WRITING A BLOG POST

Reading exercises

Tips and structure

Structure, key expressions and adjectives

Example of blog post

Example 2 of blog post

Travelling back in time

Imagine that you had a time machine and you could change something from the past.  Write a paragraph about your experience. Answer the following questions to help you:

1) Where did you travel to?

2) Who did you meet?

3) What did you do?

4) How did you feel afterwards?

5) How did your actions affect the future?

New Year's Resolutions

Discuss in groups: (10 minutes)

What are New Year's resolutions? Give three examples! 

Why do you think people make resolutions at the start of a new year?

Now watch the video and check your ideas:

Five tasks to work on New Year's Resolutions

Learn to write about New Year's Resolutions

Discuss about New Year's Resolutions (B2)

A PILGRIMAGE ROUTE

Write a post on this Pilgrimage Route webpage.

Include the following facts: 

- journey from / to

- transport

- accomodation

- what happened on the journey

- opinion

(If you include vocabulary from the unit you'll get extra points)

A BOOK REVIEW

 USEFUL LANGUAGE TO WRITE A BOOK REVIEW

Introduction:

• The book/novel was written by…
• This well-written/informative/fascinating book…
• This original first novel…
• This novel is based on…
• “ __” is a powerful first novel by…

Main body

• The story is set in …. (rural Spain at the beginning of the XV century)
• The story takes place…
• The book tells the story of…
• The story begins/ is about…
• The story is told by…
• The plot focuses on….
• “___” is rich and detailed in plot.
• The plot has an unexpected twist…
• The plot is absolutely thrilling/ boring/clever/ exciting…
• A plot with well-developed believable characters.
• The character I like best is

General comments and opinion

• The characters are very well drawn and readers can identify with them easily.
• The story is totally convincing.
• It has a tragic/dramatic /surprising end.
• There was an unexpected twist to the story.
• What we don’t learn until the end is…
• What I liked best was (the way)…
• What I didn’t like was…
• My only reservation about this book…

Recommendations

• Don’t miss it.
• I would/wouldn’t recommend it because…
• It is at the top of my list.
• It’s a highly entertaining read.
• Don’t bother with this one.
• It’s well-worth reading.
• It will change the way you see…
• It’s a bore to read.
• I definitely recommend that you add this book to your collection.
• The book was so good that I couldn’t put it down..
• The book certainly lived up to my expectations.

Adjectives to describe a book

• Positive: gripping, best-selling, intriguing, thrilling, fascinating, enthralling, evocative, heart-warming, sensitive, memorable, powerful, beautifully written, engaging, fascinating.
• Negative: disturbing, unconvincing, preposterous, predictable, dull, unimaginative, poorly-written, confusing.
• Neutral: fast-paced (most of them collocate with the adjectives above).

Adverbs (most of them collocate with the adjectives above)

• Amazingly, considerably, exceedingly, extraordinarily, extremely, highly, immensely, noticeably, radically, remarkably, significantly, totally, truly, utterly.

Listen to the following booktuber (6,09) and answer the questions:

https://youtu.be/M0qL4zzIuC8

1. What genre is the book?
2. Who is the author?
3. Where is the setting?
4. Write two adjectives Hannah uses to describe the book?

Another example of a popular booktubers: https://youtu.be/XuXhqIsb2sk

Reading Comprehension: https://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/study-break/reading-zone/a2-graded-reading/wonder-book-review-a2

An Opinion Essay

- Essay structure (basic)

- Useful expressions (basic)

- exercises to improve your writing skills (intermediate)

- Exercises to improve your writing skills (advanced)

- games to review structure and ideas (advanced)

HOW TO WRITE A DESCRIPTION OF A PERSON

 

Complete these exercises

Presentación con ejercicios

How to describe a picture

HOW TO DESCRIBE A PICTURE. 

1st. Focus on the main part of the picture at the beginning.

Look at this picture. What can you see? This is a picture of a group of people canyoning. 

2nd . Describe as much as you can. 

In the middle of the photo, there is a young woman. She’s about ... years old. She’s got long fair hair. She’s wearing … 

Useful language: 

This picture shows...

There is / there are ...

I can see...

In the foreground / in the background 

On the right / on the left 

3rd . Try to use your imagination to make assumptions. 

For example: The woman could be on holiday after a hard week at work. Maybe her brother has a Extreme Sport business ...or maybe she just enjoys taking risk for fun. She might be with two close friends. Maybe they are spending the weekend in a rural house in the mountains and they are trying new experiences that give them a thrill and make them forget about the stress of the daily routine.

 Useful language:  I think... Maybe / Perhaps...

 Modal verbs of deduction: she must / can’t / might be … 

She looks…(happy.)/ She looks like … (my little sister). 

4th. You can also use personal stories Use your stories and examples from your life to speak more. People are much more comfortable talking about their experiences.

It is best to think about the WHO WHAT WHERE WHEN WHY HOW of each picture. Think about the subject, environment, time of day, weather, location, culture...this will give you ideas to keep you talking. 

Writing an opinion paragraph

Writing An Opinion Paragraph from Chulalongkorn University Language Institute, home!

EXERCISE 1 (easy)
List of expression

EXERCISE 2 (advanced)

EXERCISE 3: Give your opinion about the following issue (reason and supporting details)

Secondary Schools should give daily sports lessons