Can't think of anything to write?

The purpose of the blog is to write about your summer in Morgantown so that, one day, you will be able to look back at your online blog and read what you did. Maybe you can even show the blog to your children or grandchildren.

There are so many things you can write about.

Culture Shock
- Were you scared or nervous when you first arrived at WVU? Or maybe you're a returning student. What are some things that you're still not used to? How does it differ from your home country?
- Maybe there are some weird customs or mannerisms that Americans do you don't understand. Talk about it. What is it? Why is it weird? How would you change it?


What did you learn in class today?
- A very strange grammar rule? How does it differ from your native language?
- Maybe you learned a new word. Talk about it. Where did you hear it? Had you heard it before? When did you learn the meaning? Do you think its a useful word, or rarely used? Will you use it a lot from now on?
- Talk about the book you're reading. Do you like it, or do you hate it? Is reading challenging for you, or do you love it?
- Are you in creative writing? Talk about a prompt you worked on.
- Are in movies? Or pronunciation? There are so many things to write about!

Daily Activities
- Maybe you went to a WVU-hosted activity. If you want to see the many activities available, go here: calendar.wvu.edu/
- Food: did you go out to eat recently? Try any new foods? Maybe you cooked some food for your host family. Or maybe you're on a diet. Maybe the American food is making you fat! Talk about it!
- Music: what American bands do you like? Maybe you want to see them in concert here.
- Travel: Maybe you went to Pittsburgh one weekend. Talk what you did! What you saw, what you ate, what you did.

Your life changes every day. Many things happen to you that might seem normal and boring, and not worth writing about. But there are a lot of subjects you can expand upon and make larger.

If you're still having trouble, I will try to post some writing prompts on this website with questions you can respond to. Check back weekly for some topics!

Scoring

I will grade the assignment every Monday for the previous week. Make sure you have your two blogs written by Sunday every week. Do not wait until the last minute to do these.

Points	Completion	Size	Quality	Impression
5	2 submissions	At least 150 words	- Mostly grammatically correct - Good punctuation and spelling	- Thoughtful posts - Original - Student is involved and committed to the assignment
3	1 submission	50-149 words	- Somewhat lacking in the areas above	- Clearly not very committed to the assignment
1		1-49 words	- Incomprehensible	- Poor submission - Unoriginal (same topic as a previous post)

Total points: 20 points each week

My Summer in Morgantown

You are expected to create and maintain an online blog for the summer. This project will count as 20% of your final grade. It’s important to be able to write both with a pen and paper, and also—especially in this era—to communicate effectively through technology. Therefore, through this outside class assignment, you will practice typing your thoughts for the public.

·        You will create an online blog on google’s “Blogger” – blogger.com.

o   You will need a @gmail account in order to sign up for the blog, but you will not be using that e-mail address. You can only use your @mix address for all school-related activities.

§  You can use your current @gmail address if you have one, or you can make a new one

§  A “How-To” manual will be passed out separately. Ask a friend for help if you need to.

§  Blogger and Google themselves are allowed to be in your native language, but your posts must be in English

o   This blog is entirely (100%) for the purpose of this assignment. Do not use it to communicate with friends, relatives, or strangers outside of class.

o   This assignment is only utilizing Blogger and nothing else.

·        You will personalize the blog to be as you like it

o   Anything inappropriate will result in a failing grade

·        You will post something twice a week

o   Each submission must be 150-300 words in paragraph format (not separate sentences).

o   The topic of the blog is My Summer in Morgantown—all blog posts must relate to your learning of English or your experiences in Morgantown.

§  You must ask permission if you want to write about anything else

§  Anything inappropriate will result in a failing grade

§  Do not use an online translator. I am a native speaker and can easily tell when something has been translated.

o   Feel free to include pictures or YouTube videos in your posts to support your writing

o   Commenting on your classmates’ blogs and being heavily committed to the assignment will most likely boost your grade

o   Have fun with it!

First Post!

I am writing the How-To worksheets for my class. Hope it's a success!