I would like to have you send me the essay you offered.  If you need my
snail mail address, it is 5513 Verda Lane NE in Keizer, OR 97303.

Thank you.
Joanne Sandhu
----- Original Message -----
From: William J. McCleary <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Monday, May 29, 2000 10:31 AM
Subject: Re: horror stories ...


> You should have among the handouts to use with English Ed classes an essay
> called "A Lesson about teaching English" that was printed in the Toronto
> Globe and Mail (Feb. 25, 1993). The essay is addressed to Andrew Nikiforuk
> and Robert D. Katz, two critics of Canadian education.
>
> After an introduction that includes much sensible and workable advice on
> teaching grammmar and composition, the author, Brian Kellow, ruins his
> whole message by launching into the following description of how he
teaches
> revision:
>
>
> Then my students write a first draft, at home, usually of at least 500
> words. The next day they bring in their drafts and we work on them.
>
> "We work on them" This sounds so simple, doesn't it? This actually means
> that in groups of four and also with me working with each student, one on
> one, we apply what one of my student has called "Kellow's Sacred Rules of
> Writing," which I did not devise, but borrowed from, among others, George
> Orwell.
>
> Rule One: Never use the passive voice. Again, this sounds so simple.
> However, it usually takes several lessons to teach my students the
> difference between the passive and active voices. Furthermore, it requires
> me to teach and them to learn how to re-structure sentences from passive
to
> active.
>
> Rules Two: Never use any version of the verb "to be." Just try it, Andrew
> and Robert, and you will scurry to your thesauruses looking for verbs,
> active verbs.
>
> Rule Three: Mr. Kellow will inform you of any grammatical, syntactical
> matters you need to know as you proceed.
>
> Rule Four: The final draft (students usually complete at least five) must
> be free of all errors in spelling, graqmmar, punctuation, syntax, sentence
> structure, usage, mechanics, etc.
>
>
> I gave my students both Kellow's essay and the first paragraph of George
> Orwell's "Politics and the English Language, which uses three "to be"
verbs
> and one passive.
>
> Among the many ironies is that the newspaper would print the essay without
> comment, as if no one there has any knowledge about either grammar or the
> teaching of punctuation.
>
> If anyone would like to have a copy of the essay, send me a message off
> list and I'll mail you one.
>
> Bill
>
>
> William J. McCleary
> 3247 Bronson Hill Road
> Livonia, NY 14487
> 716-346-6859
>