Gonzalo Orozco Pgina 1 03/12/2009

WRITING
GUIDELINES FOR 1 BACHILLERATO


LEARNING FOCUS WRITING EXERCISE*
Unit 1
Thinking before writing
Informal letter
Unit 2
Brainstorming ideas
(Opinin Personal)
Unit 3
Linkers
(Past experience)
Unit 4
Relevant information
(Opinin personal)
Unit 5
Paragraphing
Arguments For and Against
Unit 6
Thinking carefully when writing
(Opinin personal)
Unit 7
Adding interest
Descripcin de personas
Unit 8
Checking for accuracy
(Past experience)
Unit 9
Checking content and structure
Arguments For and Against


*El Libro de Texto nunca da ni vocabulario clave ni estructuras bsicas para
poder hacer los writings que pide. Por qu? Es un fallo del libro? No.
Sencillamente es que, en este curso, el nfasis est en el proceso de escribir
un writing, no en el resultado.

Pero nunca est de ms tener algo de ayuda a la hora de escribir nuestros
writings, ya que no todos tenemos la misma imaginacin y yo ya estoy cansado
de escuchar siempre aquello de Gonzalo, es que no se me ocurre nada. o
aquello de a mi es que los writings no se me dan bien.










Gonzalo Orozco Pgina 2 03/12/2009
WRITING
GUIDELINES FOR 1 BACHILLERATO

THINKING BEFORE WRITING

Writing is a way of thinking. In other words, the quality of your writing depends on the
quality of the thinking you do about your topic.

The whole writing process can be divided into the prewriting, writing, and rewriting or
revising phases. In the prewriting phase, you might try to clarify
what you want to write about
how you think and feel about your topic
how you want to approach your topic
what other materials and notes you might need
how to organize these materials
what kind of audience you are writing for
You plan the content and organization of your paper or assignment during this first
phase. In the writing phase, you implement your plan, working out the details and
fine-tuning your thoughts. In rewriting or revising, you review what you have written
and consider how and where your writing can be improved.
Sometimes, these phases are quite distinct and separate, but for most students, they
seldom have clear boundaries. They overlap in a recursive fashion rather than fall in
place as an orderly sequence of steps, one neatly following from the other. When you
write shorter assignments or essays, you may plan, write, and revise as you go along.
idea-generating techniques
1. Make lists of related ideas that suggest themselves to you from your thesis
statement.
2. Ask yourself the journalists questions to get your ideas flowing.
3. Use the multiple perspectives strategy to look at the subject from different
points of view.
4. For most students, making lists, brainstorming, or using one of the formal idea-
generating techniques will be enough to suggest a direction.
5. For others, framing a topic sentence or thesis statement will get them started
writing.
6. Keep your working thesis statement in front of you to check periodically that
you are staying on target, but dont hesitate to refine or change your thesis
when your thinking and writing have led your thoughts in a somewhat different
direction.

Gonzalo Orozco Pgina 3 03/12/2009
WRITING
GUIDELINES FOR 1 BACHILLERATO

AN INFORMAL LETTER

An effective informal setter should have a friendly style, an appropriate layout
and a clear reason for writing.


Key language
greetings
Dear Fiona,


starting the letter
Just a quick letter/note/mail to ask you
how youre getting on

We havent talked for ages, so I
thought Id drop you a line ...

Im sorry I havent been in touch
/written in so long. Ive been really
busy ...



ways of changing topics
Anyway, were going to London in July
Well, thats enough about ..., how are
you?
So much for ..., hows things with ...?



ways of continuing a topic
As I was saying, Im having problems
with ...

You asked about Javi. Well, we split up
some months ago ...



endings
Write soon.
Gonzalo Orozco Pgina 4 03/12/2009
Take care.


Give me a ring.
Bye for now.
Love,
Gonzalo.
xxx


informal vocabulary
ages
Hows it going?
fancy
Hows things with ..?


verb tenses
Present continuous for news and
future plans

En una carta informal si est permitido
usar formas contradas.







Nota
Una carta informal no es una carta maleducada. No estn permitidos los
tacos. (No me vais a impresionar usando palabrotas; yo se muchas ms.)














Gonzalo Orozco Pgina 5 03/12/2009

C/ Mozart 20 - 1 A
Malaga 29002
ENCABEZAMIENTO
Tu direccin (pero NO tu
nombre)


Wednesday, 20th June
FECHA (se acepta omitir
el ao)

Dear James
SALUDO
Dear James (Dear + nombre)

This is just a quick note to thank you for
dinner in Oxford last month, and I'm glad
that you're enjoying your job.
CUERPO DE LA CARTA

It was great to see you again. We really
had a wonderful time at the restaurant.


Hope to see you soon
DESPEDIDA


Love,
Virginia
xxx
FIRMA


























Gonzalo Orozco Pgina 6 03/12/2009
WRITING
GUIDELINES FOR 1 BACHILLERATO

BRAINSTORMING
Brainstorming is a way to
generate questions, solutions
or ideas for a topic.
Write down any ideas that occur to
you. Write down every idea, no
matter how far-fetched
1
. Your
aim is to generate a large quantity
of ideas. Take about 10 - 15
minutes.
If you find yourself running out of
ideas too quickly, don't give up. Keep working at it until you have written down
at least 10 possible ideas or solutions.
Once you have finished brainstorming, go through the results.
Look for any answers that are repeated or similar.
Group similar ideas together.
Eliminate responses that definitely do not fit.
Now that you have narrowed your list down, you can use it as a basis for your
essay, perhaps by making it into a mind map.



1
far-fetched adjective exagerado, rocambolesco
Gonzalo Orozco Pgina 7 03/12/2009
WRITING
GUIDELINES FOR 1 BACHILLERATO

AN OPINION ESSAY

Un buen ensayo de opinin debera presentar tus puntos de vista con claridad,
y debera persuadir al lector para que apoye tus opiniones.

Recuerda!
1 Estructura

Divide el artculo en prrafos.
En el prrafo 1 introduce el tema del artculo y da tu opinin.
En el prrafo 2 (y 3) da razones para apoyar tu opinin.
En el ltimo prrafo escribe una breve conclusin, que normalmente ser
un resumen de lo que has dicho hasta el momento.

2 Contenido

Da ejemplos y habla de cosas que no te resulten complicados de narrar.
Antes de escribir, piensa si lo que quieres decir lo sabes poner en ingls.
Utiliza adverbios de tiempo y conectores para enlazar prrafos y
oraciones.
No hables de ventajas y/o desventajas.


3 Vocabulario clave

expresiones para dar tu opinin

As I see it there is no good reason to ...
As far as Im concerned, there are too many ...
In my opinion we should have more free time to ...
Its clear/obvious that this situation is unfair.
I feel/think that students are not fairly treated.
*Some people believe (that) soap operas are rubbish.
I would say that they are the best programmes in ...
*Its nearly half past eight, according to my watch.
*It is said (that) people from Catalonia are mean.




Gonzalo Orozco Pgina 8 03/12/2009
linkers (esta seccin ser ampliada ms adelante)

He left because he wanted to
I was two hours late because of the thunderstorm
However, this is not the best way to
He plays the piano and also sings
I think, therefore I am
Although he wasnt well, he went to work.


secuenciacin de ideas

Firstly, Id like to welcome the new students.
Secondly,
It appears, moreover, that he was related to her
In addition (to)
besides
Finally


dar razones

My main reason is
Another reason is

introducir la conclusin

To conclude, I would like to thank everybody for coming
To sum up, our analysis shows that
In conclusion, the best way to



Nota
Vuelvo a recordaros que no se trata de un concurso para ver si sois capaces de
meter todas estas expresiones en la redaccin. Ni siquiera es obligatorio que
usis este vocabulario. Simplemente se trata de ofreceros alternativas tiles al
clsico Pienso que




Gonzalo Orozco Pgina 9 03/12/2009
It is better to travel around your own country
instead of going abroad on holiday. Do you
agree?

I think that it is wonderful to travel to travel to
different countries and therefore I completely
disagree with the idea that it is better to stay in your
own country.

I feel very strongly that we should visit as many
countries as possible. If we visit another country we
can learn a lot. We can learn about the culture, we
can meet the people and we can find out about
different ways of life. We can eat new food, listen to
a variety of music and learn about customs. We can
also practise a foreign language.

Another reason for visiting other countries is that it is
good for relations between countries. When we know
about peoples customs and culture we can
understand the people better. If people travel more
to other countries, perhaps there will be less fighting
in the world.

To sum up, I think it is clear that going abroad on
holiday can only be good for us and although I love
my country, I would like to visit as many different
countries as I can.
Example






dar la opinin
enlazar
dar la opinin


primera razn





enlazar

otra razn



dar la opinin


conclusin, opinin
enlazar























Gonzalo Orozco Pgina 10 03/12/2009
WRITING
GUIDELINES FOR 1 BACHILLERATO

LINKERS (1)


LINKERS OF ADDITION

Para aadir informacin usamos, entre otros, los siguientes linkers:

A. in addition, moreover, furthermore, whats more y besides
2
se
usan siempre al principio de la frase, y van seguidas de una coma y
de una oracin. Todos se traducen por adems.
Im too busy to take a holiday. In addition, I dont have the money.
Im too fat to wear a pair of jeans. Besides, I havent got the money
to buy them.


B. as well and too se usan al final de una frase o proposicin. Ambos se
traducen por tambin.
Carla is brilliant at sports, especially swimming. She is good at
languages as well, especially French.


C. also se coloca delante del verbo principal, pero detrs de los verbos
auxiliares y del verbo to be. Tambin se traduce por tambin.
Carla is short-sighted, but she is also a little bit vain. She does not
wear her glasses very often.



1 Complete the sentences with a suitable linker. More than one
correct answer may be possible.

1. My brother has got brown hair. Hes _____________ got brown
eyes.
2. The star wore a Versace dress. _____________ , she wore expensive
Prada shoes.
3. Tim is very good-looking. Unfortunately hes big-headed _________ !
4. Some cosmetics are bad for your skin. _____________ , they can be
very expensive.
5. Nick is an actor. He _____________ works as a model.



2
Besides tiene un matiz un poco diferente, pues casi siempre introduce un argumento ms fuerte que el
anterior o destaca el punto que creemos de mayor importancia.
Adems, besides tambin puede ir seguido de un sustantivo o de un verbo en ing y significa adems de.
p.e. Who are you bringing to the party besides your boyfriend?
Gonzalo Orozco Pgina 11 03/12/2009
2 Read the text and choose the correct alternative.


The person that I admire the most is an actor. He is rather nice, with short,
dark hair and big, brown eyes. (1) Whats more / As well, he is quite tall, but
he is not overweight.
Even though he usually plays extroverted roles in films, he is quieter in real
life. He likes keeping his personal and professional lives separate, (2) also /
too. He is never violent like some of the characters he plays.
He was born in Malaga in 1960 and, as a boy, he wanted to be a professional
footballer. However, a foot injury made that impossible, so he became an actor
and moved to Madrid. He has appeared in a lot of films directed by Pedro
Almodovar and he is a very good actor, (3) as well / also. He has (4) also /
too played opposite stars such as Johny Depp and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
I admire him because he is extremely hard-
working. He has acted in more than fifty
films and in his first US film, The Mambo
Kings (1992), he had to learn his lines in
English even though he couldnt speak
English. (5) Whats more / Too, he always
has something interesting to say.











Extension

D. Tambin podemos usar in addition to o as well as, para aadir
informacin. Van seguidos de un grupo nominal o de un verbo en
-ing.
In addition to Spanish and Italian, there are other languages based on
Latin.
Our country exports olives and wine as well as cars.


Nota:
in addition to significa as como o adems de
as well as suele ir en medio de la frase y significa as como o adems de
as well suele ir al final de la frase y significa tambin o adems.


Gonzalo Orozco Pgina 12 03/12/2009
3 Translate into English.

1. El Sbado Laura compr un jersey Nuevo. Ella tambin compr unos
pendientes.
2. No tengo tiempo para ir al cine. Adems, no me gustan esas
pelculas.
3. Roberto es un alumno excelente, as como un buen amigo.
4. Mi msica preferida es el rock, pero tambin me gusta el pop.
5. Adems de joven y guapa, Becky es millonaria.
6. Adems de ser joven y guapa, Becky es millonaria.
7. Mi amiga Sara estudia Arte en Madrid pero tambin trabaja en un bar
los fines de semana.
8. Me encanta mi trabajo. Adems, gano un montn de dinero.
9. (nombre del chico/a que siempre te ha cado mal) es bastante guapo/a, pero tambin
es muy credo/a.
10. Matt habla Ruso y tambin Japons.