2019-07-01 Writing: interviews

Greg Malivuk
gmalivuk@staffordhouse.com
http://www.pastebin.com/u/gmalivuk - Notes from all classes
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p. 3 - Which of these topics are OK to ask a new classmate about? Decide with a partner. Then add (at least) two more OK topics.
1 yes
2 yes (in a class this is probably fine)
3 yes
4 maybe (probably fine in class)
5 no (usually)
6 no (suburb or neighborhood or train line are all okay)
7 yes
8 yes
9 yes
10 yes
11 no
12 yes
13 yes
14 yes
- pets
- food and drinks
- fashion/style
- music and other entertainment
- hopes and dreams
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How can you politely indicate that a topic is not okay for you?
- It’s hard for me to talk about that.
- I’d prefer not to talk about that.
- I’d prefer not to say.
- Are you sure you want to know?
How can you politely ask about a possibly not-okay topic?
- May I ask you how old you are?
- If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?
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Ask your partner questions about the OK topics and take notes on their answers.
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How long have you been in the US?
How long will you stay here?
When will you go back to your country?
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(Academic) Writing Organization in English
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Almost all English academic writing has the same three basic parts:
Introduction: What are you going to write about?
Body: What are you saying about it?
Conclusion: What did you write about?
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In a single paragraph, the introduction is just one topic sentence and the conclusion is one concluding sentence. The body is made up of supporting sentences.
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The topic sentence includes the topic and the controlling idea.
“Boston is the greatest city in the world to study.”
	topic = Boston
	controlling idea = ...is the greatest city in the world to study
The controlling idea “controls” what information you’ll give in the rest of the paragraph.