Don’t worry if your writing in English isn’t perfect. Learn to understand a teacher’s comments on how to improve it in this episode.
Slow dialogue: 1:15
Explanations: 3:08
Fast dialogue: 17:33
Xica: I just got my paper back from Professor Rodriguez and it’s all marked up.
Lucas: Let me see. It doesn’t look too bad. This is a draft, right? His note at the top says to make revisions before handing in a final version. He’s trying to help you get a better grade.
Xica: Maybe, but there’s nothing he likes about the essay. Look at all of those comments in the margins. He underlined the entire introduction and wrote “run-on sentence” next to it.
Lucas: That’s easy to fix, and it is a run-on sentence, you know.
Xica: And in the body, he wrote that I had no transitions and that my arguments weren’t well supported.
Lucas: Well, transitions are easy to put in and you just need to cite a few more sources – that’s all.
Xica: Yeah, but that’s not all. Next to the conclusion, he wrote that I didn’t properly summarize my main points. See what I mean? There’s nothing he likes about this essay.
Lucas: I think you should take the constructive criticism as it’s meant – to help you.
Xica: It’s easy for you to say. You’re done with college. It’s kind of demoralizing to get your paper back all marked up.
Lucas: True, but you forget that I have my own battle wounds – lots of them!

Script by Dr. Lucy Tse