Bible Plagiarizer Confronted

"Look, you didn't write these poems. This one is a famous limerick. It was written well before you were born. Did you write it in a past life? And this one, this one is from the Bible! It's almost two thousand years old. Don't even try to tell me you wrote this."

"But miss, I wrote those other poems."

"I don't care if you wrote some of the poems, although I don't believe you did because I didn't see you write them in the class. Look, here underlined in red, 'any instance of plagiarism will result in a zero.' Zero. That's what you are getting."

"Miss, miss, can I resubmit? I will email it to you."

"No. I told you clearly that you must write the poems yourself, and that if you did not, you'd get a zero. If you email me I will not read it."

You think by now the girl would have some dignity and either confess or give up. She stayed around for 20 minutes begging me to let her re-do the assignment. Two former plagiarizers who had changed their way were also there to witness the scene. They had learned their lessons and handed in excellent work. One of them even earned 97% on her assignment.

I was adamant with the newest plagiarizer.

"Look, would you take verses from your Holy Qur'an, and put your name on them? Would you say that you had written them? This is exactly what you've done. You can not steal other people's work and lie and say that it is yours. This is not acceptable."

Finally, she gave up. The sad thing is that she'll surely try it again with other teachers.

Plagiarizing God?

My B.Ed students handed in their poetry portfolios yesterday. Despite the warning on their assignment sheets, I've still got one blatant plagiarizer.

"All items submitted must be 100% original and written by you. Your instructor will search the Internet if the items do not match your writing style or level. Any instance of plagiarism will result in a zero for this assignment and a warning from the department."

Now, we did all the writing in the class, and this girl used to sit blankly without writing much in her notebook. I must admit that her English level is quite low, particularly writing skills, and she should have had to pass some prerequisite in order to take my course: Teaching Creative Writing.

I suggested she withdraw from the class and take it later once her English skills were stronger, but she stayed on.

When she handed in her poetry portfolio, it was by far the most decorated project. Any teacher knows that at the university level, this is a red flag! Unfortunately for her, this was not an art collage, but it was supposed to represent a semester of poetry writing. I don't believe she wrote any of the poems in her portfolio. She included the famous limerick attributed to an anonymous author:

"There was a young lady from Niger
Who smiled as she rode on a tiger.
They returned from the ride
With the lady inside,
And a smile on the face of the tiger."

She then went on to plagiarize the apostle Paul by using the famous
love passage from 1 Corinthians 13, as quoted from this website.

You'd think if someone was going to steal another person's work and
put her name on it,that she'd at least avoid plagiarizing the
Holy Spirit!  

First ESL Workbook & Teacher's Book Almost Finished!

Today I'm about to finish the first book/workbook/teacher's resource kit in an ESL series for the Ali Institute. The course is called Everyday English 1, and it's an 80-hour course for advanced beginners. I've got some minor editing to do, but the student workbook is 101 pages, the teacher's lesson plan book is 170 pages, and there's also 149 pages of photocopiable materials for quizzes, games, activities, and visual aids. Now I've got to figure out how to organize it all and get it published! Then I'm on to work on the English Language Teaching (ELT) post-graduate certificate program (3 months) and Everday English 2 (intermediate level English).

Summer Workshops 2008

I’d like to let you know about my upcoming workshops being offered at Ali Institute of Education. If you know anyone who you think would benefit from these workshops please let them know. All workshop participants must have at least high-intermediate English as the entire course will be conducted in English.

Creative Writing

Dates: July 7 – July 19
Days: Monday to Saturday
Timing: 9am-12pm
Total Hours: 36
Cost: 3000 rupees
Course Details

Great for anyone who wants to improve their own creative writing or learn how to effectively teach creative writing skills for grade 6 and up.

**Sign up now!**

There are only a small number of participants registered for this course. It is the summer workshop I am most excited about. I have created all new material and practical teacher-resources that would be of great use in your English classroom. This workshop is broken up into 4 mini units of 3 days each. You can join for only one or two units at a discounted price.

Learn Grammar by Having Fun

Dates: July 21 – 26
Days: Monday to Saturday
Timing: 9am-12pm
Total Hours: 18
Cost: 2000 rupees
Course Details

Improve your understanding of verb tense and parts of speech in English while doing interactive activities and playing fun games. Designed for both language students and teachers.

English Teaching Skills

Dates: July 29-Aug 1
Days: Tuesday to Friday
Timing: 9am-12pm
Total Hours: 12
Cost: 2000 rupees
Course Details

Understand the basics of English language teaching in this intensive four-day workshop.

For any of the workshops contact:
Naima Qureshi
Ali Institute of Education
042-588-2912

Ali Institute of Education is located off of Ferozepur Road, near Gulab Devi Hospital.