Day Three: Essay and Paragraph Structure

This week's class will deal with strategies for writing coherent and cohesive paragraphs and essays. While we will be discussing these strategies in the context of preparing you for the CAE exam, I hope you will think critically during our discussions and look for ways to incorporate this information into all of your academic writing. An outline for today's class can be found below: 

Day Three: Essay and Paragraph Structure

Objectives: Students will be able to…

1. Describe three ways that formal, academic tone differs from informal, colloquial tone in writing 
2. Identify the key elements of a basic academic essay using the appropriate vocabulary 
3. Explain the connection between a thesis statement and topic sentences 
4. Define and identify the four major components of a PIE-C paragraph: Point, Illustration, Explanation and Concluding Sentence 
5. Practice creating their own PIE-C paragraphs in a homework essay 

I. Intro to the Class
How are you? How was your weekend? Have you done anything interesting since we last met? How are your other classes going? Do you have any questions about this class?

II. Vocabulary Quiz
I hope you studied!

III. Academic vs. Colloquial Tone
Let’s begin discussing the differences between formal, academic tone and informal, colloquial tone. We will be using this pair of writing samples from an ESL student at a US university.

IV. Introduction to Essay Structure
We spent some time discussing the proper structure of an essay last class. Today, we will discuss the topic in greater depth. To begin, let’s use this activity which is designed to let you show how much you already about this topic.

V. Overview of Essay Structure
First, we will begin with a short discussion of some important vocabulary terms found on this worksheet.

After our vocabulary discussion, I will review this short PPT that discusses basic essay structure and offers examples. It also presents a convenient way to organize your paragraphs called, “PIE-C”.

VI. PIE-C Practice
Finally, we will practice identifying PIE-C structure in some examples using this worksheet. Everyone will do the first part together in pairs. The second part will be done in teams.

Homework: Don't forget to check the "Homework Tracker" for your assignments for next class :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day

People all around the world celebrate "St. Patrick's Day" on Tuesday, March 17th. What do you know about St. Patrick's Day? Check out the links below to learn a little bit about this Irish holiday.

• The History of St. Patrick's Day (from Wikipedia, here)
• St. Patrick's Day (on the History Channel, here)
• A wee bit o' Gaelic (here)
• Irish Week Events in Moscow (here)

Enjoy the day and, Éirinn go Brách

Day Four: Academic Style

("The Throes of Creation" by Leonid Pasternak. Retrieved from (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Leonid_Pasternak_-_The_Passion_of_creation.jpg)

Today we will finish our discussion of essay and paragraph structure and discuss the characteristics of academic tone. This will be the last class we will spend discussing the essay format. Our schedule for upcoming classes will be: 

1. Writing Reviews
2. Writing Reports
3. Writing Letters
4. Writing Proposals 

But today's class will finish our discussion of last week's topics and discuss how to write with a sufficiently academic tone (for tasks like the CAE essay). An outline for today's class can be found below:

Day Four: Cohesion, Coherence and Academic Tone

Objectives: Students will be able to...

1. Explain the difference between coherence and cohesion in EAP writing
2. Explain how the concepts of thesis statements and topic sentences promote coherence in EAP writing
3. Explain how the PIE-C technique can be used to write coherent paragraphs. 
4. Explain two differences between formal (academic) style and informal style
5. Demonstrate understanding of one technique used to make their writing more academic 
6. Apply the lessons learned in class to their out-of-class writing

I. Intro to the Class

How are you? How are things? What's new? Has anyone done anything interesting since our last class? How are your other classes going? 

II. Vocabulary Quiz 

I hope you studied! Mwahahaha! 

III. Speaking Warm-Ups and Mini-Presentations

Today, we will be giving short presentations to review the material found on this PPT.  You will be put into groups using the almighty GROUP RANDOMIZER and asked to create short, impromptu presentations that explain the concepts discussed last week. But first, each student will be asked to recite a tongue-twister from the list below: 

1. The thirty-three thankful thieves thought that they thanked the other thirty-three thieves throughout Thursday. 
2. She stood upon the balcony, inexplicably mimicking him hiccupping and amicably welcoming him in 
3. Thirty thirsty, thundering thoroughbreds thumped Mr. Thurber last Thursday 
4. She sat upon a slitted sheet, upon a slitted sheet she sat

After each student has completed the warm-up, we will move on to the mini-presentations. The topic will be given in class by the instructor.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/T-shirt_without_side-sewing.png

IV. Academic Style 

We will begin by reviewing a short presentation that offers some tips and techniques on how to make the tone of your writing more academic. Be sure to take notes as we review the presentation. After we finish discussing the presentation, you will be asked to work with a partner to complete a short, "academic style" workshop. 

V. Academic Style Mini-Presentations

If there is time, you will be asked to get into groups once more and prepare one more short presentation on one of the four categories of techniques used to promote academic style that we discussed today. 

1. Group One -> Using Formal Language
2. Group Two -> Being Concise & Precise 
3. Group Three -> Using Impersonal Language
4. Group Four -> Being Cautious 

Your presentations should include the following information: 

• Definition(s) of the major term(s)
• Examples
• Why this technique promotes academic style
• Any personal experience your group members have in using this technique

Homework: Don't forget to check the "Homework Tracker" for this week's homework.