2. Planning

You are going to write a review of a play or a film. Use the following suggestions to plan your writing.

• Choose a play or film that interests you. Do not write a review of something you have not seen.

• Decide on the number of paragraphs you will write and the order in which they will appear.

• Decide what details the reader will need to know, e.g. the name of the film/play, where it is on, the background to the story, the setting, the author, actors, or any other interesting information.

• Make a list of what are the most important characteristics of the play or film, e.g. the (treatment of the) story, the number of actors, the special effects, the scenery, the location.

2. Writing

Write your review (200-250 words).

Thinking about your intended audience Remember not to give too much of the story away when you are writing a review of a play or film. This would spoil everything for people reading the review then going to see the performance.

2. Checking

As you write your review, check that you have:

• included all the necessary details.

• written the right amount.

• organised your review logically in paragraphs.

• used phrases, adverbs, etc. to make your writing more interesting for your readers.

• used link words to make your review coherent.

• made some personal recommendations about the play or film.

• not given away surprises.

Appendix 11.

Reviewing a song

1 You may wish to bring in record jackets (sleeves), tapes, and advertise­ments for concerts or programmes, which depict current popular or classical music. These can serve as supplementary materials for several activities in the unit.

2¹ sound extremely loud

3² presented to the public for the first time

4³ music that is not serious or difficult

5⁴ pleasant and easy to remember

6⁵ extremely skilful

7⁶ includes as an important part

8⁷ rock music in which rhymed lyrics are spoken over rhythm tracks

9⁸ made a new version of a musical track

10⁹ played at a fast beat

11 The Reprobate Punished

12 a light drama

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