[EMS어학원] 미국 변호사 출신 베네딕임의 Debate + Reading + Writing 수업
[EMS어학원]
미국 변호사 출신 베네딕임의 Debate + Reading + Writing 수업
COURSE OVERVIEW and OBJECTIVE:
“In some sixty years of public life, I have encountered no more compelling figure than Zhou
Enlai.” Kissinger, Henry. On China. Penguin, 2012 at p. 241. This sentence brings tears to my eyes.
It is a thing of absolute beauty--this, in a dedicated scholarly book on geopolitics! Wouldn’t you like
to be able to write like this?
■수업 일정: 매주 수,금요일 9-11am
■담당강사:
Benedict Yim
Northfield Mount Hermon
Pomona College
UC Davis Law School
미국 변호사 출신
We are embarking on a journey of experiencing together the actual act of writing in this course. This
course will cover:
[A] Acquiring a working knowledge in producing written work of the following categories, with a
focus on the stated elements of writing excellent relevant to each:
1. Creative writing
a. formulating logically coherent storyline
b. using show-not-tell technique
c. using appropriate tenses
d. using appropriate persons
e. keeping the tone engaging and appropriate for the subject matter
f. building into your storyline the WHYs and HOWs between the lines
g. maintaining the momentum in storytelling
h. word choice: creatively choosing “just the right word” for your intended meaning or nuance
i. sentence structure choice: choosing “just the right word” to replace prosaic descriptions in your sentences with more sophisticated, therefore more engaging, sentence structure
j. building toward a memorable closeout
2. Expositive/persuasive writing
a. conducting research
b. formulating logically coherent storyline with the constituent informational or logical elements of the subject matter
c. incorporating the WHYs and HOWs to every assertion you make
d. ensuring there is no “missing teeth” in the string of elements of the storyline
e. anticipating the need of the reader to know before being expected to understand your explanation or argument
f. in each paragraph, writing “mini-intro” to usher in the reader and “mini-outro” to close out the thought for the reader
g. making sure each paragraph is itself a logically coherent mini-storyline of informational or logical elements
h. making sure all paragraphs progress in such a way to form an overall logically coherent storyline
i. utilizing your chosen “master key words” strategically, but without overusing it, to assist your reader to follow along
j. maintaining the “relevancy discipline”
k. building into your storyline the WHYs and HOWs between the lines
l. maintaining the momentum in storytelling
m. word choice: creatively choosing “just the right word” for your intended meaning or nuance
n. sentence structure choice: choosing “just the right word” to replace prosaic descriptions in your sentences with shorter and more sophisticated, therefore more impactful, sentence structure
o. writing concise but full introduction with thesis that include the WHYs and the HOWs
p. writing concise but full conclusion that meaningfully and helpfully restate the overall storyline, with a memorable parting sentence
3. Journalistic fact reporting
a. observing the “facts-only-mam” discipline
b. distinguishing factual expository writing and editorial writing
[B] Acquiring an A-to-Z understanding of English grammar and sentence structure rules, in order to
be able to write error free and sophisticated texts through the following:
1. studying the BBY Grammar Table (a 25 page 3-column table prepared by Benedict Yim,
containing grammar & sentence structure rules and sample sentences containing errors for
analysis)
2. conducting grammar and sentence structure drills to open the third eye in students to begin
to recognize grammar and sentence structure errors in their and writings and other’s
INSTRUCTOR’S PHILOSOPHY and INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGY;
Some time ago, I came up with the following maxim, an epigram if you will, for my writing students:
“You do not learn to write when you write; you only learn to write when you edit.”
As such, you will be writing 4~6 fairly short essays in each semester, but you will be editing them
2~4 times each. In each class, we will select one or two student essays, at various stages of draft, and
edit them together utilizing Google Document. Only when you struggle to make your writing better
through editing--hopefully with some guidance from a coach--does your writing ability improve. In
other words, teaching or learning to write better can only be an experiential undertaking
Through our experiences together, we will focus on the following admonitions regarding writing
excellence:
● Your job as a writer is to help the reader reassemble a replica in his brain of the thoughts in
your brain effortlessly just by reading your writing. You must not let your reader have to
struggle to “figure out” what you are trying to tell him.
● Just as you must read what-the-author-is-DOING, as well as what-the-author-is-SAYING, for
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100% reading comprehension, you must be aware of and employ what-you-are-DOING as a
writer as well as what-you-are-SAYING. To wit, critical reading is a mirror image of critical
writing--two sides of the same coin.
● Everything is storytelling--i.e. storyline composed of bits of information all logically
connected and moving toward what you are trying to tell the reader. You cannot toss up a
bunch of specs of information and ask your reader to figure out what you are trying to tell
him.
● What you write always makes perfect sense to you, because it just came out of your brain. But
the poor reader cannot reassemble your thoughts in his brain if you have left out key steps in
logical progression in your storytelling. Unlike you, your reader does not have what you have
in your brain to fill in the missing links. Therefore, always guard against the missing teeth in
your storyline of logical elements.
● Build your overall outline first--no, not a partial one, but complete, however incomplete it
may be at first--and keep modifying and improving it as you write your piece.
● Then, pour it out onto your computer screen. If at all possible, don’t stop; finish your rough
draft, however unsatisfactory it may sound.
● Then, paraphrase each of your paragraphs using easy everyday words. You are checking the
one thing you told the reader in each paragraph.
● Then, assemble all your paraphrases at the top. Voila! You have your Table of Content--the
overall storyline of your piece.
● Check the logical flow and connectedness of the Table of Content.
● Editing is pure problem-solving. Keep asking yourselves:
○ How can I make it easier for the reader to understand what I mean?
○ Are my sentences--thoughts contained in them--logically connected?
○ Do my sentences--thoughts contained in them--have an inexorable momentum toward
the conclusion I am trying to tell my readers?
○ Are my sentences brief and impactful?
○ Have I forced more than 2 thoughts--absolute maximum 3--into any one sentence? If
so, break it up no matter how wonderful it may sound to you. Your job is not to
impress your reader with your mastery of grammar, but to make it easy for your
reader to understand you so that he would readily agree with you.
○ Do my sentences have a sheen? Look for opportunities to replace a bunch of words
with one brilliantly chosen word--just the right word. Just the right words are not big
SAT words; they are everyday words, human words, that shimmer where you put it.
○ Do my word choices--and sentence structure choices--show who I am as a writer? A
chosen word is not just a word; it is a piece of your thought. Make it count, in both
nonfiction and creative writing. Your vocabulary constitutes what you are as an
intellect, just as microbes in your body’s biome constitute you.
● Winston Churchill once said in his letter to his wife written from a subterranean bunker under
London during WWII, “p.s. I am sorry, my dear, I wrote you such a long letter. I just
couldn’t find the time to edit.”
● Jason Kauffman, an editor at Anchor Books once told George Freedman, a preeminent
geo-political thinker of our time: “Nonfiction needs to be terse and paced.”
● etc.
