AH1 Course Outline

Dimensions of Identity: Understanding Ourselves
Through Reading and Writing (AH1/Comm1)
1st Semester, SY 2008-2009


Anne-Marie Jennifer E. Eligio
University of the Philippines-Mindanao


Course Objectives: Within one semester, the student is expected to develop advanced reading, writing, and listening skills. At the same time, this course will help the student develop a deeper awareness of him/herself and others, learn how to perceive and structure the reality both within and outside him, and clarify the values that characterize his/her full worth as a person.

Reading: The materials that make up the readings and exercises for this course are taken from a multi-disciplinary set of essays chosen by your teacher; you can, however, suggest readings that you feel are helpful to the study.



Course Schedule


Communication and the Writing Process (Week 1)

Ø Understanding approaches to communication, specifically writing processes
Ø Forming working groups and finding writing partners

Working groups are formed this early in order to have enough preparation time in finding authentic materials to be used for reporting. The last phase of the semester includes the lesson, “Exploring methods of organization” (see below). Each group shall choose essays as examples to explain/discuss your assigned method. Authentic materials can come from magazines, newspapers, digests, etc.


Exploring Personal Ideas and Experiences (Weeks 2-3)

Ø General ideas through brainstorming and freewriting
Ø Narrating past experiences (Grammar focus: verb tense and S-V agreement)


Observing Our Diverse Communities (Weeks 4-5)

Ø Describing and making analogies [commencement speech on culture]

Reading Materials:
· Albert DiBartolomeo, “An Unlikely Friendship”
· Paulo Coelho, Prologue to The Alchemist
· From Chapter Two, The Little Prince

Ø Finding and expressing explicit and implicit information

Reading Materials:
· Paulo Coelho, from The Alchemist
· Bea Escarcha, “I Ran Away From Home!”
· Alan Cliburn, “The New Neighbors”
· Jeff Shaffer, “The Neighborhood Barber”

Ø Generating criteria for evaluating essays (Grammar focus: pronoun preference; rhetorical focus: denotation and connotation)

Reading Materials:
· R.B., “HST, Keck Find a Galaxy from the ‘Dark Ages’”
· “Engage Your Emotions”
· Nina Somera, “Disturbing the Descendants of the Dragon: One Child Policy and Women in China”
· Francis Lyn Malalis, “Philippines: At Risk!”
· Benralph Yu, “I Can”
· Karen Israel, “Looking Beyond the Obscure Math”
· Maxine Alexandra V. Villas, “Most often, the top card is love.”
· Sergei Reyes, “Lust”

Focusing on Our Immediate Environment (Weeks 6-9)

Ø Collaborative writing, revising, and editing

Reading Materials:
· Cynthia Phillips and Shana Priwer, “101 Things You Didn’t Know About Einstein”
· “Reasons to Do It Tonight vs. Wait Until Prom Night”
· “Get in the Habit: They Make You or Break You”

Ø Redefining purpose and audience

Reading Materials:
· Martin Plimmer, “Where’s My Umbrella Girl?”
· “The Inner Man – The Real You”
· Rick Warren, “The Reason for Everything”, “Becoming Best Friends With God”
· “Guidance and the Gift of Prophecy”
· “Why Does God Allow Suffering”
· Rina Jimenez David, “Abortion Stories”

Ø Identifying and formulating thesis statements and their support (Rhetorical focus: sentence sense—subordination and coordination, misplaced modifiers, sentence length, and transitions between sentences)

Reading Materials:
· Mohan Sivanand, “Why I Write Wrong”
· James Thurber, “The Princess and the Tin Box”
· Archibald Rutledge, “Evidence of the Unseen”

Comparing and Evaluating Views and Ways (Weeks 10-12)

Ø Comparing and contrasting

Reading Materials:
· Eva S.E. Aranas, “Agreement, Disagreement”
· “The Personal Bank Account”

Ø Using effective introductions and conclusions

Reading Materials:
· Jeans G. Cequina, “Wrath for Math”
· Rogelio R. Gomez, “Foul Shots”

Ø Formulating the précis (Rhetorical focus: paragraph development and coherence)


Reading Materials:
· “The 8th Little Thing: During Elections, Do Your Solemn Duty”
· SV Epistola: The Toughie With a Heart
· James Oberg, “Sending a MESSENGER to Mercury”
· “How Boats Work”
· J.K. Rowling, Chapter from Harry Potter
· Alexandre Dumas, Chapters from The Count of Monte Cristo
· C.S. Lewis, Chapters from The Last Battle
· Victoria Holt, from The Black Opal

Discovering Approaches and Choices in Social Issues (Weeks 13-16)

Ø Exploring different methods of organization: definition/description/illustration/classification/narration/cause & effect/process

Reading Materials:
· Catherince Houck, “Simplify Your Life”
· Anthony Abbot, “Britain’s Most Baffling Crime”
· From Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
· The Drive [Table Tennis]
· Former AH1 student, “A Simple Way to Find the Time of Death”
· “Answers from the Dead”
· Mandy Preston, “Lou’s Place”
· George Orwell, “A Hanging”
· Paulo Coelho, from Veronika Decides to Die
· Allan Sherman, “A Gift of Laughter”
· Max Shulman, “Love is a Fallacy”
· Jose Y. Dalisay Jr., “Losing My Religion”
· Frank McCourt, from Angela’s Ashes

Ø Analyzing outlines
Ø Revising final drafts
Ø Finalizing and completing class writing projects (Rhetorical focus: improving cohesion and coherence of work)

(Presentation venue: Audio-visual room)


Grading System:

Quizzes/Assignments/Class Participation – 20%
Midterm Examination – 20%
Final Examination – 25%
Essays – 25%
Group Report/Presentation – 10%



Prohibitions in this class:

Verbal attacks on the character of another; distractions from any electrical device (i.e. cellular phones), submission of work done by another; missing classes to play Dota or Warcraft; late assignments; unscheduled visits to my house (presumably to submit late assignments); falsified medical excuses; arriving late.


Thank you.



Jeni 0 :)

How Odd

Thumbs that wrestle,
Feet that fight,
Hands that fit,
How odd how all of this feels right.

Barely a month in,
Since our friendship began,
Already we’ve grown so tight,
How odd how we’ve gotten as close as we possibly can.

Private jokes,
Walking, talking and laughing for hours on end,
A world of our very own,
How odd how no one believes us when we say we’re just friends.

“Where have you been all my life?”
A loner with another loner isn’t alone anymore.
We finally meet someone as weird as we are.
How odd how we’ve never met anyone like each other before.

A soothing voice against ones ear,
A sweet and comforting charm,
A free shoulder we are always welcomed to lean on,
How odd how we protect each other from any harm.

We see each other almost every day.
We talk to each other as much as we could.
We touch each other more than we really should.
How odd how this doesn’t feel as odd as it should.

Righ now

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