Learn English Writing, Basic Class: Week 11

LEARN ENGLISH WRITING

Here are the writing exercises for this week.

1. re-write the third draft of the Seconds story
2. re-write the control story – use good sentences to show change
3. complete editing exercises and articles practice questions to improve basic writing skills – this is homework
4. check answers for chapter 5 and 6 in the textbook
5. understand the difference between during and while
6. close and far away words
7. quiz review

Review for Quiz #2

What did we do since the mid-term exam?

1. Appositives – a useful sentence pattern
2. Summary story plus personal opinion – Seconds
3. Story with four people – to describe something changing
4. More editing errors in paragraphs
5. More practice with articles
6. Sentences with while and during (this week)
7. Vocabulary from chapter 5 and 6 from the textbook

ESL Writing Activity#1: While and During

Part A: While is used when writing about two actions happening at the same time.

While is used with a subject and verb.

1. While I was playing with my cat, my brother was doing his homework.
2. While we were playing poker, the CD was playing.
3. My father doesn’t like the TV on while we are eating dinner.

Part B: During tells us when an action is (was) happening.

During is used with a noun/pronoun.

1. My students are really busy during the week.
2. He was sleeping during the party.
3. The electricity went out during the storm.

Part C: Write 5 sentences each with while and during.

Close and Faraway Words

After reading this week’s stories, two things are clear. Many students are getting better at telling a story and describing things, people and action. I can see great improvement in the six traits:

1. the idea
2. organisation
3. voice
4. word choice
5. sentence fluency
6. conventions

There is one more part of writing which needs to be improved: show me, don’t tell me. This is a very important writing idea.

If the weather is cold, don’t tell me it is cold, show me the cold with your words.

We can fix this problem with words and details that bring the reader closer to the story.

PHOTO CREDIT

The image in this post comes from André Benedix and its use complies with the owner’s creative commons licensing terms.