The Five-Paragraph Essay

Topic: Writing Five-Paragraph Essay

Level: Intermediate

Context: Blended Classroom

Objectives: Gain sufficient skills and mastery in writing a five paragraph essay

The teaching of writing is important since, not only does it provide students with academic English capabilities, but it also prepares them for life in an interconnected world that requires them to write for different purposes and to use different genres (i.e., expository, descriptive, narrative, and persuasive). However, producing ‘a coherent, fluent, extended piece of writing’
in one’s second language is enormously challenging (Nunan 1999: 271).

Let's Watch 

First of all turn on your proxy and then by click on the picture below watch the shared video on YouTube.

Link: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tim9oNx1clU

Let's Hit the Book 

After watching the previos video, now, it is time to have a short review on the main topics of our coursebook. Click on the link shared below and go to SlideShare. Don't forget to put comments on the presentation file, like it, and subscribe it with your friends and circle.  

Link: www.slideshare.net/secret/FzGxdH6HXJi4OH

Let's Check Your Uptake 

After presenting all these theoretical bases on principles of writing a five-paragraph essay, we think now you can identify the different parts of an essay. Are you ready?

By click on the link below, go through the document we share with you and specify the thesis statement, topic sentence, and main points.

Link: GoogleDrive

Let's Write 

After all theses steps, we think from now on the stage is yours. Write a five-paragraph essay (no longer than 700 words) about your favorite topic and check it (regarding grammatical accuracy) through the following links. At the final run, share it's word file (*.docx) with the instructor of the course.

You should also upload your essay in your GoogleDrive and share it's link in the comment section of this post to receive feedback from your peers (Don't forget to give required permissions, i.e. putting comments, to those whom shared the link with them). You can check your peers essays with Pham & Iwashita's (2018) table of indirect feedbacks.

  Some Sample Tools:

1. Proofreading Tools:

• https://grammarly.com
• http://www.gingersoftware.com/proofreading
• http://www.polishmywriting.com/
• http://www.slickwrite.com/
• http://www.paperrater.com/
• https://www.spellchecker.net/spellcheck/

2. Online Concordancing Tools:

• BYU-BNC
• Just the Word (Sharp)
• Sketchengine
• SKELL (Sketch Engine for Language Learning)
• List of other online and offline resources

Further Resources 

Introduction Paragraph

Body Paragraphs

How to write a conclusion

Answer Key 

By clickk on the below picture you can cross check your anwers on identifications of our essay.

Finding the Main Idea & Gussing the Words' Meanings

Topic: Reacing Comprehension Skills; Main Idea & Guess the Meaning of words

Level: Intermediate

Context: Blended

Reading fluency in a second language requires hard work and dedication from learners that extends beyond the classroom or a single reading course. Students attend classes for relatively short periods of time, but teachers can help them extend reading fluency by encouraging them to build supportive learning communities.

How to Find the Main Idea (Roell, 2019)

Questions about the "main idea" of a passage are popular on reading comprehension tests, but sometimes, those questions are pretty difficult to answer, especially for students who are not completely sure they understand what the main idea really is. Finding the main idea of a paragraph or longer passage of text is one of the most important reading skills to master, along with concepts like making an inference, finding the author's purpose, or understanding vocabulary words in context.

How to Define the Main Idea

The main idea of a paragraph is the primary point or concept that the author wants to communicate to the readers about the topic. Hence, in a paragraph, when the main idea is stated directly, it is expressed in what is called the topic sentence. It gives the overarching idea of what the paragraph is about and is supported by the details in subsequent sentences in the paragraph. In a multi-paragraph article, the main idea is expressed in the thesis statement, which is then supported by individual smaller points.

Think of the main idea as a brief but all-encompassing summary. It covers everything the paragraph talks about in a general way, but does not include the specifics. Those details will come in later sentences or paragraphs and add nuance and context; the main idea will need those details to support its argument.

For example, imagine a paper discussing the causes of World War I. One paragraph might be dedicated to the role that imperialism played in the conflict. The main idea of this paragraph might be something like: "Constant competition for massive empires led to increasing tensions in Europe that eventually erupted into World War I." The rest of the paragraph might explore what those specific tensions were, who was involved, and why the countries were seeking empires, but the main idea just introduces the overarching argument of the section.

When an author does not state the main idea directly, it should still be implied, and is called an implied main idea. This requires that the reader look closely at the content—at specific words, sentences, images that are used and repeated—to deduce what the author is communicating.

How to Find the Main Idea

Finding the main idea is critical to understanding what you are reading. It helps the details make sense and have relevance, and provides a framework for remembering the content. Try these specific tips to pinpoint the main idea of a passage.

1) Identify the Topic
Read the passage through completely, then try to identify the topic. Who or what is the paragraph about? This part is just figuring out a topic like "cause of World War I" or "new hearing devices;" don't worry yet about deciding what argument the passage is making about this topic.

2) Summarize the Passage
After reading the passage thoroughly, summarize it in your own words in one sentence. Pretend you have just ten to twelve words to tell someone what the passage is about—what would you say?

3) Look at the First and Last Sentences of the Passage
Authors often put the main idea in or near either the first or last sentence of the paragraph or article, so isolate those sentences to see if they make sense as the overarching theme of the passage. Be careful: sometimes the author will use words like but, however, in contrast, nevertheless, etc. that indicate that the second sentence is actually the main idea. If you see one of these words that negate or qualify the first sentence, that is a clue that the second sentence is the main idea.

4) Look for Repetition of Ideas
If you read through a paragraph and you have no idea how to summarize it because there is so much information, start looking for repeated words, phrases, or related ideas. Read this example paragraph:

A new hearing device uses a magnet to hold the detachable sound-processing portion in place. Like other aids, it converts sound into vibrations, but it is unique in that it can transmit the vibrations directly to the magnet and then to the inner ear. This produces a clearer sound. The new device will not help all hearing-impaired people—only those with a hearing loss caused by infection or some other problem in the middle ear. It will probably help no more than 20 percent of all people with hearing problems. Those people who have persistent ear infections, however, should find relief and restored hearing with the new device.

What does this paragraph consistently talk about? A new hearing device. What is it trying to convey? A new hearing device is now available for some, but not all, hearing-impaired people. That's the main idea!

Avoid the Main Idea Mistakes

Choosing a main idea from a set of answer choices is different than composing a main idea on your own. Writers of multiple choice tests are often tricky and will give you distractor questions that sound much like the real answer. By reading the passage thoroughly, using your skills, and identifying the main idea on your own, though, you can avoid making these 3 common mistakes: selecting an answer that is too narrow in scope; selecting an answer that is too broad; or selecting an answer that is complex but contrary to the main idea.

Guessing Meaning from the contxt (Rahlami, 2013)

Confronted with texts, language learners may be stuck by a shortage of vocabulary inventory and thus be unable to understand what texts are about. The first thing that a learner does to understand a difficult word is to look it up using the nearest dictionary. There are however techniques learners may use to get the meaning of such vocabulary items. One of these techniques is guessing meaning from context.

Techniques for guessing

Texts are often full of redundancy and consequently, You can use the relation between different items within a text to get the meaning. Our prior knowledge of the world may also contribute to understanding what an expression means.

1. Synonyms and definitions:
When he made insolent remarks towards his teacher they sent him to the principal for being disrespectful.
 

2. Antonym and contrast
He loved her so much for being so kind to him. By contrast, he abhorred her mother
 

3. Cause and effect
He was disrespectful towards other members. That’s why he was sent off and penalized.
 

4. Parts of speech: Whether the word is a noun, a verb, an adjective or an adverb, functioning as a subject, a predicate or an object.
Trojan is an example of a computer virus
 

5. Word forms (the morphological properties of the word): Getting information from affixes (prefixes and suffixes) to understand a word.

Examples: dis- (meaning not), –less (meaning without)…
 

6. General knowledge
The French constitution establishes laïcité as a system of government where there is a strict separation of church and state.

Time for Test

Now it is time to check your understandings from this session. You have 15 minutes time to read the passage in link below and answer its questions.

link: https://forms.gle/w624XiYzB5DozAfc6

References

Rahlami, M. (2013). Guessing meaning from context.

Roell, K. (2019). How to find the main idea.

Getting people to do things:

requesting, attracting attention, agreeing and refusing

Students are expected to study the presented materials and participate in online courses with their peers in Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday at 10  to 10:45 in LMS environment. In these sessions students under suervision of the instructor of the course, interact woth each other and receive feedback from their peers. The last session that is again online, students in groups of two join the online session in Skype and interact with do the required tasks. After each conversation (10 to 12 minutes) instructor will provide students with her feedbacks on their activities during the week and last session as well.

  Conversation

Bob: Well, what do you think of this, Mary? Do you like this restaurant?

Mary: Oh, honey, it looks very nice. Oh, look, let's see if we can sit over there by the window so we can look at the water!

Bob: Oh yeah, sure. Uh, hm, excuse me miss, could we have a table over there by the window?

Waitress: Nuh, I'm sorry, we're closing that section. Would you mind sitting over here?

Mary: Oh ... oh, all right, sure.

Bob: Mm ... Well, OK, I wonder what's on the menu.

Mary: I'm starving.

Bob: We don't have a menu. There's not one on this table.

Mary: Oh.

Bob: Mary, d'you think you could, uh, ask those perople over there ...

Mary: Oh sure, honey. Just a minute. Um, excuse me, I wonder if we could ... oh, I'm sorry ... honey, they don't have one either.

Bob: Oh, I'll ask waitress. Waitress! Um, we'd like a menu please.

Waitress: Oh, I'm sorry. Yes of course, here you are.

Mary: Thank you.

Bob: Thanks. Ah, miss, could you tell me, what's the "soup of the day"?

Waitress: Well, the "soup of the day" is cream of asparagus.

Mary: Oh.

Bob: Ah. Well, could you tell me the ... about your "specials"?

Waitress: Oh. Well, the "special" today is spaghetti.

Bob: Uh-huh. Well, if you were going to be eating here yourself, what a ...what would you have? What's really good?

Waitress: Mm ... I'd recommend the steak ...

Bob: Steak.

Waitress: ... we have really good beef here, yeah ...

Mary: OK. Well, give me a couple of minutes to think about it, OK>

Waitress: OK. I'll be right back.

Mary: Ok.

Bob: Thank.

  Presentation: requesting

When you want someone to do something for you, there are many English expressions you can use. Some of these expressions are too polite for some situations. Other expressions sound rude in particuar situations. The right expression to use depends on:

a) how difficult, unpleasant, or urgent the task is, and

b) who you are and who you are talking to - the roles you are playing.

See what happens in this example if too much politeness in an urgent situation:

Imagine what will happen in this rude request for a favor from an important man!

Here are some useful ways of requesting. yhey are marked with stars, according to how polite they are.

*                   Hey, I need some change.

                     I'm all out of change.

**                You don't have a quarter, do you?

                      Have you got a quarter, by any chance?

                     Could I borrow a quarter?

***             You couln't lend me a dollar, could you?

                      Do you think you could lend me a dollar?

                      I wonder if you could lend me a dollar.

****           Would you mind lending me five dollars?

                      If you could lend me five dollars, I'd be very grateful.

*****        Could you possibly lend me your typewriter?

                      Do you think you could possibly lend me your typewriter?

                      I wonder if you could possibly lend me your typewriter.

******     I hope you don't mind my asking, but I wonder if it might be at all possible for you to lend me your car.

Discuss with your peers and your teacher when you would use these request forms. Can you add any more forms to the list? Share your suggestions in the comment box.

  Excercise

Because your tone of voice is extremely important when you ask someone to do something, this section should be done with your teacher. You may need to be corrected frequently at first.

Treat your teacher as an equal whom you know but do not know very well. Ask him or her to lend you these things:

nickel                 pen                               comb

quarter             stopwatch               dictionary

$ 5                        bicycle                       kleenex

$ 100                  piece of paper       nail file

$ 500                  typewriter                car

Now ask him or her to do these things:

open the window halfway - open it all the way - close it

open the door - half close it - close it

move his or her chair - move it elsewhere - move it back to its original position

explain these words - rude, appropriate, urgent

get you a drink, a sandwich, a newspaper, some cigarettes

give you a cigarette, a light, a pencil, a recommendation

  Communication activity

Begin working in pairs. In this activity you will be asking people to do different things for you. One of you should look at activity 1 while the other one looks at activity 2.

Saturday: 10:00 - 10:45 P.M.

  Excercise

So far you have practiced different forms of request that depended mainly on how difficult, unpleasant, or urgent the task was. We are now going to look at the second variable: the role of partcipants. Your teacher is going to play a number of different roles (see below), each one for a few minutes. Get him or her to do some of the same things you wanted done in previous excerise. By the way, there may be some tasks that you shouldn't ask these people to do!

the receptionist in a hotel

your boss in an office

your secretary in an office

your best friend

your father (or mother)-in-law-to-be

an elderly stranger

a child

  Communication activity

Work in pairs. You will be asking different kinds of people to do different things for you. student A should look at activity 3 while student B looks at activity 4. All those playing student B will have to meet to divide up the roles mentioned in their activity.

Monday: 10:00 - 10:45 P.M.

  Presentation: attracting attention, aggreeing and refusing

It issometimes difficult to attract the attention of someone who is busy doing something. HEre are some expressions you can use to get someone's attention in a polite way:

Uh, excuse me ...

Pardon me ...

Uh, Mr. Jones

Hey, Betty ...

People try to attract your attention when they want to ask you to do something. You may then want to agree to do it or refuse to do it.

To agree:

OK.

Sure.

I'd be glad to.

Yes, of course.

To refuse:

I'm sorry, but ...

I'd like to, but ...

I'd really like to help you out, but ...

Be careful to be polite when you refuse requests. North Americans often give an excuse in order not to hurt the listener's  feelings. These excuses are sometimes called "little white lies", but of course they should not involve serious or obvious lying.

  Excercise

Make up conversations from the cues below, using expressions presented in the previous task. Follow this pattern:

A: Excuse me ...

B: Yes?

A: I was wondering if you could lend me your dictionary - I'm doing my homework.

B: I'm sorry. bI'm using it right now. Maybe later.

A: Oh, that's OK. Thanks anyway.

open the door                                                check the spelling in a letter for me

lend me the newspaper                          type an application form for me

give me a cigarette                                    give me a ride home

get me a cup of coffee                            arrive on time

pass the salt                                                     write more clearly

tell me the time                                               speak more slowly

  Communication activity

Work in pairs. You will be asking strangers to do different hings for you. One of you should look at actvity 5 while the other one look at activity 6.

Wednesday: 10:00 - 10:45 P.M.

  Communication activity

Work in groups of two or three on three different situations where someone needs help. Student A should look at actvity 7 while student B and C look at activity 8.

Are you ready for online meeting with the instructor of the course? If you are, don't hesitate and join us to talk with your peers and recieve feedback on your steps of prgress in the course.

Thursday: 10:00 - 11:30 P.M.

  Written work

Discuss these ideas with your teacher before you start writing.

1. You have a rich uncle. You want him to lend you some money so that you can buy a new car. He knows you smashed up your old one. Write him a letter asking him to lend you the money. Give reasons.

2. You have a nephew (or niece) who always spends too much money. You have just received a letter asking for more money. Reply as you think fit.

3. Write in dialogue form the first part of one of the conversations you had in previous activity.

Please email your letter to: tasks@itelt2019.blog.ir

______________________

Refrence:

Jones, L., & von Baeyer, C. (1983). Functions of American English: communication activities for the classroom (Vol. 1). Cambridge University Press.

Prefixes

In this lesson , we will learn about a group of affixes called "prefixes". As the name suggests these affixes come before the words and change their meanings and not their parts of speech.

Here we start with some prefixes which apply a negative meaning to the words they are added to.

prefixes with the meaning "not"

Look at these example...consider how a prefix can change a word's meaning into negative:

happy                       unhappy
possible                  impossible
correct                     incorrect

like (v)                       dislike (v)

legal                           illegal

regular                    irregular

where to use each of these prefixes:

un- is the most common:

unfriendly , unable , unusal , unnecessary , unkind , etc.

in- is often used before words with a Latin origin:

invisible , informal , in adequate

im- is used before some words beginning with 'm' or 'p' :

impolite, impossible, impatient.

il- can be used before 'l' :

illegible

ir- is only used before a few words beginning with ‘r’ :

irresponsible

dis- is used before some adjectives and a few verbs:

dishonest (adj)  , dislike (v) , disagree(v)

note that:

Word stress doesn’t usually change, e.g. " happy / unhappy"

Verb prefixes: un- and dis-

These prefixes usually reverse the meaning of verbs.

The plane appeared in the sky, then suddenly disappeared behind a cloud.

I got dressed (= put on my clothes) and had my breakfast....I got undressed (= took off my clothes) and got into bed.

I had to pack my suitcase/do my packing (= put everything in it) very quickly, so when I unpacked (= took things out) at the hotel, most of my clothes looked terrible.

extra points : there are some other verb prefixes with sepecific meaning.

re- (= again)                The shop closed down but it’ll reopen next month.
                                        I failed my exam but I can retake/redo it next year.

over- (= too much)      My boss is overdoing it at the moment.(working too hard)

                                         I went to bed very late and I overslept (slept too long.)

mis- (= badly or incorrectly)      I’m afraid I misunderstood what he said.

                                                         Two of the students misread the first question.

  Practice time

download the prefix worksheet and do the exercises, then you can download the answer sheet and check your answers:

prefix worksheet             answers       

After you're done with the practices , you need to take this little quiz:

Prefix Quiz

  Reflection Time:

By the end of this session you should be able to:

Homework:

To spark student interest in origin of familiar words the class will read Frindle by Andrew Clements for the next session. Frindle is a story of a boy who gaind fame a teased his teacher by inventing new word.

Click on the above picture to download the story

 Online IELTS Reading Course

Having excellent reading comprehension skills is crucial. It increases the enjoyment and effectiveness of reading and helps not only academically, but professionally, and in a person's personal life. Imagine being given a document by your boss.You can read the document, but you cannot understand what it is fully asking, or maybe you are applying to jobs and do not understand a question that is being asked. Being able to understand the meaning behind the text helps you develop intellectually, socially, and professionally.

Globalization in the new era provide this oppotunity to appetent students, specially those who are in less developed countries, to continue their higher education in the first world countires such as: United Kingdom, Canada, United States of America, Australia, etc. Among the prerequsites for continuing education in these countries having a valid language profeciency test (e.g. IELTS, TOEFL, GRE, etc.) is one of the musts. In a Academic environment, it is crucial that students have excellent comprehension skills. As you now, reading comprehension is used in many subjects such as science, math, and humanity. In many contexts where English is taught, unfortunately, reading is often limited to texts included in coursebooks that can sometimes seem artificial.
Further, they may have been chosen only because they correspond to unit topics that are mostly created artificially for the purposes of the coursebook itself (see Tante, 2018). Hence, due to importance of Reading Comprehension, not only as an academic subject, but also a social issue, we decided to hold an online course to improve Reading Comprehension level of Iranian adults students who are eager to pass the IELTS exam in order to proceed their educations overseas.

 Introduction to the Course

    First Session

  Second Session

     Third Session

   Fourth Session

     Fifth Session

Round Up Session

______________________

Refrence:
Tante, A. C. (2018). ‘I Can Talk About a Lot of Things in the Other Language but not in English’: Teaching Speaking Skills in Cameroon Primary Schools. In International Perspectives on Teaching the Four Skills in ELT (pp. 81-95). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.