De Anza Press - Regarding the United States

Regarding the United States

Reading and Writing for Advanced ESL Students

Samples

High interest reading materials:

Reading 2: HOW MANY CONTINENTS ARE THERE?

Engaging questions for discussion and writing, based on the readings:

Questions for discussion and writing

1. What are the advantages to living in a society that has one basic culture? What are the disadvantages?
2. Have you changed your ideas of what American culture really is since you came here? Explain why you have or have not.
3. What have you adopted of American culture?
4. Can people who remain isolated from mainstream culture in a country have a very fulfilling life in that country? Explain.

Thought-provoking prereading questions:

Prereading questions

1. When you first saw Americans, did you find anything strange about them?
2. What do you think Europeans found strange about native Americans when they met hundreds of years ago? What do you imagine the native Americans found strange about the Europeans? Be specific.

Context clues are illustrated, with related practice throughout the text:

FOCUS ON WORDS

Context clues

In the first question following Reading 3, you were asked to figure out the meaning of the word nomadic without looking it up in a dictionary. In the text, in fact, it was clear that the term described people who did not stay in one place.

Students tend to either look up in a dictionary a word they do not know or skip over it altogether. The latter course of action is obviously unhelpful. The former one, if a dictionary is available, is helpful. However, a better strategy to begin with is to try to figure out the meaning of the word from the context. There are several clues to look for in the text itself.

A DEFINITION

Several of the writers were expatriates, people who had abandoned their homeland because of their dissatisfaction with the government.

ONE OR MORE EXAMPLES

Modifiers such as adjectives and adverbs add meaning to other words in a sentence.

A RESTATEMENT OF A TERM

Extensive presentation of academic writing, with examples:

Sample paragraphs

Consider carefully each of the following college paragraphs. Answer the questions that follow.

1. Americans whose ancestors came to this country before the nineteenth century often have a number of major difficulties tracing their origins. First, the appropriate vital records, not kept consistently in the past as they are now, may have never been created. Even in the United States, for example, births were not officially recorded until well into the nineteenth century. People whose ancestors came from Europe or elsewhere may be able to get information abroad, but first they have to trace their family far enough back to find out where there may be information in other countries. And those who descend in part from native Americans often find that there are no records whatsoever of those lines. Another problem is that some of the information people researching their ancestors need may have gotten lost. Fires and various natural disasters both here and abroad have destroyed many important documents such as the birth, death, and marriage certificates or the wills that would have been such helpful sources of names and relationships of people. A final problem is that some names that seem to indicate a particular origin may be misleading. One reason for such discrepancies is that many names of people arriving from abroad were changed to names familiar to English-speaking authorities. Someone named Baker, for example, may descend not from an English family named Baker but rather from a Middle Eastern one by the name of Bakar. Names can be misleading also because the people had frequently moved to a new homeland and had changed their names before coming to this country. For example, people with German-sounding names from Switzerland may actually descend from families that were originally from Italy, France, or some other country. Americans trying to trace their roots may thus be facing an enormous challenge.

1-9. Answer each of the following questions on the preceding sample paragraph.

1. What is the topic of the paragraph?
2. What is the controlling idea?
3. What does the writer need to bring up in order to develop the idea that they have a number of difficulties?
4. What result is indicated in the concluding statement?
5. What are the summarizing words in the concluding statement?

Helpful explanations of language structure:

FOCUS ON STRUCTURE

Verb tenses

English verbs express present, past, and future ideas.

Students in most history classes write research papers.
The students in History 101 wrote papers on migration from Asia.
The students in Psychology 250 will write papers on interpersonal relations.

The focal point in time of English verbs is either during or before the present, past, or future.

Dan works on his computer nearly every day. [during the present time]
Dan has worked on computers since he was thirteen. [before the present time]
Sally will be playing the piano later this evening. [during the future]
Sally will have been playing the piano for over an hour by the time she goes out this evening. [before the future time goes out]

Verbs in English also express action in progress or not in progress.

Mary is speaking Spanish to another student. [in progress]
Mary sometimes speaks Spanish with her friends. [not in progress]
Judy has been writing letters since noon. [in progress]
Judy has written three letters so far. [not in progress]

3-8. Add the correct form of the verb in parentheses to complete the following sentences.

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