Monday, 2 November 2026

EF71011 P1 Class 37

 

Today’s Agenda

·      Attendance

·      Finish spoken presentations

·      Continue essay work- simplified essay tomorrow

·      IF TIME Continue verb tenses- present perfect

·      Quiz 5- noun clauses- final quiz (last 30m)

 

 

Tuesday

·      Pass-in essay

·      Give marks for presentation-

Email x/1

Prep x/3

Spoken x/6 – based on PLOs

x/10

 

 

Wednesday

·      Return Quiz 5

Go over

Optional RW for 1 point

·      Sentence combining?

 

 

Thursday

·      Return essay

Go over

Optional RW for 1 point

·      Optional replacement quiz and/or test

 

 

Friday- Last day

·      Return everything

No more RWs

·      Final marks and comments

·      One-on-one student-teacher conferences

 

 

 

 

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Essay

multi-paragraph

 

SIMPLIFY

Introductory paragraph

 

Body paragraphs-  3,2,1 paragraphs

 

Concluding paragraph

 

 

 

Standalone paragraph- 150ww+

 

Essay – 300ww+ total    - the paragraphs have to be under 150ww

-         balanced length

-          

 

Model paragraphs

Barbara’s essay- top student

Bicycle essay

 

 

 

PROCESS

PREWRITING- PLANNING

1.    Read and understand the question.

 

2.    Brainstorm ideas. Come up with ideas.

 

3.    Organize- clearly organized

PLOs- C5

WRITING

4.    Write the first draft, rough draft

Intro paragraph

 

Body paragraphs- 3 is the best number, the goal

 

Concluding paragraph

(300ww+)

 

5.    Proofread and edit

quality of the sentence

-simple, compound, complex-adv cl, adj n, n cl

-verb tense

-verb form

-punctuation  , . ;

- spelling

-prepositions

 

6.    Submit.

 

*I have not have time to give detailed grammar and sentence feedback. I have done a lot of that already. You can refer to past quizzes and tests to find areas for improvement.

I will read the essay, give some feedback and put a mark on it.

 

 

**Hooks/Grabbers

Structure of a Paragraph:

Grabber/Hook

Topic sentence – topic, controlling idea

Supporting sentences

Concluding sentence

 

Grabber- hooks your reader’s attention, grabs their 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/Hook

-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 PARAGRAPH- Your first day in Vancouver

 

                     Travelling to a new country is very exciting and often overwhelming. My first day after arriving in Vancouver was both of these.

GRABBER FUNNEL – TOPIC SENTENCE

 

NARRATIVE PARAGRAPH- An embarrassing experience that you had

 

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

GRABBER FUNNEL – TOPIC SENTENCE

 

TEST1 What would you have done in Mr. Wei’s position?

GRABBER FUNNEL Often we are faced with difficult dilemmas in life.

TOPIC SENTENCE I would have acted the same way that Mr. Wei acted in “I Confess”.

 

 

PROCESS

How to eat a taco.

GRABBER-FUNNEL

Some food is eaten with knife and fork; some food is eaten with chopsticks. However, tacos are eaten by hand. It can 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

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

first person is very personal, friendly-sounding, close

 

TEST1 What would you have done in Mr. Wei’s position?

GRABBER ANECDOTE I was a teacher in ABCLand. I often had to make decisions about how open/honest/vulnerable I would be with students.

TOPIC SENTENCE I would have acted the same way that Mr. Wei acted in “I Confess”.

*The anecdote has to be really short- one or two sentences. No long stories.

 

 

Topic: How to eat tacos.

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. They have spread of over the world. However, if you don’t know how to eat it, it will spread all over your shirt.

 

 

TEST1 What would you have done in Mr. Wei’s position?

GRABBER HISTORY Teachers in China acted very differently than teachers in Canada.

TOPIC SENTENCE I would have acted the same way that Mr. Wei acted in “I Confess”.

 

 

 

 

4.    -fact or statistic- numbers

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

 

TEST1 What would you have done in Mr. Wei’s position?

GRABBER STATISTIC 90% of / Most people would prefer to hide their mistakes rather than own up.

TOPIC SENTENCE I would have acted the same way that Mr. Wei acted in “I Confess”.

 

 

PROCESS How to Eat a Taco

       10 million tacos are eaten every day in North America; also, billions of napkins are wasted wiping food off tables. I will teach you how to eat a taco more neatly.

 

 

 

 

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

PROCESS How to Eat a Taco

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

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

 

TEST1 What would you have done in Mr. Wei’s position?

GRABBER QUESTION Have you ever been in a situation where you had to own up to a mistake in public?

TOPIC SENTENCE I would have acted the same way that Mr. Wei acted in “I Confess”.

VOCAB IDIOM own up- admit your error

I owned up to breaking the printer.

Come on. Own up! Be honest.

 

 

6.    -relevant quotation by a famous/important person

PROCESS How to Eat a Taco

James Beard said, "Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” Another universal experience is dropping taco all over yourself. I will teach how to eat a taco without making a big mess.

 

TEST 1 What would you have done in Mr. Wei’s position?

GRABBER QUOTATION My grandmother always said to be honest no matter what it costs.  INDIRECT SPEECH

My grandmother always said, “Be honest no matter what it costs.”

DIRECT SPEECH- her exact words

TOPIC SENTENCE I would have acted the same way that Mr. Wei acted in “I Confess”.

 

***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

 

GRAMMAR and PUNCTUATION FOR QUOTING DIRECT SPEECH

Jun said, “I will be early tomorrow.”

direct speech – exact word

Her mother said, “Be home by 10.”

“ “ quotation marks

single quotation marks ‘   ‘

double quotation marks “  “  99.99% of the time

 

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.”

In Farsi, we say a person fell in honey. That means that they got very lucky.

 

 

 

OTHER IDIOMS

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

Christmas cake. (Japanese) December 25th

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

Reading to a donkey. (Farsi)

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

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

 

REVIEW of ways to do grabbers/hooks:

1.    funnel

2.    anecdote

3.    history

4.    fact/statistic

5.    ask a question EASIEST

6.    quotation

7.    idiom/saying

 

 

 

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Different types of essays

-         narrative

-         descriptive

-         persuasive

-         compare/contrast

-         etc.

 

Get an essay book from VPL.

 

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