Khanh Linh Tran Dang Nha Trang College of Education

(Geoffrey Petty,1993, p.114)

NARRATING A STORY Questions: How to begin a story?How to begin a story? How to construct the story?How to construct the story? When to move to a new paragraph?When to move to a new paragraph? How to use the Simple Past, Past Continuous and/or the Past Perfect?How to use the Simple Past, Past Continuous and/or the Past Perfect?Answer: Visualise / dramatise a story and see!

Model story Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting in the field having nothing to do. Suddenly a white rabit ran by her, saying to itself, “Oh dear! I shall be too late!”. Burning with curiosity, she jumped up to follow it. The rabbit ran down a hole, and she jumped after it. It was a long hole, and she fell for such a long time that she thought she might fall through the other side of the earth. Finally, she reached bottom. There she saw a bottle with a label that said, “DRINK ME.” So she did, and found that the liquid had a very pleasant flavour. But as she drank, something curious happened – she began to shrink!

Scene 1 (para. 1, past cont. for action) Scene 2 (para. 2) event 1, Past simp Past simp. event 2, Past simp Past simp.

UNDERSTANDING THE NATURE OF AN ESSAY Questions: How many parts are there in an essay? How many parts are there in an essay? What is the function of each part? What is the function of each part? How are the parts related to each other? How are the parts related to each other? How to arrange ideas? How to arrange ideas? …Answer: An essay is like a sandwich / a tree.An essay is like a sandwich / a tree.

General Statement Thesis Statement A.Topic sentence Support … Support … (Concluding Sentence) B. Topic sentence Support … Support … (Concluding Sentence) C. Topic sentence Support … Support … (Concluding Sentence) I. INTRODUCTION II. BODY III. CONCLUSION Restatement or summary of the main points; final comments

An essay as a sandwich Conclusion Body para. 1 Body para. 2 Body para. 3 Introduction

An essay as a tree Main idea (thesis statement) development 2 development 1 development 3 development 4

Traveling to a foreign country is always interesting, especially if it is a country that is completely different from your our own. You can delight in tasting new foods, seeing new sights, and learning about different customs, some of which may seem very curious. If you were to visit my country, for instance, you would probably think that my people have some very strange customs, as these three examples will illustrate. (Regina L.Smalley & Mary K.Ruetten, 1986, Refining Composition Skills, Macmillan Publishing Company) WRITING ESSAY - THE FUNNEL INTRODUCTION

NARROW DOWN GENERAL IDEA THESIS STATEMENT THE FUNNEL INTRODUCTION TRAVELING TO A COUNTRY COMPLETELY DIFFERENT FROM YOUR OWN IS ALWAYS INTERESTING TASTING NEW FOODS SEEING NEW SIGHTS LEARNING DIFFERENT CURIOUS CUSTOMS VISIT MY COUNTRY TO SEE SOME STRANGE CUSTOMS

GIVING ACCURATE INSTRUCTIONS To see the significance of accuracy in giving instructions, do the “Folding Paper” experiment!

Other examples of visualising concepts Hands movement in pronouncing word stress and diphthongs;Hands movement in pronouncing word stress and diphthongs; Time line in teaching verb tenses;Time line in teaching verb tenses; Contextualised pictures in teaching modals;Contextualised pictures in teaching modals; Mind maps for teaching word fields;Mind maps for teaching word fields; Narrow paper strips to split sentences to clusters;Narrow paper strips to split sentences to clusters; etcetc

Final comment “Trainees (or learners) remember 10% of what they read, 20% of what they hear, 30% of what they see, and 50% of what people hear and see.” (Pretty J.N. et al, 1995, p.24) (Pretty J.N. et al, 1995, p.24) Visual presentation of concepts: time-saving and effective