Your Narrative Topic

What is the topic for your narrative paper? Why is the experience special to you?

A Place You Didn’t Like?

Is there a place you didn’t like?  Where is that place?  Please describe the place fully.  One place I didn’t like was Houston.  I didn’t like it because it was so hot and humid.

Your Dream House

Describe your dream house.  What would it look like?  Where would it be?  My dream house would be modern–a very open space.  I love city spaces including lofts.

Your Room

Describe a room in your home/apartment.  Please provide a positive and negative description of the room.

Exit Exam

You will soon take the ESOL 960 Exit Exam.  What are some strategies to successfully pass this important exam?  How would would describe a “good” paragraph?

Plagiarism

Why would some student plagiarize?  Please explain the reasons.

Window View

I want you to look outside your window at your home.  Describe everything you can see.  Please give lots of details.  From my window, I can see a swimming pool.

Human Family

Please read the poem below.  What is the meaning of the poem?  What words or lines in the poem help you to understand the meaning?

Human Family

Poem by Dr. Maya Angelou

I note the obvious differences
in the human family.
Some of us are serious,
some thrive on comedy.

Some declare their lives are lived
as true profundity,
and others claim they really live
the real reality.

The variety of our skin tones
can confuse, bemuse, delight,
brown and pink and beige and purple,
tan and blue and white.

I’ve sailed upon the seven seas
and stopped in every land.
I’ve seen the wonders of the world,
not yet one common man.

I know ten thousand women
called Jane and Mary Jane,
but I’ve not seen any two
who really were the same.

Mirror twins are different
although their features jibe,
and lovers think quite different thoughts
while lying side by side.

We love and lose in China,
we weep on England’s moors,
and laugh and moan in Guinea,
and thrive on Spanish shores.

We seek success in Finland,
are born and die in Maine.
In minor ways we differ,
in major we’re the same.

I note the obvious differences
between each sort and type,
but we are more alike, my friends
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

We are more alike, my friends,
than we are unalike.

Your Favorite Book

Please describe your favorite book.  It might be a book from your childhood.  My favorite book is called Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison.  It is about a young man who must learn to grow up.

Group Work

What are the advantages/disadvantages of group work?  Do you think instructors should include group work projects?  Why or why not?