Unit 4 Practica Describing a person

Describing a person

My mother has been by my side for all these years and has beautiful features. At first glance, her eyes may seem a light green but if you look closer you realise that she has big blue eyes which look like a clear day in the sky and some dimples on both her cheeks which make her face look warm and welcoming. My mother is the most beautiful and caring person I have ever met and her skin looks as soft as a baby's bottom. She is a very petite woman that loves to walk her dogs everyday in order to keep active and young.My mother is a mature and independent woman with very good organisation skills that will surprise everyone. She is truly an amazing person. 

Unit 4 Descriptive and Process Paragraphs Tasks

Using Prepositions

My favourite place to relax is a small cafe down the street from where I live. This cafe is on a small side street and as soon as you see it, you feel like going in. There are three windows on either side of the door, and each window has a small window box with brightly coloured flowers. There is a small wooden door that opens into the care, and as you go in, you can see a dozen small tables all around the room. Even though, it isn't a big place. its size makes it very cosy and comfortable. I always like to sit at a small table in the corner near the front window. From here, I can look at the artwork on the walls and at the pretty green plants hanging from the ceiling. With a strong cup of coffee and a good book, I feel very happy and relaxed in my favourite cafe.

A description of a place may answer some of these questions

• Where is the place?
• How big is it?
• How warm or cold is the place?
• How does the place make you feel? Why?
• What things can you see in this place?
• What colours do you see?
• How are things positioned?
• What is the weather like? (if it is a landscape) 
• Does the place bring any memories?
• Do you like this place? Why? 
• What strikes you when you see this picture? 

Describing a picture

This place looks very relaxing and calm as the waves crash against the shore. It seems quite cold but comfortable with a beautiful scenery. Sitting on the rocks and looking out at the horizon would make me feel amazing and quite calm to enjoy the scenery of the ocean. This seems to be the place where most people go just to clear their minds and have a bit of fresh air.

Unit 2 and 3 Practica Home Ownership

High rates of home ownership are bad for the economy. Discuss

It has been argued that rises in the rate of home ownership can increase the rate of unemployment.This is because home ownership appears to make people more reluctant to move in order to find work. Spain is an example of a country where high rates of home ownership coincide with high unemployment, however Switzerland demonstrates the opposite. This theory remains controversial. It is clear that other factors, such as the liquidity of the housing market, must play a role in the relationship. 

This theory was lent support by the performance of the housing market in US states such as California and Florida during the recession of 2007–9. These states had all experienced a major housing boom during the 1990s. But after the start of the recession the rate of house moving declined steeply. It seems that one factor in this problem was the number of households in negative equity. Having negative equity means that a house would be sold at a loss. Therefore a recession may be deepened if labour becomes more static, as a result of high home ownership rates.  

Unit 2 and 3 Tasks Organising Paragraphs (1.10)

1.10 Organising Paragraphs

3 Practice A

a)

Topic Sentence	Despite this, many countries encourage the growth of home ownership
Example	Ireland and Spain, for example, allows mortgage payers to offset payments against income tax
Reason	It is widely believed that owning your own home has social as well as economic benefits
Supporting point 1	Compared to renters, homeowners are thought to be more stable members of the community who contribute more to local affairs
Supporting point 2	In addition, neighbourhoods of owner occupiers are considered to have less crime and better schools
Supporting point 3	But above all, ownership encourages saving and allows families to build wealth

b) for example/it is widely believed/ In addition/ But above all

c) Despite this

4 a) 

Topic Sentence	iii
Definition	i
Result 1	vi
Result 2	v
Result 3	iv
Conclusion	ii

b) all these claims

c) These/but/when/When this/others/ in other words/Even

Unit 2 The Structure of a Paragraph

Index

1. What is a paragraph? 

2. Understanding a paragraph

3. Paragraph Organisation

• 3.1 The topic Sentences
• 3.2 The supporting sentences
• 3.3 The concluding sentence

4. The topic and the main idea

5. Writing Topic sentences 

1.What is a paragraph? 

A paragraph is a group of sentences about a single topic. These sentences explain the writer's main idea about the topic. In academic writing, a paragraph is usually between five to ten sentences long. 

2. Understanding a paragraph 

Pg 11 Ex 1 

a. What is the topic paragraph? The topic paragraph is Switzerland

b. what is the main idea about the topics? It is a country with beautiful mountains, delicious food, wonderful places to go sightseeing and polite people

c.  What ideas help explain the main idea? 

• Many mountains - climbing them and skiing down them is fun 
• Border with five countries - France, Germany, Italy, Austria, and Liechenstein
• Four languages - German, French, Italian and Romansch
• Many cities and interesting places to visit 

3. Paragraph Organisation

A paragraph has three basic parts which are; 

3.1.The topic sentence

This is the main idea of the paragraph. It is usually the first sentence of the paragraph.

3.2.The supporting sentences 

These sentences talk about or explain in more detail the topic sentence. The supporting sentences are more detailed ideas that follow the topic sentence. 

3.3.The concluding sentences

This is found at the end of a paragraph and it can finish a paragraph by giving a main idea about what it was just said or by just giving a final comment about the topic.

Pg 13 Ex 3 

4.The topic and the main idea 

The topic sentence....

• Usually comes first in a paragraph 
• gives the writer's main idea about the topic and helps the reader understand what the paragraph will be about

Pg 14 Ex 4+5a

Pg 15 Ex 5b

5. Writing Topic sentences 

a. favourite place to relax

Topic sentence: When going to your favourite place to relax, it help you to fresh up your mind

b. a grandparent

Topic sentence: Grandparents are always very helpful and always there for you

c. a pet I have known

Topic sentence: I have always loved my tortoise, because he was very special to me. 

Unit 1 Pre-Writing: Getting Ready to Write + Practica

Index 

1. Purpose of Writing

• 1.2. Before writing

2. Narrowing Topic
3. Brainstorming

• 3.1. Making a list
• 3.2. Freewriting
• 3.3. Mapping
• 3.4. Editing
• 3.5. Cubing

1.Purpose of Writing 

• It is important to know what you are writing about, because if you don't neither will your reader

1. To Inform - to inform other people about specific topics or things
2. To Persuade - to express strong views about an issue and try to change the reader's mind
3. To express yourself - may choose words or phrases to show off who you are
4. To Entertain - to simply entertain the reader

1.2 Before Writing, it is important to decide on;

• Audience - Who will read your piece of writing? 
• Tone - style or manner of expression
• Purpose - the purpose determines its organisational pattern

Before Writing: - This is called PRE-WRITING

1) Choose a Topic 

2) Collect information about that specific topic 

2 Choosing and narrowing a topic - How to choose a topic for a paragraph

A paragraph is a group of five to ten sentences that give information about a topic. Before you write, you must choose a topic for your paragraph.

• The topic shouldn't be too narrow
• The topic shouldn't be too broad

Pg 5. Ex 1 - Narrowing down to a paragraph topic

Cars

• Why I learnt to drive 
• The best cars in my country 

Festivals

• Best celebration to celebrate 
• The origin of Christmas

My country 

• The weather in my country
• The attractions in my country

Dancing

• Why I love tango
• The importance of dancing

Friends

• Why are friends so important in my life
• The characteristics of being a good friend

3 Brainstorming - a way of gathering ideas about a topic

3.1 Making a List - single words, phrases or sentences

Pg 6.Ex 3

Thing to do at the beach - listing

• Swim
• Play Volleyball
• Workout
• Sunbathe
• Read
• Listen to music
• Eat/Drink
• Have a festival 
• Have a BBQ/dinner
• Hang out with friends 
• Skinny dip

3.2. Freewriting - write about whatever comes to your mind

Pg. 7 Ex 4

Freewriting for 5 minutes- Why I learnt to drive

The reason I learnt to drive was because of the adrenaling that driving can give off. What about adrenaline? well, adrenaline gives off endorphins which makes you happy and it can be quite a relaxing exerpience to learn how to drive. It is quite an important thing anyway, because it gives you this sense of independence and ready to take out the new world. It might make you feel more confident and less scared about the future. and its a good thing to get out of the way at an early age maybe, well for me it was. at 17, I thought it was the right age because I didnt want my parents to take me everywhere all the time, I wanted to start doing things for myself and go out when I wanted to go out, which meant that I didn't need to wait for my parents to be done with work. 

no stopping, no erasing, no going back

3.3. Mapping (also known as clustering) - Write topic in the middle with a circle and then start writing ideas around it.

Pg. 8 Ex 5

3.4. Editing - After gathering ideas, you will have to edit them. To do this, you may need to get rid of some or even add some. 

Pg.9 Ex 6

• Swim  
• Play Volleyball
• Workout
• Sunbathe
• Read
• Listen to music
• Eat/Drink
• Have a festival 
• Have a BBQ/dinner
• Hang out with friends 
• Skinny dip

The reason behind why I chose to get rid of these brainstorming ideas was because they are much less as relative as my other ideas. 

3.5. Cubing - asks you to consider your topic from six sides, or perspectives. By imagining your central idea from the six different points of approach, you might discover new interpretive angles or see more clearly the way different aspects of your question relate to each other. By providing a structural framework, cubing may be a helpful exercise if you prefer linear or organised thinking methods. Write your central topic/question at the top of the page, and allot yourself 3 – 5 minutes to approach the topic with the following six objectives: 

DESCRIBING: Physically describe your topic. What does it look like? What are its parts? COMPARING: How is your topic similar to or different from other topics in the same theme? ASSOCIATING: What other ideas and experiences does your topic make you think of? Why? ANALYSING: How are the different aspects/components of your topic related? 

APPLYING: What uses does your topic have? What other problems can it help explain? 

ARGUING: What arguments can you make in support of or against your topic? 

Reread your six sides to determine which approaches could yield an interesting path to pursue, which might need more research, and which could spark a thesis idea.

Introduction:Process Writing

What is a 'writing process'?

A writing process is the several steps that writers go through in order to produce a good piece of writing.

Words which are important for understanding the writing process 
Pg 2. Ex 1

a. step: one thing in a series of things to do
b. topic: subject; what the piece of writing is about
c. gather: to find and collect together
d. organise: to arrange in a clear, logical way
e. paragraph: a group of related sentences
f. essay: a short piece of writing, at least three paragraphs long
g. proofread: to check a piece of writing for errors
h. edit: to change or correct a piece of writing

The six steps to the writing process 
Pg.4 Ex 3

Pre Writing

Step one: Choose a topic 
Step two: gather ideas about that topic that you chose
Step three: organise and think about what ideas you want to use and where. So which one you will talk about first, and the next, and the next, etc.

Drafting

Step four: Write the paragraphs and essay from start to finish while using your notes as a guidance for ideas and organisation.

Reviewing and Revising

Step five: Review Structure and Content. Check what you have written and perhaps give it to a classmate for them to check it so they can give their opinion about it as it might help improve your piece of writing. 

Rewriting

Step six: Revise structure and content. Improve your structure and content from step five and you may need to make changes to it such as add more detail and perhaps change explanations. Steps five and six can be called 'editing'. 
proofread. Read text again and go over spelling, grammar and think about the words you have chosen to use.
Make final corrections. Check that the errors are correct in steps five and six and if you need to make other changes, make them. Now your text is finished. 

• Steps five and six can be repeated many times