Descriptive Writing Workshop, Lecture notes of English

Download Descriptive Writing Workshop and more Lecture notes English in PDF only on Docsity!

DESCRIPTIVE

WRITING

WORKSHOP

By Zahraa Abdullah E.L.T Supervisior : Ms. Lamia AlGhareeb

Descriptive Writing Workshop

Workshop overview

• Types of writing
• Descriptive writing definition
• Writing Skills
• Descriptive Essay outline
• Discussion

Types of writing

• Expository: to inform or explain the subject.
• Persuasive: state the opinion and to influence.
• Narrative: to tell a story (fact or fiction)
• Descriptive: a type of expository incorporates imagery and specific detail to paint picture for the reader.

What is Descriptive Writing?

An attempt to give a clear or creative description of people, places, objects, or events using appropriate language and informative details.

• Requires:
  • a broad knowledge of vocabulary, particularly adjectives.
  • the ability to use words imaginatively.
• It helps to feel as if the reader is part of the scene being described.
• Creates emotional response.
• Evokes images through rich description.
• Helps visualize the character, place or thing.

WHY teach descriptive writing?

• It will help your students' writing be more interesting and full of details
• It encourages students to use new vocabulary words
• It can help students clarify their understanding of new subject matter material Writing Skills: HOOK
• A good writer grabs or hooks the reader’s attention with an interesting beginning by a sentence which is called grabber or hook. A hook can be: o A provoking question Did you ever wonder why do Kuwaiti people celebrate Hala February festival? (Topic: Festival) o Quotation “Happiness is homemade” (Topic: My holiday) o Anecdote It is a short story about something that happened which illustrates the point you want to make in your essay. It can start with: I recall the time when…. I’ll never forget the time when…. This reminds me of….. I’ll always remember…. This makes me think of…. o Statistical data Did you know that… Statistics show that… Research show that… Ex: Can you believe that the temperature can reach above 55C in Kuwait during summer. (Topic: summer)

Examples Grabber / hook Where is the hook sentence?

Exaples for sensory words;

Exercise 3: For each subject list below, fill in details for each of the five senses. Be sure to use

details that really appeal to the senses. Your goal is to help the reader actually feel, see, smell taste, or hear what you are describing. When you have finished, pick your favourite subject and include your details in a descriptive paragraph.

Subject Touch Sight Smell Taste Sound

Baking cookies Haunted house Swimming in the ocean A circus The mall

Here are some examples of powerful adjectives. What to use instead of ……!

Adverbs

Definition: Words which describe or modify verbs Adverbs (Examples) o The jets dived steeply out of the sky, tumbling rapidly as they maneuvered gracefully past each other.

Strong Verbs

What is a strong verb? It replaces the verbs to be by changing the noun or adjective in the same sentence. For example; be, is, was, been, being, were, has, have, having, had. Weaker : The philanthropist is careful to give only to organizations that have low administrative costs. Stronger : The philanthropist gives only to organizations with low administrative costs. Do the sentences mean exactly the same thing? No. There is a subtle difference. The first sentence underscores the care with which the philanthropist gives. However, unless you mean to emphasize this care, the second sentence conveys the message more strongly than the first. The second sentence is also shorter by four words. Shorter is usually better. Length matters sometimes, but sometimes it doesn’t. Weaker : William was late to the meeting. Stronger : William arrived late to the meeting. These two sentences use the same number of words, six. However, note how the verb in the second sentence, arrived, sounds more vigorous, describes the act of attending the meeting more clearly, than the verb in the first, was, which merely describes a state of being. The main culprits include the verbs “to be” and “to have.” These verbs may hide in the forms listed below. Any time you use one of these verbs (Be, Is, Are, Was, Been, Being, Were, Has, Have, Having, Had) ask yourself if the sentence should be rewritten.

What to use instead of said?

What to use instead of saw?

Exercise 4: Grammar Worksheet: Using Strong Verbs

7. The student who is responsible for conducting the survey and reporting the

results to the school administration is James Archer.

8. If a manager is thinking about changing a policy statement, she has the

responsibility of informing both her immediate supervisor and her

employees.

9. The shipped product was different from the one that was advertised in the

catalog.

10. The Foster family has a fruit stand near Krome Avenue.

11. After a questionable call at home plate, the manager had an argument with

the umpire.

12. Last week, the class had a discussion about Kate Chopin’s novel The

Awakening.

Here is good method to help students revise their new vocabulary words Which will encourage them in their writing assays. Any new wow words can be added to the list at every English lesson.

Class activity

(Examples)

This is my favourite stall at the local market. A farmer’s wife and her daughter are standing behind a colourful counter displaying produce from their farm. The apples are big and red, the pumpkins are orange and the bread looks delicious. Everything is so fresh!

Class activity (What do they look like?)

Another way is to teach the students how describe a person by asking them (what do they look like?)

Students will need to know the list of words that can help them describe a person’s appearance. In addition, they will need to use other wow words given to them as we discussed such as adjectives and strong verbs, similes and metaphors. The following word lists will help students improve their descriptive paragraphs as they think of more concrete ways to describe a person’s appearance.