Steps to write a description Unit goal: Steps to write a descriptive essay Topic for practice: Write an essay to describe some of your favorite features of Tet holiday in Vietnam.

Step 1: Brainstorming the ideas food Chung – day cakes, tet cake, candy fruit and seeds Offer the ancestors and treat the guests decoration Clean the house, redecorate Clean and decorate the altar See off the evil, welcome the good luck Invite the ancestors to enjoy the festival customs “Xong dat”, “tat nien” offering, giving lucky money Vietnamese TET holiday

Step 1: Brainstorming the vocabulary Prepare Peach blossom Preparation Kumquat tree Celebrate Lucky money Celebration Tet greetings Reunite Sticky rice cake Reunion Taboo Occasion Buddhist temples Grave Swept away Altar Roasted watermelon seeds Ancestors Meat stewed in coconut water New Year’s Eve Pay off the debt Pickled onion Show respect Dried candy fruit Kitchen Gods Five fruit tray Pray Good health Prosperity Longevity Symbolize for Symbol Red/yellow color Lion dance Noisy/noise

Step 2: Outlining Introduction Hook: The role of Tet among holidays Background: When to celebrate? Why to celebrate? Thesis statement: Which features of the Tet do you like best? 1. Hook: Tet is the most important traditional holiday in Vietnam 2. Background: - on the first three days of Lunar Calendar - to welcome the New year, to show their respect to the ancestors, to reunite the family, to enjoy after a year working hard 3. Thesis statement: - preparation for the Tet with my beloved family.

Body: Paragraph 1 Supporting point 1: clean and decorate the house Descriptive details: + sweep away the bad luck to welcome the good ones + clean their house, do the wash up, buy new furniture -> want to make a new look for a new start in the New year + Prefer the red and the yellow -> bring good luck and wealthy to the house -> choose red Peach blossom or bright yellow marigold to be the flower of the holiday. + Decorate the house with the objects like red envelopes, or trees like kumquat that symbolize for the prosperity or fertility. Supporting point 2: clean and decorate the altar + clean and decorate the altar to invite the ancestors to enjoy the holiday + Burn the jot sticks or offer the “five fruit tray” Topic sentence: - prepare our house with lots of work in decoration and cleaning. Descriptive details: - What do we do to prepare our house, our neighborhood? Why? - What do you use to decorate? - What colors do you prefer in this occasion ? Why? - Why do we clean and decorate the altar?

Body: Paragraph 2 Topic sentence: - Prepare traditional foods Supporting point 1: general description of foods and meaning Descriptive details: the menu includes rice, meat, fish and vegetables -> Vietnamese traditional products. prepare big feast to offer their ancestors, treat the guests and enjoy together. Supporting point 2: description of traditional foods and meaning Chung cake: square cake made of glutinous rice, pork and green beans wrapped in the dong leaves and boiled for a day. It symbolizes the Earth. Day cake: round cake made of glutinous rice and green beans. It symbolizes the Sky. pork cooked with eggs in coconut milk and fish sauce. bitter melon stuffed with meat, preserved fruit such as ginger, coconut, kumquat fruit, or tomatoes in various shapes and colors Body: Paragraph 2 Topic sentence: - Prepare traditional foods Descriptive details: What are the traditional foods? What are some of their descriptions (look, taste, smell)? What are the meanings of these foods? Who enjoy the foods? What other foods for the occasion?

Conclusion Restate the controlling idea of the essay Restatement the most interesting part is the preparation for Tet. Summary Spend time and energy to clean up decorate the house cook many kinds of foods…..-> working together makes the Tet’s atmosphere warm and cosy. Final thought to reunite, together hold feasts to offer the ancestors, to visit parents and relatives… -> tighten the relationship among members in the family Restate the controlling idea of the essay Summarize the two main ideas that support the controlling idea of the essay Give final thought

Step 3: Drafting Use your brainstorming vocabulary, and your outline to write your first draft. While writing, pay attention to your use of descriptive adjectives and prepositions/ prepositional phrases to describe the features of Tet that you like best.

Step 4: Editing Editor’s check list 1. Checking on the form: - Does the essay have an introduction, body and conclusion? - Does the essay have transitional words and phrases? - Does the essay have any irrelevant ideas? 2. Checking on the content: Introduction - Does the introduction have a hook to get the reader’s attention? - Does it have background information to tell the reader when to celebrate Tet and the meaning of the holiday? - Does the thesis statement state your favorable features of Vietnamese Tet? Body - Do the body paragraphs have the topic sentences? - Do the body paragraphs include details that describe the favorable features of Vietnamese Tet? Do they touch the senses of the reader (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting)? - Does the essay have similes to make the writing more descriptive? - Does each paragraph have a concluding sentence?

Conclusion - Does the conclusion restate the controlling idea of the essay? - Does it have a summary of the main ideas stated in each body paragraph? - Does it include the final thought of the writer? 3. Checking on language - Do you use the correct form and order of adjectives ? - Do you use the sensitive details in description? - Do you use the emotional details in description? - Do you use any kinds of phrases in writing?

Peer Editor’s check list Step 4: Peer Editing Peer Editor’s check list 1. Checking on the form:  Does the essay have an introduction, body and conclusion?  Does the essay have transitional words and phrases?  Does the essay have any irrelevant ideas? 2. Checking on the content: Introduction  Does the introduction have a hook to get the reader’s attention?  Does it have background information to tell the reader when to celebrate Tet and the meaning of the holiday?  Does the thesis statement state your favorable features of Vietnamese Tet?

Body Do the body paragraphs have the topic sentences Body Do the body paragraphs have the topic sentences?  Do the body paragraphs include details that describe the favorable features of Vietnamese Tet?  Do they touch the senses of the reader (seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting)?  Do the body paragraphs need more details supported? If yes, what paragraph? Does the essay have similes to make the writing more descriptive? Does each paragraph have a concluding sentence? Conclusion Does the conclusion restate the controlling idea of the essay? Does it have a summary of the main ideas stated in each body paragraph? Does it include the final thought of the writer?

Thank you for enjoying the lesson!