Wednesday, 29 April 2026

P2 EF71011 Class 5

 

 

Today’s Agenda

·      Attendance

·      Email- full name and class in subject line

·      Narrative paragraphs -telling a story

“Narrative Writing” HANDOUT

Practice- PLAN, then WRITE

Paragraph format, structure- grabbers

·      Finish with “Adult Hobby”

·      Sentence overview “Overview of Sentence Types”

·      DISTRIBUTE Next week’s article, Thought Questions, and crossword

 

Thursday

·      Narrative paragraphs

Continue from last class

Review paragraph structure and format

Test 1 tomorrow- narrative paragraph

·      Sentence work

 

Friday

·      “Self-Assessment Reflection” Week 1

·      Test 1- narrative paragraph

 

 

 

MODES OF WRITING

Narrative writing

- tell a story, personal story

- happened to you or someone close to you

-first person point-of-view- “I” “we” “my sister”

 

LITERARY TERM

point-of-view- the place of the narrator in the story

-first-person- “I” – the narrator is inside the story , tell the story from their perspective, though their eyes

-third-person – “he” “she” the narrator is not in the story

-second-person – “you” UNUSUAL Bible,

 

- Usually the story is told through your eyes, your perspective

- tell a story, and illustrate a point using that story

-illustrate a point- have some deeper meaning

-deeper meaning –      What you learned from the experience.

What other people could learn from the experience.

Commentary on human nature.

 

-storytelling- storytelling

-stories that inform us or enlighten us, teach us something about life, -about humanity

- most people enjoy hearing stories, transmit knowledge

 

- storytelling podcasts:

-general stories The Moth

-scary, ghost stories that happened to them- Jim Harold’s Campfire, Uncanny

** get podcast software, listen for free, e.g. Overcast, (iphone) Podcasts

Spotify, Google Music, etc.

 

-         narrative mode is very effective, storytelling is universal

-         the oral tradition – transmission of cultural knowledge through stories-

-         First Nations- oral transmission of knowledge, no writing system

 

 

nominal literacy rate- not necessarily a high level of literacy

 

 

-         teaching- telling stories, impact, more meaningful

 

 

Narrative paragraph

Beginning

Middle

End

 

BEGIN WITH A GRABBER/HOOK

Topic sentence-  topic, controlling idea

Middle-  events of the story, usually in order of time

End- concluding sentence, wrap up

 

Structure of a Paragraph:

Grabber/Hook

Topic sentence – topic, controlling idea

Supporting sentences

Concluding sentence

 

Grabber- hook your reader’s attention

OPTIONAL – HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

MY ADVICE: When you are writing a paragraph or essay, begin your paragraph or essay with a grabber/hook.

Grabbers/Hooks- used in advertising

Grabber

-usually first sentence, before the Topic Sentence

-grabs the reader’s attention, hooks your reader attention

-makes them pay attention, makes them want to read your writing

-effective attention-getting device for writing, highly recommended

 

MY ADVICE: Use a grabber. It will make your writing way more interesting.

 

PARAGRAPH STRUCTURE

Grabber

Topic sentence

Supporting sentences

Concluding sentence

 

Good for paragraphs, for essays, for speeches, e.g. TED Talks https://www.ted.com/  TEDVancouver- downtown VPL

 

 

**

Seven different kinds of grabbers/hooks to choose from:

 

1.    - a funnel, general to specific statement

-say something big and general, then narrow it down to you specific topic funnel

 

 \   /

  ||

    

 

NARRATIVE

Everybody has had an embarrassing experience. The time I met my husband’s parents for the first time was very embarrassing for me.

movie Meet the Parents

 

PROCESS

How to eat a taco.

GRABBER-FUNNEL

Some food is eaten with knife and fork; some food is eaten with chopsticks. Howver, tacos are eaten by hand. It cna be a mess! TS

 

 

2.    -write a short anecdote- short personal story to illustrate a point, very short (1-2 short sentences)

VOCAB anecdote- a short personal story that illustrates a point

 

personalizes your writing, establishes a connection to your reader,

establishes empathy- same feeling
sympathy – feel sorry about someone’s situation

 

anecdote is told first-person point-of-view “I”

first person is very personal, friendly-sounding, close

PROCESS

I eat a lot of tacos because my mother used to make them for me. They can be messy, but I will teach how to eat them.

 

 

 

3.    -historical reference- knowledge about history

PROCESS

Tacos are a traditional food from Mexico. However, that have spread all of over the world. However, if you don’t know how to eat it, it will spread all over your shirt.

 

 

4.    -fact or statistic- numbers

          80%, four out of five, 2/3 of ..., 37,000,000 people...

 

Millions of tacos are eaten every day; also, billions of napkins are wasted wiping food off tables.

 

5.    -ask a question, the topic sentence or thesis statement will be the answer PROBABLY THE EASIEST WAY

PROCESS

Are you a messy eater? Have you ever made a big mess eating taco? Have you ever embarrassed yourself eating a taco?

If so, I can tell you how to do it right.

 

6.    -relevant quotation by a famous/important person

James Beard said, "Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” Another universal experience is dropping taco all over yourself.

 

 ***PRO TIP: Books of quotations.- Have some quotations in your memory. It is very helpful to reference when you are writing.

Look up quotations organized by theme.

Debating teams- technique to begin with a relevant quotation

 

7.                 -relevant idiom, proverb, or saying from any language,

                     -sometimes don’t translate well

                     -have a lot of meaning

                     -these can be really fun and colourful

 

In Japanese, people say “Even monkeys fall from trees”

In Mandarin, we say “If you are gold, you will shine eventually.”

In English, we say, “Cream rises to the top.”

In French, they say, “La creme de la creme.” The best of the best.

We say, “All that glitters is not gold.”

In Ukranian we say “A little gold is expensive, too.”

In Korean, we say, “Time is golden.”

In Chinese, we say that a good government job is a ‘golden rice bowl.’

In Farsi, we say that a person who is making good money at a job has their “bread in the oil.”

 

There is a saying in Japanese: ‘Even monkeys fall from trees.’ It means everyone makes mistakes. It’s important to keep going after you did something wrong.

 

IDIOM         The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. (English)

                     Christmas cake. (Japanese)

                     Playing piano/violin (music) to a cow. (Chinese)

                     Pearls before swine. (English) -showing beautiful pearls to a

                                                                        pig

In one ear and out the other. – a person won’t listen to you

 

 

 

 

 

REVIEW of ways to do grabbers/hooks:

1.    funnel

2.    anecdote

3.    history

4.    fact/statistic

5.    question EASIEST

6.    quotation

7.    idiom/saying

 

Choose one. Start your paragraph off with it. It will make your paragraph, essay, or presentation more lively and engaging.

 

PROFESSIONAL: ADVICE: When writing a paragraph or essay, write the grabber last. You can mull it over (think about it, roll it around in your mind) as you are writing the rough draft. A good grabber might jump out at you. If not, if you can’t think of anything for a grabber, just ask a question. The question is the easiest way to do a grabber.

 

 

Homework for tomorrow:

Put together a narrative paragraph (150-200 ww)

Tomorrow, we can read them out loud tomorrow.

Choose one of the topics:

1.    Write about an important lesson that you learned from an experience.

2.    Write about a scary/funny/embarrassing experience you had.

 

 

SLANG scaredy-cat, a chicken – a person who is afraid of everything

He is a big scaredy-cat.

 

trauma-

 

 

Writing- format

Write in pen.

Double space

Use lined, ruled paper.

Respect the margins. Write withing the margins. red lines

Full name, class and date top right corner

Title- centre top line

Indent the first word of the paragraph

 

 

 

REMINDER - Structure of a paragraph

 

Grabber

Topic sentence

Supporting sentences 5-7 sentences

Concluding sentence

 

Write at least 150 words. 150-200+ words is the sweet spot for paragraph length.

VOCAB the sweet spot- ideal length

VOCAB the Goldilocks Zone- not too short, not too long

 

**

 

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