Welcome Back

1. Welcome Back Week 1 Writing Assignment

2. Time to Show Me What You Can Do • You are going to write a 2-paragraph essay about yourself • Take a few minutes to brainstorm and create an outline • Use your class time to write a rough draft copy of your essay • You will take the rough draft home to type and properly format as show in the Bible • The typed essay will be taken next class for homework points

3. What is Your Writing Topic? • What to Write in Paragraph 1: • Write some general information about yourself • Include important life events • Birth, education, marriage, employment, awards, travel, deaths • Include a sentence (or two) that introduces 2 interesting facts about you • Choose facts that are unique and that have helped to make you the person that you are now.

4. What is Your Writing Topic? • What to Write in Paragraph 2: • Give more details about your two interesting facts. • Explain, give examples, clarify what you mean. • You must have a least 3 details about your fact! If you don’t, your fact probably isn’t that interesting. • Use a transition to create unity between Fact 1 and Fact 2

5. Don’t Forget!!! • This is a 2-Paragraph ESSAY. • Write sentences. • Form paragraphs with topic sentences. • Format correctly with indents between paragraphs, so it is easier to read. • This is a sample of your writing ability. • Do your best work. • Impress me. • This is HOMEWORK and the finished essay will be handed-in next class.

6. Outline Example • P1: • Name: Virginia Mae Holthe • Born: May 16, 1974 in Picture Butte, Alberta, Canada • Nearly died at birth from pneumonia and E.coli infection • Grew up on farm with pet lamb and cow • Studied genetics and psychology at University of Alberta • Worked in medical research • Best friend killed in mountain climbing accident • Moved to South Korea to work and travel • Worked in Anyang, Seoul, Cheongju before coming to Dongguk University - Gyeongju in March 2010

7. Outline Example • P2: • Love animals • Given a baby lamb to raise • Milked a cow • Worked as a shepherd during university • Worked in medical research • Worked in Level 3 bio-containment • Helped in the post-development of the Edmonton Protocol – a successful treatment for diabetes • Rescued my cat, Dora, from the research facility

8. Virginia Holthe20101010101Tuesday 11am Memoirs of an English Teacher How did I ever manage to end up here? I still ask myself this because I am still a little surprised to find myself in Gyeongju, South Korea teaching English at Dongguk University. Even just ten years ago, I would have laughed at you if you had suggested this would be my life now. It feels like a million miles away from where I started. I was born in Picture Butte, Alberta, Canada on May 16, 1974. There were complications when I was born and I developed pneumonia and an E.coli infection which nearly killed me. The illness left me with asthma which made it hard for me to play sports. Instead, I played on the farm with the many animals. When I was just six years old, my father bought me a baby lamb that I had to feed three times a day on a bottle. It was an event with my pet lamb, Floppy that set me on course for my academic future. I studied genetics and psychology at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. I had already gotten a job working in medical research by the time I obtained my degree and continued working at the university after my graduation. I probably would still be there if not for the tragic death of my best friend, Gerry, while mountain climbing in Europe. After Gerry’s death, living in Edmonton and working in research didn’t seem so exciting. Life was too short and too unpredictable to live unsatisfied with my situation. In 2005, I packed my suitcase, grabbed my cat, and moved to Anyang, South Korea to work in a hagwon teaching English. A year later, I took a job at a university in Cheongju, and four years after that, I moved to Gyeongju to become an assistant professor at Dongguk University.

9. Two interesting facts about me are my love for animals and my work in medical research. I have always loved animals and have been good at animal husbandry. Growing up on a farm, I was surrounded by a variety of farm animals but it was Floppy the Lamb which convinced me to studied science at university. Floppy was my pet lamb that I fed on a bottle. One day, she drank her bottle too fast and the milk went into her lungs. She was dying. I did not want my lamb to die, so I performed CPR breathing into her nose and mouth. I saved her life! My father and I took her to the veterinarian where with the stethoscope, I listened to Floppy’s lungs. I could hear the milk sloshing around in them. I thought that was really neat and decided then to become an animal scientist. Fifteen years later, I was doing just that working at the University of Alberta in Health Sciences Laboratory Animal Services. I was good at my job and was given a lot of responsibility including working in a level 3 bio-containment in a has-mat suit! The work was very stressful. One mistake could ruin months or even years of research. Plus, working constantly with the danger of infecting myself with a deadly virus made the job difficult. However, I enjoyed my work because I knew I was helping to improve and save lives. Also, I got to work with animals. When the opportunity arose that I could transfer to the quarantine area and take care of larger animals, I jumped at the chance. It was there that I found an adorable little black kitten which I asked my boss if I could keep. It was just after my friend’s death, so my boss was sympathetic and said yes. That is how I got my cat, Dora. When I decided it was time for a new adventure in Korea, Dora made the trip with me. That is how we both ended up here in Gyeongju, South Korea.