Uppgifter

Essay is the umbrella term for almost any text produced in an academic environment, i.e. by students in school, for example. Your teacher will provide you with detailed instructions, but here are some examples:

• You will be instructed to write a text either with or without your own subjective opinions. Typically, that is a distinction between an argumentative and a discursive text.
• Structure: intro - body - conclusion
• A common format is the "five-paragraph" essay: one for the intro, three for the body and one for the conclusion.
• Word count: usually around 500 words
• Essays written at home are not graded, but useful practice.
• Only essays written in class by all students at the same time can be graded.

• Write & Improve
• How to use Write & Improve (YouTube)

A surprisingly unknown and underrated skill - touch typing is something that can definitely help you work effeciently and therefore save you large amounts of time. Yes, granted, it is possible to type fast using only your index fingers, but hardly as quickly as if you know the proper technique by placing your fingers correctly on the keyboard. Below, you will find links to pages where you can learn, practise and compete against others.

• TypingClub
• typeracer
• typerush

For this task, instructions can be found on the page dedicated to sources.

Students will be divided into editorial teams of ca. 10 members. Based on the current topic in the course, teachers and students brainstorm and decide on a list of sub/cross topics to choose from.

Each editorial team has an editorial meeting, lead by an editor-in-chief, appointed by the teacher. During this meeting, it is decided who is going to write about what.

One or two team members will, however, not write an article. They will instead be layout editors - responsible for the design of the online mag., collecting and uploading the other members' texts and deciding and formatting layout, colours and typography. The teacher will help them how to use the appropriate tool(s). The layout editors will therefore be focusing mainly on other skills than writing, i.e. reading (instructions on how to use the tool) and spoken interaction (talking to their teacher for help and talking to the editorial team).

Suggested word count: a maximum of 400 words

Time allocated: TBA, depending on our syllabus and calendar

Tools:

• Journalists/reporters: any good enough text editor, e.g. Microsoft Word
• Layout editors: Glitch (HTML and CSS editor with hosting)

Interestingly enough, many learners of English seem to prefer having their skills assessed not by their teacher, but by fellow students, i.e. their peers.

Here is what Cornell University has to say about it:

"Peer assessment or peer review provides a structured learning process for students to critique and provide feedback to each other on their work. It helps students develop lifelong skills in assessing and providing feedback to others, and also equips them with skills to self-assess and improve their own work."

Instructions: Details will be provided by your teacher. Make sure to focus on both qualities of your peer's text that are already good and also on room for improvement. Be specific. Your teacher can help you with checklists etc.

Source:
Peer assessment
Cornell University - Center for Teaching Innovation
Retrieved: February 15, 2023

This is a text type that can be used for e.g. (1) learning about the culture and society of English speaking countries, and (2) producing short texts for learning vocabulary.

1. Write and check correctness using a text editor.
2. Write and turn in for feedback on only some selected skill.
3. Write together - in pairs/groups.
4. Write an exact number of words (good for practising the 'variation' grading criterion).