I got a question:
Q. I have a third year student who is a great student. She reads on an upper intermediate level. Listening comprehension is a mid-intermediate level. She is an EXCELLENT reader in English and LOVES to read. She tackles her favorite English book in Spanish and is not afraid to work at understanding it. She loves the challenge. The problem? Her writing is a mess! She writes on a novice level. I can barely even figure out what she is trying to say. HOW do I help her to write better? I know that she wants to. I also know that this is discouraging to her. I really want to help her write better, but I don’t know how. Normally I know that writing follows reading. But this is not happening.
A. There is a bulb in my garden I just planted but it will not emerge until fall. But I really want to see it bloom! I have two choices:
1. Go rip it out of the ground here on the first day of fall (Sept. 22) to check and see if it is blooming yet. (That would be the less than desirable action, because the bulb is probably not yet blooming down there under the ground in spite of my fervent wish to see it bloom, but alas it most likely needs some more input in the form of water and its room system) or:
2. I could wait until it’s had enough input in the form of water and nourishment and TIME and then just wait to see the flower when it comes out in spring, when it is ready to bloom following its own natural/based-in-nature timetable. (This would be the desirable action, being the natural one.)
Yeah, I should probably wait until spring.