Thank you all for a great semester!

Final grades have been submitted, which means the course is officially finished! Thank you all so much for your hard work this semester. I really enjoyed having each of you in my class and seeing your writing improve over the semester. I hope to see you in another class in the future. I will be emailing you with the grading rubrics for the blogs. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Have a great winter vacation!

Final Reflections

For your very last blog post of the semester, please share some of your thoughts about the course. You may write freely, but the following questions may be a helpful way to guide your writing. You do not need to answer each of these questions.

1. Do you feel like your writing has improved this semester? Why or why not? In what ways has it improved? In what ways do you want to continue improving your writing?
2. Do you feel like your reading comprehension skills have improved this semester? Why or why not? In what ways have they improved? In what ways do you want to continue improving your reading skills?
3. In what other areas do you think you have improved during the semester (grammar, speaking, vocabulary, confidence, etc.)? In what areas do you still need to continue improving? What will you do in order to improve in those areas?
4. Was this the first time you kept a blog? Did you enjoy blogging? Was blogging a helpful way to practice writing? Did you enjoy reading your classmates' blogs? Do you think you will continue blogging in the future?
5. What did you learn this semester? What do you want to learn in future semesters?
6. What were some of the best and/or worst aspects of this course? Would you recommend this course to others? Why or why not?
7. Please share any other thoughts about the semester.

Please post final reflections by 12/12. All previous blog posts must also be finalized by 12/12.

Final Exam Review

The final exam will be on 12/9. It will be structured similarly to the midterm and will cover Units 8-10. There will be four main sections: 1) vocabulary, 2) reading comprehension, 3) reading skills, and 4) language for writing. Please review the following pages:

Vocabulary:
Unit 8, Lesson A - p. 166
Unit 8, Lesson B - p. 174
Unit 9, Lesson A - p. 190
Unit 9, Lesson B - p. 198
Unit 10, Lesson A - p. 214
Unit 10, Lesson B - p. 222

Reading Comprehension:
Unit 8, Lesson A - "The Healer of Cordoba" pp. 167-169
Unit 8, Lesson B - "Pioneers of Medicine" pp. 175-178
Unit 9, Lesson A - "The Future of English" pp. 191-193
Unit 9, Lesson B - "Vanishing Voices" pp. 199-202
Unit 10, Lesson A - "The Fear Reaction" pp. 215-217
Unit 10, Lesson B - "Breath of Life" pp. 223-225

Reading Skills:
Unit 8 - Finding subjects in complex sentences - p. 172
Unit 9 - Understanding degrees of certainty - p. 196
Unit 10 - Identifying adverbial phrases - p. 220

Language for Writing:
Unit 8 - Referring to sources using quotes and paraphrases (p. 182 and p. 186)
Unit 9 - Using words and expressions for presenting counterarguments (p. 206 and p. 210)
Unit 10 - Using past form for narration (p. 228 and p. 234)