Teaching Writing Through Online Forum
Teaching Writing Through Online Forum
Drew Tseng 1/4/10
Motivation:
Goals: To have students exchange ideas in English and to improve students’ writing skill
Instruction:
To do: (80% +)
- Post one paragraph containing over 120 words.
- Respond to at least one of your classmates’ posts
or open a new topic relevant to your life.
For extra points (+5%)
1. Correct grammatical or spelling mistakes in others’ posts.
Attention! No later than 11:00 p.m.
Examples:
- Textbook-related topics
(1) Q: How globalized is Taiwan?
Hey guys! In lesson 7, the author illustrates how globalized his life is by offering a lot of examples of his close association with things from countries around the world. What about your life? In what ways you life has become globalized? Do you think Taiwan is a highly globalized country?
Personally, I think Taiwan is not so much globalized as “Americanized.” I grew up watching American movies and learning about American culture and values from TV and the Internet. I believe in democracy and the American Dream. I listen to American songs and watch their musicals. I didn’t know a lot about other countries and cultures until I went to college and abroad. However, Taiwan is indeed becoming more globalized than before, which provides us with more access to different people, pastimes and food around the world (especially the food!). What do you think?
Student’s Post: I believed that Taiwan is more Americanized than globalized! As mentioned by the paragraph, our teacher watched “American" movies and listened to “American" songs. She believes in the “American" dreams. Beyonce, Pink, Lady Gaga, the Backstreet Boys, Miley Cyrus, etc etc etc, we all know these people. But does any one of us know who the president of Germany is? What about how many counties are there in Britain? Is Ireland a part of England or not? Where are the penguins, on the North or South Pole?! But we all know that Barack Obama is the current president of the United States, and there are fifty states in America. To the north is Canada, and to
the South is Mexico.
We use products from all over the world, but all we know is that most things are made in China and the origin of some companies. (The latter, we were force-fed in class.) We know that McDonalds is from America but do you know where Carrefour is from? RT-Mart?
Granted, the States influences the whole world, but being globalized means GLOBAL, not the-most-influential-country-on-the-globe-ilized.(183)
(2) Q: Why save the endangered species?
The mission of WWF is to “halt and reverse the destruction of our environment.” Does this make any sense to you? Do you think it is meaningful or a waste of effort and money to save the endangered species?
I think it’s vital to save the endangered species, most of which hold the key to who we are, our health and our future. Human beings need these species to discover the secret to life and human traits. For instance, through the study of the apes and plants, Charles Darwin was able to discover the pattern of evolution based on natural selection, and the fact that human beings were developed from apes. Every species is invaluable in term of unveiling the mystery of life and existence on earth: why are we what we are today? What happened in our past? In what ways have we changed over time? Moreover, a lot of plants and animals provide cure for diseases. In fact, according to experts, almost half of all prescriptions written are from the natural compounds of different species. In sum, these species not only save lives, but might provide inspiration for scientists to answer questions about our existence and tackle medical problems ahead. It’s extremely important to halt and reverse the destruction of the species on the verge of extinction!
Student’s post: For numerous years, all kinds of animals have come and gone. The more adaptable ones survive, and the less gets eliminated. All animals are a part of this complicated network, and if one extincts, it will sure have a huge impact on the other animals in the complex food chain. A study suggests that a disappearing species can affect 30 other creatures, including insects, higher animals, and even other plants. The full significance of an extinction is not always apparent, and the long-term influences are unpredictable, it may lead to the extinction of other animals also. Therefore, the importance of wildlife protection cannot be overemphasized. We have to try our best to avoid the deterioration of animal extinction so as to have a sustainable environment.
- Other Topics
Q: New Year’s Resolutions
Dear class, happy New Year!
A New Year’s resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change. Some popular goals include improving health and improving self (such as be more organized and manage time better) But research shows that while 52% of participants in a resolution study were confident of success with their goals, only 12% actually achieved their goals. The low success rate often resulted from setting the goals. Instead of saying “I want to lose weight,” we should probably set small measureable goals which you can achieve step by step throughout the year. After all, haste makes waste. Small and steady wins the race!
Now, write about your New Year’s resolutions for 2010 and how you can make sure they will be achieved! May your dreams come true! You can write the following examples!
1. In 2010, I am going to read at least five good books.
2. I will try to be more helpful to my parents by doing more housework in 2010.
3. In order to help save the environment, my resolution is to walk more often, and recycle as much as possible.
4. This year, I resolve to eat fast food no more than twice per month.
5. My 2010 resolution is to be as honest and caring as possible.
Student’s post: Last year, I had written 10 New Year’s resolutions, surprisingly, I achieved 8 of them.(Actually, I forgot I had written my goals on 1/1 for the whole 2009. To my surprise, I found them on a small notebook yesterday and I achieved most of them unwittingly. )In 2010, I want to achieve these goals,
1. Stop complaining! I found that I complain about things which I don’t like most of the time. However, It doesn’t make things turn better. This year, I will do my best to control myself to stop complaining. It surely will let people around me feel more comfortable, too!
2.Read as many books as I can There are so many great books in the wold! It is a pity that I didn’t use my time well so that I didn’t read enough books last year. This year, I wish I can have time to read 10 books in winter vacation. And, I want to read at least one book each month.
3.Get up early I wish I have good selfcontrol so that I can get up at 5:00 everyday no matter how cold outside my bed is. If I can achieve that, I will have more time to study.
- Students’ topics
(1) Omegle: Hey guys~ This lesson is talking about globalization, so I want to introduce a website to you. This website is called “Omegle”. What you have to do is to link the site, click the “Start a chat” button, and then the system will pick another person at random to chat with you. You can say whatever you want to say. If that person make you feel uncomfortable, just disconnect! It’s a interesting way to practice English.
Take myself for example, I have chatted with a Korean! We found we both use this website for English practicing, and talked about the stars we both know, like 東方神起 and 飛輪海, though we don’t really like these two groups (haha!). Give it a try! Maybe you’ll be fond of it!
(2) Taiwan up: Foreigners are curious about " Taiwan up “. most of them don’t know what it means. how do u think about it? let’s figure out some slogan for Taiwan.
Follow-Up: handout with good posts and erroneous sentences to be corrected!
Advantages:
Disadvantages: