Topic Sentences

Topic sentences can be difficult to create when you're writing in a foreign language. Fortunately, there's a simple way to tell if you've written a good one. A topic sentence should have only one topic and say only one thing about that topic. So, to check your topic sentence, ask yourself two questions: What is the topic of this sentence? What does the sentence say about the topic? If you can clearly say what the topic is and what the "one thing" it says about the topic, then you probably have a good topic sentence. That simple, two-step check can make writing good topic sentences easier.

Here's something that might help you remember that your topic sentence needs one topic and one idea about that topic. Just think, "ớt ơi."

One topic, one idea.

Blogs & Wikis for Class?

In December I will be teaching an intensive 3-week writing course and I've been searching for a way that students can post their homework to a blog or wiki, revise it as the course proceeds, and view and comment on their classmates' work.

wikispaces.com may be a solution but I'm a bit concerned that it involves too much tech and tech English. It won't be that helpful if we have to spend a week on  how to navigate a site just to be able to turn in  homework. Of course, emailing assignments is one solution and we've used it successfully in the past, but I like the idea of students being able to see their progress, work together with their classmates and show off their work to others by sending them a link.

DAV students -- Do you think online assignments would work or is it too complicated? Would you like to post your assignments online?