Homework for Monday

Write a 200-word report comparing and contrasting the science fact and fiction in Blade Runner. How much of the science in this movie is real, plausible, and fiction?
Explain your answers.

Homework for Monday

Turn in your vocabulary notebook that includes all words from this vocabulary list.

Science-Fiction Film Days

Monday, April 27th from 10:00 to 12:25

o Blade Runner (1982)

You will fill out a handout concerning characters, setting, theme, and the branch of science.
For Monday, May 4th you will have to write a 200-word report comparing and contrasting the science fact and fiction in the movie. How much of the science in this movie is real, plausible, and fiction? Explain your answers.

Wednesday, April 29th is only 30 minutes long, exact time will be announced later

Monday, May 4th from 10:00 to 12:25

o Planet of the Apes (1968)

You will fill out a handout concerning characters, setting, theme, and the branch of science.
You will fill out a second handout comparing it to our first film, Blade Runner.
No homework assignment will be given for May 6th.

Wednesday, May 6th is 11:45 to 12:15.

Final Project

Your final project is due Wednesday, May 6th at 11:45am.
Make an appointment with me this week to choose your project.
If you do not make an appointment with me by April 13th, I will choose the least popular project for you.

PROJECT #1
Write an essay about the best story that you read in The Best of the Best Science-Fiction
• Explain why you chose that one as your favorite
• Explain why it is better than the other short stories that you read
• Compare 3 of the following: characters, setting, theme, science, and plot
• Your essay must contain all the elements that your writing teacher requires for an essay.

PROJECT #2
Write an essay comparing one story to one movie from the provided list
• Explain if they are more similar or different
• If more similar, describe at least 5 similarities and 3 differences
• If more different, describe at least 5 differences and 3 similarities
• If equally similar and different, describe 4 similarities and differences
• Your essay must contain all the elements that your writing teacher requires for an essay.

PROJECT #3
Pick a branch of science that you are interested in from the provided list
• Select 3 news articles in English about that branch of science
• Each article must be at least one full page long when printed at the normal size
• You can use www.sciencenews.org, http://www.sciencedaily.com/, or Yahoo science news
• Write 2 paragraphs about why you are interested in that branch of science
• For each article, write a 1-paragraph summary followed by a 1-paragraph personal reaction to that article
• You should have a total of 6 paragraphs plus at least 3 pages of science news article

PROJECT #4
Go to the Skeptic’s Dictionary at http://skepdic.com/
• Choose 5 strange things that interest you from the topical indexes on the website
• Write 2 paragraph about each strange thing
• In paragraph #1, write about why you and other people are interested in that strange thing
• In paragraph #2, write about why you and other people believe or do not believe in that strange thing
• You should have a total of 10 paragraphs

Homework for Wednesday

Turn in your vocabulary notebooks
Turn in your 3rd SF short story reports
Be prepared for a short quiz about 3 vocabulary and reading words.

Homework for Monday

Please bring your handout concerning the charts from Chapter 2 (pages 25-28)
AND
Hand in your group's survey concerning Paranormal Belief

• Astrology
• Extrasensory perception
• Witches
• Aliens have landed on Earth
• The lost continent of Atlantis
• Dinosaurs and humans lived simultaneously
• Noah’s flood
• Communication with the dead
• Ghosts
• Actually had a psychic experience

Surveying other ESL students
• Group 1 – Yuguang, Lixiang, Linda, Candy
• Group 2 – Jennifer, Yanting, Siwen

Surveying UWL faculty & students
• Group 1 – Una, Lutfi, Hui, Shine
• Group 2 – Kevin, Ran, Lin

Hope Springs Eternal

This is an expression concerning optimism.
For example, "I believe that hope springs eternal during our darkest times."
Another example, "We will get through the economic crisis because hope springs eternal."

Why are we optimistic?
Scientists have been trying to answer that question for years. Read here.

Homework for Wednesday

Preview Chapter 3 of Why People Believe Weird Things.
There will be an open book exam on this chapter in the lab on Wednesday at 4:00pm.

Homework for Monday

Answer the following questions on your handout:
Which paragraph explains why many people are drawn to psychics, cold readers, or mentalists?
Which paragraph explains the purpose of this book?
Which paragraph explains the organization of this book?
What is the purpose of the longest paragraph on page 9?
What is the main idea of the final paragraph of the prologue?

Do not do the other side of the handout concerning vocabulary.

Turn in your science fiction short story report.

Vocabulary

In a notebook or folder, make a list of these vocabulary items.

From the first week

1. analysis (see my example from the previous vocabulary posting)
2. anatomy
3. atom
4. cell
5. dynamics
6. embryo
7. galaxy
8. hydro-
9. immune
10. laser
11. mathematics
12. mineral
13. molecule
14. nuclear
15. organic
16. petro-
17. plasma
18. quantum physics
19. soil
20. solar
21. static
22. taxonomy
23. toxic
24. volcano

From the second week

1. subsequently
2. established
3. genre
4. novella
5. inhuman
6. chilling
7. warn
8. decades

From the third week

1. prediction
2. skeleton
3. conflict
4. paranoid
5. introspection/introspective

From the fourth week onwards

1. disturbed/disturbing (as in "I was disturbed by this story")
2. prologue
3. skim (as in reading)
4. skepticism/skeptic/skeptical
5. psychic
6. neutral
7. clue
8. scan (as in reading)
9. pursue
10. "hope springs eternal"
11. increase
12. decrease
13. to level off
14. pseudo-
15. probability
16. paranormal
17. (printing) press
18. detect
19. prove
20. disprove
21. invisible
22. immortality
23. concentration camp
24. meditation/meditate
25. retrospective
26. altered state of consciousness
27. hypnosis/hypnotize
28. duplicate
29. consciousness
30. hallucination
31. near-death experience
32. compelling
33. dismissed
34. tunnel
35. italics
36. to go out of one's way to (do something)
37. verify
38. witch
    
39. evolution
40. holocaust
41. racism
    

Homework for Monday

Bring Why People Believe Weird Things by Michael Shermer to class.
We will start reading this book in class.

Homework for Wednesday

Read pages 15-16.
Answer all questions on the handout concerning those pages.
Be prepared for a vocabulary quiz. I will quiz you on 5-10 words from the list of 37.

Homework for Monday

Read pages 5-13 of "Blood Music" in The Best of the Best Science-Fiction.
Answer the questions concerning pages 5-13 on the handout.
We will discuss the answers on Monday.

Circle or highlight all the science-fiction movies you have seen on the other handout.
I will collect this handout.

Homework for Wednesday

Do the worksheet on biochemistry.
Study for the quiz on biochemistry.

Homework for Monday

Start a vocabulary journal in a notebook for this class.
After each vocabulary item, do the following...
1. Write the closest translation in your first language
2. Write a personal sentence using the vocabulary in English

You should start with the 24 important science vocabulary (analysis-volcano) and continue to the 8 words we studied in the last class (subsequently-decades).

Here are a couple of examples with Russian as a first language.

• Subsequently - Впоследствии, I trained English teachers in Russia and subsequently became an English teacher at the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse.
• Analysis - Анализ, As a teacher I have to do a lot of classroom analysis.

Bring the notebook to class as evidence. I will not collect it on Monday. I will only collect the notebook twice, before spring break and before the last day of class. This vocabulary journal is for you to study from as we will have vocabulary quizzes about 4 times a month.

Science Vocabulary

Chemistry - v) composition, structure, and properties of matter
Physics - i) matter and its motion
Astronomy - y) celestial objects, such as stars and planets
Earth Science - r) the planet Earth
Environmental Science - g) interactions between parts of the environment
Biology - u) life
Biochemistry - j) chemical processes in living organisms
Mechanics - b) behavior of physical bodies when meeting forces
Thermodynamics - t) the transformation of energy into different forms
Electronics - f) the flow of charge through nonmetal conductors
Climatology - x) climate; weather conditions over a period of time
Geography - z) Earth and its land, inhabitants, and phenomena
Geology - k) solid and liquid matter that constitute the Earth
Meteorology - w) weather processes and forecasting
Oceanography - o) the ocean
Paleontology - q) prehistoric life, such as dinosaurs
Topography - e) Earth's surface features
Botany - p) plant life and development
Dermatology - s) skin
Ecology - d) distribution and abundance of life and its interactions
Evolution - c) process of change from one generation to the next
Genetics - h) heredity and variation in living organisms
Marine biology - l) living organisms in the ocean
Microbiology - m) microorganisms, such as fungi and bacteria
Neuroscience - n) the nervous system, such as the brain
Zoology - a) animals

Homework for Wednesday

1. Finish categorizing the themes of science-fiction on the handout.
2. Bring The Best of the Best book.

Homework for Monday

1. Finish and complete the sheet about previewing the textbooks.

2. Define and explain when we should use the important vocabulary found at the bottom of the science diagnostic page.
Example: Analysis is "an investigation of the component parts of a whole and their relations in making up the whole" (http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu). We use this word a lot in many university courses, especially in science and research.

3. Bring the "Best of the Best" textbook.

Grading

ESL 111-001 final grades will be determined on the basis of the following:

• 10% is for your participation and work done in Testing & Academic Skills lab every Monday.
• 20% is for completing your final project at the end of the semester
• 40% is for completing all reading assignments on the day they are due. Students will not get credit for completing an assignment one day later. Students will lose 10% of their assignment grade if the assignment is turned in late on that day.
• 20% is for completing reading and vocabulary quizzes.
• 10% is for active participation in class. To receive full credit for active participation, a student must do all of the following: 1) attend every class on time, 2) answer questions when called upon, 3) never speak his or her native language, 4) behave as a mature adult by showing respect to everyone in the class, and 5) demonstrate a willingness to learn
  

Course Description

ESL 111-001 is designed to assist ESL learners in the development of reading for academic purposes, emphasizing science fact and fiction. Student will develop their reading skills and strategies in and outside the classroom environment as well as improve their vocabulary. Students will be introduced to the concept of skepticism. They will be provided with the foundation of the scientific method. Students will also read various science-fiction short stories. Online science guides will supplement their understanding of certain concepts.

Primary Goals - By the end of the Spring 2009 semester, ESL 111-001 students should be able to perform all of the following tasks:

• read fiction and non-fiction at the level of an American high school student
• preview fiction and non-fiction texts
• identify the main idea of fiction and non-fiction texts
• identify general and specific statements
• guess vocabulary from the context of the reading materials
• identify contrasting statements
• identify causes and effects
• identify support for the main idea of the reading materials
• summarize fiction and non-fiction texts
• identify the setting, character, and conflict in fiction
• identify themes in science-fiction

Secondary Goals - By the end of the Spring 2009 semester, ESL 111-001 students should be able to perform most of the following tasks:

• practice and use their newly acquired reading vocabulary
• make inferences based on the reading
• infer conclusions from the reading
• make outlines of the readings

Tertiary Goals - By the end of the Spring 2009 semester, ESL 111-001 students might be able to perform some of the following tasks:

• demonstrate an appreciation for the sciences
• apply skepticism when encountering pseudoscientific claims or statements
• seek out science readings or science-fiction stories on their own