I teach College Writing in English and here is my farewell letter to my students (Part 1)
Dear friends,
You gave me a hard time reading your papers, do you know that? I would sometimes stop in the middle of an essay or report to breathe deeply and exhale all frustration. You make me suffer all right (except for the gems of the class). And I won’t have any excuses why you should not write well. Okay, I am harsh. But you know me very well–I have given up my “terrorism.” I don’t easily give in to anger. Only madness, of a crazy sort.
So here now is my number one tip. The HELP button of writing. The instant cure to the cancer of writing middling papers. The proven and effective solution to functional illiteracy: READ.
But let me qualify that.
Read more and read well. Fine, you read Paolo Coelho and Bob Ong and those stories of vampires and wizards. Try to go a level up then.Visit bookstores and see the titles under Philippine Fiction (not the Romance pocketbooks ok? I dont even know why they are sometimes under “Literature” forchrisake) and Award Winning Literature. Try Lakambini Sitoy and Luis Katigbak, or Umberto Eco and Italo Calvino, or Cristina Hidalgo and Gilda Cordero, or essayists Ambeth Ocampo and Randy David, or anything published by the UP Press, Ateneo de Manila University Press, DLSU Press, and Anvil.
If you can’t buy books, borrow one, because what you read is what you are, basically, in the academic world.
You can also touch the newspapers and magz, but remember, journalism has probably violated more grammatical rules than any other type of writing because of the urgency and therefore lack of time in editing rigorously. In the same manner do not rely on watching TV or browsing the Facebook because these, methinks, will train you to absorb info (read: passive), instead of practicing you to generate your info (read: active).
So read more often starting today so you will get ideas how to be understood effectively in this Age of Overflowing Insignificant Information.
Recovering,
ai
Dear Mam Ai, Although I am not one of your Eng 2 students in Elbi, please consider me as your online writing {casuist} novice. I find it more productive and genial reading your blogs, than playing Dota and get frustrated when losing. I love words but oftentimes words don’t love me. I used to read anything readable for hours. I was even known to be a wide reader for i used to read {wide} bill boards. Then I became fastidious about it for i realized there are more significant Writings i should spend my time perusing. Thanks for your sensible… Read more »
Its hard to say goodbye to the things you learn to be with.
Get well soon. Haha. Thanks for the recos. I’ll check them out as soon as I learn to read. 🙁
hahaha hi baddie! so when do we drink elbi style? 😀
@optimus prime haha youve been aiscracked haha. thanks for sharing! im sure the students are quietly taking all these in, jotting down mental notes how not to pester their teachers next time, or perhaps their future employers or anyone theyre communicating with.
i really appreciate the long comments, sir!
Aw! What’s with the journalism part Ms. Ai? Haha. Oh well, I’m a development journalist…and that serves as a warning alarm…do not worry! I swear (Oh! And please remind me if time permits) I’ll do everything to make our present journ world a whole lot better in the next few (mmm…months?) years. 🙂
P.S. Maam, idinagdag po kita sa mga links ng page ko… okay lang? 🙂
http://jlmagno.wordpress.com/
Nga pala, miss you Ms. Ai. Nagpunta ko sa cubicle mo kahapon to check kung nandun ka pa…hihi, ‘di kita nakita. Anyway, natuwa po kami nung friend ko sa comic strip nyo. 🙂
hi, lyka, sige, journalism is my next post.
sad…
Aray. Tinamaan naman ako sa mga estudyanteng vampires and wizards and coelho and so on lang ang binabasa.. That’s why I’m now reading Crichton books (go sci-fi!). Never tried tagalog books aside from Para Kay B.
Hayy, whatever your reasons are for leaving and whatever job you may find Ma’am, I’m still thankful that before you decided to leave, I (we) were able to experience a gem (yes!!) ENG 2 teacher like you.
Au Revoir ma’am!
PS
Sorry daw sa pagpapasakit sa ulo you powhz. =)
Naku gary powhz!haha trust me, i wasnt thinking of your reading list. haha, pero in your case, with vampires and wizards and coelho, you write well. So maybe starters could begin with those kind of books. Sci-Fi is an interesting genre especially with Neil Gaiman putting dignity in SF.
Apologize not because youre one of the best writers and researchers in my 1st sem 09-10! haha you know that, dear.
my privilege to have bright students. au revoir!
Oh, what would Eng2 be without you, Maam Ai? Haha.
Thumbs-up on recommending other books and authors. Stephanie Mayer makes a lot of people delusional, me thinks.
“journalism has probably violated more grammatical rules than any other type of writing because of the urgency and therefore lack of time in editing rigorously.”
– True that. I feel like I’m a bit restricted when it comes to writing in a ‘journalistic’ way. And so, I start to wonder if I should skip to a different field of work cause I’m getting sick of writing about other people’s business. Haha. 😉
@dawn: thank you, sweet.
you know what, i think journalism is tailored for you, and vice versa. 🙂 i dunno, i like “watching” you do your job, because you do it with pizazz and poise.