Book report guidelines

Hi all,


For new students, I encourage you to read one book per week. However, for continuing students, I strongly encourage you to read two books a week, and write two reports.

For this class, I only require one book report per week(both new and old students). If you do two reports, I will read it and give you extra credits. :)


Here's the format for your book report:

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Your post title should be: Week _(week number)_Book Report

(For example: Week 2 book report) 

Insert the book cover here. J

1.       Book title:

2.       Author(s):

3.       Publisher:

4.       Number of pages:

5.       Story type – (Circle one)

Novel              Mystery           Science fiction      Romance      Biography

History          Science/technology             Other: ____________________

6.       Why did you decide to read this book?

7.       Did you enjoy reading the book?Answer yes or now first, then tell us:

-       What did you like the best?

-       What did you like the least?

8.       Would you recommend this book to a friend? Explain.

9.       On a scale of 1 – 10, how difficult was this book for you? (1= easy, 10= difficult) Why? Explain your reasons in details.

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Note: Please answer every questions. Pay attention to grammar when you write. You should try to use grammar correctly since you have learned so much about grammar. If you don't know some of the grammar points, check a grammar book or ask me in class. 

Recommended websites (Keep updating)

Here are the list of websites that I would like to recommend to you. You can find some articles on these websites, but you can so find the articles from the websites that you like. Personal blog articles are not recommended.

1. Time Magazine
http://www.time.com/time/

2. National Geographic Weird News
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/archives/weird/

3. National Geographic
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/

National Geographic Kids
http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/?source=NavKidsHome

4.National Public Radio
http://www.npr.org/

5. The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/

6. LA Times
http://www.latimes.com/

7. Weird News
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4429957/ns/us_news-weird_news/

8. USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/

9. Voice of America
http://www.voanews.com/

10.Star Advertiser (Local News Hawaii)
http://www.staradvertiser.com/

Example Reading Journal Format

Hi class,

For this weekend, please reading one article from the internet and post your reflection on your blog.
Below is an example of your reflection:

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I read this article on Time Tech called "These Are the 25 Worst Passwords of 2012"


Source: Here's the link to the article: http://techland.time.com/2012/10/25/these-are-the-25-worst-passwords-of-2012/?hpt=hp_t3


Reflection: (180 -200 words)







New Vocabulary (5 New words you want to learn or want your classmates to learn)

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Please make sure you post your journal by SUnday 3 pm, and go to your classmates' journals to comment by Monday midnight.

Email me if you have any questions.

2. Reading Journal & 3. Vocabulary Self-study (Instructions and Examples)

For the Reading Journal & Vocabulary Self-study

How to? 

• First - Choose an interesting article and write your summary/reflection

Choose an article (suggesting news articles or longer readings you are interested in from whichever websites) in English. Read the article, and then write a short reflection/summary. 

• Second - go to 2 people's journals to give comments

After writing your reflection, you will have to go to 2 people's journals, read their reflections (you can also read the original article they chose if you would like to) and give short comments (around 3 to 5 sentences).

Complete this homework over the weekend by Sunday 3 pm.
Here's an example schedule for the reading journal weekly:

	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Friday	Sat/Sun.
Week 1				Choose an   article online and read	Choose an   article online and read	Finish your reflection by 3 pm /Go to other people’s journal and give comments by Monday midnight
Week 2	Give your comments by midnight

• Example reading journals from previous students: 

Go to these blog links for examples from my 300 level classes:

1. Ryan -  http://ryankwon-331toeflreading.blogspot.com/

This is by a very high level student at HELP, and this is just an example of writing summaries, you are not required to write like him.

2. Naoko - http://naokosreadingjournal.blogspot.com/
Naoko wrote very good reflections and she organized her writings and vocabulary well. This is a good example of writing your weekly journal.

3. Koji - http://kojiiizumi.blogspot.com/
Koji was also an advanced student at HELP, and he organized his writings and vocabulary learning neatly so it's a good example for you to follow as well.

For the vocabulary learning, include this in your reading journal: 

After reading an article, choose five words you want to learn from the article. Even if you might have more than five words that you don't know and you want to learn, I only require five words for each article. Feel free to write more if you would like to. 

See a separate post for instructions on this part.

What to do with the reading blog - 1. Book Report

Hi all,

Welcome to the 231R Reading class! As you already created your own blog, now it's time for you to post something. 

I would like to explain what you need to do every week using this blog. 

There are three things that you have to do: 

1. Book report
2. Reading Journal 
3. Vocabulary learning

For the first one, book report, you will: 

Choose a book and read every week. You need to complete the report by every Wednesday. See a separate post for instructions on this part. 

We will exchange books every Wednesday, and you can read the book over the weekend.  Then complete the report by the following Wednesday. For example: 

	Mon.	Tue.	Wed.	Thu.	Fri.	Sat/Sun.
Week 1				Get a new   book	Read	Read
Week 2	Read	Read	Finish your book report by 5 pm /read other peoples reports if you would like to before choosing new books	Get a new   book

This book repot assignment is to help you improve reading rate and also practice summarizing stories you read. 

Go on to read my next posts to find out more about the reading journal and vocabulary self-study.

Cynthia 

231R Cynthia's first post

Hi my dear 231R class! Welcome to Blogger! I will post more soon, so stay tuned! :)