Writing Class Week 5

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Back to school and another week of building writing skills.

This week it’s a mix of different ideas, lessons and activities to improve word choice. Among the six writing traits we have so far looked at organisation, voice and sentence fluency (choppy sentences). This week let’s focus on choosing great words.

Writing Activity 1: Fill in the Details

We did not have enough time for this activity last week. So let’s try again.

Some students have a hard time writing a paragraph with enough details to give the reader a clear picture of what they are talking about. Adding a few details can really improve your writing.

Here is an example. Read the paragraph. It is a simple description of a man and his actions. You can see the main parts of the story are there. But there are few details.

A man walked into the room and saw that there was a party going on. He glanced across the crowd, and as soon as he saw that she was there, he turned around and walked out. He didn’t even stop to put on his coat on the way to the front door, but walked out into the snow. The next day, he never answered his phone.

Here are a few questions. Use your imagination and answer the questions. Then, rewrite the paragraph by adding some details.

  1. What did the man look like?
  2. What did the room look like?
  3. What was he thinking when he saw her?
  4. How was she dressed?
  5. Why was there a party?
  6. Why didn’t he put his coat on?
  7. Why didn’t he answer his phone?

Use What You Learned

Now, go to the textbook. Look at page 45. Write a paragraph about a man who walked into this room. Use some of the vocabulary from page 45 and 46.

Writing Activity 2: Fix the Parallel Structure

Another left over activity from last week. Can you edit these sentences to create a parallel structure?

  1. Mike likes to listen to rock music and reading mystery novels.
  2. While in France, my nephew spent his time studying French, working in a restaurant, and he jogged along the Seine River every morning.
  3. My home-office is filled with student reports, scrap paper and the garbage can is overflowing.
  4. Joan decided to paint her office, to add some new curtains, and that the rug needs dry cleaning.
  5. He wanted three things out of university: to pick up a marketable skill, to make good friends, and understanding the stock market.
  6. My grandfather’s favorite pastime is to eat in trendy restaurants and visiting art galleries.
  7. Julia is in charge of stocking the shelves, writing orders, and to sell computers. 

Writing Activity 3: A Surprising Day

This is a two part writing activity.

First, watch this short video and write a summary of the story. Make a special effort to choose the best words to describe the main ideas.

Second, write a short story (one to two paragraphs) to describe a surprising day in your life. The key point here, again, is trying to find the right words to describe the people, place and events.

Writing Activity 4: An Unpleasant Day

This is another writing exercise with a video prompt. But the purpose is a little different. Here the purpose of the writing assignment is not to describe the story. instead, I want you to analyze the meaning of the story. What is the message? What does it mean to you? What do you think about it?

Instead of describing a story, this writing exercise asks you to describe thoughts and ideas.