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Genres that Work in the Writing ClassroomMonica Farling & Nigel Caplan, University of Delaware English Language InstituteTESOL 2015, TorontoTeaching/Learning Cycle (Rothery, 1996)“Guidance through interaction in the context of shared experience.” (Martin, 2009)Restaurant Review (Joint Construction)The Oldest Coffee Shop in NewarkWhere do you usually go when you are tired, thirsty, and have some free time between classes? Brewed Awakenings can offer you an experience unlike any other coffee shop. It is located on the heart of Main Street next to the National 5 & 10. While the building does not have a large sign compared to the store next to it, it has its own unique appearance. The shop shares an old cream-colored house with the dry cleaning business upstairs, and its dark blue window and door frames distinguish it from other stores on Main Street. From the moment you open the door, the warm atmosphere welcomes you in, inviting you to sit down and enjoy a snack or pastry and the flavors of coffees from all over the world.Opening the door feels like stepping into another world. Crowded, busy Main Street is replaced by a quiet refuge that seems like it is from a hundred years ago. The small room is filled with wood, from the floors below, to the paneled ceiling above, from the bookshelf that fills the whole right wall to the long counter across the back. Two ceiling fans turn lazily and dim lamps cast a soft light over the room. Vintage photographs on the walls tell the history of Main Street, which reminds you how much Newark has changed. Upbeat pop music seems out of place in such a slow, relaxed environment, even though it is so soft it is almost covered by the sounds of the air conditioner, coffee maker, and customers’ conversation. Making you feel even more at home are the welcoming servers, who patiently answer your questions about the shop and its food and drinks in detail. Small well-worn tables and chairs encourage customers to stay for a while, chatting, studying, surfing the internet, reading the newspaper or an antique book from the bookcase, or playing cards with a deck from the bottom shelf.The fresh homemade food at Brewed Awakenings is unlike anything else you will find on Main Street. The shop offers light lunches including a variety of sandwiches, salads, and soups, such as the thick chili, which is dark red and filled with spicy beef, beans, tomatoes, and peppers. In addition, their selection includes desserts like cookies and muffins. The chocolate chip cookies are soft, moist, buttery, and loaded with sweet chunks of chocolate. They go perfectly with a cup of hot coffee.It wouldn’t be a coffee shop if they didn’t serve coffee. Brewed Awakenings has many kinds of coffee whose aroma fills the entire building. For example, like most other coffee shops, they serve black coffee, lattes, and espresso. While the lattes were similar to the ones in any other coffee shop, the black coffee and espresso had a rich, strong flavor without being too bitter. In addition to traditional coffee, they also offer a variety of other drink choices, such as iced coffee, hot chocolate, and orange juice. The iced caramel machiatto was balanced between the full-flavored, slightly bitter coffee and the sweet foamy milk and caramel. The hot chocolate was sweet without being too sweet, and the orange juice tasted fresh.When you step into the world of Brewed Awakenings, you can see how different it is from other shops. Enjoy a homecooked meal or snack, sip a flavorful cup of coffee, and relax between classes. Brewed Awakenings is a great place to take a coffee break. You will not regret coming here.Restaurant Review (Student Sample)A WONDERFUL PLACE FOR COOKIES! ★★★★☆What is the best place to get some dessert after lunch? What is the best place to call when you are done with your paper at 2 A.M. and get hungry? The answer is Insomnia Cookies, which is located at 70 E. Main St. next to the National 5 & 10 in Newark, DE. It is a really small store that could not fit more than six people. Insomnia Cookies has a black awning with its name on it and a glass door and window that have its logo on them. When you just walk by Insomnia Cookies, you can smell the strong cookie smell, which will definitely make your mouth water. You will say, “You know what? I’m going to get a cookie!” even if you don’t think you like cookies.When you enter Insomnia Cookies, you can see that everything is brand new there because they just opened only one month ago. It is bright inside. The first thing that you hear is the bell on the door ringing. On the wooden floor, there is a carpet with the store’s logo just in the front of the counter. Once the bell rings, the staff will come out from behind a cool half wall which has the bottom half painted white and the top half a chocolate color. The staff will help you to order whatever you want. Right next to the counter, there is a glass cabinet which has different kinds of cookies with names painted on little signs, so you can choose which type you think you will like the best. A menu on two black boards with white and yellow lettering is on the left side of the counter. You might choose a “triple chocolate cookie” or maybe an amazing cookie named “cookiewich,” which is made of ice cream between two pieces of cookie. The cookies taste better if you order them with a bottle of water or milk, which are the only drinks the shop has. When the cute guy behind the counter, who always has big warm smile on his face, gets your order, he serves your cookies from a cookie sheet which was just taken from the oven.When you get your cookies, you can just leave, which most people do, or you can go sit at the small wooden table that is by the large front window, through which you can see people driving or walking on Main Street. Now take a look at your fresh, warm cookie. The perfectly baked cookie dough looks just the ideal golden color, and it has so many chocolate drops. The rich aroma of chocolate makes you unable to wait to taste it. Then just take one bite of the soft warm cookie dough and feel the chocolate melt in your mouth; it’s just like a smooth piece of first-quality silk. The cookie is sweet but not too sweet, so you even if you don’t like sweet things a lot, you will like this cookie. It’s so huge that if you are skinny, you will not be able to finish it!When you want to have a cookie from Insomnia Cookies, it’s better to go before 6:30 P.M. because it gets crowded after that time. However, if you don’t want to leave your house, you can call them to deliver wherever you are. The most awesome thing at this store is that they can deliver cookies at 3 A.M! That means if you get hungry at 2 A.M. after you work and you don’t want to cook, you can just give them a call. Then the fresh warm soft cookie will arrive right at your house faster than you can even imagine. Who else can do this except Insomnia Cookies?! What should you do if you want to get a fresh warm cookie after your meal? Go to Insomnia Cookies. What if you get hungry when it is midnight? Give a call to Insomnia Cookies. It is a really wonderful place for a warm soft cookie!Letter of Complaint to a Landlord (Joint Construction)Dear Mr. Smith,I have lived in Studio Green, building W, apt. 5 for ten years. I have always been a good tenant. I pay my rent on time and don’t bother other people. However, there are some problems that I need solutions for. A pipe under the bathroom sink leaks, my neighbors’ smoke comes in my baby’s window, and trees have grown so big that they block the light.The first problem is the bathroom. The pipe under the sink drips quite a lot of water every time I wash my hands. The water spreads out all over the floor, which stays wet all the time. It drips down into the apartment below me, and it is loosening the tile on the floor in my bathroom. A wet floor is also very dangerous, because I might slip and fall. It is also unhealthy because it will grow mold, which brings a lot of bacteria into my home. It smells damp and foul, like a sewer. When I sleep, I dream of water like blood in a horror movie, which drips from the wall onto the floor. I have these nightmares all night. When I don’t sleep well, I’m tired at work and make mistakes.Another problem in my apartment is also affecting me at work. My baby screams all night, and I can’t sleep. She cannot breathe because the smoke from my neighbors’ cigars comes through her window and fills her lungs. I am furious about my neighbors’ behavior. Every Friday night, they sit out on their balcony and smoke one cigar after another, all night long. I’m also worried about my baby’s health. Smoke is a dangerous poison when she breathes it constantly. It could cause cancer, or lung diseases, or even brain damage. I’ve tried keeping the window closed, but there are gaps around the frame, the smoke comes in through these holes. In addition, if the window is always closed, we can never get fresh air. Although my neighbors only smoke on Friday night, the smell stays in my baby’s room all week. The damp bathroom and smoky bedroom make my apartment very uncomfortable, and it is even worse because it is so dark. When I moved in ten years ago, the trees outside were very small, and my apartment was bright and sunny. It made me happy. Since then, however, they have grown huge, and they block the light. Now my apartment is depressing and gloomy. It feels like nighttime animals might crawl through the window any moment. It’s terribly creepy.Please send a plumber to replace the leaking pipe. Could you also talk to the neighbors and ask them to not smoke on the balcony. Finally, please hire a landscaper to trim the trees. I have enjoyed living in Studio Green, but I will have to move away if these problems are not fixed.Sincerely,Letter of Complaint to a Landlord (Student Sample)Dear Mr. Jones,I am a new student in the English Language Institute. Now I live in Rittenhouse Station. It is hard to adapt to campus life and people like me will run into massive trivial problems, such as how to use the oven to cook food. Thus, I really appreciate that we have washing machines and dishwashers in Rittenhouse Station so we can take advantage of using those convenient means to save our precious time. We even have a smoke detector in each room to protect students. However, I still have troubles with the smoke detector, washing machines and dishwashers.First of all, there is the short-term problem of my smoke detector. Last Sunday, my roommate cooked yummy bacon for her breakfast during the leisure morning time. The smoke came to my room through the fan. Then my some detector started beeping immediately. The smoke detector burst out screamming like mom’s yelling. And this voice continuously drumming in my ears and burnt my choked mind. I just run out of my apartment so quickly, even I just wore my pajamas, not only because the fire alarm, but also because the horrible sound made by smoke detector. The sound was continuing until the manager, who in charge of Rittenhouse Station, took off its battery. Thus, please send me someone who can help me to fix it.In addition, the washing machines in the laundry room which is near my room need replace. There is one washer and one dryer in the laundry room. The dryer gets very hot and melts my clothes. The heat would burns your head and curl your hair, if you open the dryer after dryer had dried your clothes. Then you will find out the dryer ‘baked’ your clothes smell like roasted bacon with melted cheese. Furthermore, we have a problem washer, which shared by 4 people. We hold wash ‘party’ with washer on the weekend; it means we keep washer busy, sometimes we use the washer whole day to wash our clothes. It makes the machine grow ‘old’ faster. Now, when we start to wash our clothes, the washer keeps screaming like an elderly woman’s shriek. Sometimes it ‘cackles’ like an old witch. This strange sound pass directly through the wall and then my ear begin suffering, because the laundry room is next to my room. Ultimately, if you were here, you would see the washer shaking like obesity person’s dancing with some strange rhythm to celebrate the big meal. The small movement can makes big impact. The dust fragment comes from the wall will fall down like snow. I called it ’laundry- quake’. In conclusion, I think the washer and dryer are too ‘old’ to use. You need to update that equipment as soon as possible.Last but not least, I want complain about the dishwasher in my apartment. Before I moved into Rittenhouse Station, there is another girl who lived in this apartment. She had put the dishes on the top rack without cleaning the food remains, because she didn’t know the correct way to use dishwasher. Those food remains still left on the top rack. They are solidifying and getting stinky. They even smell like putrid fruit mass with bread. Thus, the dishes on the top rack never get clean. The worst thing is some of the food left will stick in the dishes, which you put on the top rack, making you never want to use them again. I already pay the money for it. The manager of Rittenhouse Station who is in charge of our apartment appliance quality should clean that before other student move-in to make sure I can enjoy the equipment like other students. I am happy to live in Rittenhouse Station and try to getting used to living an apartment with my roommates. Everything is happened well in our apartment. Nevertheless, the abnormal smoke detector, elderly washing machines and dirty dishwashers would kill our beautiful life, if people do not solve those problems. I really want you to resolve it as soon as possible, so I will wait for your response.Sincerely,[student name]Email: “Write an email to the Textbook Committee recommending the use of printed textbooks or ebooks at the English Language Institute.” (student sample)To: XXXXRe: Our opinion about the best textbooks for ELI studentsDear Ms. XXXX,We are ELI students from level four Reading/Writing class. We are writing this letter in order to explain what should be the best textbook for students. These days, the world goes toward the technology especially in the education. So many schools offer more different kinds of technology in classes like digital books, or e-books that make students feel that the electronic book looks like an excellent choice. However, for many students the traditional book is still the best. There are three essential factors that make paper books better than e-books for ELI students: the health effects, the price, and the usefulness.The students certainly try to get the effective tools for studying without any health effects. Technology is necessary but it is a bad idea for students to be overly dependent on technology. If students read an e-book, they have to use a electronic device, and most of these devices have a bright screen. For this reason, many students complain of eye strain and headache while they are using e-book for a long time. On the other hand, paper books do not make the students’ eyes get tired easily. The paper is not luminous like a tablet screen, and reading by using paper books is very healthy and safe.People usually think about money first before they buy anything. For this reason, students find out what the cheapest way to buy books is. The average price of paper books is 35 dollars and of e-books is 25 dollars. It looks like the e-books are cheaper. However, when students look at the total price of e-books, they will discover that they will have to pay for a device like a tablet, internet service, and electricity to keep the device working. This means that the total cost of e-books will be higher than paper books. Also, students can’t resell e-books but can sell their books, so they can save some money.?Without any shadow of doubt, students have many assignments to do, and they have to memorize and understand the information in order to finish their assignments in an effective way. Paper books are a more useful way to do these than e-books. According to a study that has been done by scientists at the University of Leicester in England, there are two reasons that make paper books better than e-books. First, more repetition is required with e-book reading. This means students need to read more times to remember the material. The second factor is that with paper books, readers seem to digest the material more fully. In other words, students who use paper books for reading can memorize and understand the information easily. Moreover, students can write some notes or highlight some ideas in paper books which will help their brains to recall the information when they need it. For this reason, many students consider that using paper books is better than e-books for reading.?In conclusion, e-books hurt students’ eyes more than papers books, the total cost is more expensive, and not effective for memorization. For these three pretexts, we propose that the textbook committee maintains the paper book as first choice in the ELI curriculum for students.Thank you for your attention to our ideas.Sincerely,[student names]Email: “Write an email to your teaching recommending the use of Google docs or handwriting for future class assignments” (student sample)To: Monica FarlingRE: Google Docs or hand writing?Dear Monica,Hello. I’m [student name] in your class. I am writing to let you know my opinion on which type of method – Google Docs or hand writing – would be better for students to do assignments. After testing both type of using them and for assignments and classwork, I came to the conclusion that writing in Google Docs is better than doing a writing assignment with paper and pen. There are three reasons why I think so: auto save, collaboration, and time efficiency. First of all, Work is rarely lost. The whole “I lost my paper.” or “I spilt the coffee all over the paper” problem is virtually eliminated. Google Docs has an auto-save function. Everything in Google docs is saved live as the students work. Although people don’t name a document, they can still find it by looking at the date that the documents were last modified, or even by searching for some words in the body of the document. While some people concern that Google Docs is uselessness without Internet, they can create, edit and share docs from their iPhone, iPad or Android devices even when they’re offline. Secondly, students can collaborate with peers on my documents.? Collaboration is often considered a pivotal 21st century skill. While students cannot easily do a team assignment with hand in a remote area, Google Docs lets them all work together on single documents at the same time. They can each also access the shared folder of files. Feedback and changes save instantly. Furthermore, for teachers who teach writing, they can easily place comments in the comments box and in the margins with Google Docs. Both of these forms of comments are immediately emailed to collaborators. This way, the feedback is truly instant. Moreover, students can reply to my comments and if so, a teacher gets an email notification. This makes the process of editing more of a discussion rather than doing a writing assignment with paper and pen.Finally, the time efficiency is most beneficial aspect.?writing by computer spends less time than by hand. In history,?people had wanted products and vehicles faster than others and they invented them. Car is much faster than horses and trains travel at high speed than cars. Furthermore, inventors created a typewriter and a computer that people can work on documents quickly. That’s why Google Docs is a proper method to do writing assignments. Google Docs, moreover, has the AutoComplete capability which is edit wrong words into correct words. While students make a spelling mistake when doing a writing assignment with paper and pen, they don’t do it with Google Docs and that exact word makes sentences clear.?To sum up, I prefer doing Google Docs over hand writing, because there is no concern about going to lose. It’s also easy to collaborate with others and has also time efficiency. I respectfully request a change from hand writing assignments to with Google Docs. Thank you for your attention to this matter.?Sincerely,?[student name]Culture Guide:American Culture Final ProjectYou have just finished university and have accepted a new job working for the ELI’s Orientation Coordinator. He has asked you to create a cultural guide for students from your country who come to study in the United States. You may create a: to help students understand the new cultural environment they will be living and studying in. Have an idea that isn’t on this list? Ask your teacher – it might be possible!Be Creative!Some guidelines:Write in paragraph form – don’t use single sentences or bulleted listsUse YOUR OWN ideas. Don’t copy sentences from the book or get information from the internet. Use what you’ve learned all session.Think about the ideas that stood out to you in class. If it surprised you, it might surprise others from your country. Look back at your observation journal for inspiration.Use compare/contrast language: “While in China we often ____________, many Americans ___________, so international students should ______________.”Try to use the grammar (noun clauses, adjective clauses, and adverb clauses) you’ve learned this session.Include vocabulary words you’ve learned this session.References and Further ReadingCaplan, N. A. (2014). Beyond the “essay”: From generic writing to writing genres. Oxford University Press. Available from the author (nacaplan@udel.edu) or from Oliveira, L. C., & Iddings, J. (2014). Genre pedagogy across the curriculum: Theory and application in U.S. classrooms and contexts. Bristol, CT: Equinox.Hyland, K. (2004). Genre and second language writing. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.Martin, J. R. (2009). Genre and language learning: A social semiotic perspective. Linguistics and Education, 20(1), 10–21. , D., & Martin, J. R. (2012). Learning to write, reading to learn: Genre, knowledge and pedagogy in the Sydney School. London: Equinox. Rothery, J. (1996). Making changes: Developing an educational linguistics. In R. Hasan & G. Williams (Eds.), Literacy in society (pp. 86–123). Harlow, England: Longman.(various authors) Inside Writing. New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. ................
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