Expressive Writing and Adjectives

Transcription

1 Level of Proficiency: Intermediate Expressive Writing and Adjectives TEKS Addressed: 1a, b; 2a, b, c, d; 3a, c; 6a, b, c; 9a, b, c, d, f, g; 10a, b, c, j; 11a, b; 12a, h, k; 15c, d, f, h; 16a, b, c, d, e, f; 17a, b, c, d, e, f, g; 18f, h, I; 19a, b, c Materials / Resources: Overhead projector, pens, transparencies, copies of Amy Tan s Fish Cheeks or other stories or poems, objects described in the work, pictures of common objects such as cars, buildings, or cities, index cards. Lesson Before: Show students pictures of common objects such as a table, car, or building and ask them to think of words that describe each. Explain that descriptive words are called adjectives. Provide examples of sentences in English, demonstrating and explaining that in English the adjective is before the noun it modifies. (President Bush lives in the White House. Alejandro Fernandez is a handsome man. Mr. Martinez is an excellent teacher.) This is often a source of confusion for Spanish speakers, because the adjective is AFTER the noun in that language. (Presidente Bush vive en la Casa Blanca. Alejandro Fernandez es un hombre guapo. Sr. Martinez es un maestro excelente.) Give each student three note cards and ask them to describe a classmate. If necessary give them a model: She is a girl. She has hair. She is and. She loves music. They should not identify the classmate. When all are finished, have each student read the card and ask the others to guess who the person is. During: Review adjectives discussed earlier and ask students to categorize the adjectives: positive, negative, and neutral. The positive list may include words such as beautiful, generous, kind, friendly; the negative list, ugly, selfish, mean; and the neutral list colors or numbers. Explain that adjectives are important to good writers because they make writing so much more vivid and interesting. Ask students to write good, nice and bad on pieces of paper. Collect the papers in a large manila envelope and make a big show about putting it in the trash or even burying it outside because those adjectives are tired and overused, and from that moment on, eliminated from their writing vocabulary. You may even design a headstone to remind students those words are dead. Ask the student to think about a meal at McDonald s. Ask what words someone who loves McDonald s Big Macs would use to describe them. Encourage them to think about what words the company uses in advertising:

2 delicious, juicy, thick, tasty, satisfying. Now ask the students to think about how a vegetarian would describe a Big Mac. Would the adjectives be positive or negative? Have the students brainstorm negative words. Their suggestions might include disgusting, greasy, fattening, unhealthy. Select a story to read with many descriptive adjectives and an opinionated narrator. Jack Prelutsky s poems work well with younger children. Amy Tan s story, Fish Cheeks is perfect for this activity for secondary students. It deals with culinary differences between Chinese and Americans as seen through the eyes of a fourteen year old Chinese girl. If using Fish Cheeks, bring in make up sponges, dried mushrooms, chopsticks, and plastic fish if possible. Distribute them to the students and ask them to think of words to describe each, then decide whether each adjective is positive, negative, or neutral. If using a different story, bring objects that are described in the story, or could be described using the same words. Read the story aloud with expression, pausing to ask the students for synonyms for adjectives: appalling, slimy, bulging, rubbery, rumpled. Have student highlight the adjectives in their copies of the story, color coding positive and negative adjectives with highlighters. Discuss how the adjectives contributed to the story and what they told about the narrator s feelings. Together, rewrite the paragraph where the foods are described replacing the negative adjectives with positive ones. Model using a thesaurus, and explain how it is organized if students have not used it before. Have students think of their favorite food. Ask them to list all the words they can think of to describe it. Next, provide them with a guided paragraph to use to write about the food. If students are more advanced, they may not need the guide. Food is a good topic to start with because it is something familiar and concrete. People are usually passionate about a favorite food, and everyone has one. When working with ELLs, it is always beneficial to start with the concrete and build up to more abstract concepts. Ask students to exchange papers with a classmate. The classmate should write about the same food, but this time use only negative adjectives to describe it. Have students peer edit and revise their work, then present it to the others or publish it. After Play twenty questions with the class. Write the names of famous people on note cards. Select one, but don t allow the class to see who it is. Be sure each student has a list of descriptive adjectives. Students must ask yes or no questions in English to get clues to guess who the person is. (Is it a man? Is he handsome? Does he speak English? Is he friendly? Is he married?) Vary the game and use foods to reinforce the adjectives from this lesson. Encourage students to continue to use the thesaurus when writing to extend their vocabulary and knowledge of vivid descriptive adjectives. Keep a Word Wall of positive and negative adjectives that are frequently used. Select other

3 topics for students to practice with such as a loyal friend or favorite family member, or to create advertisements for products they use. Have students use similes and metaphors to describe food.

4 The Most Food in the World You simply have to taste. It is the most food in the world. It is from. People enjoy it because it is (adjective) and (adjective). It has (adjective) (noun), and (adjective) (noun). To prepare, you need to find (adjective) (noun) and (adjective) (noun) at (grocery store or restaurant). You (verb) the (adjective) (noun) and add the (adjective) (noun). Then, (verb). I hope you will enjoy this (adjective) food as much as I do! Yum! The Most Delicious Food in the World You simply have to taste sushi. It is the most mouth watering food in the world. It is from Japan. People enjoy it because it is nutritious and not fattening. It has fresh fish and moist rice. To prepare sushi, you need to find unfrozen tuna and crisp seaweed leaves at the Japanese market. You roll the succulent tuna, sticky rice, and crunchy cucumber in the green seaweed leaf. Then take a big bite. I hope you enjoy this healthy food as much as I do!

5 The Most Food in the World You simply have to avoid. It is the most food in the world. It is from. People shouldn t eat it because it is (adjective) and (adjective). It has (adjective) (noun), and (adjective) (noun). To prepare, people find (adjective) (noun) and (adjective) (noun) at (grocery store or restaurant). They (verb) the (adjective) (noun) and add the (adjective) (noun). Then, (verb). I could not enjoy this (adjective) food as much as they do! Yuck! The Most Disgusting Food in the World You simply have to avoid sushi! It is the most unappetizing food in the world. It is from Japan. People shouldn t eat it because it is raw and fishy. It has slimy fish and tasteless rice. To prepare sushi, people find smelly tuna, bland rice, and watery cucumber in the Japanese market. They roll the chewy tuna, dry rice, and seedy cucumber in the paperlike seaweed. Then they eat it. I could not enjoy this bad tasting food as much as they do! Yuck!

6 Positive: Delicious, tasty, succulent, mouth watering, juicy, moist, soft, warm, appetizing, fleshy, fresh, thick, crisp, sweet, comforting, crunchy, light, satisfying Negative: Sour, raw, spoiled, acrid, foul, unappetizing, bad tasting, bulging, smelly, malodorous, slimy, rubbery, chewy, greasy, heavy, fattening