PROJECT AUSTIN RULZ!
Discover Austin! Share Austin!
ESOL Department ACC
Introduction
Some new international
students will be moving to
Austin to study ESOL at ACC.
For this project, you will be practicing your
grammar skills and writing skills to help out one of
the new students.
This project will involve writing two letters and
planning a schedule of events with descriptions.
You will be helping the new student learn about
life in Austin.
Objectives
In working on this project, you will
learn to:
write letters to a specific audience for a
specific purpose and use proper format
work as a team to produce a group
project
summarize what you read and write brief
descriptions
put your grammar skills into practice
with a focus on tense and verb forms
Meet the New Students
Alina is from Argentina but finished high school in Brazil. She
wants to study ESOL at ACC and then enter UT Austin.
Alina speaks Spanish and Portuguese and now wants to
improve her English skills. She is looking for a tennis partner
and is interested in outdoor adventures in Austin.
Zeki was born in Turkey but grew up in
Morocco. Zeki wants to study biotechnology
at ACC and hopes to work for Ambion in
Austin. He enjoys soccer and water sports
and wants to learn kayaking in Austin.
Sook is from Korea. She is a music major and teaches
piano and cello. She is looking forward to improving her
English skills and to making new friends in Austin.
Austin, Here We Come!
Magda is from Poland and has lived in Germany for four
years. Her fields of interests are physics and math. Magda
loves horses, and she is a swimming instructor. Her favorite
student is her three-year-old daughter, Brygida.
Mahmuda is from Bangladesh. She just finished her
medical degree, specializing in Internal Medicine.
Mahmuda will move to Austin to study English at ACC
and then continue her studies in the United States.
Her husband works as a software engineer in Austin.
Benito is from Mexico. He attends the University of Monterrey
and is majoring in Civil Engineering. Benito will spend one year
in Austin and then go to graduate school to continue his studies.
Benito enjoys camping and hiking and is a member of the
university rowing team.
What’s Cool
… AND you will learn more about Austin and its
fun places to visit and exciting things to do!
Step 1: The First Letter
Think about your first experiences in Austin:
Preparing the first letter
Got some ideas?
list your experiences
(6 in all)
decide on a logical order
write the body of the letter
What’s Next?
write out the letter in proper format
check your writing and grammar carefully
revise until you have a GREAT letter
Step 2: The Second Letter
Think about some advice that you would give to a new
international student who will move to Austin.
Preparing the second letter
Got some advice to offer?
list your suggestions/recommendations
(4 in all)
decide on a logical order
write the body of the letter
What’s Next?
write out the letter in proper format
check your writing and grammar carefully
revise until you have another GREAT letter!
Step 3: The Itinerary
Now it’s time to play tour guide! What should
the newcomer see and do in Austin?
• An art museum
• A canoe trip on Town Lake
• A great restaurant
• A nice park
• A great shopping mall
• Lake Travis or Lake Austin
• A music concert or play
Team Work: Create a Plan
You will work with a team for this part of the project.
Each member will choose 3 places or events around
Austin to show to the new student.
As a group, plan a schedule for a two-week period to
include the events you have chosen.
Each member will write a short description of each of
your three choices.
Preparing your Folder
As a group, you will turn in:
a calendar of events
(a timeline)
a paragraph explaining to the
new student what you will be
doing during the two-week period
a short description of each event
(3 per team member)
Grading
You will be graded on each part of the project:
First letter: 25% (Individual grades)
Second letter: 25% (Individual grades)
Descriptive Itinerary: 50% (Each member of
the group will get the same grade for this part
of the project.)
Grading Criteria
You will be given checklists to make
sure you have done your best work
for this project.
Grading of each part will be based on:
content (sufficient details / word count)
organization (logical outline/ordering)
vocabulary (correct choice and form of word)
grammar (tenses, verb form, word order, etc.)
mechanics (punctuation, capitalization, etc.)
Feedback and Revision
We will be working together in
class for much of this project.
You will be able to ask questions
and share your rough drafts with
your classmates and with me.
You will have plenty of time to
do a good job!
Conclusion
When you complete this project, you will have practiced:
writing letters
writing descriptions
planning projects with a team
using the grammar you have learned
…and best of all …
you will have learned that AUSTIN RULZ !!