Improve your study skills

Developing writing strategies

Types of compositions(from Reading & Writing TARGETS 3, Student’s Book by Virinia Evans-Jenny Dooley)

When you write a composition or an essay, you are often asked to write your answer in the form of an article, a report, a letter, etc.

ARTICLES are found in magazines and newspapers (e.g. school newspaper, magazine for young children, etc). All of the following may be written in the form of an article:

• Descriptive compositionsabout people, places, objects, etc

• Narrative descriptions or stories about real or imaginary events which happened in the pastDiscursive essays, about arguments concerning particular subjects, which include:

  • opinion essays, giving your personal opinion

  • for-and-against essays, giving the opposing arguments for both sides (e.g. pros v. cons).

REPORTSare similar to articles but have a more formal, factual style, and each kind has its own special format and features. Compositions in the form of reports include:

• News reportsabout recent events (e.g. accidents, earthquakes, etc), such as those found in newspapers

• Assessment reportsdiscussing the suitability of a person, a place, a proposed plan, etc

• Reviews discussing a film, book, restaurant, etc and giving your opinion /recommendation.

LETTERS are written to a specific person/group (e.g. your parents, the Town Council, etc) for a specific reason (e.g. to make a complaint, to apply for a job, etc). Compositions in this form include:

• Friendly lettersto people we know, usually about personal matters, in informal style

• Formal lettersto officials/managers/etc, about official/business matters, in formal style

• Postcards to friends or relatives.

There are several other kinds of informative writing, each with its own format and features. (You are not often asked to write compositions in these forms.) They include:

• Instructionson how to make, use or do something (e.g. bake a cake, operate a washing machine, etc).

• Leaflets giving information, advice, etc

• Public notices, warnings, etc

• Advertisementsandannouncements

• Memos, notesand other short messages.

1. Write a letter to your friend where you share your feelings of being in a foreign country for quite a long time. You have participated in Work&Travel Program and gained a first-hand experience of living and working abroad. Highlight the following points in your letter:

• fears, expectations and reality;

• language barrier and the ways to overcome this difficulty;

• communicating with foreigners on a daily basis: the most common problems;

• being homesick and the ways of getting in touch with your relatives who are miles away;

• finding friends;

• your tips for a friend who will go to the US next summer by the same program.

Discussion

We all go through a very special period of time: modern world is divided into supporters of globalization, anti-globalization and even glocalization that is a mixture of 2 words: globalization and localization! But no matter what ideas you share it’s impossible to deny the importance of such phenomenon as globalization for international communication.

Share your ideas about globalization as a reality where we have to live in. What can you compare it to? Explain your choice. Below you can find some ideas.

• a paradise;

• a prison;

• a runway for the boundless world;

• a jungle, where rich countries are predators and poor countries are just prey;

• a properly organized conveyor belt where every tool fits its place;

• your choice.

Project work

Try to ask your group mates as many similar questions as possible which emphasize that we are all global citizens.

• Do you embrace change? Or do you resist change?

• Do you own a mobile phone or refuse to conform to new technologies?

• Do you celebrate freedom of speech? Or do you oppose freedom of speech?