Lesson 9

21 Outubro 2015, 10:00 • Katarzyna Dominika Karpowicz Osowska

Essay writing exercises - coursebook pp. 165-180

Homework:
Essay: choose one of the topics in ex. 3 p. 45

Narrative Writing Part 1

21 Outubro 2015, 08:00 • Hilda Alexandra Prazeres Eusebio

Students were introduced to the basics of narrative writing.

They started out analyzing the following texto and summarizing what is wrong with it:

"I was riding my bike down the hill. My friends were with me. We came to this hill all the time. I went off the jump. My arm broke. It hurt a lot. My friends took me home. My parents took me to the hospital. The doctor put my arm in a cast."

(Ref: http://rochelleshall.weebly.com/uploads/1/9/3/7/19375069/final_narrative_writing_unit_.pdf)

Narrative writing is about telling a story.

Which viewpoint should you use?

www.writerswrite.co.za/understanding-viewpoint-terminology

• As a writer you can choose to tell your story using first person, second person, or third person as your viewpoint. Different viewpoints suit different stories. Different tenses suit different types of stories. Memoirs, for example, are almost always written in first person present tense. Crime fiction, especially in the police procedural genre, is almost always written in third person past tense.
• There are no absolute rules for choosing a viewpoint for your story. You can even choose to tell the story from multiple viewpoints, although we suggest you have no more than three per novel and in a short story, you should stick to one. • •Once you’ve chosen, there is one rule you should observe with viewpoint. Never change viewpoint in a scene. This confuses readers who like to be in one character’s head at a time.

First Person – The character tells the story, using the pronoun ‘I’. 

Example: I walk into the room. I know he's there in the darkness. I smile as I smell the sunshine and wind in his hair.

Six Viewpoint Structures in First Person:

Simple - one person tells the story

Example: Stephanie Plum series by Janet Evanovich, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil by John Berendt

Simple Unreliable Narrator – One character tells the story but we don’t know if he is telling the truth.

Example: Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye

Rashamon Effect – This means multiple characters tell their version of the same events in the story.

Example: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner 

Separate Multiple Viewpoints – This means multiple characters tell the story using first person perspectives.

Example: blueeyed boy by Joanne Harris 

Sequential Multiple Viewpoints – This means different characters tell the story from their perspective in a timeline or sequence. You may have Jane narrating events in January, Debbie narrating events from February to June, and Sarah in July.

Example: The family sagas written by Susan Howatch

First Person Omniscient - The narrator is a character in the story, but also knows the thoughts and feelings of all the other characters.

Examples: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

Second Person – The character tells the story using the pronoun ‘You’. 

Example: You walk into the room. You know he's there in the darkness. You smile as you smell the sunshine and wind in his hair.

This is the least common of all viewpoints used by authors. It is used to make the reader feel uncomfortable. The character is often alienated or in an altered state. The reader feels as if he or she is being compelled to listen. Children do not like second person.

Examples: Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney, Half Asleep In Frog Pajamas by Tom Robbins.

Third Person – The narrator tells the story using the pronouns ‘He’ and ‘She’. 

Example: She walks into the room. She knows he's there in the darkness. She smiles as she smells the sunshine and wind in his hair.

Three Viewpoint Structures in Third Person:

Subjective – This means the author focuses on one character and his thoughts and feelings. It is similar to simple first person but the author uses ‘he’ instead of ‘I’.

Examples: The Harry Bosch novels by Michael Connelly,The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway.  (You can also use separate multiple viewpoints and sequential multiple viewpoints in third person subjective.)

Omniscient – This means the author gives readers a broad view of the story. The thoughts and feelings of many, or all, the characters are shown.

Examples: Jane Austen’s novels, Tom Clancy’s novels, Charles Dickens’ novels

Objective – This means the author observes, and tells the story according to the actions of the characters. Readers have no idea what is going on inside the heads of the main characters.

Examples:  Hills Like White Elephants by Ernest Hemingway and The Mallory Novels by Carol O Connell.

Students then analyzed the following narrative example:

It was a beautiful, summer’s day.  I was five years old and I skipped out to my swing.  The swing was based on my favorite cartoon, Sesame Street.  I loved to swing so high that I’d almost throw up.  As I skipped out the door, I saw something very wrong.  My older sister was on my swing.  She smiled at me and kept swinging. 

Her long brown hair swung behind her and then in front of her again.  Her legs pumped even higher.  I could tell from the expression on her face that she was mocking me.  She knew that the swing was mine and yet she was on it.

“Get off my swing, right now!” I shouted at her.

She smiled, “Nope,” and then kept on swinging.

“Get off now or else,” I stated between clenched teeth.

“Or else what?” she smirked and then stuck her tongue out at me.   

Next, blood filled my face.  My fists tightened until my fingernails dug into the palms.  I ran at full speed for her.  My stubby, little legs gaining speed.  I felt like Batman flying through the air.  I threw my body at her, knocking us both onto the ground. 

I had always been a biter.  I was the type of kid that bit the neighbor’s kid and chewed on tables.  It was my defense mechanism.  I would bite on something whenever I was frustrated or wanted to get someone’s attention.  It always worked.

My sister, Mel, was crushed on the ground and still disoriented from me jumping on her.  I took advantage of the situation and sunk my teeth into her smooth, pink cheek.  Blood filled my mouth and I could hear her screaming. 

I felt my mother’s arms wrap around my waist.  She pulled me until I was completely off of my sister, so I unclenched my teeth.  Mel held her face while the blood spilled between her white fingers.  I climbed onto my swing while they rushed her inside.

Miraculously, she didn’t need stitches, but she and I both learned something about one another, which took a long time for us to get over.  We learned that I would use violence to get what I wanted and that she would continue to bait me until I got there.  

(Sample text from Lesson Plan on Utah Education Network.)

Students filled in the descriptive sensory chart found in their coursebook.

Introduction to Chimamanda Adichie

19 Outubro 2015, 16:00 • Paula Alexandra Carvalho Alves Rodrigues Horta

Screening and discussion about "Chimamanda Adichie: 2015 Wellesley College Commencement Speaker"

Lesson 8

19 Outubro 2015, 14:00 • Katarzyna Dominika Karpowicz Osowska

- "Animal rights" - listening + speaking (coursebook p. 44)

- Vocabulary: verb idioms (p. 45)

- Functional language: Expressing opinions (p. 45)

- Homework: exs. 1-4 p. 46

Vocabulary from the lesson:

- to (not) add up
- to butt in
- to clear up
- to draw a line
- to face
- to miss the point

- to cull

Discussion Text 2

19 Outubro 2015, 14:00 • David Alan Prescott

Analysis of text about British police concealing information about criminal gang activity for fear of provoking racial tension.