WEEK 5
HOW TO WRITE AN OPINION ESSAY AIM:
To analyze and understand the process of writing an argumentative paragraph To get familiar with connectors and punctuation techniques.
ACTIVITY 1 1.
Watch the following video and complete the mind map below:
A body/argumentative paragraph contains
1._____________
2.______________
3. ______________
shows ________________
_____________
provides
gives ________________
Linking words
___________________
Linking words
___________________
Linking words
___________________
ACTIVITY 2
Paragraph general structure: 1.
Read the following sample and identify: The topic sentence, 2 pieces of supporting information and a therefore statement. Smoking
There are many reasons why people shouldn’t smoke. First, smoking is unhealthy. It can cause lung cancer, and it can lead to an early death. Furthermore, smoking is expensive. A pack of cigarettes costs five dollars. Buying a pack of cigarettes every day means $1500 each year. Lastly, cigarettes smell remains in the smoker’s clothes and the clothes of those who surround him. For example, going to a restaurant that allows smoking might be an unpleasant experience. After you leave all of your clothes end up with a horrible smell and so does your hair. To sum up, I find smoking a negative habit because it is unhealthy, expensive, and unattractive.
Use of Connectors: 2.1 Read the sample again and underline the connectors you find. 2.2 Classify those connectors using the following chart. Addition
Contrast
Cause/Consequenc e
Order
Others
2.3 Look at the Power point presentation your teacher will show you and complete the chart.
ACTIVITY 2 Punctuation practice: 3.1 Insert appropriate punctuation marks (. or ,) in the following paragraph to make it coherent. You must also change to CAPITAL letters if you think you need it.
John and Carol’s “dream vacation” didn’t go off as planned at all first of all their flight was delayed unexpectedly they had to wait for six hours at the airport Moreover during the flight there was a lot of turbulence and Carol got sick when they finally landed they found that the rental car agency didn’t have a car ready for them fortunately they were able to rent a car from another company on the other hand the weather was rainy and cold in Paris they had to spend more money than they’d planned because everything was so expensive they were very disappointed however there were many enjoyable moments. 3.2 Compare your answers to the ones provided by your teacher.
ACTIVITY 4
Body/argum entatve paragraph
Brainstorming Outline: Based on the introductory paragraph you wrote for Task 1 and the feedback provided by your teacher, brainstorm your ideas in the following chart to write a coherent argumentative paragraph.
Topic sentence:
Supporting idea 1 Example or detail:
Supporting idea 2 Example or detail:
Supporting idea 3 Therefore statement
Example or detail:
WRITING TASK 2 Name: _______________________________
Code: _____________ Group: _______
Based on your brainstorming outline, write a 80 word- argumentative paragraph for an Opinion Essay. _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________