Paragraph writing 段落写作

Teaching Plan for English Writing

Short Composition Writing

Week 6

Mar 29, 2012

I. Teaching Aims:

1. Help the students learn how to write a topic sentence.

2. Help the students learn how to organize a paragraph.

3. Help the students learn how to keep all the sentences in a paragraph coherent.

II. Teaching Procedure:

First Period:

1. Homework feedback. (15 min)

Show two compositions about “A Lesson I’ve Learned” written by the students themselves and make a comment on them.

2. What is a good paragraph? ( 10 min)

➢ smaller units in a passage

➢ composed of a group of sentences with the first sentence indented

➢ all of the sentences based on a core idea, that is, supporting and developing a single idea

➢ topic sentence: state the core idea

➢ supporting sentences: developing the idea

3. Topic Sentence:

1) What is a topic sentence? Read the examples on Pg. 3, and then complete the rest according the topic given. (10 min)

➢ Topic sentence= a topic + a controlling idea showing one specific aspect of the topic

➢ more general than the other sentences in the paragraph

➢ more important than the other sentences in the paragraph

2) Complete the exercise on Pg. 4. (5 min)

3) The features of a good topic sentence: (10 min)

➢ It’s a complete sentence.

➢ It contains a topic and a controlling idea.

➢ It is neither too general nor too specific.

➢ It tells the reader what to expect to read in the paragraph.

Second Period:

4. Organizational Structure of a Paragraph

1) Answer the questions following the sample paragraph writing, and then summarize the organizational structure of a paragraph. (10 min)

2) The organizational structure of a paragraph: (10 min)

➢ Three positions for the topic sentence: at the beginning; at the end; in the middle

➢ If there is no topic sentence at the end of a paragraph, there should be a concluding sentence there, which either restate the controlling idea or draw an

inference.

➢ A paragraph is not complete if it is not properly ended.

5. Unity

1) What is Unity(cohesion) ? (5 min)

➢ The essential quality of a good paragraph.

➢ It’s about how to select the appropriate and enough details to develop and support the topic sentence.

➢ Unity make sure all the supporting sentences are about the controlling idea of the paragraph.

➢ Unity means the paragraph does not include the unnecessary details, nor does it turn off in unexpected directions.

2) Complete the exercise on Pg. 6-7. (15 min)

6. Coherence (10 min)

1) What is coherence?

Coherence is concerned with the form of the expressions. It makes sure that all

the sentences of a paragraph are so closely related to one another that the train of thoughts is orderly and never abrupt. There are no gas or confusing leaps between ideas.

2) Read the four sample writings and then answer all the questions following them.

3) The techniques to achieve coherence:

1) repetition of key words and phrases

2) transitional signals

3) reference

4) repetition of sentence patterns

III. Homework:

Write a paragraph the advantages or disadvantages of having a mobile phone.