1. What are these children doing?
PPT slide 1 – warm-up discussion questions

2. 1) What are your favourite TV programs?
Discuss the questions below with your partner. How similar or different are your answers?
1) What are your favourite TV programs?
2) How much television do you watch each week?
3) How much TV did you watch when you were a child?
5) Do you think that different kinds of TV programs have different effects on children?
6) What are some of the problems that might happen if children watch too much television?
PPT slide 1 – warm-up discussion questions

3. Children should be allowed to watch as much television as they like.
Do you agree or disagree?
Agree/Disagree?
Reason 1
Explain/Example
Result
Reason 2
Reason 3

4. 2) Where do you first find the writer’s opinion?
1) What is the writer’s opinion about children watching a lot of television?
2) Where do you first find the writer’s opinion?
3) What does the writer say he/she is going to do in this essay?
4) What are the writer’s three main reasons?
5) What examples does the writer use to help explain these reasons?
6) What kind of sentence is the last one in each of the 3 body paragraphs?
7) What kind of final thought does the writer give in the conclusion?
It could be bad
Introduction – thesis statement
Give reasons to support my view
It’s bad for their health, TV is not a good model for life and they may get bad marks
Children may learn bad behaviour & they have homework
A result
Advice

5. Introduction
1) Watching television is a very popular activity all over the world because it provides information and entertainment to billions of people. 2) Some people think that children can watch television for as long as they want to. 3) However, I believe this could be bad for children. In the following essay I will give reasons to support my view.
General background
Essay topic
Thesis statement

6. 4) Topic sentence (main idea) 5) Explaining 6) Result 7) Result
Body Paragraph 1
4) The most important reason is that television can have a negative effect on children’s health. 5) This is because nowadays most kids watch TV for at least an hour a day and many spend several hours just sitting in front of the television. 6) Because of this they have less time for doing sports or just playing outside with their friends. 7) As a result, children who watch a lot of TV are often overweight and this can lead to more serious health problems as they grow up.
4) Topic sentence (main idea)
5) Explaining
6) Result
7) Result

7. 8) Topic sentence (main idea) 9) Example 10) Explaining 11) Result
Body Paragraph 2
8) Another reason is that television shows children a picture of society which is not real. 9) For example, television programs may be violent or show behaviour which is not acceptable in real life. 10) This is a problem since children now spend less time communicating with their families. 11) Hence, they learn more about society from television programs, 12) so if they watch the wrong programs, they may copy bad behaviour.
8) Topic sentence (main idea)
9) Example
10) Explaining
11) Result
12) Result

8. 13) Topic sentence (main idea) 14) Example 15) Condition and result
Body Paragraph 3
13) Finally, watching too much television can make students get lower marks at school. 14) For instance, almost all children have to do homework after school. 15) If they just sit and watch television all night, they won’t do their homework. 16) Consequently, they don’t study or learn as much as they should, and may not do as well in their exams or even fail.
13) Topic sentence (main idea)
14) Example
15) Condition and result
16) Result

9. 17) Thesis statement again 18) Summary of main reasons 19) Advice
Conclusion
17) In conclusion, there are many reasons why children should not watch television any time they like. 18) Spending time watching television can harm children’s health, they may learn bad behaviour, and it could affect their schoolwork. 19) Therefore, I believe that parents should strictly control the amount of television and the programs which children watch to avoid these negative effects.
17) Thesis statement again
18) Summary of main reasons
19) Advice

10. Contrast Reason Example Result Condition
However,
Because
since
For example,
For instance,
Because of this,
As a result,
Hence, so
Consequently,
Therefore, If
Can you add any more linking words or phrases to these lists?
Why are these words and phrases important when we are writing essays?