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beginner: Word choice and vocabulary
beginner: Word choice and vocabulary
Writing can be improved simply by adding in more adjectives and adverbs:
The witch lived in a house. It was filled with spiders and other bugs.
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The witch lived in a dirty house. It was filled with many spiders and other extremely nasty bugs.
It can also be improved easily by using more advanced, interesting nouns, verbs adjectives and adverbs. This requires vocabulary building activities or time allocated to redrafting where the focus is on encouraging students to find synonyms or "up-levelling" certain words identified in advance.
Up-Levelling Procedure Example: Task- change at least one one noun, verb, adjective and adverb using a thesaurus to improve your sentence.
The witch lived in a dirty house. It was filled with many spiders and other extremely nasty bugs.
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The witch lived in a filthy hovel. It was stuffed with innumerable spiders and other utterly revolting creepy-crawlies.
beginner: Onomatopoeia
beginner: Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia are words that describe sounds. They can be used to bring a description to life by adding in sensory detail to a scene or description:
Sausages cooked in the pan.
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Sausages sizzled in the pan.
Rain fell to the ground.
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Rain splashed to the ground.
Birds called in the trees.
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Birds tweeted in the trees.
As above, identifying "boring" verbs and changing them to onomatopoeia is a simple way of up-levelling work.
beginner: senses
beginner: senses
Including descriptive details based on the senses is a quick and easy way to make setting descriptions more realistic and vivid, particularly in recount writing:
On the first day we went to the beach.
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+ Sight: On the first day we went to the sunny beach.
+Sound: On the first day we went to the sunny beach. Waves crashed against the shore and seagulls cawed overhead.
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+Smell: On the first day we went to the sunny beach. Waves crashed against the shore and seagulls cawed overhead. The smell of coconut and salt filled the air.
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+Touch: On the first day we went to the sunny beach. Waves crashed against the shore and seagulls cawed overhead. The smell of coconut and salt filled the air. The soft sand tickled my toes.
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+Taste: On the first day we went to the sunny beach. Waves crashed against the shore and seagulls cawed overhead. The smell of coconut and salt filled the air. The soft sand tickled my toes. I ate a sweet, gooey ice-cream cone that cooled me down wonderfully.
intermediate: alliterATION
intermediate: alliterATION
Alliteration is when words beginning with the same letter or sound are written beside or close to one another. Sounds are chosen for particular effects as they can speed up, slow down or draw attention to words:
Sausages sizzled in the pan.
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/S/ is a gentle, soothing sound.
Oil popped and pattered onto the kitchen counter.
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/P/ is a short, sharp sound that can create shocks
The ice crunched and cracked under foot.
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/C/ is a harsh sound similar to things smashing or breaking.
Gloomy clouds glowered above.
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'Gl' creates a slow, thick sound like mud or dripping.
intermediate: similes
intermediate: similes
Similes are the simplest type of imagery that compare two different things using the words like, as or than:
The witch's laugh was like nails on a chalkboard.
The witch's laugh was as piercing as a whistle.
The witch's laugh was sharper than a knife.
Teaching similes:
Begin by generating descriptions of the subject, encouraging the use of adjectives. The description bubbles are good for this as they can look at the subject from many different angles.
Next, have students think of other things which share the same characteristics as the subject.
Finally, ask students to pick one or two ideas and turn them into a simile. To stretch students ask them to write one simile using "like", one using "as" and one with "than".
Up-Levelling Procedure Example: Task- add or replace one part of your sentence using a simile.
The witch lived in a filthy hovel. It was stuffed with innumerable spiders and other utterly revolting creepy-crawlies.
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The witch lived in a filthy hovel. It was stuffed with innumerable spiders and other utterly revolting creepy-crawlies
that crunched under her feet like fallen leaves.
hard: personification
hard: personification
Personification is a type of metaphor where something inhuman is given human/living characteristics. Personification can be created easily by changing the verb of a sentence to an action only a living creature could perform:
The wind blew in the trees.
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The wind whispered in the trees.
The waves splashed.
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The waves roared.
The clouds poured rain.
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The clouds wept rain.
Teaching personification:
Encourage students to write descriptive action sentences about whatever their topic is, focusing on the non-human or non-living parts such as the environment or animals.
Next, have them identify the verbs in the sentences. Ask them to change the verb to something only a human being or living creature could do.
Up-Levelling Procedure Example: Task- add or replace one part of your sentence using personification.
The witch lived in a filthy hovel with a chimney that blew lots of black smoke.
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The witch lived in a filthy hovel with a chimney that puffed and wheezed lots of black smoke.
hard: Metaphors
hard: Metaphors
A metaphor is a direct comparison that does not use the words like, as or than:
Her eyes were diamonds.
He wolfed his dinner down.
He exploded in anger.
Teaching metaphor construction works the same as the other forms of imagery, where description is generated first and used as a foundation to come up with suitable comparisons to the topic:
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