Textual Awareness

We started by reading this short biographical text about Brad Pitt (download the Word file here), by the far the best actor in the world when it comes to playing characters who look like Brad Pitt. Anyway, the tasks were simple...

First, having read the text, guess - without looking at it - the number of paragraphs (very easy I know), sentences (more difficult), and words. The point is just to think about structures of English sentences and paragraphs.

Secondly, with the text covered, we used the simple prompts to re-write the whole biography. Comparing the reconstruction with the original text allowed us to look for areas of English writing we needed to spend more time thinking about.

New Writing Course

The course starts with a NEEDS ANALYSIS session. We discussed how well we all write a variety of different text types in our first languages. There seemed to be a class consensus that the texts we write well tend to be the ones that we have read a lot of, and which we have practice of having written. The philosophy of this course, therefore, is to improve our writing skills by focussing on text types, analysing the way they work, and then trying to produce and improve upon our own written texts. The students all wrote down which text types they would most like to be able to write well in English. A list of the types of text we discussed are listed here.

Football and Violence!

Look at the headline and first two paragraphs of this BBC news report about last night's trouble between Man Utd and Roma fans. You'll notice that I've changed the font for certain words and phrases. Can you see a pattern developing? What do the various fonts represent?


Fans clash with police at Man Utd

Police and football fans were involved in a series of scuffles before the Champions League match between Manchester United and Roma on Tuesday.

Greater Manchester Police officers made 21 arrests after confrontations around Old Trafford prior to kick-off. The worst incident involved several dozen mainly Roma fans but it was soon brought under control by officers with batons and police horses and dogs. Manchester United won the match 7-1 to reach the Champions League semi-finals. Hundreds of supporters were caught up in ugly scenes outside Old Trafford before the game. Eyewitnesses said a firework was fired by Italian fans at Manchester United supporters as bottles were hurled between rival groups.

You may have realised by now that the fonts correspond to the different lexical sets (vocabulary themes) used in the text. The sets are as follows:

a. football
b. law
c. violence

Read on and try to classify the phrases in bold according to these three categories. Notice that the only other vocabulary theme that arises in the whole article is related to travelling (I've highlighted this vocabulary by putting it into itallics).

Police said 14 of those arrested were English and seven were Italian.

Eight Manchester United fans, including one juvenile, were arrested on suspicion of committing public order offences, one was detained for allegedly possessing a bladed article, two were held on suspicion of causing affray, one for suspected criminal damage and one was arrested for a suspected breach of the peace.
Two Italian supporters were held on suspicion of public order offences, another for allegedly possessing an offensive weapon, and a fourth for allegedly possessing an offensive weapon and committing a public order offence.


Three others were arrested on suspicion of shoplifting, believed to be from the Manchester United Megastore.

Roma supporters began trailing out of the ground at about 2215 BST and were led without incident to a facing car park where a fleet of coaches will take them back to the airport.
There were no reports of any injuries.

BBC production staff witnessed Manchester United fans throwing cans and glass bottles while police with dogs tried to separate the two sets of supporters.

Police dog units and mounted officers became involved with a series of scuffles with supporters close to the club shop on Sir Matt Busby Way at about 1750 BST.

Police sources told the BBC that the "isolated" trouble - which involved fans of both teams - was contained within five minutes.

A statement released by Greater Manchester Police said: "Officers patrolling at Old Trafford ahead of the Manchester United versus Roma match have been required to deal with a number of small and isolated incidents.

"The incidents are being dealt with as they happen and are being resolved quickly.

"Some arrests were made in order to maintain the peace at the ground."

BBC radio reporter James Alexander said extra security was very much in evidence outside the stadium.

"There were lots of security personnel and extra police cars and vans around the stadium," he said.

"It was classified as a Category C match which is the highest alert there is for a match at Old Trafford. It is on a par with a home match against Liverpool."

Minister for Sport Richard Caborn said: "It's unfortunate that there have been some scuffles outside Old Trafford. "This was always going to be a highly charged game following the incident last week. Greater Manchester Police have used proportionate force in a potentially difficult situation and have handled it well."

The visiting fans were in the second tier of the East Stand and there were no reports of trouble inside the stadium.

Roma's managing director Rosella Sensi earlier insisted their fans would behave impeccably.

Uefa is to investigate the trouble from the first leg, which could lead to disciplinary action for both United and Roma.

Hopefully that was all straightforward, but did you notice that disciplinary action combines the themes of football AND law - it's about the rules and laws that govern European football - UEFA are the organisation that could punish the two teams, just like the British legal system will punish the arrested fans.

Something for the Ladies : Sense and Sensibility

Just in case anyone cares, here's that wonderful opening paragraph from Jane Austen's Sense and Senisbility again... If you lack the motivation to read it, why not scroll down and watch a trailer for the most recent film adaptation...

The family of Dashwood had long been settled in Sussex. Their estate was large, and their residence was at Norland Park, in the centre of their property, where, for many generations, they had lived in so respectable a manner as to engage the general good opinion of their surrounding acquaintance. The late owner of this estate was a single man, who lived to a very advanced age, and who for many years of his life, had a constant companion and housekeeper in his sister. But her death, which happened ten years before his own, produced a great alteration in his home; for to supply her loss, he invited and received into his house the family of his nephew Mr. Henry Dashwood, the legal inheritor of the Norland estate, and the person to whom he intended to bequeath it. In the society of his nephew and niece, and their children, the old Gentleman's days were comfortably spent. His attachment to them all increased. The constant attention of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dashwood to his wishes, which proceeded not merely from interest, but from goodness of heart, gave him every degree of solid comfort which his age could receive; and the cheerfulness of the children added a relish to his existence.

Coherence

A few little exercises to explore the importance of coherence for you. First read through this text in 30 seconds or less:

Belgium's rubbish solution

Councils in England could soon be allowed to charge residents for the amount of rubbish they throw away. When I visited the Flanders town of Lokeren - half-way between Antwerp and Ghent - I was following in the footsteps of environment minister Ben Bradshaw. He went with a team of officials last year to see how this part of Belgium recycles more than 70% of its household waste. In Lokeren itself, the rate is nearly 80% - more than three times that in England as a whole. So how do the Flemish do it? But what effect have "pay as you throw" systems had in other countries?

In Lokeren, it's set at 80 euros (£56). Not long ago the cost of rubbish collection and disposal was "hidden" in the main local tax - as it is in Britain. But a few years ago the Flemish moved to a system where people pay a separate annual waste fee. On top of that, they pay variable charges based on the weight and volume of waste they leave for collection.



By skim reading the text without worrying too much about 100% comprehension, you should note that, like all texts, it's made up of several vocabulary themese (lexical sets) which come together to create the story. In the case of this story, it should be easy to spot that the main lexical sets are BELGIUM, RECYCLING, and OFFICIALDOM / POLITICS. When you've realised that, you can help yourself to get the meaning of any new vocabulary (e.g. Flanders and Flemish must be related to Belgium, household waste to recycling, and envioronment minister to officialdom).

If you got the gist of this article through it's key vocabulary, great, but look again and you'll find that it's not completely COHERENT. That's because I've moved one sentence from each paragraph to a position which it doesn't belong in. Look carefully and then go the BBC website to check the original article here.

Now here's a story including the lexical sets of MEDICINE, LAW, and RELATIONSHIPS. Try to classify any new vocabulary within one of these categories:

Woman's embryo appeal verdict due

She turned to the European courts after exhausting the UK legal process. A woman left infertile after cancer therapy is due to learn a court's final judgement on her plea to use frozen embryos fertilised by an ex-partner. Ms Evans, 35, says her appeal to the Grand Chamber of the European Court is her last chance to have a baby. Natallie Evans, from Trowbridge, Wilts, and Howard Johnston began IVF treatment in 2001 but he withdrew consent for the embryos to be used after they split up.

This time I've mixed the article up completely. Put the sentences in the correct order and then check your thoughts against the original article below. Notice how each sentence contains words and expressions that relate to other sentences. With attention to these, you should be able to see logic to the writer's choice of structure. Again, this is COHERENCE, and attention to this textual feature should help you read and write in English effectively.


Woman's embryo appeal verdict due

A woman left infertile after cancer therapy is due to learn a court's final judgement on her plea to use frozen embryos fertilised by an ex-partner. Natallie Evans, from Trowbridge, Wilts, and Howard Johnston began IVF treatment in 2001 but he withdrew consent for the embryos to be used after they split up. She turned to the European courts after exhausting the UK legal process. Ms Evans, 35, says her appeal to the Grand Chamber of the European Court is her last chance to have a baby.

By the time we looked at this in class, a verdict had actually been reached, which you can read about here.

If you're approaching this the right way, you should be getting used to the style of these articles. Look at the first six sentences of one final article and try to put them into a coherent order:

China slams US piracy complaint

1. By doing so, the US has ignored the Chinese government's immense efforts and great achievements in strengthening intellectual property rights protection and tightening enforcement of its copyright laws," the commissioner added.
2. China "expressed great regret and strong dissatisfaction at the decision", the state news agency said.
3. China has criticised the US over its decision to file a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization over copyright piracy and counterfeiting. The US also argues that China makes it hard for legitimate firms to operate.
4. The Xinhua news agency quoted Intellectual Property Office commissioner Tian Lipu as saying that it was "not a sensible move for the US government to file such a complaint" at the World Trade Organization (WTO).
5. The US says that China's failure to enforce copyright laws is costing software, music and book publishers billions of dollars in lost sales.

Still awake? Check your thoughts against the original text here or go to the BBC website and search the words "China slams" to see how strangely often this lexical combination occurs in the news.

Academic Word List

I mentioned this in class - the Academic Word List, which is a useful tool for anyone interested in taking part in academic study which involves the English language. This website not only contains an explanation of what the Academic Word List is, it also allows you to paste text and see words from the AWL highlighted.

Language for Presentations

If you're interested, you can look at this collocations exercise related to presentations. Cover the verbs and then try to remember whether each phrase needs MAKE, DO, GIVE, or TAKE to complete it. There is also a handout with useful phrases for opening a presentation here.

A Marketing Project

Four products with potential image problems. We considered their strengths and weaknesses and then came up with a strategy for marketing them through this task. Feedback from the resulting presentations is here.

Advertising Campaigns

We looked at these advertising campaigns and discussed the feasibility of each one. One the same handout we did a branding task courtesy of Lexicon Naming via In Company. Finally we looked at advertising slogans. If you have some free time, why not try this stupid but entertaining random advert generator.

Memos and e-mails

Writing short but effective messages is a true art form. An analysis of these examples followed by some practice will help you take the first steps to perfecting this art form!

Negotiations

The idea was to use some of this useful language for negotiations in a negotiation roleplay about buying and selling digital cameras. A breakdown of the class results is here.

Writing a CV

The class handout for improving on your CV is here.

Funny Stories

I received some fantastic funny (or just strange) stories so rather than just reading them here, why not spend some time doing grammar exercises with them.

Mini Sagas

Read the first two mini sagas here and try to put the third story in order. As a grammar exercise, you can try to put the grammar back into the two stories here (get the answers here).

There are more mini sagas here, but nothing particularly good. I'm sure that you could write something better.

800 Dollars

There are several different grammar exercises you can try with a funny story about 800 dollars.

This website has a host of other jokes and funny stories, but I can't say I'm especially impressed by them. Please let me know if you have any alternative recommendations.

A Dark Dark Story

I think that this story provides a perfect example of the concept at the heart of the article system in English. Pay careful attention to the uses of A and THE

Once upon a time…
There was a dark dark county
And in the dark dark country
There was a dark dark forest
And in the dark dark forest
There was a dark dark tree
And near the dark dark tree
There was a dark dark lake
And by the dark dark lake
There was a dark dark house.
In the dark dark house
There was a dark dark hall
And through the dark dark hall
There was a dark dark room
In the dark dark room
There was a dark dark cupboard
And in the dark dark cupboard
There was a dark dark box
And in the dark dark box there was…

___ Sydney Harbour Bridge - A,The, or Nothing?

Can you put the articles into the following story?

_____ American, _____ Frenchman, and _____ Australian were sitting in _____ bar overlooking _____ Sydney Harbour. “Do you know why _____ America is _____ wealthiest country in _____ world?” asked _____ American. “It’s because _____ we build _____ big and we build fast. We put up _____ Empire State Building in six weeks”. “_____ Six weeks, mon dieu, so long!” snapped _____ Frenchman. “_____ Eiffel Tower we put up in _____ one month exactement. And you,” he continued, turning to _____ Australian, “what has _____ Australia done to match that?” “Ah, nuthin’, mate. Not that I know of.” _____ American pointed to _____ Harbour Bridge. “What about that?” he asked. _____ Australian looked over _____ his shoulder. “Dunno, _____ mate. It wasn’t there yesterday”.

The key is here but don't just check your answers and forget about it. Think carefully about the REASON for every use of A, THE, HE, HIS, THAT, and THERE in this story. Iny my humble opinion, if you can understand why each one has been used, then you are a step closer to producing excellent writing.

Going Down the Tube(s)

A newspaper story about some artistic tubes at the Tate Modern was the launchpad for a text analysis which incorporated this quick investigation of the question What is a clause? Summaries of the Tate Modern article then led to some pain-staking corrections.

Coffee Machine Conversations

What's the difference between English and English for Work? In some ways, nothing, but we sometimes have to use English skills to get what we want (or need) at work. We used a conversation at a coffee machine as a frame in which to try to find out vital information about work-related issues. Feeback on the language used in class conversations can be found here, while some examples of wonderful phrases students used and an exercise in reducing the amount of over-formal grammar that gets used are all here.

Initiation!

In the new English for Work class we used this exercise to highlight the need for social skills as well as being able to use good English. A feedback sheet from the class, which talks about using conversations as frames as well as Chinese astrology, can be downloaded here.