep a record of learner’s reading. Fourth, make a test about how well learners comprehend texts. There are various graded readers and we – both a teacher and learners – can choose the best ones.

 

(4)   Create a mini-lesson plan for intensive ESL reading

1. Greeting

2. Review – Check student’s learning with comprehensive questions about the previous text.

         - Check students’ vocabulary learned in the previous class ( -use fresh card )

3. Presentation of objectives – introduce today’s specific objectives

          1) to understand new words and expressions

          2) to understand how the text organizes

          3) to use the target expressions for making a cheer-up card ( associated activity )

4. Pre-reading

– Motivate students with playing guessing game with new words and expressions by given English meanings and pictures.

- Scan & skim the first page to find out what Seho thought about himself at first.

- Scan & skim the second page to understand how his thoughts about himself change.

( Individual Work )

5. While-reading

- Complete a mind map: arranging accidents by the change of Seho’s thinking ( group work )

- Check the linguistic structure with group members: ‘In addition’, ‘~no matter how ordinary one might feel,~’

6. Post-reading

- Watch the video clip in which three students from other class are talking about their problem

- Write a cheer-up card for one of the three students with a partner. ( pair work )

- Present what students write in their card.

7. Formative Test & Wrap-up

- Do formative test for today’s class: short quiz

 

(5)   Create a mini-lesson plan for extensive ESL reading

1. On March, at the beginning month of a semester, a teacher makes an announcement about the contest ‘Let’s read books in English’ and provides a list of books which are differently graded.

- Students are supposed to read at least 5 books among them.

( Subtracting the months for two mid terms and two final terms, we are supposed to read a book a month )

- Students have to make a list of new words, phrases and a sentence hard to understand once a week and hand in the list to their teacher.

- The teacher will post the meaning or explanation of students’ lists on the English Information board of our school homepage under the category of respective book titles. ( It will be included in student’s performance assessment – 10% attendance )

2. On October, we will have the reading contest and

- Two books are chosen for the contest and the two books are made public one month ahead of the test.

- New words, phrases and linguistic structures are posted on online homepage.

- The test consists of short answer questions and multiple choices which can be answered only through reading the books in English, not in Korean version.

- The result will be included in student’s performance assessment – 10%.

- Prominent 10 students will be awarded under the name of principal in our school and recorded in student’s report card.

 

(6)   Summary of my mini-lesson plans

My mini lesson plan for intensive reading is what I am doing in my lesson. I usually adopt grammar-translation approach and it is effective especially in preliminary high school for a university because it is considered fastest way to learn linguistic features being dealt with in the CSAT. But, it is also true that I am being pressed into using a practical approach in order to serve communicative purpose of language. The plan above is that I have adopted in my class. Because we have to deal with the given text book and satisfy the expectation of both learners and their parents – how to obtain the best result in KSAT – I choose this plan that mainly consists of studying vocabulary and structures but using visual materials such as pictures, and video clips while improving reading skills. By increasing activities in group, pair and individual and letting a student make presentation about their work, students take part in reading the text more actively and try to speak English in class, keeping interested in what they are reading. At least, students who are sleeping during class decrease.

 I tried to extensive reading for the first time in my teacher’s career. Timely, I finished this plan last week. The plan didn’t work as I expected. Rather than participating this extensive reading eagerly, they gave up the points of performance assessment fully. In calculating all the labors that I select books which I think was appropriate, buy all the books and arrange them in school library, and upload all the words and explanation on school homepage in time, the result was disastrous. Even it is impossible to make up 10 students for the awards. Most students(540 students in all) showed no interest in this extensive reading plan, and only 100 students barely read two books – I chose as the books for reading contest ‘River boy’ and ‘The kite runner’- some of which read in Korean, and less than 10 students completed 5 books. I don’t know exactly what was wrong and what the real problem was. The striking reason I have found out until now is that the books selected was not appropriate for our students. They said they are too difficult ( Animal Farm ), too ambiguous ( River boy ), too thick ( The Kite runner ) to keep reading. I think more well-organized plan is needed.

 

 

Comment: 

Your 'summary' part is so powerful as you are relating your knowledge with your real life application. Thank you for sharing your story with me.  You mentioned, "I think more well-organized plan is needed," and I am asking, "What do you think? In which way do you think you can improve the lesson planning in your classroom setting?"

Midterm: Noh JB

(1)    The difference between first and second language reading process. (one paragraph)

 

There are many differences between L1 and L2 learners about language reading process. Language reading process focuses on meaning-focused input, language-focused learning and fluency development. By contrasting and analyzing L1 language and L2 language, I can distinguish the one and the other. First, L1 learners are exposed to advantageous linguistic surrounding naturally, but L2 learners aren’t so. L1 learners communicate with their father, mother, siblings, mass media, peers and other things, so language acquisition happens automatically and simultaneously, but L2 learners have a lot of limitations for acquiring the second language. Nevertheless, they aren’t disadvantageous to learn the target language. They have already had their linguistic knowledge due to the mother tongue, the first language. With their acquired linguistic knowledge, they can develop their L2 language easily and systemically. Second, L1 readers come to learn language reading in early age, but L2 learners generally learn to reading in old age after they finish learning their first language generally. L1 readers can learn reading by speaking to their parents or teachers from when they were young. But L2 learners start to read after learning their first language. Therefore, L2 learners activate and take advantage of their language principles, vocabulary and structures with their first language. Third, first language reading process can be more or less random or temporarily, but second language one can be intentional and planned by teachers. As L1 learners increase the quantity of their reading, they can speed their reading skills, read faster and recognize their grammatical principle. To develop and increase L2 learners’ reading process, graded books for readers and carefully selected material by teachers are required. In conclusion, the differences of learning the two languages are clear and evident when they are compared and analyzed. And, in the process of reading, L1 and L2 learners can develop their own unique features. Furthermore, numerous reading habits can help both of them achieve the better reading process.

 

(2) What intensive reading means in ESL setting (one paragraph)

 

Intensive reading is for language focused development. In ESL environment, this reading strategy is like eating, chewing, digesting the food and making flesh and blood of thier body. The procedure of intensive reading is related to the grammar-translation approach which is the classical method of studying language. Therefore, this strategy needs many comprehension questions. Before reading the books, L2 learners can predict and guess what the topics are, what are related to books they will read and how well the texts which can attract their interest are chosen. Also, through the title and the illustrations, learners can guess and infer the content of the book. While reading, learners can look up the difficult words with dictionary, check the regular or irregular spellings, use the précis method, predict the next content or passage, increase the background knowledge and analyze the grammatical structures. In this way, learners increase their linguistic ability. After intensive reading, teachers can check the questions of reading comprehension. Teachers ask and test what the learners read by showing the following questions: pronominal question, yes/no question, multiple choice items, blank filling, sentence completion exercise and other necessary questions. Paper test or oral test can be used, and group question or class question can be used. Consequently, during the intensive reading, L2 learners should be alert and attentive over the understanding of the whole reading. Rather, it may take lots of time and effort for us to master this reading method, but, because of the merit of complete and clear comprehension, the strategy of the intensive reading are worth being applied to the learners.

 

3) What extensive reading means in ESL setting (one paragraph)

 

Extensive reading focuses on the meaning focused input and fluency development strands. Above all, in this strategy, it is very important to select and decide the books which readers can understand easily, over which readers can have fun and enjoyment and about which they already know the content. The nature of fluency development is not the language features but the speed and the quantity of reading. But this strategy of extensive reading requires considerable knowledge and skill. Therefore, it is good for them to choose the stories they had known or learned and practice or repeat them. To fulfill readers’ satisfaction, understanding the goals and limitations of extensive reading is important. That’s because learners’ reading should continue for a long time and include a large amounts of same graded books. Also, we should consider learners’ present vocabulary level. As mentioning this above, the books which have well-provided vocabulary is preferable in order to achieve their ability of adequate comprehension. Especially, the books which learners already know through their first language are thought to be best in EFL setting. The check or monitor about what they are reading should occupy the small portion. Oral book report or discussion can be a good way. For making use of the extensive reading, readers should deal with the large amounts of vocabulary. At least, while reading or before reading, difficult and new words should be not only checked by guessing, meaning inference and analysis but also given flash cards. Glossing, computer-assisted reading and elaboration are the good ways to support the extensive reading, because they shorten the reading time and make readers the fast readers. If teachers should encourage the learners practice the same graded readers books systemically, this strategy will be very useful reading method.

 

(4) Create a mini-lesson plan for (1) intensive ESL reading (one page) and (2) extensive ESL reading (one page). Please briefly sketch your classroom setting.

 

A mini-lesson plan for intensive ESL reading

[The activities of the pre-class]

- Informing the students of the goal of the reading lesson

- Providing the students with materials to read for language-focused development

 

[The activities of the pre-reading]

- Guessing the genre as to what kind of reading material the text is.

- Checking and inferring the content and the main idea through the title and the illustration on the cover of the text to read.

- Guessing and guiding the theme from the first sentence of the text

- Teaching the spelling rules and the meaning for new or difficult words.

- Explaining the grammar usage and applying other examples so as to avoid the misunderstanding of the text.

- Drawing inference form the text or the passage.

 

[The activities of the whilst-reading]

- Encouraging learners to use a dictionary when they meet a new word.

- Practicing simplifying the difficult sentences into a short meaning sentence.

- Shortening the complex passage as précis.

- Checking cohesion such as pronouns, conjunction relationships, etc.

- Checking the relationship of the sentence structure.

- Checking the agreement about the content of the body passage.

- Showing the sentence completion to measure readers’ understanding about the text by using the sentence of an exact copy in the passage.

- Translating the passage in the first language.

- Relating to the previous passage of the text

 

[The activities of the post-reading]

- Checking the reading comprehension

- Checking the pronominal questions such as why, what, where, who, etc

- Checking the writing answers for the pronominal questions

- Listing yes/no questions or true/false statement about the content of the reading part.

- Showing the multiple-choice sentences which are composed of five or four choices.

- Writing on the blackboard for the guess the question activity.

[The activities of the post-class]

- Outlining and reorganizing what they learned and knew
 A mini-lesson plan for extensive ESL reading

 

[ The activities of the pre-class ]

- Inform the readers of what they will focus what they will learn

- Outlining the vocabulary level of the readers

- Select the graded material or sources to read for the readers

- Reminding the readers that the learning from reading is supporting other kinds of learning

- Emphasizing the importance of the time and effort which may take too long

 

[ The activities of the pre-reading ]

- Letting the readers focus on the story not on items to learn

- Letting the readers select the same graded or level books

- Setting the time to read reasonably

- Understanding the words used in the texts before starting reading

- Skimming quickly the words and the texts

- Giving the reader glosses for the unknown vocabulary

 

[ The activities of the whilst-reading]

- Helping the readers to concentrate on their reading

- Letting them collect and take notice of the repetitive words

- Encouraging them to guess the meaning with the pictures or the illustrations as possible as they can

- Making the flash cards for later deliberate study

- Reporting what they learned to the class

- Allowing the readers to make use of a dictionary if necessary

 

[ The activities of the post-reading]

- Checking the readers gain a variety of substantial proficiency through the reading

- Taking a post-test about the new or repetitive vocabulary

- Making minimal lists to fill out a short record form

- Letting the readers vote on what they thought and read

- Making the readers guess and discuss what they read and

- Letting the readers make an elaboration with the original text

 

[ The activities of the post-class]

- Inform the readers of how many books they have to read

- Introducing other graded books to the readers

- Emphasizing the importance of the continual practice and effort

 

(5) Make a summary paragraph for the above. (one paragraph)

 

In EFL setting, the cognition of the first and second language is different respectively, but the second language learners can avail themselves of their merits such as age, linguistic knowledge and the structural principles, etc. With the intentional and planned study plans, L2 learners can increase their second language acquisition. Of course, these processes are carried out not by themselves but in the middle of study by interacting continually or gradually. In the cases of the reading, it is essential to notice the goals for extensive reading and intensive reading. According to the each goal, the strategy of the reading should be executed and planned systemically. As the intensive reading focuses on the language-focused development, the reading strategy should concentrate on the acquisition about what the strategy of the language-focused development pursues. On the contrary, as the extensive reading focuses on the meaning-focused input and fluency development, the strategy should illuminate the meaning and the mastery of the text. L2 learners should accomplish their language ability in spite of the interference of the inter-language and other linguistic weaknesses. To do so, it is important to recognize how long it takes for L2 learners to acquire and master the target language. Organized study plan and continual practices makes L2 learners increase their linguistic ability and proficient language capacity. In fact, the variety of language activities doesn’t occur alone. If the reading strategies are put together with harmony, the results will be evidently much better for learners. In my opinion, I had better use such reading strategies connectively rather than apply each exact concept for the reading strategies.

 

 

Comment:

 

Thank you for your work. I asked "Please brieflyl sketch your classroom setting," but I coud not find any clue from your project.  Who are the target students in your proposed lesson plans? (I guess you forgot mentioning that...)

 

You mentioned "informing the goal...." but you did not specify the goal of your lesson.

You mentioned the "material" but you did not specify what that material really is...

 

Overall, your understaning of the topics are excellent, but in your lesson planning, things are not clear exactly what you are planning to teach to which group of students.

 

I believe, reviewing other good examples of this project will help you a lot.  Please review how other students in this class answered to the same questions.

 

Again, thank you for your sincere effort for this project.