Homework Assignment due in class on Monday, Sept. 24

Use your composition book to summarize the NPR news story from the April 2011 Morning Edition podcast. You can hear the podcast directly through the NPR website.

• Click here to access the podcast for the story, Federal Effort Targets Sexual Assaults At Colleges by Elaine Grant
• Once on the story's webpage, click on "Listen to the Story"

The entry in your composition book should follow the outline below:

1. Summarize the story. Who or what is the story about? Where, when, and how did it take place? Why is it important enough to be on the news?
2. Voice your opinion about what happened. What might be wrong with the situation and how might you change it?
3. Write two discussion questions about the story for your classmates. Write open-ended questions that will generate discussion and debate; avoid yes/no questions.

I will collect/check your composition books with your news stories in class on Monday. Be prepared to share your story and lead a class discussion!

Phrasal Verb Presentations starting in class on Monday, Sept. 17

Choose one of your phrasal verbs and prepare a five (5) minute presentation that explains the term and how it is used.  Be prepared to write the following on the board before class starts:

1. The phrasal verb that you will be discussing,
2. A definition that is written in your own words,
3. Two (2) sentences that use the phrasal verb correctly and demonstrate how the term is used.

Here are the dates of the presentations:

• Monday, Sept 17th:
• Sarah
• Mohammed
• Saori
• Alejandro
• Thursday, Sept 20th:
• Kyeonga
• Raid
• Friday, Sept 21st:
• Yhannels
• Mio
• Monday, Sept 24th
• Keisuke
• Hussah
• Ayat

Homework Assignment due in class on Thursday, Sept. 13

Use your composition book to summarize two current news stories that really interest you. Choose one story from the USA and one story from the world (anywhere outside of the USA).

This time, challenge yourself by summarizing news stories that are spoken rather than written.  Look for news stories on the television or the radio.  You might also want to look for spoken news stories that can be listened to over the Internet.  Some possible places you can go to hear the news over the Internet:

• http://www.voanews.com/
• http://www.npr.org/
• http://www.cnn.com/video/

For both stories, the entries in your composition book should follow the outline below:

1. Summarize the story in your own words. Who or what is the story about? Where, when, and how did it take place? Why is it important enough to be on the news?
2. Voice your opinion about what happened. What might be wrong with the situation and how might you change it?
3. Write two discussion questions about the story for your classmates. Try to write open-ended questions that will generate discussion and debate; avoid yes/no questions.

I will collect your composition books with your news stories in class on Monday. Be prepared to share at least one of your stories!

Homework Assignment due in class on Monday, Sept. 10

This is the first step in our phrasal verb project! In Thursday's class, you picked two phrasal verbs that you will focus on for your project.  For Monday's homework:

1. First, ask a native speaker to define the two phrasal verbs; write down his or her definitions. 
2. Next, look up the phrasal verbs in a dictionary, and write down the dictionary definitions next to the defintions from the native speaker.
3. Third, write one example sentence using the phrasal verb correctly for both of your terms. You can ask the native speaker to help you with this, too.

Be ready to share your definitions and example sentences with your classmates in class on Monday!