Organization of responses

to a speaking taskMrs. Dalia Asseel

WHAT COMES FIRST??

• Think of the most important part of your response…

• Think of a speaking task as if you are writing a paragraph. You have to organize it into three main parts.

THINK OF responses AS

CHEESEBURGERS!

• You have the buns on top and bottom

• Topic sentence

• Closing sentence

• You have the burger in the middle

• Supporting details

• You have the extras: cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles

Extra details, quotations, and examples to spice it up

• Sometimes it is a double or triple-decker!

• Transition sentences needed to lead into the next

TOPIC SENTENCE!

• What is it?• The first sentence in a response which contains two parts:

topic sentence and controlling idea .

• What does it do? • It works in two directions simultaneously. It relates the

response to the topic’s main idea, but it also defines the scope of the response itself.

• How do I say one? • To summarize the main idea of the response (what the

response is about).

SUPPORTING DETAILS

• What are supporting details?

• They come after the topic sentence

• They make up the body of the response

• What do they do?

• They give details and support the main idea

• How do I write them?

• Give supporting facts, details, and examples

CLOSING SENTENCE

• What is it?

• The last sentence of your response

• What does it do?

• It restates the main idea or summarizes the supporting details

• How do I say one?

• Restate the main idea but using different words or briefly repeat the supporting ideas but without giving details

• The closing sentence should be very similar to the topic sentence.

TRANSITION SENTENCE

• What is it?

• The last sentence of a response (instead of closing

sentence)

• What does it do?

• Closes one topic while leading into the next

• How do I write one?

• Summarize main idea of response and hint at topic

for next one (only if you have an extended idea)

HOW LONG IS A response?

• 5-6 sentences in TOTAL

• 1 Topic sentence

• 1 Closing/Transition sentence

• 3-4 sentences of supporting details

• This should not take more than one minute preparation and one minute of speaking.

Thought of the

day