The experiences of revisinging for excellent students in ba dinh high school how to write an essay

Ingeneral, to teach foreign languages and to teach English in particular theinnovation of teaching methods is very important in addition to masteringlanguage knowledge, good performance

THANH HOA PROVINCE DEPARTMENT OF

EDUCATION AND TRAINING

School: Ba Đình high school – Nga Sơn Experience initiative: English

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I - INTRODUCTION 1

1 Rationale 1

2 Aims of the study 2

3 Scope of the study 2

4 Foundation of the study 2

5 The participants 2

PART II - CONTENTS 3

1 Pre - writing stage 3

2 While - writing stage 5

3 Post - writing 18

PART III - PRACTICE EXCERCISES 18

PART IV - EFFECTIVE OF STUDY 19

PART V- CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTION 20

1 Conclusion 20

2 Suggestions 20

REFERENCES 21

PART I: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale:

The beginning of learning English, students have been exposed to fourbasic skills of the language: listening, speaking, reading, and writing These areimportant skills of teachers in transferring knowledge to students Writing skill

is a difficult one for learners, it requires teachers to understand the teachingmethod effectively and well implement the principle of "Studying together withpractising" Teaching and learning methods have changed fundamentally.Teachers are not only ones who hold the knowledge and impart knowledge butalso the direction instructors, supporters, mentors, testers.The learners are nolonger passive people who acquire knowledge but are at the center of theteaching process, actively innovating in the learning process to achieve theconclusion It is very important to study and know how to apply it to real life Ingeneral, to teach foreign languages and to teach English in particular theinnovation of teaching methods is very important in addition to masteringlanguage knowledge, good performance listening, speaking and reading skills,writing skills also play an important role The basic content and really the subtlecombination of teaching other language skills from the points of view on how toapply writing methods to help students make a standard essay that it ensuresaccurate writing, grammar and creativity

Writing skill is one of the four skills of learning English which can be one

of the most enjoyable and satisfying activities for teachers and students to dotogether in a classroom, especially in a foreign language classroom But writingskill which includes language, private knowledge and skill, emotion and theinteraction of personal opinion is difficult and challenging to learn and developfor many students in the world in general and in Vietnam in particular InVietnam, there are many English teachers who even believe that teachingwriting skill to learners is more complex than teaching other communicativeskills

However, during teaching some of the teachers still ignore teaching writingskill, especially, difficult writing lessons and they often focus on grammarexcercises for the test exams Therefore, to reduce students’ pressure and

worrying and improve the effective of writing skill, I would like to present “The experiences of revisinging for excellent students in Ba Dinh high school how to write an essay” to help my students to write an essay easily Besides, writing skill

is one of important skills of communication A good writing skill will helpstudents to communicate their message with clarity Therefore, the teachers whoare directly teaching, always think what they should do to make students’motivation in writing lessons

I hope that these experiences could help students to have a good writingand help develop their writing skill, motivate them in writing a paragraph.Moreover, this theme would be shared with colleagues who have the sameproblem or anyone who is interested in this theme

2 Aims of the study.

- From the above reality, I am constantly studying and experimenting withteaching methods and tricks to find the most effective writing methods to helpstudents understand how to write some types of essays

- Improving the students’ writing skill and understanding through practicalwriting

- Reducing the difficulties for the students in practicing writings bycreating a combination in the essays and using simple words and structures,know how to use the structure in each part of the essay when participating inexcellent student exams at all levels

- Help teachers understand more about writing some types of paragraph

3 Scope of the study:

- Studying textbooks, exploiting materials on the Internet, determining genres

of essays to build an appropriate teaching, experimenting on students who join theteam of gifted student in Ba Đinh high school

4 Foundation of the study:

- Basing on students’ result of writing is very low

- Students’writing skills is very bad

5 The participants:

- The students taking part in revising to choose gifted students in Ba Dinhhigh school

PART II: CONTENTS

In the process of teaching and learning, I find that writing skills are one ofthe most difficult skills It requires students to have vocabulary, understandgrammatical structures, ideas to outline when writing articles In particular,students must know how each type of essay needs to be written Writing skillshelp students create what they have learned, help them practice using languageeffectively and also practice writing for them Writing skills promote students’creativity, it reflects the results of students' listening, speaking, reading,grammar, vocabulary, showing strong, weak sides, and it also helps for teachersmore easily to see errors of students than when speaking Writing is a veryimportant step in the process of teaching and learning English Especially forthose who are gifted students in all level

Good writing skill not only helps students achieve high scores in the examfor excellent students but also it helps students will be confident and have usefulknowledge to participate in other competitions such as IELTS, TOEFL

The students often encounter essays which make them confused and do notknow what kind of writing they need, how to present their essays, use any

sentence structures properly So I boldly choose the topic “The experiences of revisinging for excellent students in Ba Dinh high school how to write an essay” which I have used successfully to improve the effectiveness of teaching,

especially the quality of students participate in choosing gifted ones

The stages of teaching writing skill are very important and they also havesignificant effectiveness on the students’ writing performance If students do not

prepare well enough, they can not write well, they can not even write anything

in their writing.The key to successful writing lessons is that the teachers shouldcarry out well the following stages:

1 Pre-writing stage

Pre-writing activities are considered to be the most important stages inteaching writing skill and they will help students to get ready to perform thetasks of a writing Additionally, students’ writing performance can be affected

by teachers’ teaching methods and instructions in this stage If the teacherconducts this stage successfully, the students’ result of performance will bemuch better

Firstly, I have helped students to understand these proplems well, such as

“How is an essay” and “how is its organization and structure”, “how to do towrite a standard essay” to make the difference between achieving or notachieving the desired score

SOME FORMS OF ESSAY AND WAYS TO RECOGNIZE

I provided examples and structures for each type of essay This clearstructure will help students know how to analyze and apply it to write an essayclearly, and hope to help the students improve their writing scores

- Writing essay is usually divided into 3 basic types

1.1. Argumentative essay

What is an Argumentative Essay? Argument essays seek to state a position

on an issue and give several reasons, supported by evidence, for agreeing withthat position

Ex1: Children watch too much TV nowadays and this is bad for their education and development. To what extent do you agree or disagree.

Ex2:  Some people argue that immigrants should adopt the local culture when immigrating to a new country An alternative view is that they can adapt to a new environment by establishing a minority community. What are your opinions?

* signals

- What is your opinion?

- Do you agree or disagree?

- To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Ex1: In many countries, traditional foods are being replaced by international fast food Many people think that it is good to eat traditional food while others believe that fast food is a good choice. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

Ex2: Some people argue that immigrants should adopt the local culture when

new environment by establishing a minority community. Discuss these two views and give your opinion.

* signals :

- Discuss both views and give your own opinion

- Discuss these two views and give your opinion.

1.3  Account essay

A definition of something means that the answer must explain the precisemeaning of something

1.3.1 Problems and solutions

Ex: Many young people who leave school hold a negative attitude towards learning Why does this happen? What are the solutions?

Ex : Students are becoming more and more reliant on computers.What are some

of the problems associated with reliance on computers, and what are some of the possible solutions?

* signals: Problem and solution

1.3.2 Causes and effects

What is a cause and effect essay? It is a good question to start Those areacademic papers concerned with why certain things or events take place andwhat are the consequences of some actions/phenomena It is the typical way toorganize and discuss ideas

Ex : Some findings have revealed that cities around the world are growing large Could you outline the possible causes and predict consequences?

* signals: Cause and solution.

1.3.3 Pros and Cons/ Advantages and Disadvantages:

Ex1:Computers are being used more and more in education Discuss the advantages and disadvantages and give your own opinion.

Ex2: In some countries, governments are encouraging industries and businesses

to move out of the cities and into regional areas Do you think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages?

* signals :

- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages

- Discuss the advantages and disadvantages and give your own opinion.

- After the students identify kinds of essay, they will be easy to write a perfectessay with flying colours

2 While - writing stage

This stage is for developing writing skill, students can write individually,but teacher should encourage collaborative writing( work in pairs or in a smallgroup to write the first draft).While writing, teacher observe students how wellstudents work and whether they need some help Especially, teacher should paymore attention to less - active or quiet students and encourage them to focus ontheir work Now my students can feel confident to write any required topiceasily

Most essay articles have the following basic structure:

- Introduction

- Supporting Paragraph 1

- Supporting Paragraph 2

- Conclusion

2.1 Some guides to help students how to write part “Introduction”

“Paraphrase” is an essential skill to help students do a good writing.

What is paraphrasing ? Paraphrasing is when we take an original idea and write it to express the same meaning but in a different way This might be bychanging words, word forms, sentence structure, or using synonyms If we thinkthis is just for writing academic papers, think again We actually paraphrase allthe time

Paraphrasing is important to writing lesson because introduction paragraph

is basically a paraphrase of essay prompt we will need to re-write the essayprompt in our own words to introduce the essay

Three ways how do paraphrasing for writing

Before we attempt to paraphrase, we need to make sure that we understandthe gist, or meaning of the paragraph Paraphrasing is more than just changingwords Students paraphrase needs to make sense and still convey the originalmessage So, They should read the original text a couple of times to make surethey understand the message it conveys Then turn the ideas over in our mind.Think of how ưe would express the same ideas to a friend

Below are three techniques to paraphrase Rather than exclusively

using one of them, a good paraphrase includes all methods. 

+ Use synonyms: Synonyms are different words that express the same or

similar meaning

For example: Interesting, fascinating, curious and amusing are all synonyms.

But! Some synonyms can have a slightly different meaning For

example, fascinating has a stronger meaning than interesting So be careful

when using synonyms We need to make sure that the words we are using

convey the same level of meaning as the original

Example:

Original: Many people think that cars should not be allowed in city centres Paraphrase: Many people believe that motor vehicles should be banned in urban areas.

*Synonyms

think –> believe

cars –> motor vehicles

should not be allowed –> should be banned

city centres –> urban areas

+ Change the word forms

- Another way to paraphrase is to change word forms For example, changing anoun into a verb, a verb into a noun or an adjective into a noun or vice versa

Example:

Original:Many people find watching tennis interesting (interesting = adjective) Paraphrase: Many people have an interest in watching tennis (interest = noun).

Example:

Original: Some people think Facebook is an invasion of privacy (invasion =

noun).

Paraphrase: Some people think Facebook has invaded our privacy (has

invaded = verb).

+ Change the sentence structure

A third way to paraphrase is to change sentence structure This could be bychanging the sentence from passive to active or vice versa, or changing the order

of the clauses Let’s have a look

Active to Passive

Original: The hurricane destroyed the city.

Paraphrase: The city was destroyed by the hurricane.

In the sentence above, the subject (the hurricane) became the object, and theobject (the city) became the subject

To be passive, we also changed the verb destroyed into past perfect (was/were +

past participle)

Passive to Active

Original: The public transport system was developed by the city council.

Paraphrase: The city council developed the public transport system.

In the sentence above the subject (the public transport system) became theobject, and the object (the city council) became the subject

 Order of clauses

A clause is a group of words that contains a subject and a verb Some sentencescan be a single clause Some sentences can be made up of two or more clauses

For example: It is difficult to say whether the economy will improve.

The two clauses are: It is difficult to say / whether the economy will improve  One way to paraphrase is by changing the order of the clauses.

For example: Whether the economy will improve, it is difficult to say.

Let’s look at another example:

Original: During the summer, many people visit the temple.

Paraphrase: Many people visit the temple during the summer.

2.1.1 Sample examples:

Paraphrasing an essay prompt to write the introduction

Let’s look at an example:

Original (essay prompt): Nowadays, more and more foreign students are going

to English-Speaking countries to learn the “international language – English”.

It is undoubtedly true that studying English in an English-speaking country is the best way, but it is not the only way to learn it Do you agree or disagree with the above statement? 

- To unpack this prompt, the first sentence is the general statement. Nowadays,

more and more foreign students are going to English-speaking countries to learn the international language – English  This tells us what the essay topic is.

- The second sentence is the specific statement. It is undoubtedly true that

studying English in an English-speaking country is the best way, but it is not the only way to learn it  It gives an opinion about the topic.

- The third sentence is the question. To what extent do you agree or disagree

with the above statement? This means you have to express your opinion on the

second sentence

- In order to write the introduction, we need to paraphrase the three parts of thisessay prompt

Let’s look at an example of a paraphrase of each:

Sentence 1: Nowadays, more and more foreign students are going to speaking countries to learn the international language – English

English-Paraphrase: In recent times, a growing number of international students are learning English in English-speaking countries.

Sentence 2: It is undoubtedly true that studying English in an English-speaking country is the best way, but it is not the only way to learn it.

Paraphrase: Although it is beneficial to learn English in a country where it

is natively spoken, there are other effective ways to learn it.

Sentence 3: To what extent do you agree or disagree with the above statement?

Paraphrase: I agree with this statement to a large degree.

Putting it all together: In recent times, a growing number of international students are learning English in English-speaking countries Although it is most beneficial to learn English in a country where it is natively spoken, there are other effective ways to learn it I agree with this statement to a large degree.

2.1.2 Practice excercises :

- I asked students use a combination of the above techniques (synonyms, wordforms, sentence structure), write an introduction to the following essay byparaphrasing the prompt below

The overuse of natural resources ultimately exhausts them This causes huge harm to the environment Therefore, the government should discourage people from overusing such resources To what extent do you support or oppose this idea?

- There are 9 students in my team of gifted ones and I have divided them into three groups , each of pair paraphases one ways in above ways

There are three possible correct answers:

Introduction 1: Exploiting natural resources will ultimately deplete them and lead to environmental harm Therefore, the overuse of these resources should

be discouraged by governments I totally agree with this statement.

Designed by Lan, Hoa and Quyen Introduction 2: The exploitation of natural resources results in their exhaustion This causes environmental damage Thus, governments should encourage people to take care not to overuse these resources I agree with this to a large extent.

Designed by Duc, Thanh and Long Introduction 3: Natural resources will ultimately be exhausted if we continue to overuse them It damages the environment and should therefore be discouraged

by governments I agree with this statement to a large degree.

Designed by Huong, Minh and Chi

2.2 Some guides to help students how to write good body paragraphs on an essay.

The main body of an essay is the most important part of the whole paper.All parts of an essay are thematically aimed at something special The introprepares the reader, gives him or her basic information about the topic, the mainthesis, and catches his or her attention, gradually leading him to the followingsection The conclusion summarizes the main points, arguments, evidence, andthesis

A body paragraph is a group of related sentences about a particulartopic or idea directly relating to the thesis Because essays are composed

of multiple body paragraphs, writing and organizing good paragraphs isone of the most important aspects of creating a well-organized anddeveloped essay. 

The term body paragraph refers to any paragraph that follows theintroduction and comes before the conclusion The majority of any essayconsists of multiple body paragraphs, and it is in these paragraphs wherethe main information is presented The longer an essay is, the more bodyparagraphs there will be Because the body paragraphs present theimportant facts and information from an essay, having well-written bodyparagraphs is essential in writing a successful essay

Most essays follow the same basic four paragraph structure:

1 Introduction

2 Supporting Paragraph 1

3 Supporting Paragraph 2

4 Conclusion

Structures for each type of essay

- Provide examples and structures for each type that has been certified byexperienced IELTS teachers This clear structure will help students have aholistic view, know how to analyze the topic, write a lesson clearly, and hope tohelp you increase their Writing scores Besides these are examples for a specifictopic so the studeznts can clearly see the structure mentioned and how to applyit

* Argumentative essay

Structure:

Ex: Some people believe that unpaid community service should be a

compulsory part of high school programmes (for example working for a

charity, improving the neighborhood or teaching sports to younger children).

To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Sample answer :

It is argued that volunteering should be made part of the school curriculum This essay agrees with that suggestion completely because of the benefits it brings to pupils The essay will first look at how voluntary work can help

students develop soft skills and then discuss how these extracurricular activities are valued by universities and employers.

Education should not be limited to strictly academic pursuits and those in

education should also develop life skills, such as teamwork, empathy and discipline, and one of the best ways to hone these aptitudes is through

self-community service Serving those less fortunate than ourselves teaches us many lessons including how to work with people from other backgrounds and the value of hard work For example, I personally volunteered to spend 6 weeks in Africa teaching disadvantaged children and this led to a much higher work ethic when I returned to my studies.

Many colleges and companies are also increasingly looking for this type of experience Most school leavers have the same grades and charitable works can help set you apart from the herd For example, Cambridge and Oxford receive thousands of applications from straight-A students every year and can only accept a small percentage of applicants What you have done outside the

classroom is often the thing that differentiates you from everyone else and gets you that coveted spot.

In conclusion, teenagers should be made to partake in unpaid work as part of their schooling because it will help them learn things they wouldn’t ordinarily learn from their teachers and it will also boost their chances of getting into third level education.

* Discuss Both Views Question (Discussion Essay)

Structure:

Ex : Computers are being used more and more in education Some people say that this is a positive trend, while others argue that it is leading to negative consequences Discuss both sides of this argument and then give your own opinion.

Sample answer :

There is an ever increasing use of technology, such as tablets and laptops, in the classroom It is often argued that this is a positive development, whilst others disagree and think it will lead to adverse ramifications This essay agrees that

an increase in technology is beneficial to students and teachers This essay will discuss both points of view.

It is clear that the internet has provided students with access to more information than ever before Moreover, learners have the ability to research and learn about any subject at the touch of a button It is therefore agreed that technology is a very worthwhile tool for education Wikipedia is a prime example, where students can simply type in any keyword and gain access to in- depth knowledge quickly and easily.

However, many disagree and feel that technology deprives people of real human interaction Human interaction teaches people valuable skills such as discourse, debate and empathy Despite this, human interaction is still possible through the internet and this essay disagrees technology should be dismissed for this reason.