Academic English (EAP) at AUA: May 2020

Friday 29 May 2020

Skillful 3: Reading and Writing, page 161 - Critical thinking

Critical thinking

In any academic course, critical thinking plays an important role, which is why Rogers and Zemach conclude every reading with a critical thinking activity. For critical thinking questions that conclude reading 1 of Unit 9, we did a quick brainstorming exercise on Classroom, and then expanded the second question question into a paragraph as a short academic writing exercise that gave us an opportunity to practice the steps of the writing process.

This time, we will do Rogers and Zemach's critical thinking exercises as three response writing exercises. (Yes, I know there are only two questions, but that's not a problem.)

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The questions & some notes

Rogers and Zemach's questions are:

How would communication change if modern technology no longer worked?
Do you think that sound and technology should be considered a pollutant?
Why or why not?

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Notes & instructions

When you write, imagine yourself writing for a reader who has not seen the question you are answering. This means you will not number your answer. It means you have to paraphrase enough of the question in your first sentence that your reader is clear what you are talking about. This is especially important for a Yes/No question. You probably do not want to write "Yes" or "No,"

We will answer these two questions in two separate comments. First, plan for 3:00 minutes, then in the comment box below, write your answer for 6:00 minutes. You should be able to write about 100 to 150 words in one or two very short paragraphs.

For the second, more interesting question, you have 3:00 minutes to plan and then 5:00 minutes to write your one paragraph that states and supports your answer to the question. I suggest you start with a topic sentence that answers the question, and then write the supporting sentences for your yes or no answer. You will not, of course, write "Yes" or "No."

The third part of this critical thinking exercise is coming shortly.

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Reference

Rogers, L. & Zemach, D. E. (2018). Skillful 3: Reading & Writing (2nd. ed.). London: Macmillan Education

Saturday 23 May 2020

Mo in two+one

A favourite

Listening to music in free time makes me feel relaxed, especially Pop music that is the best type of music, which I always take time with. Honestly, the first musician that attracted me to choose Pop, which is Taylor Swift, since she has a unique voice and also she brings her experiences into her songs that makes every her albums feel natural. “Shake it off” is the first song that I have heard from her, moreover; I really like every her performance such as “Taylor Swift - Live at the 2019 American Music Awards”. Actually, I have heard it for more than ten times, because I am in quarantine at home while Covid-19 is spreading. I took the classic guitar class when I was 13 years old to play Pop music. However, the first song that I could play was not from Taylor Swift’s song, it was a Thai Pop song, which called “Lady” from 25 hours brand. Throughout that time there was my precious time to play the classic guitar with my school’s band until I was 15 years old my parents told me to stop playing it since they thought that I should concentrate on my study class. Although I used to play it, now I never conclude to listen to Pop songs and enjoy thinking while I am listening to the song, how the musicians provide the melodies through the songs.

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A second favourite

I am a person who loves to listen to my father when he told me about Thai famous people such as who is the CEO of Government Savings Bank, since I am lazy to read by myself. Last weeks ago, I have heard about Suchatvee Suwansawat’s story from my father, who is most of my favorite idols. The reason that I choose him because his biography is quite amazing. At first, he comes from Rayong, which is a countryside in Thailand and he graduated Bachelor-program from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (Civil engineering). While he was studying in that institute, he was the first person, who got the idea about how to build the first subway in Thailand, then he has sent his subway-model to the governor of Bangkok (about 2 weeks for waiting for the governor). However, in that time building the subway was a huge challenge of Thailand and the governor just received the model but cannot build it directly. Although there are difficulties to build the underground, he still concentrates on his goals. Another of his goals, which is applying to the top of a technology institute in America in Master-degree as his idol that graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Currently, he can achieve all of his goals; he graduated Master-degree from MIT, furthermore, he is a president of from King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang. Not his biography only inspired me but also his words that is “My goals are; I would like to see Thai’s smile and then I have been able to bring Thai’s smile back by making Thai more convenient, which building the first underground”. All of his stories makes me have to be aware of my exact goals and trend to achieve by “patient” to be fulfillment as him.

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Not a favourite

Getting stuck in traffic makes me feel angry because I could not be on time when I have to go somewhere and I feel very bored since there is nothing to do while waiting in the car. This problem still occurs for a long time and I think that no one likes it. The problem happens by there are over the number of cars on the roads. Thus my parents suggest me to use public transportation such as bus, sky train, and underground train. Another suggestion is my family should use only one car per four people. However, it does not work because the traffic still happens. The only thing that I can do, which is time management.

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Conclusion

Almost of my favorite as I have provided all above are about listening, and no matter what the contents are. Since beginning to listen a lot can enhance my knowledge. However, my dislike part is not about listening, it is about the traffic problem, which I suppose that everyone hates it as well.

Friday 22 May 2020

Skillful 3: Reading and Writing, page 153 - After you watch

Discuss (v.) & discussion (n.)

In every unit of Skillful, authors Dorothy Zemach and Louis Rogers make frequent use of the verb discuss (2018). The noun discussion is in fact the very first word of every unit, and the third word in every unit is the verb, for example on page 152. Rogers and Zemach almost always collocate the verb discuss with the object noun partner, or put them in close proximity. They clearly intend the discussion to be spoken, which is what we sometimes do, but in many cases, it helps our reading and writing class more to have a written a discussion of the questions the authors ask us to discuss.

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Why hold the discussion on an online forum?

Apart from the fact that ours is a reading and writing class, there are several solid reasons for holding at least some of our discussions online.

It practices response writing for fluency. Unlike in more formal academic writing, the goal is not to do research, but to quickly communicate your own ideas on topic or in response to an issue. You should still write complete sentences organized in paragraphs, but we are not looking for a carefully planned piece of work that was extensively reviewed and revised after it was first written and posted. Response writing is not academic writing.
This sort of response writing is common at universities today. As part of their assessment, students are often expected to participate in online discussion forums that explore issues raised in lectures, seminars, or tutorials. This sort of response writing is a common component of academic work.
Brainstorming and sharing ideas independently of face-to-face group discussion typically produces a wider and more thoughtful variety of responses, which is good for the group. See, for example, the articles on this in the Harvard Business Review by Art Markman (2017), Andrew O’Connell (2010), and Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic (2015).

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Rogers and Zemach's questions
and some notes

Click them to see images full size

Rogers and Zemach's questions are:

Have you ever seen dolphins or whales?
Your response to this question should be at least two sentences.
Share what you know about whales.
Your response to this question, which is grammatically an imperative (an order), should be at least three sentences.
Which do you think is more important, protecting whales or protecting jobs? Explain your choice.
As the imperative that is the second sentence in this question suggests, this is the most important of the three questions. A strong answer here probably needs at least five sentences.

I avoided numbers in the questions here so that you would not be tempted to number your answers. Do not number your answers. Just write sentences organized in paragraphs so that your readers know what you are talking about and what you say on each topic.

Remember

This is response writing. You do not have time to spend five minutes planning. You certainly do not have time to spend ten minutes checking your answer. Get an idea, and write it down in a sentence or two, or three. Then move on to the next idea. Quickly. The purpose is to clearly communicate your ideas, not to write a carefully researched essay. Do not waste time researching. (That means do not Google.)

At least one of the three questions probably does require you to think before you start to write. You have to take a side on question 3, and that means you need to decide which side you support and why, so it it probably a good idea to spend a maybe 2:00 minutes planning before you write.

You have 15:00 minutes to write your responses to the three questions. Go.

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