Be Welcome to CT Gym !

Hi there!

This is an open invitation to all Colombo Americano students, or to anyone who is interested in improving his proficiency in English, to visit CT Gym and participate in the discussions, and take advantage of the tasks we are proposing here.

We hope you can find the activities on writing, problem solving, and critical thinking stimulating and helpful to boost your language skills.

Any comments, suggestions and participation are highly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Juan Pacheco Fuentes

How to create your blog...

Hello!

The following are two tutorial videos to easily create your blogs. The instructions are easy to follow and we hope they can help with the process...

An English version





A Spanish version







More tutorials for blogs and websites here

A friend is someone who knows everything about you, and still loves you.

Hello, hello! Write a general but informative post about your best friend. Use the connectors who, that, which, where, whom in your sentences. You can use the following paragraph as a model for your own ideas. In your paragraphs, try to refer to the following topics.

1. Describe him/her.
2. Describe how or when you met him/her.
3. Tell an experience you remember about your friendship.
4. Write about a future perspective for your friendship.



Or use your own ideas.

Example paragraph:

My best friend, Amparo, is a girl whom every man on this planet would like to meet. She’s a person you can always rely on. And she’s so pretty and friendly that she’s the soul of every party that we go to.

I met her at a disco where my friends and I used to go. I came to her, invited her to dance, and later I asked her out to the movies. Since we became friends, she tells me everything that she’s up.

An anecdote that reminds of how strong our friendship is, happened when I lost the tickets to a play that she wanted to see for months. She said: “I don’t know why I hang out with someone who can’t remember something so simple.” But she forgot about that very quickly.

At this moment, I can’t think of anything that could cause the end of our friendship. And that’s something which makes me happy and fortunate, because your friendships are the most valuable relationships that you can have.

A Letter to Ann Landers

Dear Ann Landers:

I am 29 years old, and my husband, "Jeff," is 25. We met a year ago, and after six months of dating, we were married in a civil ceremony in Las Vegas by a justice of the peace. We had intended to have a big church wedding with all the trimmings a few months down the road, but that trip to Las Vegas changed everything. We figured our parents would be upset if they knew about the quick hitching in Nevada, so we decided not to tell them.

I met Jeff's parents at Christmas, and they were very sweet to me, assuming that we were engaged and living together. We sat down w

ith his folks and planned a lovely church wedding. Several days before the event, my in-laws somehow found out about our civil ceremony in Las Vegas and became very upset. Jeff's father said it was a waste of time for him to travel eight hours to see a "fake wedding." He refused to come.

Jeff's mother hollered at us for a solid hour, which made me a nervous wreck. Nevertheless, she did show up, along with Jeff's brother. On top of that, three of Jeff's best friends were angry that we hadn't told them we were married in Nevada, and they folded out at the last minute. I was left with three unescorted bridesmaids. As you can imagine, the wedding was a disaster.

I realize we should have told Jeff's family that we already were married, but nonetheless, I think their behavior was unbelievably rude. It ruined what should have been the most beautiful day of my life. My family, thankfully, was very supportive.

Meanwhile, Jeff and I have been fighting nonstop since everything hit the fan. I am seriously considering divorce. Please give me some sensible advice.

— Lost That Loving Feeling in Texas

You can learn a lot about Ann Landers here and you may see Ann Landers' response here.

Principles of Critical Thinking

Don’t mistake ignorance for perspective. Gather complete information. One of the most important and most violated principles of critical thinking is thoroughness—that is, gathering all available facts on a subject under scrutiny. Obviously thinking requires facts; erroneous conclusions often stem from inadequate factual knowledge.


Principles of Critical Thinking:

1. Gather complete information.
2. Understand and define all terms.
3. Question the methods by which the facts are derived.
4. Question the conclusions.
5. Look for hidden assumptions and biases.
6. Question the source of facts.
7. Don’t expect all of the answers.
8. Examine the big picture.
9. Examine multiple cause and effect.
10. Watch for thought stoppers.
11. Understand your own biases and values.

Edited from Larry Larson, Professor of Biology, Ohio University, 1994. Original source: “Journal of Biological Education (1990).

Blog Evaluation Rubric

This is how we evaluate your blogging performance. Right here you may find the evaluarion criteria. We hope this will guide and help you to make blogging a creative and rewarding experience. Let's blog all together!

Content

· Clear concise and well-written with no serious errors. (Excellent)
· Clear, concise and basically well-written, but still has a few errors. (Very good)

· Easy to understand with some errors. (Good)

. Many errors but the reader can understand the main idea. (Average)

. Difficult to understand the main idea, many errors in spelling and grammar. (Poor)

Layout

· Appearance of the blog looks professional. (Excellent)

· Organized and consistent, good formatting. (Very good)

· Use headings, sections labeled; some formatting. (Good)

· Text broken into paragraphs and/or sections. (Average)
· Layout has no structure or organization. (Poor)

Interaction with other blogs

· Comments provide help to substantially improve peers’ writing and/or blog layout. (Excellent)

· Comments are supportive and provide some help/tips to enhance the peer’s writing. (Very good)

· Comments are supportive but don’t provide much help to improve the quality of the peer’s post. (Good)

· Comments are not related to the topic or discussion. (Average)
· No comments observed in other peers’ blogs. (Poor)


.....................Poor...Average...Good.......Very good.....Excellent
Content........ ...10........20........30............40..............50
Layout........ .....10........15... . ..20............25..............30
Interaction.........0.........5.........10............15..............20

..........................................................Total: _____________ out of 100

Now follows a guide to improve your writing using basic punctuaction rules

Basic Punctuation Rules in English.

This guide provides instruction on the basic rules of using a period, comma, colon, semicolon, question mark and exclamation point. Each type of punctuation is followed by an explanation and example sentences for reference purposes.

Period .

Use a period to end a complete sentence. A sentence is a group of words containing a subject and predicate. In British English a period is called a 'full stop'.

Examples:

He went to Detroit last week.
They are going to visit.

Comma ,

There are a number of different uses for commas in English. Commas are used to:

· Separate a list of items. This is one of the most common uses of a comma. Notice that a comma is included before the conjunction 'and' which comes before the final element of a list.

Examples:

I like reading, listening to music, taking long walks, and visiting with my friends.
They would like books, magazines, DVDs, video cassettes, and other learning materials for their library.

· Separate phrases (clauses). This is especially true after a beginning dependent clause or a long prepositional phrase.

Examples:

In order to qualify for your certificate, you will need to take the TOEFL exam.
Although he wanted to come, he wasn't able to attend the course.

· Separate two independent clauses that are connected by a conjunction such as 'but'.

Examples:

They wanted to purchase a new car, but their financial situation would not allow it.
I'd really enjoy seeing a film this evening, and I'd like to go out for a drink.

· Introduce a direct quote (as opposed to indirect speech i.e. He said he wanted to come ...).

Examples:

The boy said, "My father is often away during the week on business trips."
His doctor replied, "If you don't stop smoking, you run the risk of a heart attack."

· Separate appositives (a noun, or noun phrase) or non-defining relative clauses.

Examples:

Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, comes from Seattle.
My only sister, who is a fantastic tennis player, is in great shape.

Question Mark ?

The question mark is used at the end of a question.

Examples:

Where do you live?
How long have they been studying?

Exclamation Point !

The exclamation point is used at the end of a sentence to indicate great surprise. It is also used for emphasis when making a point. Be careful not to use an exclamation point too often.

Examples:

That ride was fantastic!
I can't believe he is going to marry her!

Semicolon ;

There are two uses for a semicolon:

· To separate two independent clauses. One or both of the clauses are short and the ideas expressed are usually very similar.

Examples:

He loves studying; He can't get enough of school.
What an incredible situation; it must make you nervous.

· To separate groups of words that are themselves separated by commas.

Examples:

I took a holiday and played golf, which I love; read a lot, which I needed to do; and slept late, which I hadn't done for quite a while.
They plan to study German, for their travels; chemistry, for their work; and literature, for their own enjoyment.

Colon :

A colon can be used for two purposes:

· To provide additional details and explanation.

Examples:

He had many reasons for joining the club: to get in shape, to make new friends, to lose some weight, and to get out of the house.
She gave notice for the following reasons: bad pay, horrible hours, poor relations with colleagues, and her boss.

For this function, you can also use a dash –

· To introduce a direct quote (a comma can also be used in this situation).

Examples:

He announced to his friends: "I'm getting married!"
She cried out: "I never want to see you again!"

http://esl.about.com/od/englishgrammar/a/a_punctuation.htm

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