Write and improve

Write & Improve is a free online service from Cambridge University Press to help English students of all levels improve their writing skills. Here's the way Cambridge University Press describes Write & Improve.

"Write & Improve is the best way to improve your written English outside the classroom. Just choose a task and write about the topic.

Submit your work and Write & Improve  will award you a Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) level, so you can see your progress. It will check your spelling, vocabulary and grammar in seconds and suggest ways to improve your writing.

Write & Improve is the reliable new way to improve your writing skills. And it’s completely free for learners of English!"

Phraseup

phraseup* is a useful online tool that may be of assitance with writing by finding and filling up the words we can't remember or we don't know the right collocation for.

So if we type the beginning of the saying The early bird... in the phraseup* search box, a number of options will come up:
catches the worm.
gets the worm.
rate.

We just have to choose the right one or the sentence ending that best fits for our purposes.

phraseup* can be a useful tool for English students when writing compositions if they want to make sure they are using the right combinations of words in their sentences.

Storybird

Storybird is a platform that lets anyone make visual stories in seconds. Storybird  selects artwork from illustrators and animators around the world and inspires writers of any age to turn those images
into fresh stories.

It's a simple idea that has attracted millions of writers, readers, and artists to Storybird. Families and friends, teachers and students, and amateurs and professionals have created more than 5 million stories—making Storybird one of the world's largest storytelling communities.

You can read the stories in the Read section of Storybird and write stories in the Write section, although you will have to sign up to do so.

British Council Skills

The British Council offers English language learners of almost all levels (those who are in the A1-B2 range) the possibility of improving their listening, reading and writing skills through activities and exercises in exam format.

There are around 10 prepared activities in each of the four levels (A1, A2, B1 and B2), and they all come complete with texts, exercises, answers, transcripts and audio files, all of which are downloadable.

The British Council Skills are specially suitable for learners who must sit skill-based exams.

Sample writing for your exams

One of the sections of My That's English! we are more proud of is the series Writing workshop, where we followed a step-by-step guide on how to improve students' writing skills with a view to improving their performance in exams.

At the time we considered it unsuitable to provide samples for the different types of composition tasks that we were dealing with because we felt some students might fall into the temptation of using those samples for their school work. That is the main reason why we have very much been debating whether to post about Sample writing for your exams, a blog created by  Johanes Djogan which focuses on providing samples for the different types of tasks English students may come across in different kinds of exams (Cambridge, IELTS, TOEFL).

This is the way Johanes Djogan introduces his blog:

"Examwriting is a blog focused on delivering free material for self-preparation. If you need to take IELTS, FCE, CAE or TOEFL, you have come to the right place. Plenty of essay examples, formal or informal letters, reports, descriptions are at your disposal.

The most important factors that can affect your overall score are your expressions, vocabulary and sentence structures. It is crucial that your ideas are logically organised and with sufficient argumentation. Read our sample essays and descriptions to improve your performance and use them as a means of maximizing your results."

So, Examwriting will help you get out of the box for a while and get a wider picture of the different types of writing tasks you might come across in exams, together with samples which might throw some light on the way you should tackle them.

Reading test: 7 Ways to Ensure Your Emails Get Read

In today's reading test we are practising the heading matching type of task.

It is based on a blog post by Tom Searcy, 7 Ways to Ensure Your Emails Get Read, who contacted email expert Jonathan Borge  to get some tips on how to master the art of getting emails answered.

Match headings A-H with their corresponding paragraph 1-7. There is an extra heading you don't need to use.

A Be careful with the timing 
B Do your homework
C Email content
D Give them time
E Mind your image
F Sound accessible
G What the recipient actually sees is essential
H Your sign-off

1.
Remember that only 20 percent to 40 percent of your emails will actually get opened, though most of your subject lines will be seen. To boost your open rates, think of short, catchy, and informative subject lines. You should try to dangle compelling information ("The future of sales emails"), and you can even try adding some mystery ("Strange question"). We also recommend personalized subject lines, if possible ("Hunter Sullivan suggested I contact you").]

2.
Portray yourself as someone that other people can connect to. You'll want to show your recipients that you care about hearing back from them... so you can't simply sound like you're just sending another mass email. Never use "Dear sir or Madam," and stay away from overly formal language.

3.
 Make your emails short, simple, and easy to quickly digest. Your leads are busy people with jobs, too, so you need to maintain their interest. Do your research and find out what resonates for your prospects. Try to get an introduction to them or, if that's not possible, figure out in more detail what they or their company do. Tell them why you're emailing them, specifically. Talk about how you can solve a problem for them.

4.
End your emails with a definitive, clear call to action. Make it dead simple for your recipients to say yes-;whether it's to a meeting, phone call, or product demo. Don't ask them for permission. If you want a phone call, then say "Call me right now at X for more details."

5.
Reach out to your leads when they're not too busy. Make sure you avoid heavy traffic times like Monday mornings. Based on our tracking data, we recommend the middle of the week, mid-day, as the best time to send emails.

6.
First impressions are important both in person and online. The tone and formatting of your email is all your recipients have to judge you by. Make sure you are being professional, clear, and easy to understand. Stay away from over-formatted emails that look gimmicky, but don't hesitate to call out important information in bold or bullet points.

7.
Send yourself a sales email. Put yourself in your leads' shoes. If you were them, would you open this email? Would you spend more than two seconds reading it? If so, what would you do next?

Key:
1G 2F 3C 4H 5A 6E 7B

Reading test: 10 old letter-writing tips that work for emails

In our reading comprehension activity we are going to do a heading matching activity , a kind of reading task very much favoured in all kinds of exams these days.

It is based on the BBC article 10 old letter-writing tips that work for emails by Simon Garfield. I have had to simplify the original text a little bit to adapt it to the rubric (as a matter of fact, there's just nine tips on the activity), so make a point of reading the full article once you have done the activity.

Read 10 old letter-writing tips that work for emails below and match paragraphs 1-8 with the headings A-J. There is one heading you don't need to use and 0 is an example.

A - Be more polite than you really want to be
B - Be spontaneous, be free
C - Don't be afraid to adulate
D - Don't forget the paper clip
E - Emotional blackmail may work with your progenitors
F - Keep it brief
G - Tell it like it is
H - The young get all the blame
I - Write as you speak
J - Write back swiftly, but carefully

Before email, letter-writing guides were best sellers, the faddy self-help books of their day. There are still many things that we can learn from them before pressing "send", says Simon Garfield.

0. Heading G
In the guide Cupids Messenger of 1629, the anonymous author told his readers how to write to an unfaithful partner. There was really no point being polite. Far better to be bilious and vengeful. "Leprosie compared to thee is all health... neither thy bodie nor thy soule are free from the disease of shame and disgrace of the world." Try this ancient advice first, and only then revert to the more modern solution of a letter from a solicitor.

1.
This advice first appeared in a Latin tract somewhere between the 4th Century BC and 4th Century AD. A letter should be "restricted", it advised. "Those that are too long, not to mention too inflated in style, are not in any true sense letters at all but treatises." Correspondents were told to be both graceful and plain. "A letter's aim is to express friendship concisely and set out a simple subject in simple terms. The man who utters sententious maxims and exhortations seems to be no longer chatting in a letter but preaching from the pulpit."

2.
This advice, much favoured by Jane Austen, is believed to have been initially promoted by Aristotle in about 360BC. His precise instructions do not survive, but Artemon, the editor of Aristotle's letters, maintained that "a letter should be written in the same manner as a dialogue".
Aristotle carrying the morning's post.

3.
Want to say thanks for dinner? Look to the writing manual by Hugh of Bologna from the 12th Century. One of Europe's epistolary masters, Hugh's compliments knew no ceiling. In a letter to another scribe, he observes how, under his guidance, "the uneducated are immediately cultivated, the stutterers are immediately eloquent, the dull-witted are immediately enlightened, the twisted are immediately made straight". May also do the trick when applying for a job or a loan.

4.
In 1686, Philip, second Earl of Chesterfield, wrote a book of instruction for his eldest daughter. Some of it concerned the layout of a letter ("If you write to a Queen, begin your first line within three fingers breadth of the bottom of the paper"), but there was also advice we may heed today. He advised his daughter to carefully re-read what she had written before sending it, checking her spelling with a dictionary and making sure not to repeat words. But above all be prompt. "It is a very great incivilitie not to answer all the letters we do receive, except they come from our servants or very mean persons."

5.
The Ladies Complete Letter-Writer of 1763 offered "polite and improving" advice on all matters "that usually interest the Fair Sex". There were template letters about the lasting impact of scandal and the dangers of over-flirtatious behaviour, and details of how to write to a woman who had lost her beauty to smallpox. But within the 275 pages there was also something that may be emailed today (albeit with slightly modified language) to an overbearing parent determined to match-make. "Punish me by any other means provoked authority can invent," an unidentified daughter pleads with her mother. "Condemn me to pass the whole remainder of my days in lonely solitude; shut me from all society, or banish me where only lions and tigers dwell. Fate cannot reach me in any shape so horrid as the embraces of Andrugio."

6.
Lewis Carroll loved letter-writing so much that in 1888 he patented something called The Wonderland, a special case with a pocket to house every denomination of postage stamp. You bought the case and you got a free booklet entitled Eight or Nine Wise Words About Letter-Writing, some of it concerned with not missing the last post. But there was also something we can use today - advice on showing restraint. Carroll warned his readers to think very carefully before getting involved in a Trollopian war. "If you have written anything that may offend, put the letter aside for a day and then read it as if you were the recipient," he wrote. "This will often lead to your writing it all over again, taking out a lot of the vinegar and pepper, and putting in honey instead." Carroll's other rules:
•    if your correspondent makes a severe remark, either ignore it or soften your response
•    if your friend is friendly, make your reply ever friendlier

7.
Carroll had one more piece of wisdom, as applicable now as 125 years ago. If you write that you're enclosing a cheque or someone else's letter, "leave off writing for a moment - go and get the document referred to - and put it into the envelope. Otherwise, you are pretty certain to find it lying about, after the post has gone!" For "cheque" read "email attachment".

8.
In All The Year Round, the Victorian journal "conducted" by Charles Dickens, a contributor wrote a letter-writing guide that contained the one nugget common to almost all the guides that had preceded it - write legibly. But what of those who can write but don't? "This is more generally the fault of young people, and arises chiefly from thoughtless selfishness. Their thoughts and their time are engrossed with their own pleasures and pursuits. It is more amusing and interesting to write to young people of their own age than to write duty letters to parents and relatives." Do these terrible people not write at all? "A shabby, ill-considered, stilted letter is written at wide intervals to those whose whole life has been spent in their service, while folios of trash are lavished on bosom friends to whom they owe no duty whatsoever." Texting was only a century away…

photo credit: BBC

Key:
1F 2I 3C 4J 5E 6A 7D 8H

Madrid Teacher: For and against television debate

Television is a recurrent topic in the English class, so most students at an intermediate level and above will be no strangers to this three-minute debate on TV, where two Madrid Teachers hold opposing views, one in favour of TV and the other one against it.

Once again, these Madrid Teacher videos give us the opportunity to get acquainted with the conversational strategies native speakers use in conversation. Watch the video through and pay attention to the following:

Expressing disbelief in what the other person is saying
You’re kidding right?
Are you kidding me? 
Really?

Showing the speaker that you are paying attention
Ok.
Right.
Uhum.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, true.

Involving the listener in the conversation
What do you think?

Explaining yourself more clearly
I mean

Introducing contrast, change or hesitation
Well

Introducing a change or a request for clarification
So



Remember that if you want to understand everything that is being said in the conversation, you can activate the CC subtitles on the lower side of the YouTube videoplayer, which will give you a very accurate transcription.

English students very often find 'for and against topics' (like TV, mobile phones, social networking sites, living in a big city, living in a flat, sharing a flat, being an only child) in the writing paper of exams. These composition tasks have a clear-cut structure that students must follow.

The topic in the composition below is 'advantages and disadvantages of university students living on campus'. Pay attention to the four-paragraph structure and the connectors or linking words that join ideas and which are highlighted in blue.

Paragraph 1: Introduction
In recent years, the number of British students living on campus has increased dramatically, but is this the most suitable form of accommodation for young people who are preparing to obtain a degree and who also have their first opportunity to learn about life?
 
Paragraph 2: List of advantages (usually two or three)
I will start by looking at the advantages of living on campus. For a start, life is usually cheaper. For example, food and accommodation are often subsidized by the university and students who live off campus have to pay normal prices for everything. Moreover, you don’t have to deal with things that go wrong in rented accommodation, such as washing machines breaking down or gas cookers that don’t work properly. The most important reason is the time you save being so close to places like the library. Consequently, you have much more time to study.

Paragraph 3: List of disadvantages (usually two or three)
However, there are some disadvantages too. First of all, it is easy to spend all your time on campus and because of that you can lose contact with the ‘real world’. What is more, you don’t have as much independence or freedom on campus as off. For instance, you normally can’t choose what and when to eat. Finally, if you live on campus, it isn’t necessary to develop the same life skills as you would if you lived off campus –skills like managing the day-to-day running of a house.

Paragraph 4: Conclusion
To sum up, we must bear in mind that the main reason for being at university is to study. Although it has some obvious drawbacks, living on campus allows students more time to study without the distractions and responsibilities of rented accommodation. As a result, I would recommend people to live on campus if they have the chance.

Suggested activity:
Write a for and against composition on the advantages and disadvantages of television. Write about 160 words.

So, much that is on television is just absolute garbage, trash. I think television has been getting worse, worse, and worse every year. It’s a . . . Really.
You’re kidding right?
No, I think the best thing for reading and literature is television.
Really?
Actually, yea, true, that’s true.
You’re kidding?
No, I’m not. Look “Big Brother”
What about it?
It’s, it’s garbage.
Ok.
It’s cheap trash, and what, children are watching that! People are watching that, and emulating that, copying that.
Right.
I mean they’re copying everything off that boob tube. They are copying the violence, a lot of criminals are actually learning. They’re getting an education there on how to be better criminals.
Uhum. . .
It’s an absolute waste of time. Instead of getting an education, children are watching three hours of TV a day, and as an added bonus they are gaining weight. They’re getting overweight watching television.
Are you done?
No, but go ahead. What do you think?
Are you kidding me? Are you kidding me? Are you serious? You really believe that all the problems in society have to do with television?
Mmmmm. . .. yeah!
Ok. So, where does parenting come in to all this?
Well, I think parents are delegating their responsibilities to television.
Ok. So, it’s not television the problem, it’s the parenting. Society not doing their job.
Well, if they didn’t have television, if they didn’t have television, they would find something else like take their children out to the park.
Oh, yeah. . .
But they can’t take their children out to the park, because, what! All the other children are watching television.
Well, that has nothing to do with it. People, to begin with. . . many. . . centuries, centuries, centuries ago... people were still violent, and you know. . . what, Hey! Look at the French Revolution. They were chopping people’s heads off left and right. What television was to blame then?
Well, thankfully, they didn’t have television, because...
So, who are you blaming then?
Well, if they’d had television, it would have been even worse.
Society is just screwed up! Society is screwed up because we’re, in… we’re usually just thinking about ourselves, and very selfish, and not only that, we have beast traits to us.
Yeah, true, but television is not helping anything out, it’s making it worse.
Oh, wow, so, what, making it worse? They were still being violent back then when there was no television. So, what, what, what are you saying now? Now, it’s just, the reason now that we know about all this violence is because of television, because now television serves as double. . . okay, a “double edged” sword. I’ll give you that, because before people did not hear about it, because they were in a mountain. Far and off, off, off away. And then so, who told them there was being killed or murdered or raped? No one! But now we have this beautiful world called. . . you know Media, and television, and we get images and then people are shocked, but this has been happening for centuries.

Reading test: How many hours does it take to be fluent in English?

This school year we are starting off a new section in the blog which focuses on reading. Every other Saturday, we will be publishing reading comprehension and vocabulary activities on an online article. This way we intend to come full circle in the activities My That's English! offers students, especially those at an intermediate level and those who have to sit an official exam like the EOI exam, by providing activities in the four skills through (mainly) internet-based material.

I came across today's article, How many hours does it take to be fluent in English?, through Patrick McMahon and his excellent English for University.

Before you read the article, think about these questions.
Do you consider yourself to be fluent in English?
What is the best course of action to become fluent in a foreign language?
How long does it take to speak good English?

Now you can read the article and find out about the answer to questions two and three above. You might come across some vocabulary difficulties, just ignore them the first time you read the article.

Reading comprehension
Say whether these statements are true (T), false (F) or the information is not given (NG), according to the article.
1 The majority of immigrants in the UK don’t speak English well.
2  It might take 360 hours to achieve citizenship in the UK.
3  Immigrants who don’t speak English won’t be allowed to ask for benefits.
4 One week is enough to learn very basic conversational English.
5  How fast you learn a language changes from one person to another.
6 Immersion is the only essential factor for immigrants to learn the language well.
7 Having a very good command of a foreign language is not always possible.

The article, How many hours does it take to be fluent in English?, is quite lengthy, so we've taken some sentences out of it to work on vocabulary:

In sentences 1-5, find the verbs with these meanings:
a) establish residence; b) learn; c) reduce; d) run away from; e) throw forcefully.
In sentences 6-10, trying to explain the words in red in your own words.

1. But even with classes, it can be a long process to pick up the language.
2. But many of the people who attend courses are visiting students rather than people settling in the UK. 
3. School plunges them into the new language.
4. Every (UK) government has been trying to bring it down (it=the number of hours necessary to move up a level).
5. Thura (...) fled Burma for political reasons and arrived in the UK in 2009.
6. George Osborne said (...) that welfare claimants who don't speak English will have their benefits cut
7. It will vary from illiteracy to degree level.
8. ...and have a large bearing on how they can learn in the classroom.
9. ...exposure to hearing English is crucial.
10. ...immigrants arriving on a spouse's visa are not eligible for free English classes.

Learning eight, ten or twelve vocabulary items whenever we do a reading activity is a sensible target we can set ourselves, as long as we know how to fully use the new vocabulary, revise it and use it regularly and know how to pronounce it. Remember that howjsay is an invaluable online pronunciation dictionary that can help you with pronunciation issues.

Discussion
After reading the article, how do you view your own English language learning?
What should you do more of that you don't?
How can we get immersed in the language we are learning without living in the country?

Writing
The son of your English friend is coming to your country to study a year of his degree within the Erasmus project. Write an email to your friend giving him/her some advice for their child on how to best learn your language in the area where you live. Write around 170 words.

For how to write a letter of advice you can visit on this blog: Writing workshop 22

Key:
1NM 2F 3F 4F 5T 6F 7T
a) settle b) pick up c) bring down d) flee (flee-fled-fled) e) plunge
6 claimant: someone who claims (asks for) a benefit or right
7 illiteracy: not being able to read and/or write
8 bearing: influence
9 exposure: the condition of being exposed to something, ie, have direct contact with something
10 spouse: your husband or wife

Interactives- Elements of a Story: Cinderella

It must have been around summer time this year that Richard Byrne, the person behind Free Technology for Teachers, posted about Interactives: Elements of a Story, an interactive lesson from Annenber Learner , provider of educational materials for American teachers.

As Richard Byrne himself explains, Interactives - Elements of a Story "uses the story of Cinderella as a model for learning about the elements of a story."

From the very beginning I noticed the positive implications this interactive could have in an English class for students of almost all levels: First of all, students listen and read the story of Cinderella. This tale will be used as a framework to teach the key elements in any story.

Then the different elements of a story are explained one by one (setting, character, sequence, exposition, conflict, climax and resolution) using the story of Cinderella to illustrate each of them. As happens with the story, the explanations can both be read and/or listened to. Students have to do a short quiz at the end of each explanation, which helps them consolidate the concepts.

Writing stories is a must in the English class. In my experience, this is one of the most difficult writing tasks a learner can undertake, as it demands specific narrative techniques that a good share of students are lacking in. Students can also adapt the key elements in a story shown in Interactives - Elements of a Story  when they write about personal anecdotes or when they have to make up a story.

Interactives - Elements of a Story is a funny, practical lesson that can throw some light into a really demanding writing task.

Letter Exemple Help -Sample letters for business and formal situations

There is some controversy in the teaching world over the suitability to provide learners with sample texts when it comes to composition writing, as the student might somehow feel straightjacketed and their imagination constrained. On top of that, sample compositions have a limited effect in exam classes, as the questions in the writing paper are anything but predictable.

Some teachers claim the idea is not to think of a composition as a product, but as the result of a process with the emphasis on answering the question in full and making sure the parts of the composition are coherent and the ideas well developed.

Having said this, let me tell you about Letter Example Help . Letter Example Help has been created by Melanie Walters "to help you address formal situations with a written letter. With the advent of the internet and people texting each other with incomplete sentences, I created this website for those that require inspiration for a formal letter example format." In addition, for non-native speakers of English finding the right formulaic expressions is sometimes an insurmountable task.

The examples on  Letter Example Help can be downloaded in Word format but Melanie makes a point of  reminding users to personalize each letter for their particular situation.

Melanie Walters is "a writer and editor for several businesses both online and offline. Her experience with writing business letters and marketing materials has helped her understand exactly what works in written communication for businesses. In the 10 years she's been writing, Melanie has amassed a large collection of letter examples that she gladly shares with you here on Letter Example Help ."

Remembering Gore Vidal

Gore Vidal, the American writer, died on 31 July this year. He belonged in the generation of Norman Mailer and JD Salinger and was known for his novels, essays and media appearances, always showing an interest for social and historical topics, and the identity of America.

This nine-minute video clip from PBS looks back on his life and his achievements.

Watch Gore Vidal Raised the Dust of the Nation in His Writing on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.

You can read a full transcript here.

Conquering the comma

A long time ago I came across University English, a webpage written by Patrick McMahon, a lecturer in the UK teaching on a variety of Academic English courses and teacher training courses at Plymouth University.

University English is primarily intended for international students who want to improve their English language skills, but the site is full of resources for English language students at an intermediate level and above -reading, listening, writing and English language issues are dealt with in a systematic way.


It is on University English  that I first heard of the term comma splice, that is, the incorrect use of a comma in between two sentences, instead of using a conjunction to link the two sentences together, or simply separate the two sentences with a stop.


It is nearly half past five, we cannot reach town before dark. (comma splice)
It is nearly half past five, so we cannot reach town before dark. (use of a connector to link the two sentences)


Funnily enough, right after reading about the comma splice on University English, I just noticed how often this problem presents itself in students' writing of all levels.


Patrick McMahon suggested taking a look at an OWL’s powerpoint on the use of commas, conquering the comma. Pay special attention to slide 24 and following, where the problem of the comma splice is explained.

And make a point of dropping by University English on occasion. You won't regret it.

Paragraph structure

One of the most popular features on this blog is the series Writing Workshop, where we deal with several aspects concerning techniques and strategies to develop the writing skill with a view to improving students' performance in the writing paper of the test.

Many of the ideas set out in the Writing Workshop can also be easily spotted on the net. Take, for instance, the standard paragraph structure:

Topic sentence
Supporting sentences
Concluding sentence

This video by SmrtEnglish dwells on this standard paragraph structure, and gives us lots of visual support to help with understanding and lots of examples for us to figure out what the teacher is really talking about.

Top Ten Writing Rules From Famous Writers

During the school year the skill of writing has been a priority for us through the writing workshop entries on this blog, as the writing paper stands for 25% of the overall mark.

It is for this reason that I found this video so enlighting. Here are the ten pieces of advice we are offered:


10 Write a draft, then let it rest
9 Read a lot
8 Never use a long word when a short one will do
7 Never use the passive voice when you can use the active voice
6 Know your audience
5 Recycle and read the good stuff before you write
4 Honour the miraculousness of the ordinary
3 Good copy = draft -10%
2 Look at every word in a sentence and decide if they are really needed. If not, kill them. Be ruthless.
1 Remember, writing doesn’t love you. It doesn’t care. Nevertheless, it can behave with remarkable generosity. Speak well of it, encourage others, pass it on.

Easier said than done, though.



H/T to Larry Ferlazzo.

A wall of books

Only yesterday I was informing you that I had been so badly pressed for time in the last few weeks that I had been unable to post an entry on Earth Day.

The same story goes for today's post, which I had meant to write about for 23rd April, Book Day. This is a great idea by Mª Jesús García, an EOI teacher at EOI Luarca, who is the person behind Stop and Learn English and who came up with the initiative A Wall of Books to encourage students and people in general to read by posting a short review of a book that had made an impact on them.

I must confess I had intended to take part in A Wall of Books by posting about my all-time favourite, Brazaville Beach by William Boyd, but once again, I was simply snowed under and not psyched up for it.

Anyway, better late than never, as they say. Go through the countless suggestions on A Wall of Books and, who knows?,  you may find something to busy yourself with a good read and you can also get the writing bug and try your hand at reviewing a book you enjoyed.

Writing workshop (and) 29

This is our twenty-ninth and last installment in our writing workshop. Throughout our posts we have intended to make students familiar with some techniques and we have also tried to raise their awareness about specific writing formats and tasks they may encounter in an exam.

Posts 1 to 9 of the workshop are based on basic writing techniques and have a universal value. This is very useful advice we can follow if we want to write well, inside and outside the class, as English students and in life. The ideas on the posts are mainly taken from Feedback, a Cambridge University Press writing course that despite its age, it was published in 1994, it is as valid today as it was when it first came out.

Posts 10-13 list a number of connectors that may come in handy when writing compositions, when dealing with any sort of task where we have to write complex sentences or when we speak and must link sentences together. In many respects,  these posts are also a good opportunity for grammar revision, as some of the connectors listed are closely related to specific grammar points to express condition, result, cause, and so on. They are mainly taken from another great book we can still find on the market, Successful Writing, intermediate and upper-intermediate, Express Publishing.

Posts 14-28 are intended for students at an intermediate level who must sit an English exam with a composition writing paper. More specifically, they were written with the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas  Intermediate cycle exam in mind, and especially for the distance –That’s English!- students, as they must work at home and are often lacking in a tutor’s guidance about specific aspects of the exam and how to tackle them.

Posts 14 and 15 focus on the different types of tasks and how to understand them.

Post 16 makes a summary of the most relevant aspects of all the information published on this writing workshop up until that moment.

From posts 17 to 28 we focused on task formats that demand the students know specific conventions and formulas that may have a key influence in the overall mark:
Post 17: Informal letters/emails
Post 18 Formal letters
Post 19: Letters of complaint
Post 20: Writing a character reference
Post 21: A letter of application
Post 22: A letter of advice
Post 23: A letter asking for advice
Post 24: A letter to the editor
Post 25: A report
Post 26: Expressing your opinion
Post 27: Expressing a balanced argument
Post 28: Problems and solutions

In some of these posts, especially in 26, 27 and 28, some specific writing techniques were also touched on.

There many other types of writing tasks we haven't explored:
Description of people, places, buildings
Description of festivals and events
Writing stories and narratives
Writing reviews of films, books, plays, concerts, CDs, websites

We have decided against dealing with them here because their occurrence in the exam so far has been marginal and because, let’s face it, however much we try to “fence in” the written task, reality always proves itself impossible to cover.

I always say in class it’s easier to win the lottery than guess the composition topics in an exam. It is an exaggeration, but my point is, and the point we have tried to make on the blog is, that technique is very important, and technique, together with inspiration and our grasp of English, can help us sail through whatever written tasks we are faced with.

We know that some of the content in the writing workshop would have demanded a more detailed explanation, with practical activities and composition samples, but that is ground that overlaps a teacher’s task and that students should explore on their own if a teacher is not at hand, or with the help of some of the reference book we have mentioned here.

Just before the Easter break a student, who was badly pressed for time, asked me how he could make headway in English without devoting too much time to it. I am afraid to say I don’t have the answer for that, but if this is your case and you badly need some quick guidelines for composition writing, I think that posts 3 and 16 will do it for you.

Writing Workshop 28: Problems and solutions

Problems and solutions

When we write, we always need to think about the reader. That means we have to introduce our ideas clearly. To do this, we need to use topic sentences.

We have mentioned topic sentences several times during this Writing Workshop. They help the reader follow the plan of our composition. They are like signposts for a driver.

Topics sentences are usually the first sentence in a well-organised and well-developed paragraph. But topic sentences are helped by other sentences within the paragraph, the supporting sentences, which develop the main idea, give examples, and explain points.

Let’s have a look at an example. Take the composition topic “The number of people who are overweight or obese is far higher than in previous generations. What are the reasons for this, and how can the problem be dealt with?”. We have included five points within our paragraph:

1 The main idea of the paragraph = topic sentence
2 An explanation of the main idea
3 An example
4 The solution to the problem
5 The result of the solution (i.e. what would happen if we tried the solution). We tend to use the conditional would because we are making hypothesis.

One of the reasons that so many people are overweight is that they eat junk food instead of cooking a healthy meal (1). It is common these days for people to eat takeaway food or pick up a ready meal from the supermarket, rather than cook a healthy meal (2). For instance, in the UK, sales of pre-prepared meals, which contain high levels of fat and salt, have increased dramatically in the last few years (3). To tackle this issue, the government could increase sales tax on food considered to be unhealthy (4). This would hopefully encourage consumers to buy healthier food and therefore lose weight (5).

There are several ways we can develop topic sentences in a paragraph. Let’s have a look at some of them:

a) Linking phrases to explain the main idea: That is to say, … / In other words, …
One problem in cities is the cost of public transport. That is to say, in big cities like Madrid the price of using public transport such as the bus or tube is extremely expensive. As a result, …

b) Giving reasons:  This is because… / The reason is…
One issue is that a lot of young children don’t have a healthy diet. This is because their parents don’t have time to cook, so they end up having takeaways and processed food. As a consequence,…

c) Describing facts: … means that …
One issue of living in a big city is the stress of getting from one place to another. Living in a big city means that it takes at least an hour to get from your house to where you want to go, which is very tiring and time consuming. For example,…

d) Describing the result: As a result, … / As a consequence, … / Therefore, …
One problem with working at home is that you don’t have contact with colleagues. As a result, it is difficult to improve your knowledge and skills, as you don’t get new ideas from workmates. For instance,…

Problems and solutions is another typical task we can come across in composition writing. As usual, a clear organization of our writing is key:

Introduction
Paragraph 1: Cause 1 + Solution 1
Paragraph 2: Cause 2 + Solution 2
[Paragraph 3: Cause 3 + Solution 3]
Conclusion

With information from IELTS Advantage Writing Skills, Delta Publishing

Writing Workshop 27: A balanced argument

A balanced argument

In some written tasks, we have to present the pros and cons, the advantages and disadvantages of something. In other words, we have to write a balanced argument.

As usual, our essay will be clearly structured:
Introduction
Advantages
Disadvantages
Conclusion

Remember it is very important to make a good start to our composition by writing a clear introduction. In writing workshop 26 we mentioned the technique of writing a rhetoric question in the introduction to help us present the topic.

Today we are going to present a ready-made formula that may help us write the introduction. It consists of four sentences:
Write a general sentence about the topic (a)
Add an extra sentence to support the first (b)
Focus on the question in your own words (c)
Tell the reader your plan (d)

Let’s take, for example, the topic of studying on campus. An introduction to the topic using the above-mentioned technique would look like this.

(a) Living on campus is one of the accommodation options university students have. (b) In fact, the number of British students staying at halls of residence has increased dramatically in recent years. (c) However, there are both pros and cons to deciding to do this. (d) In this article/composition/essay/post, I will look at both sides and try to draw some conclusions.

We also discussed conclusions in writing workshop 26. Let’s work on a more specific technique to write a conclusion. A good conclusion generally consists of:
1 A general, one-sentence summary
2 A focus summary of the main points –avoiding repetition of vocabulary
3 Something new/your opinion

Let’s apply this technique to the composition of studying on campus:
To sum up, we must bear in mind that the main reason for being at university is to study. Although it has some obvious drawbacks, living on campus allows students more time to study without the distractions and responsibilities of rented accommodation. As a result, I would recommend people to live on campus if they have the chance.

When we write a balanced argument, or any piece of writing for that matter, we most certainly have to list reasons. The following linking words can be of help:
Firstly / In the first place / For a start / First of all
Moreover / On top of that / Secondly / What is more
Lastly / Finally

To introduce the advantages and disadvantages we can use some of these phrases:
Let’s begin by looking at the advantages of studying on campus.
I will start by looking at the advantages of studying on campus.
There are a lot of advantages to studying on campus.
The main/first/most important advantage of…
Another/An additional advantage is

Turning to the other side of the argument, studying on campus also has some downsizes.
However, there are some disadvantages to studying on campus too.
The main/first/most important disadvantage of…
Another/An additional disadvantage is

With information from IELTS Advantage Writing Skills, Delta Publishing and Straightforward Intermediate, Macmillan

Writing workshop 26: Expressing our opinion

Expressing our opinion
Opinion compositions can present themselves in different ways and with different formats in an exam task:

• Write a newspaper article expressing your opinion about the current controversy with … 
• Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper stating your views about the situation of … 
• Your school is organizing a composition competition about the topic of… 
• You have decided to post an entry in an internet forum about the problem of … 
• Write a diary entry with your views on … so that future generations find it easier to understand the problem. 

In this type of composition, we take a side in an argument, we express our own ideas about an issue, we say whether we agree or disagree with something and we give our reasons for our point of view.

The first thing we must bear in mind is that our written document must have a clear structure. A standard paragraph layout in this type of task would include four paragraphs:

Introduction to the topic
What some people think about this issue
Your opinion on the issue
Conclusion

Remember that in an essay, it is important that the introduction engages the reader’s attention. It should introduce the topic, but should not include the specific points that we are going to mention in the body of the text.

A good introductory paragraph describes the present situation and gives supporting evidence. It should refer to the statement or question you have been asked to discuss. This can often be done in the form of a rhetoric question which the rest of the paragraphs should answer.

For example, for the topic “More and more people are getting addicted to text-messaging in today’s world” the introduction could be:
Being able to send short, written messages with mobile phones or ipads has clearly advanced communication in many aspects, but do you know anyone who spends over an hour a day texting their friends? Or anyone who neglects their work or studies to check their phone for text messages? If the answer is yes, the chances are that these people are textaholics.

The paragraphs where we present what some people think about the problem and our own opinion must also have a clear structure, with a topic sentence and two or three supporting sentences.

Topic sentence: What the paragraph is about. It is usually the first sentence in the paragraph.
Supporting sentences:  We expand the topic sentence by giving (an) example(s)  and/or giving reasons/consequences or explaining the idea in the topic sentence.

For example, for the topic ‘People who take unnecessary risks should not receive free health care' the paragraph where we state some people’s opinion could look like this:
Topic sentence: I've heard it said that people who take unnecessary risks should not receive this free health care.
Supporting sentences: For example, people who participate in risky activities such as skiing are more likely to have an accident. It has been suggested that these people should pay for any medical treatment they require.

Some typical phrases to introduce what some people think are
I’ve heard it said that
It has been suggested that
Some people think that
It’s sometimes said that
Some people argue
It is often claimed that

Some typical phrases to introduce your opinion are
Personally
In my opinion
I feel that
I believe that
In my view

To refute opposite arguments
This may have been true in the past, but nowadays,…
There are a number of flaws in this argument
This is simply not the case

The conclusion should briefly sum up the arguments we have made without repeating –as far as possible- the same words, and can include our personal opinion, which should follow logically from the arguments presented.

With information from English Result upper-intermediate, Oxford University Press, New Headway Advanced, Oxford University Press and Straighforward Advanced, MacMillan