Introduction to Language Practice: Topic - US Presidential Election - Graydon (Wed 16-18)

US Presidential Election, 2008

1. Electoral System and Polls

2. Election Blog

3. Helpful Links

4. Current Issues

4.1. Updated Electoral Map 4.2 US Foreign Policy 4.3 Health Care in the US 4.4 Issues Concerning Race in the US 4.5 US Defense Policy 4.6 Economic Policy 4.7 Science Policy 4.8 Environmental Policy

5. Media Coverage]]

5.1 US Newspapers 5.2 Newspaper Editorials 5.3 News Radio Stations 5.4 TV Stations 5.5 Podcasts 5.6 Ads 5.7 Fact Checking

6. Candidates for President and Vice-President

6.1 The Democratic Party 6.1.2 Democratic Party Candidates 6.1.2.3 Senator Barack Obama 6.1.2.4 Senator Joe Biden 6.2 The GOP 6.2.1 Republican Party Candidates 6.2.1.1 Senator John McCain 6.2.1.2 Alaska Governor Sarah Palin 6.3 Speeches 6.4 Debates and Parodies

7 Miscellaneous

7.1 Additional Political Videos 7.2 Political Satire 7.3 Movies about Elections

Purdue Online Writing Lab

You can find many good tips on writing as well as exercises and handouts (good for later when you are teachers!)

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/678/01/

Assignment for Dec 3rd:

Also, please choose one accent in English and compare it to Standard English. Since you only have a few minutes to do this (we might do it in groups instead of in front of the class), stick to just a few features of the two accents.

Assignment for Nov 19th

We will finish the rest of the presentations. In addition, we will discuss the following article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/us/politics/17memo.html

Assignment for Nov 12th

Here is a list of the fifty states. Please find one other person in the class and analyze the election results in two states. Your presentation (five minutes maximum!) should include some graphics (you can use my laptop and a projector or the overhead projector). Include who won and in which part of the state he received the most votes. You might also mention why you think the particular candidate did better or worse in some areas of the state.

And here are the instructions as to how to do this: First, you have to have already created an account (which you can do at the top righthand corner of the page)

Now click on the "edit" tab at the top of the page. Enter your names (first and last) next to the pair of states you will be looking at (If you just enter the following symbol ~~~ , this will automatically enter your name with a link to your user page. Very clever!):

By the way, does anyone know how to set tabs and columns without creating a table (so we don't have to use ... in order to create spaces?)?

States:.......................................Names..........................................

Alabama / Louisiana ...........

Mississippi/ Arkansas...........

California / Colorado........... Franziska Koerner / Liesa Temme

Connecticut / Delaware..........

Florida / Georgia............... Antje Marx / Lynn Baumgarten

Hawaii / Alaska................ "Janko Meisel / Kim Triebe / Nadine Kreyenborg"

Illinois / Indiana ............ Oksana Scheifele / Vivien Machura

Iowa / Kansas..................Melanie Grube / Derya Akyel

Kentucky / Missouri.............

Maine / Maryland...............Birthe Behrens / Janina Bosselmann/Dana Jordan

Massachusetts / Vermont.........

Minnesota / Michigan............ Mareike Reinecke/ Anne-Sophie Sauer

Idaho/ Montana.................

Nebraska / Nevada..............

New York/ New Jersey ........... Lars Müller / Anna Lena Mößner

New Mexico / Arizona............ Dietlind-Liesa-Janna Kraus / Johanna Ranft/Rebecca Manz

North Carolina / Tennessee......

Ohio / Wisconsin................

Oregon / Washington............

Rhode Island / New Hampshire....

South Dakota / North Dakota....

Texas / Utah...................Kathrin Petersen/

Pennsylvania / Virginia.........Frederik Bockmann / Ann-Kristin Bux )

South Carolina/ West Virginia...

Oklahoma/ Wyoming...............