1. WRITING STRATEGIES FOR BEGINNERS FROM SENTENCES TO PARAGRAPH FIRST LEVEL INTENSIVE COURSE BY JOSEFINA CALLE

2. Writingisnotaneasytask. Itisnecessarytofollow a process: 1. Get ideas Get a better idea 2. Organize ideas 3. WriteThink of a betterwaytoorganize 4. ReviseNeed more ideas 5. EditFindsomegrammarmistakes THE WRITING PROCESS

3. BRAINSTORMING Onewaytoget ideas forwritingistobrainstorm. Brainstormmeanstothinkabout a topic and writedown as many ideas as possible in a list. Whenyoubrainstormwritewordsorphrases. Youdon´tneedtowritesentences. Some ideas willbegoodones, and otherswillbenotuseful. Lateryou can use the ideas thatyouwantto use. 1. GET IDEAS

4. Fromthelist of ideas: Decide which ideas to use; then, Orderthem. 2. ORGANIZE IDEAS

5. Thefirstdraft Thefirst time youwrite a paragraph, itiscalledthefirstdraft. Try towriteyour ideas in aninterestingway. Don´tworryaboutmakingmistakes. Checkittwo times: revising and editing 3. WRITE

6. Revise means: Checkingyour ideas Itdoesnot mean checkingyourgrammar. Youwillhave time to do itafteryou revise. 4. REVISE

7. Editmeans: Checkingthegrammar in yourwriting. Itisimportant: To revise your ideas first and thenedityourgrammar. Ifyou revise first, youwillnotwasteyour time editingirrelevantsentences. 5. EDIT

8. Whatdoes a sentence mean? Sentences are group of wordsthatexpress a complete idea. Theybeginwith a capital letter and endwith a punctuationmark. Examples: Small dogs are goodpets. Do youhaveanypets? My neighbor has fifteenpets. I don´tlikepets; so, I don´thaveanypet. FOCUS ON SENTENCE GRAMMAR

9. In English: Everysentencemusthave a subjet and a verb. A sentencewith a subject and a verbiscalled a simple sentence. A subjecttellswhoorwhat a sentenceisabout. A simple sentence can have more thanonesubject. Jackiehatesthemorning. Everymorning, hermother and fatherwake up at sixo´clock Averbtellswhatthesubjectisordoes. A simple sentence can have more thanoneverb. Jackiehatesthemorning. Shenevergets up orspeakstoanyonebeforenineo´clock. SIMPLE SENTENCES

10. Mark eachunderlinedwordwith a Sforsubject of Vforverb: My dogshorty At home in Mexico, I havea littledog. Sheisanimportatpart of ourfamily. Wecall herShorty. Sheisa littlefat, buthershapeisvery cute. All my friendsknowher name and playwithher. My fathersometimesgetsangrywithherbecausesheeats plants in hisgarden. Histomatoes and flowers are herfavoritesnacks. I wouldlike topetShortyrightnow. IDENTIFYING SUBJECTS AND VERBS

11. Whatdoes a paragrah mean? Goodparagraphs in Englishconsist of threetoeightsentencesononetopic. Paragraphsusuallyhavethreeparts: A topicsentence,usually at thebeginning, whichtellsthemain idea of theparagraph. Severalbodysentencesin themiddle, whichgivesupportinginformationaboutthetopicsentence. A concludingsentenceat theend, whichrestatesthetopicsentence. PARAGRAPHS

12. Readtheparagraphbelow: My grandmother ------------- Shewasborn 77 yearsago in England, Whenshewas a baby, herfamily moved tothe USA. AfterHighSchool, sheworked in a bakeryuntil se married my grandfather. She can stillmakedeliciouscakes! My grandfatherdiedfiveyearsago, so sheliveswithusnow. My grandmotherisnotpatient, butshenevergetsangrywith me. Shealwasyslistensto me and helps me with my problems. Checkallthesentencesthat are goodtopicsentencesfortheparagraph: -----1. My grandmotheristall and thin. -----2. I think my granmotheris a wonderfulperson. -----3. Animportantperson in my lifeis my grandmother. -----4. My grandmotherhadfive children. -----5. Let me tellabout my Grandma. -----6. My grandmother can make me laughwhen I am sad. IDENTIFYING TOPIC SENTENCES

13. Stowe Vermont Do youliketoskyor snowboard? For a trulyrelaxingwintervacation como toStowe, Vermont, in the Green Mountains. Enjoythefreshmountain air and snow at Mount Mansfield. Do youlike ice skating? Thereis a small ice skatingrinkneartheskating area. At thebottom of themountain, there are severalwonderful restaurants for eatinginsideoroutside. At the hotel nexttotheskyarea, thereis a heated pool and a hottub . In thetown of Stowe, there are plenty of antique shops and restaurants. Stowe, Vermont, is a great place for a wintervacation. Readthetravelbrouchure. Thenunderlinethemain idea.

14. Wordsthat show sequency of events are: first, then, next, after that, finally. Thisis a goodwaytoorganizethesupportingsentences in thebody of a paragraph. Writeabout a camping dayyoutook in thepast, add time wordsto show thesequency. USING WORDS TO SEQUENCE EVENTS

15. A concludingsentenceisusuallythelastsentence in a paragraph. A goodconcludingsentenceoftenrepeatstheparagraph´smain idea in differentwords. Writeit. Underlinethemain idea and write a concludingsentence in theparagraphbelow: Janet Francis wantstoteachabout local history. She has a collection of 50 oldmaps of Boston neighborhood. Shealso has a collection of oldphotosfromtheneighborhood. Everymonth, Janet invites neighborstoherapartmentto look at hermaps and photos. ¨Peopleliketoseehowthisneighbohoodchanged,¨Janetsays. ¨ IDENTIFYING CONCLUDING SENTENCES

16. Followtheintructionsyouread and writeyourownparagraph. Choose a topicyouliketowriteabout. WRITE YOUR PARAGRAPH

17. Cameron S. & Vargo M. (2008).Hemipheres. New York: McGraw-Hill Ingram, B. & King, C. (2005). FromWritingtoComposing. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress. Singleten, J. (2005).Writers at WorkTheParagraph. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress. REFERENCES