A student essay on urban sprawl

Read an essay written by Iris Lin, who is working on building her TOEFL-taking skills at New York Language Center. This essay is an integrated writing task where students read a short passage, listen to a short lecture on the topic, and respond to a question.

You'll find the first two paragraphs of her essay below; the full essay and Iris's background are at our main blog.

           Urban sprawl is the growth of cities in an unplanned manner. U.S. cities and towns are experiencing urban sprawl, leading to the rise of anti-sprawl movements such as New Urbanism. Urban sprawl has some negative and positive effects. In the passage, we learn about how New Urbanism principles can help solve the problems of urban sprawl.

            Urban sprawl problems include four parts. First, suburban cities grow outward and use land that should be left to nature. Second, single-family homes cause sprawl. Third, there are traffic jams between suburbs and cities. Fourth, there is lack of social interaction. For instance, in the 1990s,L.A., Atlanta, and Houston experienced urban sprawl. It is very harmful, and environmental groups such as the Sierra Club call sprawl “irresponsible,” a “cancer,” a “virus,” and misuse of the land.

For the full essay, please head over to our main blog. 

A quick note: To streamline our messages to our visitors, NYLC will now post all articles and student writings at our main blog. Please stop by for a visit and spread the word! :-)

News from NYLC Jackson Heights!

Would you like to improve your English writing?

Do you need to improve your writing skills to get into college?

Do you need to improve your writing in order to get a better job?

Do you need to improve your writing to write to your child’s school or teacher?

Do you need to write emails and messages to supervisors, co-workers, and clients?

Introducing NYLC’s new evening course:

Writing Essentials

Starts: August 27th, 2012

Schedule: Mon-Thurs 6-8pm

Course Length: Six Weeks

Cost: $210

*no class on Monday, September 3rd

This course reviews fundamental English skills needed for proper spelling, sentence structure, punctuation, and writing. We will review and practice the following:

· Differences in writing a text, an email, a formal letter, a report, and an essay

· Cover letters and resumes

· Complex and compound sentence structures

· Using punctuation clearly and correctly (commas, semi-colons, etc)

· Writing and responding to casual emails and texts

· Writing and responding to professional emails and letters

· Paragraph structure (topic and supporting sentences)

· Essay structure  (thesis statement, introduction, support, conclusion)

· Different types of essays

· Common spelling and vocabulary mistakes and tricks to remember how to avoid them

· Achieving appropriate writing style and tone for different writing tasks

Plus, students will have the possibility of having their writing published on the NYLC Student Writing Blog!

The class is open to anybody who would like to improve their English writing.

For more information, please contact info@nylanguagecenter.com or call (718) 476-7600.