Portfolio
Book Chapter: Business English
I created this sample chapter at the behest of a client who wished to build a business ESL course.
7. Organizational challenges (merger, bankruptcy, take over, success, failure, negotiations, etc.)
Situations in business can move rapidly. This can often influence your surroundings and your workload. While some of these organizational changes may be challenging for you in your surroundings, they often mean growth and change for the company, which can ultimately be a good thing. Companies and businesses are moving, growing, and changing all the time, but not all of it is in a positive direction. You might find yourself with a new manager or boss, working under a new position or title, being let go, or any number of other challenges that occur when businesses merge, fail, succeed, and grow.
Study Guide: Middle/high school literature
This client was building a reading guide and course curriculum for her middle-grade/high school novel. I contributed reading/study guide materials.
Reading Guide
CHAPTER ONE There are several sets of twins in this story already. What is the significance of twins in literature? In this story so far? Describe the relationship between the sisters Nabii and Nahlah and their father Ndulu. How does it compare to their relationship with their grandfather Amari? To what do you attribute this difference?
Non-fiction Essay
I wrote this essay as an example for my essay-writing and public-speaking students.
Educational Heroes: What Makes a Great Teacher?
The onset of global pandemic COVID-19 has us evaluating everyday heroes through new and different lenses. One of the unsung professions now in the spotlight is teaching. Teachers have always been heroes, standing firm at the educational battlefront, fighting ignorance, and instilling knowledge. In many ways, the public is seeing teachers for the first time. With this newfound respect and attention come the questions: What are the characteristics of great teachers? What about “just ok” or even bad teachers? What separates the true heroes from those who have a job? The answers are neither simple nor easy.
Literary Essay
This client requested an MLA-formatted literary essay on a Shakespearean work of my choice.
Hamlet: “To be?” or “YOLO?”
Though Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy from the play of the same name is certainly one of the most famous in Shakespeare’s canon, how often do we read or listen past the first few lines? We have heard Hamlet discussing and debating the merits of life and death, but what, if any, bearing have his thoughts on our modern outlooks? Are his fears still our fears?
Literary Terminology: Academic
This client requested script-like explanations of various literary terms.
REGULAR & IRREGULAR PAST TENSE VERBS
Past tense verbs indicate something that has already happened. The action is in the past. Regular past tense verbs are easy to change because all we need to convert them from present to past tense is to add ED to the end of the Infinitive (or base form) of the verb. Need a reminder about Infinitives? That is the verb with TO in front of it in simple present tense as in TO WORK and TO PLAY. These verbs are both regular past tense, so all we do is add ED to the base form to get workED and playED. Many verbs in English follow this form.