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Welcome to English Composition. Your Professor. Matt Gibson, you can call me Matt. 31 Years old Canadian Living in Tainan for six years Speak English, Chinese and Spanish. My Education. Graduated from University of Victoria, Victoria B.C., Canada in 2002
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Your Professor • Matt Gibson, you can call me Matt. • 31 Years old • Canadian • Living in Tainan for six years • Speak English, Chinese and Spanish
My Education • Graduated from University of Victoria, Victoria B.C., Canada in 2002 • Honors Degree in Sociology and Minor in Professional Writing
My Experience • Written for several websites and magazines. • Founded and ran Xpat Magazine for three years. • Also experienced in other aspects of publishing including photography, editing, design, and web design. • Currently working as a teacher, freelance journalist, and editor www.matt-gibson.org
Please Introduce Yourself • What is your name? • How old are you? • What do you study? • Why do you want to learn to write better?
Course Outline This course has three goals: • To teach you what good English writing is. • To teach you how to examine your own writing, and that of others, to improve it. • To provide you with the tools to continue to improve your writing in the future. Those tools include: • The Elements of Style • Knowledge of the most commonly made mistakes in writing • Critical relationships with other student
Elements of Style • The most taught English writing manual in the world • Read by professional writers, journalists and editors “The Elements of Style never seems to go out of date. Its counsel is sound and funny, wise and unpretentious.” -- David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker
Absence If you miss more than 3 classes you will not receive your certificate NO EXCEPTIONS.
Course Description • Most western Universities have a course called English Composition. • Teaches students how to write effectively for their University classes. • University essays are the same format as TOEFL and GEPT essays.
Grading • Participation 20% • Assignments 20% • Midterm Exam 20% • Final Essay 40%
Homework Assignments • Readings will be assigned for every class • Homework will be assigned almost every class • Late assignments will be penalized 5% per day • Homework assignments should be submitted by email if possible
Class Format • Two halves with a midterm in the middle • Will use a small group workshop format • First half will focus on grammar rules, words, sentences and paragraphs • The second half will focus on research and essay writing
Workshop Format • A common way to learn writing. • Small groups read and analyze each others work. • Teaches students to find mistakes and think critically about both their own, and other peoples’, writing.
Class Leader • Choose a class leader • Who wants to purchase/copy books? • Can also be bought at the NCKU bookstore
Workshop Groups • Please arrange yourselves into groups of three. • Exchange email addresses and telephone numbers.
What do you want? • What do you want from this class? • What are your goals with writing? • How much time would you like to spend on reading homework? • How much time would you like to spend on writing homework? • Is there anything in particular that you would like to focus on?
In Class Short Essay Please write a short essay explaining what you want to learn in this class. Please try to write your best. • What do you want from this class? • What are your goals with writing? • How much time would you like to spend on reading homework? • How much time would you like to spend on writing homework? • Is there anything in particular that you would like to focus on?
Homework • Reading: Simplicity by William Zinsser • Think more about what you want from this class. We will discuss it once more at the beginning of next class.
