No, not if you
practice to enhance your talents in writing and thinking.
Yes, follow instruction, learn the skills, practice them regularly, analyze your errors and learn to think critically.
Yes.
· Don’t attend classes regularly.
· Don’t do your homework.
· Don’t hand in assignment on time.
· Do everything at the last minute.
· Don’t follow instructions.
· Don’t practice the skills you have learned.
· Don’t ask questions when you don’t understand.
· Don’t put in any effort and think it is only an English class.
Yes, some essays. For each skill you learn you will practice the skills in writing. You will collect your written work in a Writing Folio so that you can use it to revise the learnt information or skill. This will also help me know your strengths and weaknesses.
No, at this point I will assume that you have a reasonable grasp of grammar and that you will be able to write comprehensible sentences. You can use grammar exercises provided in class or in this web page to refresh your memory in some grammar skills.
I will never throw you into the deep end of the pool and ask you to swim by yourself. I will throw you a float and teach you to swim (great metaphor huh!) However, I will never spoon feed you as this will be your research paper and not Miss Prem’s. This means that I will teach you step by step on how to do a research paper. For example, how…
· to choose a topic.
· to write a proposal.
· to do the research productively.
· to take useful notes.
· to use citations correctly and to write a good bibliography.
· to compile the information and present it intelligently.
These are techniques you will use in university and you will learn it in ESL.
Do your best. We do not have the time to do the A, B, C’s of English. Practice one skill at a time till you perfect it. Practice your basic writing skill and do some grammar exercises. Ask me when you don’t understand ( I assure you I do not bite and I will not know you are lost if you don't tell me.) Follow the instructions I give you in class. Join a study group where you can learn from your friends. Use good exam techniques and learn ways to score. Hard work does payoff. Don’t ever give up.