Asian ESL Learners

Imagine you are a high school teacher and correct the following essay excerpt by an ESL student. Spot the mistakes. Which ones are characteristic for Asian ESL learners, according to the research essay you have read for today, and which ones are just mistakes anyone could make??? Which grade would you assign for this writing?

The Beijing is a modern city and there are a lot of places to visit. First, there are many new building was build. One of the new buildings, it looks like a bird’s nest. Then, it have a big history. You can visit a lot of old buildings to know the history, just like “the summer Palace”. Finally, many people come from different country, there are kinds of restaurant. You can eat which you want to taste. Beijing is a nice place.

"Chinese learners" by Kiara Poole

"Chinese learners" by Nancy Lay bring a new light into the issue that Chinese students have learning English as a second language. During the article Lay explains of different writing issues that may come up when teaching Chinese speaking students: such as verbs, causes, and tenses. Since English is a subject that many Chinese immigrants struggle with, many students choose to go into fields like science because it comes more natural to them. Many times these students are also called shy, because in the classroom they tend to be less vocal then other English speaking students. There were a few students that stated that, when it comes to being in the classroom, many times they choose not to speak because they don’t want to sound stupid. Even if they feel that they have a valid point.

The article then goes into the details of what makes up the Chinese language, and how it differs from English. There was the issue of sound, such as the difference between voiced and voiceless sounds does not exist. For example there is no difference to them, between bag/back and dog/dock, which can become a problem when they try to learn English. There is also the issue of sentence structure, and the formation of questions from Chinese to English. The article gave the example of "wh- questions." Many Chinese students in the first stage would say "You make how much money?" In the second stage once they learn that the 'wh-question' goes in the front of the sentence, they may say "How much money do u make?”

Lastly the article deals with the issue of writing but there is also the struggle of speaking English as a second language. This goes into details about all the different elements of the English language, meaning adjectives, verbs, noun, and punctuation. Then comparing and contrasting these elements to the structure of Chinese grammar.

"Sharpening" by Ken Macrorie

Sharpening, in Ken Marcrorie's words means to give life to your writing. He states most beginning writers and some veteran writers use in excess the verb is(and all other forms of to be). Is by itself is meaningless, linking too many adjectives and nouns together deflating the life from the sentence. For example, Ken Marcrorie quotes Shakespeare's 'Macbeth':
"This tyrant whose sole name blisters our tongues,
Was once thought honest."

If Shakespeare incorporated excessive forms of to be, the line would read:
"This tyrant whose sole name is a blister on our tongues,
Was once thought to be honest."
He uses Is-ness and It-ache as explanation of a writer's inability to free themselves to use powerful words.

It & there take the place of an otherwise powerful noun leaving adjectives and adverbs without meaning or effect. Which type of sentence intrigues readers, passive or aggressive?
Passive sentences inhabit the is-ness and the it-ache. For example, Ken Marcrorie mentions this sentence:

"The object that was stepped on by me was a ladybug with lavender spots."
An aggressive (sharpened) sentence would read:
"I stepped on a ladybug with lavender spots."
Ken Marcrorie also stresses the use of verbs with more meaning than just the basic verb get or make, etc. Enlighten the reader, invite them in. Don't leave them yawning.
He also touches base on weasleries. He states, "There is a time to be cautious and a time to be bold." Don't apologize for your words. In his example, "She was unusually hideous." He claims the writer lessens the power of hideous with the weak word unusually.

His statements aren't intended to massacre the use of it & is, only raising attention to excessive use, enticing writers to give more meaning to their words. His moral is not to do away with all uses of the cited words, but to learn where to look for possible weak spots in your sentences.
When reviewing your writing ask yourself, "If the adjectives and adverbs are pulling their weight? Do the words around them render unnecessary?".

Is WHO always singular?

Professor Geoffrey Leech points out that who must always be singular. He believes that questions, such as, “Who are coming to the party” is ungrammatical. According to Webster’s Third New International Dictionary:

Who- what person or persons, which person or persons used as an interrogative pronoun or indirect questions and serving to ask for specification.

Professor Leech would rather see the word was instead of who, however singular and plural verbs could be used. An example of this is “Who are going to the game with us?” However, there are some cases in which who does seem to have a plural and only a plural reference can be used. An example of this would be “Who play in tomorrows musical?”

When who is followed by a plural noun in which has a relationship with the subject, then a plural verb is needed. For example, “Who make the best cookies?” and “who have the main part in the play?”

Text for blog post: Is WHO always singular???

There is the following grammar rule: "Who" is always singular, like "anybody," "nobody," "somebody," "someone," "anyone," and "no one."


However, not everybody agrees with this! (Which, however, has had no impact on the rule so far, so you MUST observe it ;-))) For example, there is one person, Sylvia Chalker, who argues against the "right grammar rule." Here is a link to one page of a review article where this person gives good reasons for why one might need to rethink a "correct grammar rule."

One of your peers will summarize Mrs. Chalker's arguments for you, and post the summary here on the blog as a new thread. All of you (even the person who posted the summary!) then have to post a short comment with their personal opinion about whether Mrs. Chalker was right or wrong.

Learning Cycle, and ML on WHO vs. WHOM

For your mini lessons, I want you to employ the classic LEARNING CYCLE used in science, but also applicable in language arts.

The learning cycle (LC) consists of 6 E's:

1) Engage
2) Explore
3) Explain
4) Expand
5) Evaluate
6) E-Search


I have emailed you all my ppt about the mini lesson on WHO vs. WHOM, as well as the quiz we have taken today in class (for those who have missed today's class: you should take the quiz at home, and read through the material).

After our mini lesson on WHO vs. WHOM, please click on this LINK and take the corresponding grammar quiz.

HOMEWORK: Write a short comment on this blog what you think about the learning cycle (is it just for science, or does it work to use it in English? Is it beneficial as a teaching strategy? Why, or why not? Have you been taught this way? For education majors: do you/will you teach this way? Etc......

Solution of extra credit pop-up quiz

Solution of the Milka pop-up quiz (1 big mistake, two small mistakes):

Wrong sentence:

"This is our home, for the preservation of which we are strongly engaging ourselves, for example as "Official Sponsor of the Hohe Tauern National Park," or the sole use of renewable energies for the Milka production."

Right sentence:

"This is our home for the preservation of which we are strongly engaging ourselves, for example as Official Sponsor of the Hohe Tauern National Park, or as purporter/user of renewable energies for the Milka production."

What was wrong:
1) The "as" only referred to the word "sponsor," but not to "sole use." We function as sponsor, but do we function as sole use? No. We need two subjects here: "sponsor" and "user," "purporter," "fighter for," etc. This is what we stand for. We are sponsors and users, not a "use."

2) There should not be quotation marks around the Official Sponsor of the Hohe Tauern National Park; however, you need to capitalize the words, because it is an official title. It's like being an Official Sponsor of the Olympic Games. You don't need quotation marks around "Hohe Tauern National Park," either, because this is just the name of the park.

3) The first comma was redundant. You just need "our home for the preservation of which."

When the "as" refers to both subjects correctly, you have a parallelism (for good style): you function AS sponsor and AS user. (You can leave out the second "as," because it is a repetition.)

I gave 1 point for each of the small mistakes, but you really should have found the "as," for it is a wrong connection. It must refer to both things, not just to the sponsor.

Homework for Friday, Jan. 22nd

David Macrorie uses an interesting term in his book TELLING WRITING:

ENGFISH. You can find the corresponding chapter from his book at http://www.kristisiegel.com/engfish2.htm

This is a special kind of English used by many people, including students, professors, and
textbook publishers...

For homework, post a comment on this blog about your personal experience with ENGFISH.

Welcome and First Assignment

Dear all,

Welcome to ENGL300-1, our ultimate grammar course!!!

When you managed to make your first blog post, you already passed the first hurdle of this class ;-)

The first assignment is easy: we are going to introduce ourselves. Click on "comment" in the lower right hand corner, and post a short introduction to yourself, talking about your major, your hobbies, your career, specific grammar problems you would like to learn about, etc. etc..... If you own a website or a myspace site, you can include it so people can look you up and get to know you! If you have a photo of yourself, you can upload it, too.