Writing: Essay (lesson from Unit 3)

• English
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Look closely! Can you see what today's picture is?

It's the ring pull on a can of drink.

First Test Week

Around the  17th of January 2025

Write an FCE style Essay

You have 40 minutes to write an FCE essay. The text will be an essay and should be 140-190 words long. This will be graded as a 2-Test. You will need to write a plan before you start writing your essay, the plan needs to be handed in but is not graded.

Agenda

• Week 47 (now and next week): Use pages 44 and 45 to write an essay: 

Homework Week 48: check notes and finish the essay task related questions on  p.44+45

Homework Week 49: Look at tops and tips for writing an essay. Use your booklet! Revise how to write an essay using the FCE booklet

Week 49 : Tuesday 4th of December - FORMATIVE TEST - WRITE THE ESSAY ex. 9 p.45 

Two reasons to make an effort with this!

What kind of help can each of these people give each other? 

Teacher

Elderly person

Friend

Parent

lesson one

Look at the photo on page 44

Discuss the following questions

What is the woman doing?

What kind of help is she giving?

How does the girl feel? - How do you know?

How would you feel in the same situation? 

Look at exercise 2 on page 44

In Pairs: 

Read the task and  answer the following questions

Turn to page 146 for extra help

Possesion: 's / s' 

Singular possessive nouns  need and apostrophe..

Before the "s"

The teacher's desk is tidy.

The baby's mother is tired.

That's my friend's house.

regular plural possessive nouns need an apostrophe..

after the "s"

The dogs' bowl. (There are two dogs)

The teachers' desk. (There are lots of teachers)

both ..... and 

not only one person or thing but also the other.

example

Both Mrs Corrigan and Ms Penning are English teachers at our school.

neither ..... nor 

when something is not true about two things or people.

example

Neither Mrs Corrigan nor Ms Penning were born in the Netherlands!

either ..... or 

when there is a choice about two things, people or situations but only one is possible.

example

Either Mrs Corrigan or Ms Penning will help at the open day. 

Exercise 3 

Choose the correct option in questions 1-5 

example

Either Mrs Corrigan or Ms Penning will help at the open day. 

P.44 

Exercise 4

Read the essay task...Can you suggest a third point?? 

Work in pairs

Possible answers

1. health benefits

2. a better social life

3. why it is good for the community

P.45 

Exercise 5:  - H/W before next week

Read the essay ...Try to find out what points the writer makes about the ideas 1 and 2 from the task in exercise 4 and what third point was made?

Complete ex.5 before tuesday's lesson

P.45 

Today's photo looks easy, doesn't it? But we want to know exactly where the bubbles are! Can you guess?

lesson 

two

They're the bubbles in a glass of fizzy cola with ice!

Exercise 5: Plenda - H/W

Read the essay ...Try to find out what points the writer makes about the ideas 1 and 2 from the task in exercise 4 and what third point was made?

Complete ex.5 before today's lesson

P.45 

Exercise 5: Point 1

For points 1 and 2 the writer mentions that teens and pensioners experience similar challenges. Both struggle to socialise and experience low self confidence and loneliness. Also, pensioners can help by being patient and understanding. 

Parents are often too busy to do so.

P.45 

Exercise 5: Point 2

Teens can motivate older people by introducing them to new experiences. 

P.45 

Exercise 6: Answers

A: This works and balances the argument. It is more cautious in summing up than in the essay in ex.5 - The writer uses "but" to express doubt. it could be a good alternative ending.

B. This disagrees with the statement. It doesn't work in this essay as the main part of the essay talks about how teens and pensioners learn from each other.

P.45 

Ex 6: The Conclusion

Why do we think a conclusion is an important part of an essay? 

• 
  

P.45 

NOW .....

Look at the different endings in A and B. In pairs, discuss the questions

Remember: a catchy title

Last but not least..... (not essential, but helps the reader know what your essay is about!

Plan On 

The essay needs to be well organised and present a logical argument. So YOU MUST WRITE A PLAN

EXERCISE 7: Match the functions to the paragraphs

Ex 8 

Why are the highlighted items important? 

In Pairs: decide what function each word or phrase has: 

ie: Despite contrasts two different ideas

In pairs: 

1. Read the task

2. What could you say about each point? 

3. What can you add as your own idea? 

Brainstorming: 

Academic knowledge: It's important to have qualifications

it helps get a job but experience is also good; schools should help students get practical experience.

Money management: schools teach maths but actually saving and managing money is an important life skill.

Your own idea: schools could also teach careers advice, social skills or technology skills. 

Remember: Always make a plan!

1. introduction

2. first idea

3. second idea

4. third idea

5. conclusion

Tip: Spend 10 minutes making your plan before you start writing your essay

In the lesson and finish for h/w

PLAN your essay using your notes or ideas from ex. 9

Finish for homework and bring to TUESDAY'S LESSON, where we will WRITE THE ESSAY AS A FORMATIVE TASK

Plenda

FEEDBACK ON THE ESSAY TASK

Re-cap

Is an essay formal or informal?

How many words?

How many paragraphs? 

What should you do before you start writing? 

Take five minutes  to check your essay

Grading for FCE (and the test week)

Your teacher gives you a grade for your essay based on 4 things:

Content - Did you write what you were asked to write?

Communicative achievement - Was your writing too formal, too informal, or just right?

Organisation - Did you link paragraphs and sentences? Is there a logical flow from start to finish?

Language - Did you show off your sparkling vocabulary or did you use basic words? Did you make lots of grammar and spelling mistakes?

Introduction for your essay

Some people say that students are not being taught the skills they need at school to prepare them for their lives in the future. Is this really the case? 

Firstly, academic knowledge, I do believe ....

Secondly, ....

Tip

Always, always, always,

write a plan.

common spelling errors

alot = a lot (actually, rather too informal, try and use many, numerous, several)

Wich = which

realy = really

Common error: teached > taught

Remember to use good topic sentences to introduce your ideas/paragraphs.....

To start off with, I'm going to talk about bad stuff we learn at school

Firstly, some reasons why what we learn at school should be more relevant to life today............

I am going to write my essay on stuff we should know more about. i have quite some ideas and want to tell them here.

It is very important for us to spend time, learning practical skills such as money management.....

common error: a weak conclusion

Your last paragraph needs to be a conclusion. 

Always sum up what has already been said in your main paragraph.

Never introduce a new topic.

Start the paragraph with:To conclude, .... / To sum up, .... / In conclusion, ...../ All in all, ......

Try to link the last sentence in your conclusion back to something you have said in your introduction.   

REMEMBER TO SAY WHETHER YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE.

Another common error: Too informal 

Try not to use too many shortened forms.

Do not use too many personal pronouns (I, she, he, it, you)

Use correct vocabulary for a semi-formal essay - 

a lot /many, numerous

gotta / got to

gonna / going to