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WRITING
| Themes for Essays | Activity - Grammar Letters |
| Curriculum Vitae | Activity - Good Marriages |
| Career Profiles | Activity - If Only |
Generation gap - myth or reality.
Is It Easy to be Young?
Demographical Situation in Latvia / in the Old World.
Single Parent in this World.
To Marry or not to Marry.
Influence of Social Conditions on Demographical Situation in Latvia
| Name: | MARY BROWN | |
| Address: |
48
SurroundlerRoad
|
Tel: 8374-74562 |
| Date of Birth: | 3 November 1957 | |
| Nationality: | British | |
| Marrital Status: | Single |
|
| Present Occupation: | Reporter
for Private Life Newspaper |
|
| Education and Qualifications: | ||
| June 1973 |
G.C.E. O levels English, Maths, Physics |
|
| June 1976 | G.C.E. A levels Geography, Maths | |
|
Sept.1976- |
B.Sc. in Computer Science, Polytechnic of South London |
|
| 1984 | Instructor’s Diploma, Royal Tennis Association | |
| Experience: |
||
| Summer 1978 |
Worked as
Camp Assistant in Brixton’s |
|
| 1980-1988 |
Computer
Programmer, Blaxil Chemicals,Luton, |
|
| 1989-1992 | Travel Guide, Remicotours, Roma, Italy | |
| 1993-present | Reporter,
Private Life Newspaper |
|
| Languages: | British-mother tongue Italian-good French- fair |
|
| Hobbies: | Cinema, politics | |
| Sports: |
Tennis:
Qualified as Instructor in 1984 |
|
| Valid Driving Licence 1988 | ||
| References: | Mr George
Frankstein 43 Mirrow Street Brighton VE 56 U.K. (Tutor at Polytechnic) |
Mrs Janet
Wilkins Private Life Newspaper 34-11 King Road Bradford, W. Yorks U.K (Editor of newspaper) |
Here are the details from Henry Smith’s Curriculum Vitae. Use the layout below to put it together.
I know
some good marriages. Second marriages mostly. Marriages where both people have
outgrown the bullshit of me- Tarzan, you- Jane and are just trying to get
through their days by helping each other, being good to each other, doing the
chores as they come up and not worrying too much about who does what. Some men
reach that delightfully relaxed state of affairs about age forty or after a
couple of divorces. Maybe marriages are best in middle age. When all the
nonsense falls away and you realise you have to love one another because
you’re going to die anyway.
(by
Erica Jong)
This passage is
expressing an opinion about marriage - specifically “good marriages”. Thus an
appropriate response might be a reasoned, critical expression of a
counter-opinion on the part of the reader. Having made sure the class understood
exactly what kind of “good marriage” Erica Jong is in fact describing 9Mature, relaxed), students
might be invited to exchange different points of view in open discussion: in
what ways do they agree or disagree with the ideas put forward here, and can
they support their ideas with examples, anecdotes, quotes. A good summing-up
activity might be a piece of writing, of similar length to the original,
expressing the individual student’s notion of what a good marriage is.
Grammar: 2nd conditional
Level: lower intermediate
Time: 15 minutes preparation time for the teacher
10 minutes in the first class
Materials: a letter to the students,
This activity can be adapted for use with different
structures at all levels.
Preparation
Write a letter to all your students introducing the new
grammar you have to present. Here is an example of one to a lower intermediate
class:
Dear
Everybody,
Do
you ever dream about what it would be like if you were quite different from the
way you are? I sometimes do. Let me share a dream with you.
Suppose
I was a woman, I’d be a bit scared to walk around at night.
If
I were a woman, I don’t think, I’d ever buy nylon tights because they only
last a few days.
If
I was a woman, I’d feel quite differently about the students in this class.
I’d probably feel closer to Michelle, but I might find Dorota more difficult.
Had
I been born a woman, What kind of husband would I have married?
If
I were my children’s mother… NO, I just can’t imagine what it would be
like.
My
feeling is that if I were a woman I’d be a lot freer in society than I am as a
man. I realise that some of you will disagree with me.
Please
notice the grammar around “if”. Read the sentences above again, thinking
about their grammar.
For
your next homework imagine yourself changing sex. Please write me a letter about
the consequences for you of changing sex.
Maybe
you don’t want to think in this area. If you don’t want to write about this,
then imagine you wake up one morning Japanese. Or imagine that Latvia has
suddenly become an island in the middle of the Atlantic. Maybe it really is!
Think of the Canaries where Latvia is now.
I’m
looking forward to a long letter from each of you.
Mario.
In class
1.
Give each student a copy of your letter and allow time for them to read
the text. Help with vocabulary or grammar problems. This may involve you in
reinforcing the written grammar presentation in the letter. Tell the students
that your letter gives them all the grammar they need in order to reply.
2.
Collect the letters in the next class. Don’t waste time marking them.
Pick out a few of the most interesting ones in terms of human content and
grammar misunderstanding. Photocopy these for the whole group.
THINGS
I WISH I’D KNOWN AT 18
Level:
intermediate
Time
15-20 minutes
1.
Write these sentences written by the best-seller novelist, Catherine Cookson,
about her teens:
I
do wish I’d known more about sex- at that age I still thought that babies came
through kissing.
I
wish I’d known in those early days that I had the ability to draw.
Oh,
If only I’d had an education at that age!
2.
Ask the students to pick an age in their past and write five sentences
expressing their regrets about that time:
I
wish…
If
only…
I
do wish…
3
Put the students in threes to compare regrets.