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The Dialogues Writing dialogues is a basic tool in this program. Writing dialogues between you and your MOP is where significant learning can occur. To create a model, and to offer more discussion of English skills, the author has created a series of dialogues between himself and his MOP. There are no dialogues here about specific skills such as you are asked to do, instead there are dialogues about various skill categories and an introduction to the program. Click on any term below to go to that dialogue, or just scroll down. MOP Description | Program Introduction and Directions | Parts of Speech | Sentence Parts | Writing Process | Sentence Variety | Punctuation | Standard English Usage
MOP is an eighteen year old, male student named Larry. He has just graduated high school, and he is planning to attend a junior college in a few months. He has been a decent, average student. He never took school very seriously, but was not any sort of trouble maker. He has recently begun a relationship with another graduate, MaryJane. He loves music, especially rock, but he's also interested in jazz. He comes from a good family. His dad is a car salesman and his mom works at a hospital. He has one younger sister who adores him to a fault. I told Larry I was creating this program, and he agreed to talk with me about it. We've been meeting in a small room off the library in the junior college where I teach and where Larry intends to begin classes next semester.
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Program Introduction and Directions: VK: Thanks for agreeing to help me, Larry. Larry: No problem, what's this all about. VK: I'm working on a computer program to help students learn about language and writing. Larry: Cool. As long as it's not grammar, I'm for it! VK: Well, um...er...it is about grammar. Larry: Oops. VK: Part of it, anyway is about grammar. Larry: Oh, man! Do you know how much I hate grammar. VK: I think I do. As a matter of fact, as a teacher, I don't much like it either. Larry: So why are you doing this? VK: I think knowing about grammar can help you discuss your writing with other people. Larry: Other people? I don't know anybody who'd want to talk grammar, man! VK: Teachers. Larry: Oh, yeah. VK: You're on your way to college, right? Larry: Yup. Start in the fall. VK: You will have teachers. You might need to talk about your writing. It would help if you knew the vocabulary. Larry: Vocabulary isn't much more fun than grammar. VK: That's why I want to try this new approach. Larry: OK, I'm curious, what's new? VK: The writing process. Larry: Great! We move from grammar to vocabulary to writing! My favorite things! VK: A lot of people share your feelings. But these are survival skills in college. You just can't get through very many courses without doing a whole lot of writing. Larry: OK, but don't expect me to be happy. VK: Fair enough, but how about if you use this program, you'll at least be able to handle college writing assignments, including conferences with teachers about your writing, and even get some decent grades. Maybe even pass the course! Larry: hmmmm. Sounds OK. What will I have to do? VK: The program will allow you to first decide on what you want to do. Learn parts of speech, sentence parts, writing skills, whatever. Larry: OK, let's say I want to learn about...about...nouns! I remember that one. But what if I want to learn nouns? VK: Good choice. You first find it in the main menu. Larry: I can do that! VK: Great. You click on "noun" and you'll be taken to a work form to fill out. Larry: What'll I have to fill? VK: There are a couple of different types of forms, but they all work basically the same: first you write about what you already know. Larry: If I already knew it, why do I need to learn it? VK: Fair question. The idea is to help you get your head into a place that will be more receptive to the learning. A good way to learn is to first connect to your own experiences and ideas. Then when you begin learning new stuff, there will be a place in your mind all ready for it. Larry: Hmmm? I guess I'll try it, but I'm dubious. VK: Fair enough. Once you've done the writing about what you already know, the next thing is to learn what you can. Larry: Does the program help me do that? VK: Damn right! I've written about each item. You can call up my answers and read them. I've also made it easy for other people to add their ideas, their knowledge about each term. You're also free to interview people, read books, whatever! Larry: Interview people? VK: Sure, friends, lovers, teachers, family. Any source you can find. Larry: Sounds like research. VK: You bet. And research is one of the items. Larry: OK, I find out what a "noun" is, then what? VK: You write up a summary of what you learn. Writing about the new knowledge is what makes this program work. Writing about something really helps you to make it your own. Larry: I'm not so sure about all of this writing. I don't spell very well. VK: Neither do I. But for this process to work, it's important that you relax and write quickly without worrying about spelling or punctuation or ... Larry: Whatever? VK: Yes! Just write. Write to get your ideas down. If you want to go back and correct your spelling someday, you can do that, but for the first writing you should only worry about getting your ideas on paper. Larry: Will I be finished then? VK: I want you to do one more thing: a dialogue with a MOP. Larry: Next I'll be talking to brooms! VK: Ha! MOP stands for "My Other Persona". Larry: Where do I get this MOP? VK: You create it. You create a fictional person. And you're going to teach this fictional person, your MOP, all about what you've learned. Larry: Whoa! Why do that? VK: Any teacher will tell you, that you never learn a subject so well as when you teach it. Teaching gets you to think through your subject and to see it through your students' eyes. And you learn. Larry: I donor... VK: Willing to try. Larry: I guess. What do I do? How do I teach my MOP? VK: First you create the character by filling out a form. Larry: Another form! VK: Yup. Filling out this form will get you to create a character. Once you have the character you'll be able to have discussions with him--or her--or it. Larry: Discussions? VK: You'll write a dialogue, a conversation between you and your MOP in which you explain to him what you've just learned. And during which your MOP will ask you lots of questions. By the end of a page or so of dialogue, you will really understand your subject! Larry: OK, I'll try it. Is there anything else? VK: In lots of places the program asks you to look at things you've already written. Larry: Like what, homework and stuff? VK: Sure. Any journal writing, homework from any class. Larry: Any class? VK: Sure. I'm an English teacher so I tend to think in terms of English class assignments. But most teachers in most classes give assignments that require writing. Larry: Yeah, they do! And I can use those? VK: You bet. Larry: Can I use things I've turned in that have already been graded? VK: Sure. In some ways using writings that are works in progress may help you with doing the assignment, but any writing you've done will work. Larry: What am I going to do with these writings? VK: Here's the thing. Whenever you learn about something, anything, to make the learning stick, you should ask the question, "So what?" Larry: Don't get snotty. VK: Would you prefer, "In what personal ways does this (insert piece of learning you have just experienced) apply to the myriad experiences I call my life, apply to that which I find important, apply to assisting me in achieving my goals?" Larry: "So what?" will do. VK: Thank you. And the way you answer that question in this program, is to immediately turn to your own writing. Look for examples of whatever term you've been writing about, apply writing tips to your writing to find out if the tip would help, check to see if your writing is using usage appropriate to your audience. Larry: OK, I do all those things, "So what?" VK: Awright! You're catching on! Grammar books can give you some help in learning the vocabulary of language, this program tries to get you to write your own grammar book. Larry: Whoa! I'm not ready to write a book! VK: Maybe "book" is a little strong. Let me try again. The exercises in this book get you to first think about what you already know and then to connect what you know to the new stuff. Looking at your own writing is the best way to find those connections. Larry: Huh? VK: Find examples in your writing. Larry: Why didn't you say so? Where should we begin? VK: How about . . . Return to Step Three in the Learnatron by clicking HERE.
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Larry: Parts of Speech. Hmmm...you want to start with the top part or what? VK: Ha! The Parts of Speech section is a vocabulary lesson. All you need to do is learn the meanings of words such as "noun" "verb" and so forth. Larry: Oh, man. I've been learning this stuff since third grade. Do I have to go through this again? VK: Nah. Just the ones you don't remember. Larry: Why? Huh? Why? VK: So you and your teacher can use these words with some hope that you will understand each other. Larry: That's it? That's why I've been force fed this stuff all my life. Just to make some teacher's job easier? VK: Well, it's also a good way to meet people at parties. Larry: What!? VK: Sure. You see someone attractive at a party you just go up to that person and start talking nouns and adjectives and prepositions and you will find this person all over you in endearing ways. Larry: I think you're losing it. VK: You're not the first. But let's change the subject and move on. Larry: OK.
Larry: I understand that sentence parts are best served with a good barbeque sauce. VK: Boo! Larry: Well, you said, get playful. VK: Yeah, yeah. And you always do what I say. Larry: Enough of this, speak to me of sentence parts. VK: I will. In fact, I already did elsewhere in the program. Larry: I remember that sentences have subjects. I don't remember any more. VK: Ever get busted for an incomplete sentence? Larry: Yup. Teachers love to put big, red circles around them. You'd think I sold out my country or something. VK: People who make the mistake of incomplete sentences usually do so because they don't understand how sentences are built. Larry: What else beside the subject? VK: English sentences have this basic structure, see. Larry: Are you going to tell me or do I break your red pencil? VK: I'll tell! You already know about the subject. Larry: What the sentence is about! VK: Yeah! Next is the verb which tells us what the subject is doing. Larry: Mmmmmmm.... VK: And lots of times there will be thing that gets the action of the verb. That's called the direct object. Larry: Oh, yeah. I remember. Subject. Verb. Direct Object. VK: There's lots of variations of course, but that's the most basic form. Larry: And the reason I care...? VK: You don't want big red circles around your sentence fragments. Larry: Oh, yeah. What's next, coach? Return to Step Three in the Learnatron by clicking HERE.
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VK: The big thing about the writing process is the stress on "process." Larry: Yawn...oh, excuse me, did you say something? VK: Process! I said process! Not product! Process, damn you! Process! Larry: Whoa! Go easy I just woke up. What's the fuss about ? VK: I shall try a different approach: Writing is about process. What that means is you do writing by steps. One step at a time. Larry: Oh, c'mon. Some teacher gives me homework, I write it, I turn it in. End of story! VK: Thanks for the reality check. We've got different ideas, because we have different goals. You want to get your homework done. Larry: You bet! VK: I'm more interested in helping you get you writing better. Larry: So I can get my homework done faster? VK: Bigger, Better and higher grades! Soon the world will be at your feet. Women will beg for your attention. You will have permanently clean breath. Larry: I sense sarcasm. VK: I'll try to be good. Larry: Thank you, now why is this process stuff such a big deal. VK: Many people. Far too many people have the notion that if you know how to write well, and memorize enough punctuation rules as well as the dictionary, that you are then supposed to get the writing right the first time. Larry: Isn't that what "real" writers do? Isn't that what Steven King does? Huh, isn't it? VK: In a word, no. Why I go crazy over this process business is because so many of my students seem reluctant to approach writing as a series of steps. They still think writing is what you do in the first draft. Larry: Oh, you mean doing the writing over to get the spelling and stuff correct. I do that. VK: Another break down in communication. No! What you just described is the last step in the process. I call it "editing." Larry: Oh. What else is there? VK: What a wonderful question! There are three basic steps: prewriting, drafting and editing. Larry: Why? VK: "Why???" Well. . .um . . .because. Larry: OK, just asking. What's prewriting? VK: That's when you get yourself ready. When you struggle with deciding what you're going to write and how. Larry: Nah. Mostly I'm told what I have to write. VK: I understand, but you still need to figure out exactly what you will say about a topic given to you. That's what prewriting is all about. Larry: Thinking? You talking about thinking? VK: Sort of. Lots of people who write a lot have figured out lots of techniques to help themselves get started. For a lot of people getting started is the hardest part. Larry: Me! I'm one of those. VK: The prewriting stage is just for you. Larry: Are you going to tell me what the prewriting is? VK: Nah. You can use this program for that, I'm just trying to get the sense of the process across here. Larry: OK, then. Prewriting is for getting started. What's drafting? VK: Drafting is when you actually put words on paper. Larry: Like in first draft and final draft? VK: Yup. Only what I really want to get across here is that in the first draft, especially, you do not need to worry about anything but scratching out a few ideas. Many students worry about being "good" when they do a first draft. The first draft is where you should give yourself permission to write poorly. To not care about spelling or punctuation or grammar. Larry: Seems too easy. VK: The writing process is a lot easier than trying to do a perfect paper the first time. Larry: OK, I scratch out some ideas. VK: Then you revise. You polish your writing. You change, delete and add things. Larry: How do I know it should be changed!? Man! If I wrote it that way the first time why should I change it? VK: I like how you're getting into ownership here. Good for you. You should make changes that make sense to you, that help you get your message across better. That's why you make changes. Larry: OK, I make some changes and now the final draft? VK: Yuck. I hat the term "final draft!" Larry: Oh, c'mon, you gotta be done sometime! VK: Well, you do and you don't. You need to finish your work and turn it in to your teacher or your boss or your book publisher or whatever. But, if allowed, most writers would keep tinkering and tinkering with their writing forever. Larry: Hey, like the "Director's Cuts" you see in the video places. VK: Exactly! The movie is finished. It's out there. But the director wants to keep fiddling. Larry: So, if not final draft, what do we call it? VK: I like "deadline draft." Donald Murray, a writer who writes a lot about writing, uses that term, and it makes sense to me. You've got a deadline to meet, but the writing remains yours forever. Larry: Yeah, real sweet. VK: Anyway, that's why the fuss about "process." Understand? Larry: I understand why the fuss, but I'd still like to get it right the first time. VK: So would we all. Return to Step Three in the Learnatron by clicking HERE.
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VK: I once had a job. . . Larry: Big deal! I worked once too. VK: C'mon, give me a break. I'm trying to make a point here. Larry: Again with the point! OK, you once had a job. What job? VK: I was writing for a newspaper that was distributed to adults who had very little education. Larry: Could they read? VK: Most of them. Enough of them for me to keep my job. Larry: Must have been easy, the way you BS. VK: Well, actually, I had to learn how to write in a simple enough manner to be read, but still make it interesting enough to read. Larry: Like a kid's book? VK: Sort of, but only with adult subject matter. Larry: "Adult", huh? I bet it was interesting! VK: Ha-ha. I had to write within the boundaries set up by the editor. Larry: Boundaries? VK: Yeah. The rule was, "No sentence may be longer than five words, and no word may be more than two syllables." Larry: Sounds easy! And you got paid? VK: Try it sometime. Try writing a story about the history of lima beans while you follow that rule. It took me a few weeks, but eventually I got the hang of it. Larry: How? VK: By making my sentences be different patterns. Instead of using the kind of simplistic stuff used for kid's books, you know, "See Dick Run. Run, Dick, run. . ." Larry: Don't be a dick. VK: Well, in my case, I avoided dickness by using varied sentences. " Lima beans have protein. Have vitamins. Families have survived on them." Larry: Hey! a couple of those words have three syllables. VK: Hmmm. So they do. Sometimes we'd hedge if the word was very common. But I want you to notice the three different forms I used. Larry: So, what you're saying is if you can write simple sentences you can get a job. VK: Arghhhh! No! What I'm saying is, if you can learn to vary your sentences, you are better equipped to write interesting papers. Larry: At least about lima beans. VK: Especially about lima beans!
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VK: Punctuation is the way sentences take a breath. Larry: Punctuation is the way words can spit. VK: Punctuation lets you scream across a page. Larry: Punctuation means never having to say your sorry. VK: Huh? Larry: We were just getting a little to weird with all that punctuation stuff. I don't even like punctuation! VK: What's to like? Larry: I like not having some uptight English teacher using her red pencil all over my paper. VK: What's the problem? Larry: I just never know when to use those commas, when not to use those commas. . . VK: But you're an expert at using punctuation. You use it perfectly when you speak. Larry: Even I know punctuation is for writing. VK: Yup. What punctuation does for writing is what you naturally do when you speak. You raise your voice, or have a pause, or ask a question. Larry: But I don't have any teacher marking up my conversation. There really is a difference, Kryston, and you know it. VK: Hmmm. You're right. And some of the differences are pretty arbitrary. I admit that, but punctuation is all we have to make written words "sound" like spoken words. Larry: And you're going to cure all of my anxiety! VK: And you're going to cure all of my anxiety? Larry: And you're going to cure all of my anxiety? Hey, this is fun. VK: Didja ever think you'd be saying punctuation is fun? Larry: I take it back. Punctuation sucks. That's the accepted opinion of students, and I shall not break it! VK: I think you mean that not knowing how to use punctuation sucks. That getting lower grades suck. That feeling you are a failure as a human being... Larry: OK! OK! And I just work this program of yours and none of them things will ever happen again. VK: "Those things" Larry: What things? VK: You said, "them things"; you should say, "Those things." Larry: See! Now you're doing it. How am going to get revenge? VK: I can think of two ways. One, learn enough punctuation to be able to correct your teachers. Larry: I like it. What's the other way. VK: Become an English teacher. Larry: GASP!! VK: Larry! Are you OK? Larry! Speak to me! You're turning purple. Larry. . .Larry?
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Larry: Where did all these rules about grammar and all come from? VK: I love the question, but I'm not sure I can completely answer it. Larry: So answer part of it. VK: Well, first you've got to understand that "correct" English is just one dialect, just one way of using English. Larry: You mean I gotta learn more grammar? VK: You already have. You speak a dialect, you write a dialect, for which you already know the grammar rules perfectly. Larry: So, how come I keep getting red marks on my paper. VK: Because you are writing your papers in a formal situation--English class. Larry: Yeah, when I'm talking with my friends or writing my girl a note, it's no sweat. VK: There are many different dialects, different ways of using English. Each of them has its own rules, its own way of making language. Larry: Sounds confusing! VK: Sometimes it is. That's where "Standard English" comes in. Standard English is a place where we can all use the same rules. Larry: And since we all use the same rules... VK: You got it! We understand better. There's another curious thing about dialects. Larry: Wazzat? VK: When we use Standard English, we communicate the idea that this speech, this writing is important enough to be used in a formal situation. You say to your reader/listener that you recognize its importance. Larry: But what if your message isn't important? VK: Or what if you use formal language in an informal situation? Larry: Same thing. so what if? VK: Sometimes communication breaks down. Think about speaking precise, formal English when you're hanging out with your friends? Larry: They'd make fun of me. VK: Yup. And they should. You're using the wrong dialect for that time and place, for that audience. Larry: So my English teacher acts the same way? VK: Sure. The "who" in "Who made up these rules?" is us. We make the rules. We make the rules through the ways we find best communicate our ideas for a particular time and place. Larry: If I make the rules then why do I hate grammar? Wait a second. I think I know. I don't know the rules of Standard English. It's a pain to learn them, especially when hanging out with my friends, using our language is so much fun. VK: I like that! You haven't solved your Standard English issues, but at least you're understanding why Standard English has a use. Larry: Hmmmm. Sort of. Not using Standard English on a formal paper is just like using formal Standard English with my buds. My buds would react the way my teachers do. VK: "Buds?" Larry: You know. Friends. Buddies! VK: Thanks for the lesson about your dialect. Larry: You're welcome, my man. VK: You own me? Larry: You are so dense sometimes! Return to Top
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[Home] [Information] [Site Map] [Directions] [MOP Page] [Learnatron] [Ideas] [Dialogues] |
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To email the program author, click on the email address: vickryston@mac.com |
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This program copyright 2000-2002 by Vic Kryston. All rights reserved. |