Writing an essay

Writing an essay: The topic sentence goes at the END of the first paragraph. Each paragraph supports it. (Three paragraphs is good.) Then conclusion restates the topic, often with a new idea.
For example:
My Favorite Place (By Maria. Edited by Liz)

Five years ago was my first time going to California and
while I was there I saw my sister. We went to California for three days and four nights.My partner drove for one day and half to get to California. My favorite place is California.

California is different from Washington. California
is hotter and things are less expensive. I got a tan and food is cheaper than here.

In California I had so much fun with my sister and my family. My granddaughter went too; she was 5 months. We went to the stores and bought new stuff. Also we took my sister to work in Toys R' Us .

When I was in California, I went to Disneyland with my family and we had so much fun. When I was in Disneyland I got in most of the rides. Our goal was to ride all rides but we didn't reach our goal. At 8:00 pm
a festival started. All the Disney characters were walking and taking
pictures with people. Around 10 pm, there were fireworks. We stayed
until 11 pm.

California is fantastic. When I got home I was telling all my friends about what I had experienced at California and I hope I go to California again. I will never forget that weekend.

Week Three

This is turning into a very interesting class! Everyone is moving forward, and the enthusiasm is great.
Today we worked on arranging the paragraph from the homework. The final product looks like this, using our support/example approach:

My Job: Teacher
I love my job.Every day I learn new things, and I am always challenged to find creative ways to teach so that my students enjoy learning. Both of these elements are very satisfying for me. Also, even though I am basically a shy person, I think my job helps me to be outgoing. When I am teaching I am thinking about communicating with my students, and I don’t feel shy. Finally, I love learning about other cultures, and I feel that my mind is more open to other ways of thinking because of my work. Learning about other cultures teaches me a lot about myself. All in all, I feel very lucky to have a job like this.

The second in-class activity looks like this:
My Favorite Dessert
My favorite dessert is lemon cheesecake. First of all, it is lovely to look at. The light yellow cake is simple and unadorned, as unpretentious as a glass of water. Secondly, the texture is out of this world. Soft and creamy, it melts in my mouth without resistance, and reassures me that not everything in life is difficult. Finally there is the taste. The tangy lemon flavor blends with the light cream cheese and makes a rich yet refreshing delight.Who needs chocolate when there is lemon cheesecake?

YOUR GOALS THIS WEEK:

1. Check the comments I have made on your posts, and edit any posts that need editing. Then publish them again!

2. Write a support/example paragraph like the ones above. Everyone please write about their favorite dessert or their favorite place. Use the handout to write it with, then type it into a new post.

3. Grammar/Quia site: EVERYONE please do the top activities: "Guess the useful Blog vocabulary" and "Correct Spacing with Punctuation and "Present to Past" and "A, An, Some Any" activities. Sergio, Javeir, Cain, Martha, Lily, Donna, Juventino, Kathryn and Myung: ALSO do the Finding the Main Idea"activity. Please log on to Quia with your username and passwords to do these before Friday.

4. Visit your blog partner's blog and make at least one comment.

5. Practice keyboarding and spelling. The links are on our class blog.

6. Advanced students and anyone else who is super-motivated: Write paragraphs choosing from our "Topics" list (see the link at the class blog.)

EMAIL me with any questions. I'll look forward to reading what you write.

Week Two

Friday in class we reviewed punctuation and talked about conjunctions.
We also talked about organizing a paragraph, and wrote one together.
Here is what we wrote:
TOPIC: DOGS
Topic sentence: Dogs are man's best friend.
Support #1: First of all, dogs help to protect us. One time, my dog chased a burglar away!

Support #2: Also, dogs are loyal. Example: Even if they are mistreated, they love their masters.

Support #3: Finally, dogs can be trained. Example: They can do everything from fetching a newspaper to helping handicapped people to working with police.

Conclusion: If you don't have a dog, go get one!


Here is how the paragraph looks:
DOGS
Dogs are man's best friend. First of all, dogs help to protect us. One time, my dog chased a burglar away! Also, dogs are loyal. Even if they are mistreated, they love their masters. Finally, dogs can be trained. They can do everything from fetching a newspaper to helping handicapped people, to working with police. If you don't have a dog, go get one!

YOUR HOMEWORK:
EVERYONE: Do the paragraph order page you took home. Also, do the Week One Review exercise on Quia. And don't forget to comment at your Blog Partner's blog!

JUVENTINO AND ANATOLIY: SEND ME AN EMAIL. I DON'T HAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESSES.

New Students who are starting blogs (Vladimir, Mary, Maria, Irina, Anatoliy, Helene) Click on your blog link, and sign in with your email address and password. Please write one paragraph about yourself in a "new post". Write where you are from, what you like to do in your free time, how long you have lived here, etc. Click the orange "publish post" tab at the bottom of the page. Then you can click "view blog" near the top of the page to see it. Then email me a greeting to let me know you have done that. Please do that by TUESDAY. I will email you what to do next.

All other students (including new students Martha, Jose and Juventino) This week you will write 3 different paragraphs, using the above support style. You can choose 3 different topics from our list, and use a different post for each one. (Javier: Please email me your blog address as soon as you create one!)

I will be reading all of your blogs and making suggestions and comments. Please check the "comments" after you have written something.

Week One

Great to meet all of you; I think we will all be learning a lot in this lively class.
Your first step is to make your own blog and email me the address. I'll look forward to getting that soon.
I am emailing all of you today -- please check your inbox!
Email me if you have any questions.

WELCOME TO THE CLASS!

This is the first time Renton Technical College has offered "Writing for Life, Work, and College" for ESL students. We will be dividing our time between grammar points and organizational aspects of writing in English to make you better writers in a variety of situations. Once you have learned the basics, you can apply them in all kinds of writing.

The first step in this course is to open your own blog. Go go blogger.com and follow the directions. Remember your username (email) and password!!! After you have started your own blog, please write a 5-10 sentence self-introduction in a "new post". Then, click the orange "publish post" tab at the bottom of the page. Then you can view your blog. ALWAYS RE-READ WHAT YOU WROTE! If you see a mistake, click the back arrow and go back to edit the post, then publish it again. You can also check your spelling with the "abc" logo on the top of the post. The last step in the assignment is to send me the link to your blog (the URL) in an email. I will make links to your blogs here, so you can visit each other's blogs easily.

We will use the blogs for writing and Quia for grammar activities, and a few other websites as well. We will be working on multiple aspects of writing throughout the course.

As always, if you have any problems along the way, don't hesitate to email me.

- Liz