CHUYÊN ĐỀ: HELPING GRADE 12 STUDENTS DO WELL THE PARAGRAPH WRITING TASK IN THE FINAL EXAMINATION

For grade 12 students who are working hard to prepare for the national examination to get the General Certificate of Secondary Education and enter university, English is one of the three compulsory subjects that every student has to take. In an English test, there are often some types of questions involving reading skill, grammatical tasks, phonetics and writing. Writing a paragraph is an additional new type of question which has just been supplemented since the last test.

SỞ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO VĨNH PHÚC TRƯỜNG THPT YÊN LẠC - - -*** - - - BÁO CÁO CHUYÊN ĐỀ ÔN THI ĐẠI HỌC MÔN: TIẾNG ANH CHUYÊN ĐỀ: HELPING GRADE 12 STUDENTS DO WELL THE PARAGRAPH WRITING TASK IN THE FINAL EXAMINATION TABLE OF CONTENT Page PART 1: INTRODUCTION PART 2: CONTENT I WHY STUDENTS NEED TO LEARN TO WRITE II PARAGRAPH AND TOPIC SENTENCE Definition of a paragraph Structure of a paragraph Elements of a good paragraph III HOW TO WRITE A PRAGRAPH Pre writing paragraphs While writing paragraphs Editing paragraphs 11 IV METHOD OF TEACHING 12 Tasks of the teacher 12 How to correct and respond to students’ writing 13 2.1 How to correct students’ writing 13 2.2 How to respond to students’ writing 14 V TYPES OF EXAM WRITING AND SUGGESTIONS 15 VI SOME EXERCISES FOR PRACTICE 18 PART 3: CONCLUSION 21 PART 1: INTRODUCTION For grade 12 students who are working hard to prepare for the national examination to get the General Certificate of Secondary Education and enter university, English is one of the three compulsory subjects that every student has to take In an English test, there are often some types of questions involving reading skill, grammatical tasks, phonetics and writing Writing a paragraph is an additional new type of question which has just been supplemented since the last test This study aims at helping students have more knowledge and needed skills to well the paragraph wring task in the exam The study focused on grade 12 students who have learned English for at least years and are taking an intensive English course to prepare for the National Examination The theme is conducted in weeks with the attendance of 35 students in class 12A2 in Yen Lac High School The students attend one class per week to study and practice writing Hopefully, both students and teachers will find some useful reference for their learning and teaching PART 2: CONTENT I WHY STUDENTS NEED TO LEARN TO WRITE A long time ago, literacy- that is being able to read and write- has been seen as a desirable skill for whole populations Writing provides a vehicle for expression and communication No matter the age or grade level of the students, diligent writing practice will boost both their skill and comfort level with revealing and relating their own thoughts and feelings In the context of graduation, it is worth remembering that most exams, whether they are testing foreign language abilities or other skills, often rely on the students’ writing proficiency in order to measure their knowledge Recently, our Education Ministry has supplemented paragraph writing task in the National examination for Upper secondary school students Therefore, all students who desire to pass this exam to get General Certificate and to enter university must know how to write a good paragraph II PARAGRAPH Definition of a paragraph What is a paragraph? A paragraph is a series of sentences that are organized and coherent, and are all related to a single topic Paragraphs can contain many different kinds of information A paragraph could contain a series of brief examples or a single long illustration of general point It might describe a place, a character or process, narrate a series of events, compare or contrast two more things or describe cause and effect In fact, a useful way to think about a paragraph is as a “mini-essay,” with its own mini-thesis (the topic sentence), middle or body (the supporting details) and end or conclusion (the concluding sentence) Structure of a paragraph A paragraph generally consists of parts: * Topic sentence  Introduces the topic in the paragraph  Is the most general sentence in the paragraph  Contains controlling ideas that the following sentences in the paragraph will explain/ define/ clarify/ illustrate * A controlling idea is a word or phrase that the reader can ask questions about: How? Why? In what ways? What does that mean? * Supporting sentences  develop the topic sentence by giving: - reasons - examples - facts - statistics - quotations * Concluding sentence  Signals the end of the paragraph  Summarizes the main points of the paragraph/ restates the topic sentence without copying exactly  Gives a final comment on the topic Elements of a good paragraph A paragraph should be unified, coherent, and well developed Paragraphs are unified around a main point and all sentences in the paragraph should clearly relate to that point in some way The paragraph's main idea should be supported with specific information that develops or discusses the main idea in greater detail Unity The entire paragraph should concern itself with a single focus If it begins with one focus or major point of discussion, it should not end with another or wander within different ideas Coherence Coherence is the trait that makes the paragraph easily understandable to a reader A coherent paragraph has sentences that all logically follow each other; they are not isolated thoughts Coherence can be achieved in several ways First, using transitions helps connect ideas from one sentence to the next Second, ordering thoughts in numerical sequence helps to direct the reader from one point to the next Third, structuring each paragraph according to one of the following patterns helps to organize sentences: general to particular; particular to general; whole to parts; question to answer; or effect to cause Adequate development The topic should be discussed fully and adequately A paragraph should have enough sentences so that the main idea of the topic sentence is completely developed Generalizations should be supported with examples or illustrations Also, details and descriptions help the reader to understand what you mean The writer should not assume that the reader can read your mind: be specific enough to develop your ideas thoroughly, but avoid repetition III HOW TO WRITE A PRAGRAPH Prewriting Paragraphs Think carefully and organize your ideas for your paragraph before you begin writing Prewriting Steps: * Read the question and think carefully about what you are going to write + What question are you going to answer in this paragraph? + What facts or examples can you use to support your idea? + How can you make this paragraph interesting? While writing Paragraphs * Write a topic sentence A topic sentence should introduce the topic of the paragraph and contain controlling ideas that the following sentences in the paragraph will explain, define, clarify or illustrate Students should: + underline the key words in the question + make use of the key words to write the topic sentence For example: Question 1: Write a paragraph about the benefits of reading books (From national examination in 2014-2015) The keywords are: benefits of reading books Suggested answer: Reading books helps us relax, widen knowledge and improve our language Topic: reading books Controlling ideas: helps us relax, widen knowledge and improve our language Question 2:Describe the person you admire most The keywords are: Describe, the person you admire Suggested answer: My mother, who is caring, intelligent and hardworking, is the one I admire most Topic: My mother Controlling ideas: caring, intelligent and hardworking * Write supporting sentence All supporting sentences should focus on the main idea expressed in the topic sentence There should be examples and further information about the topic being discussed + Students can make use of WH- Questions such as who, which, why, where, when and how Answering these questions helps students have more ideas about what to write next + Students can use transitions to combine sentences as well as change the ideas being discussed Useful expressions Sequencing/ First of all, First(ly), Initially, To begin with; Second(ly); Listing Third(ly); Next; Then; After that (this); Following this (that); Finally; The first reason is…/ The second is…; Last but not least… Adding to what Also, Furthermore, In addition, Additionally, Moreover, you have said Besides, As well as, Similarly, not only…but also…, even beside this/ that Contrasting In contrast to this, On the contrary, In contrast, Conversely, On the other hand, While, Whereas, However, Despite/ In spite of, Although, Even though, Otherwise, Nonetheless Expressing Similarly; Likewise, In the same way similarity Showing results As a result, As a consequence, Consequently, Hence, Thus, Therefore, So Giving examples For example, For instance, In particular, Particularly, That is to say, Namely, Such as Restating In other words, That is to say, To put it simply Inferring In other words, In that case, or else, Otherwise Summarizing In summary, To sum up, To conclude, To recapitulate, In conclusion, In short, In brief, In a nutshell, Lastly, Finally For example: Question: Write a paragraph about the benefits of reading books (From national examination in 2014-2015) Topic sentence: Reading books helps us relax, widen knowledge and improve our language Supporting ideas: * Step1: Students can get the ideas by answering the following questions: Why reading books helps us relax? How reading books helps us relax? Why and how reading books helps us widen our knowledge? Why and how reading books helps us improve our language? When people often read book? What kinds of book people read? Suggested answers: 1and Reading books helps us relax after a hard-working day It is also an interest for everybody who does not like to visit crowded places at the weekend They like quiet atmosphere and not want to disturb anybody so they consider books as their close friends They meet their stories, their lives in books and they feel extremely sympathetic with the characters’ situations Reading books makes them happy and relieve stress and Reading books helps us widen our knowledge Thanks to the wide range of books such as science, literature, astronomy, archeology, biology and physics, we can get information focus on our own fields as well as the others The more books we read, the more knowledge we have obtained Reading books helps us improve our expression ability like writing and speaking The writing style of some our favorite writers will affect ours Especially, when we read foreign literature, we will not only know more about that country but also have a chance to improve our reading skill, learn new words which can be used to better our writings and speech * Step 2: Add transitions to make the paragraph more coherent Suggested answer: First of all, reading books helps us relax after a hard-working day It is also an interest for everybody who does not like to visit crowded places at the weekend They like quiet atmosphere and not want to disturb anybody so they consider books as their close friends They meet their stories, their lives in books and they feel extremely sympathetic with the characters’ situations Reading books makes them happy and relieve stress Secondly, reading books helps us widen our knowledge Thanks to the wide range of books such as science, literature, astronomy, archeology, biology and physics, we can get information focus on our own fields as well as the others The more books we read, the more knowledge we have obtained Last but not least, reading books helps us improve our expression ability like writing and speaking The writing style of some our favorite writers will affect ours Especially, when we read foreign literature, we will not only know more about that country but also have a chance to improve our reading skill, learn new words which can be used to better our writings and speech * Write concluding sentence A conclusion is the last part of a paragraph There are some ways of making a conclusion for a paragraph + Summarizes the main points of the paragraph and/or gives a final comment on the topic + Students can signal their concluding part by using one of the following phrases:      In conclusion,… In summary,… To conclude/ To sum up/ To summarize,… In short,… In the last analysis,… 10  On balance, I would say that… Example: Question: Write a paragraph about the benefits of reading books (From national examination in 2014-2015) Suggested answer: In conclusion, reading books is so important and has many benefits It not only helps us become cleverer and better at language but also brings us happiness Therefore, everyone should be encouraged to read books as much as possible Editing Paragraphs What is the editing stage? The editing stage is when you check your paragraph for mistakes and correct them After finish writing, read your paragraph again and check the followings: * Grammar and Spelling Check your spelling Check your grammar Make sure each sentence has a subject See if your subjects and verbs agree with each other Check the verb tenses of each sentence Make sure that each sentence makes sense * Style and Organization Make sure your paragraph has a topic sentence Make sure your supporting sentences focus on the main idea Make sure you have a closing sentence Check that all your sentences focus on the main idea See if your paragraph is interesting IV METHODS OF TEACHING 11 Tasks of the teacher When helping students to become a better writer, teachers have a number of tasks to perform Among the tasks which teachers have to perform before, during and after students’ writing are the followings: Demonstrating Students need to be aware of writing conventions and constraints in specific types of writing, teachers have to be able to draw these features to their attention Motivating Student writers often find themselves “lost for words”, especially in creative writing tasks This is where the teacher can help, provoking the students into having ideas, enthusing them with value of the task, and persuading them what fun it can be It helps, for example, if teacher go into class with prepared suggestions so that when students get stuck, they can immediately get help rather than having themselves to think of the ideas on the spot Sometimes teachers can give them the words they need to start a writing task as a way of getting them going Supporting Teachers are not only a motivator and provoker but also a supporter Students need a lot of help and reassurance once they get going, both with ideas and with the means to carry them out Teachers need to be extremely supportive when students are writing in class, always available and prepared to help students overcome difficulties Responding 12 When responding, teachers react to the content and construction of a piece of written work supportively and often make suggestions for its improvement Evaluating When teachers have to evaluate students’ writings, teachers should tell them how well they have done Teachers can indicate where students wrote well and where they made mistakes When giving back the writings, teachers can ask students to look at the errors highlighted and try to put them right How to correct and respond to students’ writings 2.1 How to correct students’ writings Teachers should not use red ink all over a students’ work Instead, teachers can correct only grammatical points and spelling and give other comments at the back of the writing in “need to improve” area Teachers should give positive feedback to students’ writings by saying what is good and interesting in their writings first before saying other comments In order to avoid overabundance of red ink, teachers can use correction symbols These also have advantage of encourage students to think about what the mistake is, so that they can correct it themselves Teachers and students should talk about these symbols in advance The following symbols are frequently used: Symbol Meaning Example error S A spelling error The asnwer is obvius 13 WO A mistake in word order I like very much it WC Wrong choice She is interested on music G A grammar mistake Some student like it T Wrong verb tense I meet him yesterday P A punctuation mistake Have you known it C Concord mistake They is happy Reformulation Reformulation is a way of showing students how they could write something more correctly Instead of asking them to find the mistake and correct it, the teacher shows how he or she would write the incorrect sentence The students then learn by comparing correct and incorrect versions Remedial teaching When teachers read students’ written work and they come across mistakes which many people in the same class are making, remedial teaching will be necessary In such case, teacher should show the whole class the mistakes produced by the students and ask them to put them right Therefore, all students in the class will be aware of the mistakes 2.2 How to respond to students’ writings After reading students’ writings, teacher can choose either to talk to them directly or give them a written comment It is always a good idea to tell students 14 what we think is good in their work, encouragement is extremely important at this stage For example: I enjoyed your composition very much I like the description of your mother She sounds like an interesting woman If there is any correction teachers want to tell students, we can give advice or suggestions Teachers should not criticize students just because of their mistakes For example: Instead of saying words like: bad, wrong, terrible… which make students feel disappointed Teachers can say or write the followings Why you think that it is not wasteful? Or What you want the reader to understand here? Or Be careful with your use of past tense verbs Or it’s better if you say it in this way… V TYPES OF EXAM WRITING AND SUGGESTIONS As guided by our Education Ministry, the topics for the paragraph in the final exam for grade 12 students may be as followings: People: - Write a paragraph about the person you love most in your family 15 You should write:  Who he or she is  Why you love him or her most - Describe your best or closest friend/ idol… You should write:  Who he or she is  Describe his or her physical characteristics as well as personality Education: - Write a paragraph about our favourite subject at school You should write:  What your favourite subject is  Why you like it  Where and when you study it - Write a paragraph about the teacher you admire most You should write:  Who he or she is  Why you admire him or her Sports - Write a paragraph about your favourite sport You should write: 16  What your favourite sport is  Why you like it  Where and when you play it Entertainment - Write a paragraph about one of your hobbies You should write:  What your hobby is  Why you like it  Where and when - Write a paragraph about the book or the film you like most You should write:  Title and author  Type of book/ film  Characters  Events in the film/ book  Your opinion of the film/ book Tourism/Place - Write a paragraph about the place you would like to visit You should write:  What it is  Location  Size  Population  Area 17  Main attractions  Your feeling (s)/ opinion(s) Job - Write a paragraph about the job you want to in the future You should write:  Type of job  Why you like that job  What you have to to be able to get that job VI SOME EXERCISES FOR PRACTICE  Exercise 1: Write the topic sentence for the following paragraphs ………………………………………………………………………………… I live in a flat with my family We have two bedrooms and a living room We have a garden and we have some flowers there In weekdays I arrive home at five o'clock and I have lunch Then I my homework and go to bed I had a computer but now it doesn't work I have a brother and a sister and I think I am very lucky to live with them Sometimes our relatives visit us Our flat becomes very crowded sometimes but I like it …………………………………………………………………………… ……… I hate lie I always try not to tell lies and I want that from my friends, too I think it is the most important behavior I can believe everything my friends say Secondly, a good friend must help me He must his best He should ask help from me too If we solve problems together, our friendship will be better and it will become stronger Thirdly, the talking time is important I can talk with my friends for a long time, and during that time I must be happy  Exercise 2: Read the following paragraph I live in a house in Da Nang It isn't old or modern It's a normal Vietnamese house We can say it is near the sea It takes about 10 minutes to go to the sea side on foot We have one bedroom, one living room We also have two other rooms, too We use them as a dining room Naturally, we have a kitchen, a bathroom, and a toilet I live with my parents And our house has a 18 little garden; my parents spend their time there to grow vegetables and fruit The ideas in this paragraph are in the following order:  Where the house is  Type of the house  The location  The rooms in the house  The fact that he lives with his parents  The garden The idea that “he lives with his parents” is put in the wrong place and not relevant Write the sentences in the above paragraph in a different order to make it more relevant  Exercise 3: Choose the transitions in the box to complete the following paragraph Second However Also On the other hand Another reason is that First For example One reason is that Moreover The best choice  There are three major airports near Washington, D.C., but the traveller to Washington should be careful about which one he or she chooses (1) _ Baltimore-Washington International Airport, which is located near the city of Baltimore, is a good international airport (2) _ it is not the best choice for a traveller who wants to visit Washington.(3) _ it is relatively far from the city of Washington itself (4) _ a passenger bus trip between Baltimore and Washington is somewhat expensive Dulles International Airport is a slightly better choice, since it is located closer to the city.(5) _ if a traveller arrives in the early evening, he or she will encounter rush-hour traffic, which is not a good way to begin a trip to the city.(6) _ may be Washington-Reagan 19 National Airport There are two reasons for this.(7) _ this airport is the closest to the city.(8) _ it is located on the Metro train system, which is a convenient method of transportation, allowing a traveller to travel almost anywhere he or she likes in the city of Washington  Suggested answers: Exercise 1: My life at home A good friend is a person who doesn't tell me lies, who helps me and let me help him, and who I can talk to in trust Exercise 2: I live in a house in Da Nang It isn't old or modern It's a normal Vietnamese house We can say it is near the sea It takes about 10 minutes to go to the sea side on foot We have one bedroom, one living room We also have two other rooms, too We use them as a dining room Naturally, we have a kitchen, a bathroom, and a toilet And our house has a little garden; my parents spend their time there to grow vegetables and fruit I also live with them there Exercise 3: For example However One reason is that Also However The best choice First Also 20 PART 3: CONCLUSION Writing a paragraph is obviously an important part in the national examination for high school students Any work on writing can take a long time to show improvements and be challenging for both the students and the teachers, but working on paragraph writing skill can help students get the certain knowledge and become confident to perform well in the paper test in the national examination Due to the limitation of knowledge and little experience in teaching, a lot of defects and mistakes are unavoidable I would like to thank all readers for their comments Writer: Nguyen Thanh Thuong 21 ... Pre writing paragraphs While writing paragraphs Editing paragraphs 11 IV METHOD OF TEACHING 12 Tasks of the teacher 12 How to correct and respond to students writing 13 2.1 How to correct students ... supplemented since the last test This study aims at helping students have more knowledge and needed skills to well the paragraph wring task in the exam The study focused on grade 12 students who... should introduce the topic of the paragraph and contain controlling ideas that the following sentences in the paragraph will explain, define, clarify or illustrate Students should: + underline the