Presentation A8

Powerpoint Presentation from A8 on Thursday


Advice on:
Formality and grading it
Planning Writing
Checking Writing

Link: 
http://www.slideshow.com/users/bcteacher/politeness-and-writing--572162773

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How does your reader know if your writing is formal or informal? Simple - the very first sentence or two will tell them - often from the vocabulary on its own.
So, take a look at these two first sentences:

My greatest ambition would be to set up a new business

vs

My greatest ambition would be to establish a new business

Only one word different, but one's certainly a bit more formal than the other!

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CAE/Level 8

Get to know the Writing Exam.


Take a look through your coursebook Ready for CAE - 

Can you

• make a list of the different types of writing question
• divide them according to 
• which part of the writing exam you can find them in
• if you've written them before (in your language or English)
• how (in)formal they are

You'll find the CAE Handbook helpful too.

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A8: A Question from a Student

An incoming email from a student this week:

I was just choosing the writing for next week when a doubt came up to my mind, how many kind of writings are there? A contribution to a leaflet, an essay, an article, a report, a letter, a review, any else?

Our reply:

Roughly (and from memory!) -

Review, proposal/report, contribution, information sheet/leaflet, competition entry, formal email/letter, essay

Some of those overlap, and some are not precisely defined. "Competition Entry" in particular seems to offer lots of flexibility in format, it's the functions, formality and vocabulary that seem to be the key there.

One other: Informal email could be in the list as some of the questions (Compeition Entry, perhaps for obe) could be answered with one, depending on the formality implied or asked for in the question.

And for anyone else in doubt:

Use this blogspot post to check and we'd strongly recommen a tutorial if you're still in doubt.

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A CAE-level review

A sample writing for you to take a look at and learn from the mistakes!

Write a review for your school website about two TV shows you've seen recently.

220-260 words

TV programmes have become one of the most important sources of entertainment for people of all ages.  Young people, who used to be very fond of watching television, are nowadays more interested in computers, mobile phones and listening to the music on Ipods. However, some TV series are still quite popular among youngster. That is the case of two absolutely different shows that are currently being broadcast in channel 2 and 3.[m1] 

The first one, named Dr Who, is a British science fiction television programme, launched in 1963 and produced by BBC. The lead character is The Doctor, a kind of strange man who is able to travel in the[m2]  space and in the[m3]  time thanks to a blue police box called TARDIS. The last chapter[m4] , which has reached an incredible height of popularity, depicts the history of a young woman pursued by some unrealistic weeping statues. The lack of spectacular special effects, so frequent in the current scripts of TV and cinema, is widely supplied [m5] by the surprisingly frightening scenes.

Beside the former, there is an absolutely different TV programme , The Boarding School, that has also became extremely popular among young people. It first appeared as a family series only a few months ago and so far it has reached very high viewership levels. The main characters of this series are a group of students who live in a boarding school where some strange things happen. However the relationships among students and teachers are, by far the most  attractive features of this programme.

So, which of this two TV programmes should I recommend? [m6] While The Doctor is original and thrilling, The Boarding School is amazing and more actual[m7] . But do not worry, with any luck you will be able to watch both series…if you have two televisions.

A title? I think I go for 4/10 as you don’t really give quite enough opinion on the second show – and the first paragraph is good English but not really related to the question.

A big positive though is there is generally excellent vocabulary and organization. I like the conclusion a lot!

---

 [m1]OK,. But get on with the review!

 [m2] x

 [m3] x

 [m4] v

 [m5]I know what you mean but the vocab doesn’t quite work

 [m6] Good!

 [m7] v/=

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