Summer is Here!

Hello everyone, welcome to Science English. Thank you all for your homework. It was very good. The total points were 30. The top score was 26. The average score was 23. Some things were slightly hard in this homework. For example, the Extending Skills section 6.3, part B was difficult for some people. I think if you read carefully you will find that some words don't work grammatically. In addition, 6.4 was a bit difficult I know. Part B was not easily understandable. You were to divide the notes (in blue) to make paragraphs, and then you had to describe which ideas were good topic sentences for paragraphs. I think it's best if you write complete sentences for this part. Finally, in part 3 you had to write full sentences from the notes and put them into one larger paragraph.

In today's class we will go over the homework, and then basically review the information we learned to get ready for the test. We will go through each chapter and I will tell you the important parts in each chapter. We will in a sense, follow this outline below:

Science English review for exam.

1) What is environmental science?

1.1 Vocabulary A, B (1-8), C, D; 1.3 Extending skills A, B, D.

2) What do environmental scientists do?

2.1 Vocabulary B (1-10), C H. Page 15 (top and bottom);2.2 Reading A; 2.3 Extending skills

3) The Atmosphere

3.1 Vocabulary B, D, F (pictures); 3.2 Listening B, C, E, G; 3.4 Extending Skills A, C, D, G, H.

4) Computer in ES

4.1 Vocabulary A, B, C, D, E; 4.2 Reading A, B, C, F;4.3 Extending skills; A, B, C 4.4 A, B, C

5) Energy Resources

5.1 Vocabulary B, D, E (picture); 5.2 Listening A, B, C, D D, F; 5.3 Extending skills D; 5.4 A, E, F

6) Soil as a resource

6.1 Vocabulary A, B, E; 6.2 Reading A, B, C, E, F; extending skills A, B, C, D; 6.4 A, B

This outline will stay on this blog through until test time so you can always refer to it. Some of these items may be on the exam, but some may not be. The order might change. We may use pictures. We may use listening. To study, just please review the textbook as well as your homework so you can find your mistakes. If things are used from the textbook, they will be used as is, and the question itself won't change. Most of you are doing very well in the class. I think if you do the test like you do the homework, there is no need to worry about failing.

In addition, I'm thinking about making one section to have you write one open ended-question on a particular topic. This will a topic with which you are all familiar; it will not be anything you don't know. I will, hopefully let you know what this topic is in tomorrow's class.

By the way, in tomorrow's class we will also have the questionnaire since it's the last day. Unbelievable how fast time flies! See you tomorrow!

Resources!

Hello. Today is already July 9th. In fact, I thought we had class util the 24th of July; however, according to the schedule, our last class is the 17th. The 24th is a make-up class day, which we will not need. In this case, we have only 2 more classes - July 10th, and July 17th. Therefore, July 17th will be our last day, and on that day we will practice for the examination. I will also explain what to do to prepare for the test.

This week we will finish the work allotted to the book, which includes going over the homework, and continuing with the reading in class. We will complete part G on page 48. We will read page 49 together for both reading and pronunciation practice. We will then move on to page 50, and complete much of 6.3 and 6.4 Extending Skills. This is a very important part of the text, as it helps prepare you for longer writing for your future. What we can't finish in class will be your homework for July 17th. We will also examine part of page 52 and 53 for useful help for your future.

As you know, this semester will contain material only up to Unit 6. Units 7-12 will be covered in the Fall Semester in Science English 2. After reading and completing the material in Units 1-6, you will learn about recycling staring in October. This is a very important part of this class, and a useful tactic to protect our environment. Like recycling, repurposing is also very useful for environmental protection.

Today's homework was short, worth a total of 10 points. Most of you did quite well, although many of you did not write enough for the section on paraphrasing. Paraphrasing is important because this is a technique you can do instead of copying, which is unethical. Paraphrasing is similar to the original work, but different words and different sentence structures are used. If sentences and words are too similar; however, this may be considered plagiarism, and this could lead to your trouble. You should be careful not to write things too similarly. In fact, may of you chose answer A on Part F, number 2 as the paraphrasing you like better because they are shorter sentences. However, some parts are very similar to the original. they both use "although we can see...system....natural." and in addition, "...farming practices...soil erosion." and "number of factors."  In these cases, most words are like the original, and this is not good.

It is best to stay away from any part of the original. For this reason, Student B's paraphrasing, while longer, is actually safer. Please remember this point, and remember to be careful when you write, especially long research papers.

That's all for the blog today. See you in class tomorrow, and have a nice day.

Soil as a Resource

Thank you for your designs last week. I think they were all quite good and imaginative. I hope you learned a lot from doing these designs. Such a process can only help you learn and to share your ideas. I decided not to have presentations during class because it takes much time, and this is our last month of classes. As you know your exam will be on Friday, July 31. So that only leaves several more classes to get book work completed.

This week we will move onto Unit 6 - Soil as a Resource. Most people do not think of soil as a resource, but we should remember, as the book says, that all things come from the earth. Soil is important for life and provides shelter for microorganisms that break down plant and animal material which becomes part of the earth and soil once again. As a result, soil becomes very important for human, animal, and plant life, and for the existence of the earth.

This week's classwork for tomorrow's class (7/3) will be Part 6.1, Vocabulary, numbers 1, 2 and 3; Part B, numbers 1 and 2; and Part E, numbers 1, 2, and 3. We may go over the other parts briefly as well. In addition, we will examine page 47.

Homework for the class of the following week 7/10 will be: Part 6.2 Reading, A, numbers 1 and 2; B, C, numbers 1 and 2; E; F, numbers 1 and 2, and G. It may seem like a lot of work but it is not really. In addition, it give useful information on paraphrasing part of a text, which means to write in your own words. This is much better to do that copying directly! So this activity will help you in this class and in your other English writing as well.

See you all tomorrow!