Cancellation of This Week's Classes and a Make-up Class on 17th October

I am very sad to inform that I will not be able to take classes this Sunday and Tuesday because I have to go out of the ountry for 4 days. So, I will meet you all after your Puja Vacation. I will be very interested to take a Morning Class on 17th October. I will talk to both SRs regarding fixing a suitable time on 17th October.

Therefore, your Assignment on being IMPOLITE has to be Submnitted through an email or in Handwritten form. Please do NOT send PDF - send it as Word Document.

The length of the Essay should be 600-800 words. 

You can also find the following  "Readings in Sociology" and read Chapter 3 [page 8] on the same issue. Here is another essay on the issue of Manners and Morals. After reading these TWO documents, read the Essay Prompt and then Write the Essay. I am posting it here again. 

Essay Prompt (উস্কানিমূলক কথা): [Think carefully about the issue presented in the following extract and write an essay based on your understanding of the topic.]

Whatever happened to good manners? Many books and articles have been written about the lack of common courtesy and old-fashioned politeness in today's society. From spoiled children acting out in restaurants to so-called experts yelling at each other on cable news shows, people seem less concerned with good manners and civilized behavior than ever before. On the other hand, if people really want to change the world for the better, they have to risk being seen as impolite or uncivil. 

Assignment: Is it sometimes necessary to be impolite? Plan and write an essay in which you develop your point of view on this issue. Support your position with reasoning and examples taken from your reading, studies, experience, or observations.  

Our Class Works Today

We shall work on the following items today.

1. The Hawk Roosting - a poem by Ted Hughes
2. How I Write - a Short Essay by Bertrand Russell
3. Unit 6 = Language Parts
4. Three essays by Nellie Bly = Here is the Link

You should also be prepared for a Full Paper exam on 8th September. I will include in the following items in the Question Paper. 

• 2 Comprehensions
• 2 Essays = (a) Topic Based Essay, (b) Essay Analysis
• 20 Vocabulary Questions where you have to write the meaning of the underlined word. 

Our Today's Class and the Content of the Next Class on SUNDAY

Today we worked on a PARTIAL reading of the 5th Chapter from "Global Politics: An Introduction". In doing so, we also worked on how to get meaning out of Long+Complex ACADEMIC essays. After the class I had a very fruitful discussion with some students. To them asked the following Question.

• Why do I constantly make references to so many things. Does it not sometimes look like too CONFUSING?

In response to this question, the students came up with a couple of answers - BUT, I liked Ila Samajjita's response to be the closest to my own answer. So, here is what she responded with. 

• Ila said, "By making references to so many things a speaker has to make several sides of an argument and in the END the speaker has to come back to the ORIGINAL statement. In this way, the whole speech achieves logical unity.

To supplement my today's class, I am hereby attaching 2 handouts on how to IMPROVE Reading Academic at University level. You will surely find this to be VERY VERY Helpful.

Improving Reading Skills HANDOUT 
What is Reading - Qualities of a Reader

I also gave the class following tasks.

1. Students will READ the full unit 7 titled "Outcasts". Students will be required to ask me ALL sorts of Vocabulary and Phrases from this unit and I hope to respond to all these.
2. They will also read the poem "Hawk Roosting" from the Unit titled "Hunting and Hunted." 
3. Members of every Vocabulary Group are required to find at least 5 to 10 words and use it in their everyday Writing and Speech.
4. I will also bring my hard copy of the Novel "Animal Farm" and share it with Nishat whom I have assigned the task of going through the Chapter LENIN from Illustrated History. I hope she will be able to give a short introduction to the Novel in the next week.
5. Some of the students whom I have assigned separate BOOKS, have NOT reported their progress very enthusiastically. I am requesting them to make quick progress. 

Today's Essay TOPICS

Instruction: Write a 400-500 words Essay on the Following Topic.

Imagine you are walking on a busy street. It's daytime. You saw a large crowd gathered in front of a multi-storied building. You realize that a fire has broken out. Now, in an essay, describe the situation as you give a detailed report of the incident.

Number of Para: 3 or 4 or 5 paragraphs.
Time: 20 Min
Use the following words IF you want: Flame, Situation, Awful, Terrible, Hardly, Whirlwind, Crackling, Crowd, Siren, Red Warning Lights, Gushes of Water, Splash, Screaming, Narrow Alley, Ladder, Firemen, Hose pipe, Wall of Smoke, Mountain of Flame, Scattered.

Mark Scheme:
200 Words = 5 out of 10
300 Words = 7 out of 10
400 Words = 8 out of 10
500 Words = 9 out of 10
500+ Words = 10 out of 10 (Full Marks)

Marks Deduction
Grammar Error = No penalty
Sentence Structure Error = No penalty
Paragraphing Error = (-5) Minus 5

1st Para = No Indent
2nd Para = Indent
3rd Para = Indent
4th Para = Indent
5th Para = Indent

Vocabulary Groups Works

Glad to hear from each of the Vocabulary Group are working well to activate their Group works. Of these, I found the plans of "Young Bengal" particularly diverse and appropriate. The other Groups could simply follow a SIMILAR process or develop something different. I am uploading the "Young Bengal" group's plans for reference.

For anything further beyond the instructions, everyone is requested to talk to Mumtaheenah Zaman and take her advice on the matter. 

Our Work Plan for Today

Today, we shall work on a couple of things so that we can also plan for the next week as well. First,  we shall discuss a couple of words from UNIT-2 Fire (Rhodri Jones). Second, we shall discuss two extracts from Unit-4 Being Ill (Rhodri Jones). Third, we shall discuss TWO Types of Essays - Descriptive and Argumentative Essays. Fourth, we shall write a short essay based on the assignments given in Unit - 2 (Page -31). Since coming TUESDAY is a holiday, I intend to make up with extra time on 3 Sunday classes.

NOW take out your Notebook & Rhodri Jones.