Amalgamation

This intermediate writing course is designed for ESOL students as their first step toward academic writing in U.S. colleges. Each two-week unit integrates vocabulary, grammar, and composition in a "just in time" fashion so that students receive instruction on the key tools they need in order to accomplish new writing goals. The lessons cover a basic essay, narrative essay, process essay, and compare/contrast essay. There is also a final one-week unit devoted to editing and proofreading skills. This edition is an update and expansion of work by Delpha Thomas.

PCC Instructors: I also have supplementary D2L instructional exercises to share (videos + comprehension questions) based on videos mostly from SmrtEnglish about composition and grammar. If you are interested, please contact me.

Unit 1: Moving from paragraphs to essays

• The Writing Process

• What Is a Paragraph?

• Formatting Paragraphs

• Paragraph Practice

• Grammar: Parts of Speech

• Grammar: Sentence Types

• What Is an Essay?

• Writing Assignment: Essay 1

Unit 2:  Telling a compelling story

• Pre-Writing

• Paragraph Preparation

• What Is Narrative Writing?

• Paragraph Practice

• Grammar: Sequence of Events

• Grammar: Adjectives and Adverbs

• Organizing a Narrative Essay

• Writing Assignment: Essay 2

Unit 3: It's a process

• Pre-Writing

• Choosing a Topic

• Paragraph Preparation

• What is Process Writing?

• Paragraph Practice

• Vocabulary, Grammar, and Mechanics

• Organizing a Process Essay

• Writing Assignment: Essay 3

Unit 4: Exactly the same or totally different?

• Pre-Writing

• What Is Comparison and Contrast Writing?

• Paragraph Practice

• Vocabulary, Grammar, and Mechanics

• Writing Assignment: Essay 4

Unit 5: Good writing is rewriting

• Focus on editing

• Focus on proofreading

PCC INSTRUCTORS: If you wish to make this available for students to purchase from the PCC bookstore, you can use this fake ISBN: 9780000245496.