Thursday, May 31, 2007

Writing Across Borders

The Writing Across Borders movie was very interesting. I honestly have never thought about our grammar rules that we instinctively have, I can't say that I was unaware that international students have difficulty writing the way we want them to, but the movie presented it in a way that made me understand what they go through when they come to American schools. Another thing that I thought was interesting was the idea that the style we write in being straight forward and to the point isn't something that is practiced around the world. Personally I prefer that sort of writing because I'm not the best at articulating what I want to say to begin with. All in all, I thought the movie addressed a very important part of the education of International students.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

"Writing Across Borders"

This film was very intriguing. I had no idea that the length of time spent telling a story varies from culture to culture. I always like people to get to the point, but apparently that is not the convention in many places. Also, the idea of establishing a base-line of acceptability for each class and then grading on that seems like a good idea. Additionally, the stand-in instructor brought up a good point: prepositions in English often do not make sense. It would be more logical to say "I turned my paper on" (the table) than to say "I turned my paper in." I had never considered this before. Using the wrong preposition always seems like such an easily avoided error, but when English is not your native tongue, it must be very difficult to choose the right preposition.

Monday, May 14, 2007

Cinquain

Driving
Late
Through Downtown
Empty streets
To get back home
After the cars in front of me get their food

Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Buying

daily

from Qdoba

the gourmet burrito

to satisfy my hunger

as I got completely addicted to it

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

cinquain

Running
Away
From the stress
I have no time
To stop and relax
Before it all falls apart

cinquain

Searching
Everywhere
For my car keys
In mad hysterics
To drive to my workplace
So my boss does not fire me