Sumários

Finishing up Persuasive Writing and Narrative Writing - Part 1

16 Março 2017, 10:00 • Hilda Alexandra Prazeres Eusebio

We finished up Persuasive Writing by identifying some of the Persuasive Writing techniques identified in the following audio tracks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bqtA7HH61o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1Kb4w8wSnE&index=3&list=PL9ZAH7g2F0UVQmdLMf4syFk2nsWraJUiD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWeWJ7n1QPI&index=13&list=PL9ZAH7g2F0UVQmdLMf4syFk2nsWraJUiD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13JzhYcS0mw

We then began looking at Narrative Writing and at what NOT to do in the upcoming homework assignment as exemplified by the following extract:

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.

I am looking for something interesting, vibrant, with a lot of description (as practiced in the descriptive writing assignment), i.e. something more like this:

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.

Students were taken through the importance of choosing a viewpoint (1st person, 2nd person, 3rd person, etc.) and of choosing a narration time (i.e. past or present) and of the effects that each of these have on the reader.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: in light of the fact that I can't stand not knowing who is making what mistakes in the previous homework assignment that was done in pairs, students will do THEIR OWN INDIVIDUAL HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT for the narrative assignment. PLEASE DO NOT GO OVER THE WORD COUNT AS I WON'T READ IT. Sorry to be strict, but this is how it has to be.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION: thanks to João Pimenta, we finally have a wonderful and funny collection of short stories to read for this semester's 'novel'. It's called Me Talk Pretty One Day and it's by David Sedaris. It's available on Book Depository's website:

https://www.bookdepository.com/search?searchTerm=me+talk+pretty+one+day&search=Find+book

Please buy the book as soon as possible and start reading! It is very funny....