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.