Journal
ESL 3 & 4
What is it? A journal is a book where you record your thoughts, feelings,
opinions, experiences and ideas in response to a topic that your ESL teacher will
give you. The topic should give you something to think about.
Why do we write journals? Journal writing is free writing, which means that
you will not be marked on grammar. Instead you will be marked on the amount
you write and how interesting it is. A journal is a place where you can practice
your written English without worrying about your grammar.
When do we do this? You will write a journal entry every Friday after Silent
Reading. After you have finished four entries, journals will be collected and
marked out of 20. You can work on your journal at home, but you are expected
to do some journal writing in class. At the end of class each Friday, your teacher
will stamp your journal at the place where you stopped writing. How much work
you do in class will affect your mark.
How do we do this? Use these guidelines to help you organize your journal.

Keep your journal entries in a duo tang. Make sure you use a cover
which anchors your pages. Do not use a binder or a folder with loose
pages.

Write your full name and ESL block in big letters on the front of your
duo-tang. If you have a dark coloured duo-tang and your name won’t
show up, ask your teacher for a white duo-tang label.

At the top of the page for each entry, write the journal number, title,
and date like this:
Journal #1
Sept. 11,2006
“Friendship”

Keep your entries in order (1,2,3,4).

Write your entries in blue or black pen only. Do not use pencil or
coloured pens.

Single space all your journal entries.

If you can’t think of much to write on the topic, just write as much as
you can. You can then switch to another topic of your choice if you
want to write more.

You can take your journals home to work on them, except for Journal
#4. After you write Journal #4, your journals will be collected at the
end of class.

Once you have a set of journals marked, keep them in your duo-tang.
Do not throw them away. Your teacher will look at your previous set
of entries to help determine the mark on your next set of entries. Start
the new set at Journal #1 again.

Your journal is private. Only you and your teacher will read it.

Remember that the topic is a general guideline, and you should make
the topic apply to you. If the topic is “hero,” I might write about
someone in my life who is a hero to me. I should not write a made-up
story about a hero on another planet.

Usually, your journal topic is related to something your teacher has
read or discussed with you in-class. Therefore, you should be able to
write your journals on your own. Your teacher is there to help you get
started, not to give you ideas or tell you what you should write.
Remember, it is your journal.

Because you are marked on how much you write, it might be tempting
to write in very large letters, or leave big spaces between words, or
have really wide margins. Your teachers are aware of these “tricks”,
and will mark accordingly.