Gary Ireland Mick Short Max Woollerton

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Writing Book 1

TheEnglish Course

The English Course - Writing Book 1ii

Published by Kabushikigaisha The English Company / 株式会社 The English CompanyNakajuku 2-8, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo / 東京都板橋区仲宿 2-8173-0005.

www.theenglishcompany.jpwww.theenglishcourse.com

The moral rights of the authors have been asserted.

Copyright © 2008 Kabushikigaisha The English Company.Photographs Copyright © 2008 Gary Ireland, Mick Short and Maxim Woollerton.

All rights reserved.

No unauthorized photocopying.

International Standard Book Numbering 978-4-9902962-3-0

The English Course – Writing Book 1, First Edition comprises this textbook and the right to a username/password to the student Study Centre located at www.theenglishcourse.com, valid for twelve months from first login. A teacher’s DVD for each group of learners will also be supplied. None of the aforementioned components of the course may be sold or distributed separately without prior permission in writing from the Publisher. Each copy of the textbook, username and password are licensed for use by one person only.

All rights reserved; no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the Publisher.

First edition published 2008.

Printed in Singapore.

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About The English Course – Writing Book 1

The English Course – Writing Book 1 is an integrated, English language writing course for false beginners, that comprises a textbook and a self-access web site for each student and, in addition, a DVD for each teacher.

This first edition is principally intended for students at college or university and/or young adult learners. The aim of the course is to provide structured opportunities of increasing complexity, based on stimulating and relevant topics, that enable students to learn and develop basic writing skills. Moreover, material is presented in an engaging way by the use of an attractive print layout and cutting-edge technology. The course is designed to be usable in the classroom and in all student self-access situations. As the course is designed for false beginners, it takes a back-to-basics approach for the early units and then gradually develops in length and difficulty from sentence-level writing to paragraph-level, culminating in tasks that involve the writing of short essays.

The course is designed to make learning English enjoyable and interesting. The topics chosen for each unit are contemporary, age-appropriate, internationally understood and attractive to students. The writing situations are realistic and plausible in terms of the students’ probable English language needs in the present and in the future. Each unit in the textbook teaches an important writing skill and is divided into two sections, that each focus on a different but related writing function.

Each unit in the course includes a mixture of components, generally consisting of at least two sections of input material, four or five follow-up exercises, two multimedia-based quizzes, a stimulating slideshow and/or audio/video clips. Each unit offers opportunities for students to write at sentence or paragraph level and culminates in a final writing opportunity for students to demonstrate what they have learned in the unit. Following the completion of each unit, students are encouraged to engage in self-access practise at the online Study Centre, where they can perform tasks and receive automated feedback on their work. The data from the students’ use of The Study Centre is always available to the teacher of each group of learners and can be a valuable tool for assigning grades to students.

The course can be taught in any classroom (but preferably one with a computer or DVD player connected to a projector and screen or large display). A multimedia room would be the ideal location. However, if the class is not held in such an environment, paper-based versions of the multimedia activities can be downloaded easily. Additionally, much of the material on the teacher’s DVD is available for students to access at The Study Centre.

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Unit 1 - Getting Started Understanding the basic rules for the layout of writing

Understanding what a paragraph should look like

Understanding how to write simple sentences

Unit 2 - Recognising Common Errors Understanding grammatical terms

Recognising the parts of a sentence

Recognising common errors

Unit 3 - Writing Better Sentences Understanding conjunctions

Writing compound sentences

Writing complex sentences

Unit 4 - Writing Good Paragraphs Understanding what a paragraph is

Writing topic sentences

Writing supporting sentences

Recognising irrelevant sentences

Unit 5 - Brainstorming / Prewriting Organising ideas & making plans

Creating clusters & lists

Creating spider graphs & extended lists

Unit 6 - Writing Reports Doing research & finding information

Conducting surveys

Organising information & writing reports

Unit 7 - Writing Reviews Understanding the difference between facts & opinions

Writing a factual review

Expressing opinions

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Contents

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Unit 8 - Writing About the Past Using the simple past & past continuous tense

Using time-sequence words

Writing about an experience

Writing a biography

Unit 9 - Writing About the Future Using the future tense

Expressing probability

Writing about plans & ambitions

Writing predictions

Unit 10 - Writing Narratives Writing fictional stories

Organising information by time

Organising several paragraphs

Unit 11 - Writing Correspondence Understanding block style letter writing

Writing formal correspondence

Replying to correspondence

Unit 12 - Writing an Essay Understanding what an essay is

Prewriting skills

Rewriting skills

Understanding the importance of peer editing

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Textbook unit format and description

All units of the book share the same basic design, which is explained below. Title page This consists of the unit title together with a list of the main objectives.

First half of unit

Introduction A short section introducing the theme of the unit and key points.

Input material Short reading material consisting of explanation and examples concerning key points (grammar, skills, concepts) related to the focus or theme of the unit.

Exercises Two or three follow-up exercises, varying in length and nature, that allow students to practise the grammar or writing skills introduced in the Input material.

Quiz 1 Questions or tasks to test students’ knowledge of the material presented in the first half of the unit, presented using multimedia in a game-like format, as an enjoyable way of doing further practise or demonstrating knowledge and understanding.

Second half of unit

Input material Additional material on themes related to those covered in the first half of the unit.

Exercises Two or three follow-up exercises, varying in length and nature, that allow students to practise the grammar or writing skills introduced in the Input material.

Quiz 2 Questions or tasks to test students’ knowledge of the material presented in the second half of the unit, presented using multimedia in a game-like format as an enjoyable way of doing further practise or demonstrating knowledge and understanding.

Finale A writing exercise using multimedia that is a culmination activity for demonstrating knowledge of material covered throughout the unit and the student’s ability to produce writing related to the unit’s focus, themes or skills.

End of the unit

Take it away Exercises online for student self-access practise and testing.

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Information about the authors

Gary Ireland was born in Leicester, England, but has spent the last twenty years living in Japan. Having first visited Japan as a traveller in 1986, Gary returned in 1988 and began to teach English at a language school. During the next few years, he gained experience teaching every age and level of student in a variety of additional teaching positions, including a preparatory school, cultural centre, a vocational school and several business English schools. Gary began teaching in college and university in 1993 and has taught at six Tokyo colleges and universities since. Currently, he is an associate professor at

a university in Tokyo. After graduating from university and before settling in Japan, Gary spent several years travelling around the world, and has continued to travel widely since moving to Japan. He has visited over fifty different countries in Asia, Europe, Africa, and Central America.Previous language learning publications:Keep Talking (communicative text), James Alexander Press, 2000Keep Talking, 2nd edition, James Alexander Press, 2001Keep Talking, Listening exercises, James Alexander Press, 2002The English Course, The English Company, 2005, 2006 & 2007

Max Woollerton is also British. He came to Japan in 1987 and began teaching English at a language school. Within six months, he had moved on to working in a vocational college. There, he was the coordinator for a course on current issues and a course teaching English for Special Purposes. Between 1996 and 1999, he broadened his experience by teaching students of every age and level in a variety of institutions, which included a preparatory school, a public high school and a school for overseas returnees. Max has taught in numerous other educational settings and his students have included

people from all walks of life. Max began teaching in universities in 1999 and has taught at eight Tokyo-area universities as a part-time instructor. Max Woollerton gained a Master of Education degree at the University of Manchester (Education Technology and ELT Programme). He is committed to exploiting the benefits of technology for practical purposes within the Japanese EFL classroom. He hopes that The English Course will, as it develops, come to embody all of the positive aspects of using technology for learning. Max is also particularly interested in learner motivation and how to cultivate it. Previous language learning publications:To Save The Earth, Z-Kai, 1999 (contributor)The English Course, The English Company, 2005, 2006 & 2007

Mick Short is from Derby in the U.K. He came to Japan in 1984 to work in a small English language school in Shibuya teaching English. Shortly after that he started working as an Industrial Designer for Seiko Epson and then moved to Ricoh to do product design and interface design. From 1994-95, Mick worked in Eigomedia (now eigoTown) as Art Director/Interface Designer, designing English language learning CD-Rom publications such as English Alive and Power English. Wanting to pursue his own design philosophy, Mick set up Mindstorm, a company that develops products,

including those for The English Company. Mick is fascinated by the challenge of developing EFL materials for the classroom that have all the appearance and allure of video games. At various times in Japan, Mick has taught both English and Art and Design. Previous language learning publications: English Alive (CD-Rom based interactive language learning activities), eigoMedia, 1994 Power English (CD-Rom based interactive language learning activities), eigoMedia, 1995 English Workshop (Web based shockwave interactive learning activities), The Ministry of Education Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan, Short & Hughes, 1996 Top Score (TOEIC® Test Simulator CD-Rom), Mindstorm, 1997 Top Score Second Edition (TOEIC® Test Simulator CD-Rom), Mindstorm, 2002

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