Writing slides 31.10.17
Transcript of Writing slides 31.10.17
My Polish Teacher’s Tie
• Did you enjoy the story? Why? Why not?
• Anything not ‘ring true’? Or do you think the
characters and situations reflect ‘real life’?
• Did the story make you think about something you
had not perhaps considered much before?
Helen Dunmore from the AQA Moon on the Tides anthology
Analysing a literary text
• Pay close attention to themes, language and structure.
Two main approaches:
• start with general questions and aspects of the text and work inwards towards more detailed analysis, or
• start with details or specific aspects of the text and work outwards to arrive at wider meanings.
Consider the following questions:
• What is happening in this story?
• What do you think it’s about?
• Do you think the author is trying to make us think about something in particular?
ThemesActivity Part 1• Choosing a theme card or cards that you think represents
themes in this story.
Part 2• Write your own ‘interpretation cards’ for any major concerns
that you feel the cards do not cover.
Part 3• Find a quote from the story that relates to one of the themes
above.
Be prepared to feedback.
Focus on specific details
Concentrate on the clothes featured in the story
• How is Carla Carter dressed for her job? How does it compare with the appearance of other characters?
• How is the Polish Teacher’s tie described?• Why do you think the author added these details? Is she linking
any of the characters?• What is Dunmore suggesting perhaps?
• How do the answers to these questions lead to some of the more ‘general’ ideas on the theme cards?
LanguageActivity
• In this story, the majority of poetic techniques appear on the last page. Underline and annotate any that you notice.
• Why do you think the writer has used more poetic techniques at the end? What could be her intention? What effect does this have on the reader?
Writing master class
• Plan appropriately according to audience, purpose and
situation.
• Draft, using techniques at text, sentence and word level.
• Write fluently, coherently and cohesively.
• Write accurately and legibly using conventions of lexis
and syntax, to include grammar, spelling and
punctuation appropriate to purpose.
• Edit and proof-read at text, sentence and word level.
“How does writing
shape your view
about how ‘good’
you are at
English?”
Features of texts
What are the features of these two texts?
Leaflet
Letter to a local
newspaper
Audience
Purpose Genre
Lexis &
syntax
Multi-modal
features
‘Good’ writers:
•Consider factors such as audience, mode and
purpose before they write. Why?
•Reflect on the stages you go through when you write or
design a text…
Now, arrange the writing process cards - are any stages
missing? What parts are most difficult?
Is this a real representation, or do you see writing as a
messier process? If so, how?
Planning
Tony Bunzan - mind mapping
Geoff Petty – spectacles
Take the
quiz R2
Drafting
Quick write on the theme of writing conventions.
What are your
experiences of/
understanding of
‘academic writing?’
Multimodal Action Research and Reporting Guide (2014)
Standard English
Is this an acceptable way to start a journal article?
I’m gonna start by asking you – the readers of this here journal –
a question …what are your thoughts on how I’m writing – right
here, right now?? I’m kinda breaking convention as I type (in so
much I see it). I’m hoping you’ll know the point I’m making …but
I’m not gonna do this for long – ‘cause it feels kinda wrong and
I’m gettin’ uncomfy now :-/”
Watch David
Crystal’s speech on
standard and non-
standard English
Writing conventions: organisational features
‘To organise any text into a cohesive whole, writers and speakers need to keep their readers and listeners well informed about where they are and where they are going… Grammatical resources … signpost the way… from the beginning to end of a text.’
Using Functional Grammar, Butt D, Fahey R, Feez S, Spinks S, Yallop C (2000), Maquarie University
Text
organisation
Cohesion
i.e Back
referencing
& lexical
links
Visit online page
and undertake
R3
https://ccpathways.co.uk/l3-english-writing
Cohesive?
Text A
I am applying for a B.Ed. course because I was a teacher in Nigeria and
I would like to continue that career in this country. Since I came to
England five years ago I have worked as a volunteer in a community
school in Camberwell on Saturdays, teaching English to children from
the ages of 7 to 16. In Nigeria I studied education with English as my
teaching subject. I very much enjoyed my six years teaching upper
primary children and gained a great deal of satisfaction when I saw the
children respond and understand the things I taught. As well as working
in the community school, I help out at my Church, both with the Sunday
school and with the Choir. The English part of my degree course
covered English language and English literature written by English and
African writers. Now I have my own children, whom I teach daily at
home.
Cohesive?
Text B
My work experience in the head office of The Pizza Palace gave me
experience of office practice in this country. As part of my work
experience I developed a database of regular customers, and I then
trained the other staff in how to use it. These other people were very
nice. This showed me how IT skills are used practically in business, and
helped me develop my interpersonal skills. I enjoyed working in a food-
related industry and I learned a range of new skills.
Writing conventions: organisational features
CohesionThis refers to the linguistic means by which sentences in texts are linked together.
There are many ways that texts can be made cohesive, including:
Back referencing
‘Reader, I married him.’
Who is ‘I’?
Who is ‘him’?
How can you decide?
In addition to pronouns, the definite article ‘the’ is often used to refer back to
something earlier in the text, for example,
Local firm to cut 200 jobs
Printer John Bragg’s father and grandfather worked for Belstock Printing before him.
But there is no chance that his son will follow this family tradition. The company
announced yesterday that it will shut down at the end of the month.
(‘the company’ is a back referencing to….? Any others?)
Activity – Marco Polo. Can you identify the back-referencing?
Visit online page
and undertake
R5
Writing conventions: organisational features
Lexical links
Another way in which texts are cohesive is through
lexical links such as:
• repetition of key words
• key items repeated in different forms, e.g. electricity,
electric, electrical
• use of synonyms, e.g. firm, company
• use of words from the same lexical set, e.g. father,
grandfather, son.