Tag Archives: writing

A Formal Email

Grammar, Lesson Plan: Intermediate, Vocabulary, Writing, Writing skill, , , , ,

I know it might be a tiny bit too late to be posting this but I’ve  just come across it and given that we are having the test on Monday/Tuesday I sort of hope the idea of visiting the blog crossed your mind and you are one of the lucky  who will be reading and doing the interactive exercises on the website where these snapshots have been taken from:      http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/.

Scroll down their  page and make sure you do the following exercises

  • ♥Check your writing: indirect questions
  • ♥Check your writing . gap fill: Useful Phrases

Students’ Views on….

Students' Corner, Writing, ,

…two hot issues. On the one hand, Estibalith Solaguren expresses her opinion on whether Famous People are Treated Unfairly by the Media or Not  and on the other hand, Dulce Mariño gives her view on Whether Sex Education Should Be Taught at the Schools. Two very interesting issues that are food for thought. Thank very much to these two Intermediate students; I really appreciate you taking the time it takes to type and send me your contributions.

“Are famous treated unfairly by the media? Should they be given more privacy, or is the price of their fame an invasion into their private lives?”

Nowadays we can see that famous people seem to have no right to privacy. In spite of the fact that gossip programmes have so many followers, I completely disagree with how they treat celebrities.

It is true that a famous person’s life is more interesting than an anonymous one yet, they are treated unfairly.

Firstly, because there are lots of reporters waiting twenty-four seven at their doorsteps. They cannot go to the bakery without being shot, even when they go with children.

Secondly, gossip journalists give us fake news and they do not apologize if it proves to be a lie.

There are definitely different kinds of celebrities. On the one hand, there are people who are known because of their job e.g. singers, actors, … whereas, we have people who are known because they have sold their privacy. In any case, the media cannot abuse people in that way, even if they have sold their lives. It is like a prostitute who sells her/his body, it does not mean that she/he can be raped.

To sum up, the media are to inform us, but it is not necessary to attack, without mercy, a famous person to obtain a scoop.

“Sex in the schools”

Sex education for children should be approved in High School. Some people believe that it’s worse for children because they think that they are rather immature. Personally, in my view, it’s pretty important for young people to prevent teen pregnancy and sex diseases.
Firstly, the children from the age of twelve to nineteen are physically in a period of change and sex education can help them to understand the change of their sex organs.
Secondly, students are taught how to use condoms. I think that they are very embarrassed to speak with their parents about this. In addition, sex education helps to avoid social problems like early marriage, teen pregnancy, sex abuses and sex diseases.
In conclusion, I believe that sex education in the schools has important advantages for both teenagers and the society.

Now read the essay below, with a sample Opinion Essay from the British Council and if you feel you need more practise, click on the picture to do the interactive exercises on their website.

Writing : A Narrative

Lesson Plan: Intermediate, Students' Corner, Writing skill, , ,

I am sorry dear students. I know this post is long due, but as the saying goes ” better late than never”.

This is an activity I did with my intermediate classes  to do some writing practice in class. The activity was a tad demanding  because students needed to do some collaborative work, something they don’t very often do, and they also needed to include quite a few of the connectors displayed on the board ( picture below) and as many as possible of the pictures in the collage , also below, and all these ingredients put together  were supposed to produce a beautiful story to be  later displayed on the walls of the classroom for the students to read and vote for the best. The exercise was not an easy thing to do but they came up with some very funny stories, some of which  you’ll also find below.

TASK:

WRITING : A NARRATIVE

You are going to write a story beginning with sentence It was three o’clock in the morning when the phone rang. Look at the word cloud below and try to use most of the words in it. Then look at the collage of thirty pictures and include, at least, half the pictures in the collage

and these are some of their stories.

THE FAKE PRIEST

It was three o’clock in the morning when the phone rang. Immediately I got up and went to the police station because I work as a police officer.

Unfortunately, a young man dressed as a priest, with a large black cotton cassock had robbed a bank where two stunning tattooed punky girls had put the money they had obtained from a blackmail. On the other hand, the same fake priest had stolen a gold and diamond one-million-dollar ring. Fortunately, although he had a gun, nobody was injured.

The thief escaped in a cheap white Italian car. Yet, while he was in the runaway the car broke down so it was our opportunity to catch him. He was taken to the police station and he confessed he wanted the money to take a plane to a paradise island .Despite his confession, he was sentenced to do community service helping the elderly.

Finally it was 10 a.m. when I arrived home. In spite of the robbery it was a funny situation.


by Eloy, Paula and Estibaliz

A LONG NIGHT

It was three o’clock in the morning when the phone rang. My brother was calling me to tell me that his car had broken down and he was very nervous because the night was getting very dark and there was a heavy storm. Immediately, I woke up and dressed quickly. When I left the garage with my car, the street was very foggy and I had to drive very slowly, but fortunately soon the fog dissipated in the air and then I could drive calmly. Half an hour later l saw my brother’s car and the storm. He was inside the car and I asked him If he had called the police and in spite of the fact that his car had stopped one hour and a half before he hadn’t called the police yet. While my brother was talking with them I heard a strange sound but I did not worry about this yet.

Suddenly a few excited dogs appeared in the middle of the road. I managed to get into the car. On the contrary, my brother didn’t and he was bitten by one of the dogs. In this moment, the police´s car arrived and when they saw the condition my brother was in , they decided to carry him to hospital. When I arrived there and my brother was being treated. A few hours later I took him to his house and I went to mine. Nevertheless, the drama had not finished yet, because the door was open and there was a light on the second floor. I was scared and called the police… again. “It´s going to be a long night”. I thought.

By Sonia and Laura


and finally


IT WAS THREE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING

It was three o’ clock in the morning when the phone rang. It was my brother. He looked very worried. I asked him what was wrong and he answered that our father was in hospital and I had to come as fast as possible, so I called a taxi and when I arrived the doctor told me that, fortunately, he wasn’t injured at all, so he was OK.

Immediately, I met my brother and I asked him what had happened.

“I was having dinner with my fiancée, in fact, we were making plans about our wedding trip. However, the restaurant was very busy, so we decided to go for a walk. It was a warm night, yet it was cloudy and a bit rainy. Suddenly, we heard a gunshot, and dogs barking in front of the cinema. In spite of the fact that we were scared, we went to see what was wrong and we saw one person with an object (I don’t know what it was, I think it was a knife) in his hand and another person who was lying down in the street: daddy! Although the mugger could hear us, we called the police. We couldn’t see the criminal very well, but I believe he looked like a punk. Even though the police and the ambulance came very fast, the mugger disappeared and at the moment, he’s being sought. We carried our father to the ambulance. On the one hand, the ambulance was quick; on the other hand, there was a big traffic jam. And that’s all.”

At the end, our father stayed in hospital two days and now he’s like he was before the mugging… What a night!

By Alba and Noelia.

Thank you guys. Nice stories!


PhraseUp: A Useful Online Tool

freeware, Writing skill, ,

Sometimes we know what we want to write, the sentence is phrased in our mind, but we can’t figure out some of the words we need. This is where phraseup* comes in. It assists you with writing, by suggesting possible combinations to fill-in the words you can’t remember. Each suggestion is accompanied by definitions, synonyms and translations to other languages.
Imagine you want to use the verb+preposition combination “cope with” but you are just not sure which words it collocates with, just type it in PhraseUp and options will be provided.

Or maybe you know there is an expression containing the words ” take” and “granted” but you have forgotten what goes in the middle, PhraseUp can help you here, too. Just type the words that you remember and put an asterisk * where you want the application to insert something. Very useful, isn’t it?


Give it a go, it is free and you don’t even need to register.

A Word on Grammar: While and Whereas

A word on Grammar, , , , ,

I can see why these two words might create confusion in my students, as they are very similar in meaning. I hope that the problem will be solved with this brief explanation.

WHILE
♥ it is used to introduce a longer background action or situation, which is/was going on when something else happens/happened.
While they were playing cards, someone broke into their house

♥ OR to indicate that two longer actions or situations go/went on at the same time.
Joe cooked while I watched TV

This use of “while” should not be a problem for students as it is relatively easy to understand.

WHILE/WHEREAS

While can also be used to introduce a balancing contrasting point, and with this meaning, it is very similar to Whereas because both are used to balance two facts or ideas that contrast, but do not contradict each other. Both whereas and while are conjunctions and their meaning is very similar to “on the other hand” though on the other hand is not a conjunction.

I like spending my holidays in the mountains, while/whereas my wife prefers the seaside.

They can also be placed before the first of the contrasting points

While/whereas some languages have 30 or more different sounds, others have five or six.
Some languages have five or six different sounds, whereas/while others have 30 or more.

NOTE: when while is used with this meaning, a comma is necessary.

RECAP
While is used to express at the same time
While/whereas are used to express  contrasting ideas. In that case, while must be preceded by a comma.

Source: Practical English Usage  by Michael Swan . Ed Oxford