Improve your skills: writing an opinion essay

The basic five-paragraph essay structure, which you have probably used many times by this point, works extremely well for an opinion essay. It’s a starting point, and when you get to university your profs will expect a more complex approach to essay writing. If you feel confident about your essay-writing skills, you can certainly branch out into longer and more complex essays. But this basic five-paragraph outline is a good starting point, especially if you feel uncertain of your ability.

An opinion essay exists to prove your main point – your thesis. This should be clearly stated in your opening paragraph. Don’t leave the reader to guess what your position is on the issue – make a clear stand!

Next, develop your argument in the body of your essay. Each paragraph should contain a single, clear idea that support your point of view. You can use examples and illustration, cause-and-effect reasoning, comparison/contrast or other methods of development to support your argument.

Research: Any statements you make that would cause a reader to say, “Wait, how do you know that’s true?” need to be backed up with documentation from outside sources (“I saw something on TV about it one time” would not be considered adequate documentation). Refer to the handout “What is Research?” for further details.

Remember that a paragraph is three to five sentences that develop a single, clear idea.  A good paragraph often begins with a topic sentence that sums up your main idea.

·         Paragraph One -- The introduction.  Here you state the main idea of your entire essay -- the point you are trying to make or prove.  This paragraph should include your thesis statement plus three reasons why you believe this statement to be true.

·         Paragraphs Two, Three and Four.  These are the body of your essay.  Remember back in Paragraph One, you gave three reasons for your opinion? Three reasons, three body paragraphs.  Each of the body paragraphs should take oneof your reasons and explain it in more detail, citing sources where necessary.

·         Paragraph Five -- The conclusion.  Former Newfoundland premier Joey Smallwood once said about giving speeches: "First I tell them what I'm going to tell them, then I tell them, then I tell them what I told them."  That's how you write an essay.  In the conclusion, tell them what you told them.  Sum up your argument by restating your thesis statement and reminding the reader what your three reasons were.  In an argumentative essay, you can finish with a "call to action" -- tell the reader what you would like them to do as a result.

TOP TIPS FOR EOI / PACLE SPEAKING PART

The speaking part in a certification exam is what students dread the most; you are there, in front of the examiners, and sitting next to another candidate you think is much better at English than you. Your legs are shaking and you haven't felt as nervous since you asked that girl out in high school. Well then, here are some useful tips to succeed in a speaking exam for the levels B1 and B2 if you are thinking about doing the Escuela Oficial de Idiomas (EOI) certification exam or the Centre d'Idiomes de la Universitat de València PACLE examinations.

First of all remember that you'll have some time to prepare beforehand; use this time efficiently to relax on the one hand, and to read the tasks and take notes about what you are going to say afterwards. You'll be allowed to bring the notes into the examination and look at them but you can't read them out.

INSTRUCTIONS

B1 speaking task

The instructions provided could look something like this on the right. First of all a monologue with 3-4 bullet points with details about what you should include. Then a dialogue with the other candidate in which you must defend opposite points of view. Again you have 3-4 bullet points telling you the elements to be include. Remember this is between you and the other candidate so look at them, do not look at the examiners as you would do in the monologue.

PREPARATION TIME
In the instructions you are given three points you must include so plan your time accurately so that you don't spend too much time on one point and hardly any talking about the other two. Read these points carefully because they will tell you the kind of grammar structures you are required to use during your speech.

During this you are allowed to talk to your partner. Discuss how you are going to do the collaborative task, who will speak first and which agreement (if possible) you will make in the end. But remember you are not allowed to use mobile phones or check your notes, you will have to rely on your command of the English language.

TALKING ABOUT YOURSELF
Afterwards we will talk in depth about these two tasks but right now I want discuss one more thing you are expected to do which does not appear in the instructions. I am talking about introducing yourself. This will not count towards your overall mark since it is an introductory task to ease the nerves caused by the exam. As I said it does not count as such but it is important that you do it well because it can influence the examiners' attitude during the examination, they will be more prone to give you a better mark in the tasks.

So what should we say if we are asked to introduced ourselves? Since you have no more than one minute you should include details about you studies, work and hobbies if you can. Something like this would sound ok:

"Good morning, my name is... and I live in... although I'm originally from... I came here to study... at the University of... and I decided to stay when I found my first job. Now I'm working as a... I've been working for this company for the last... years. In my free time I love... although I don't do it as often as I would like to as I spend long hours at work; and also I'm quite keen on... which I do every now and again".

As you can see, in such a short speech you have sent the message that you can use a variety of tenses (present simple and continuous, past simple, present perfect...), connectors (although, as, since...), frequency adverbs and other structures such as keen on, spend long hours at work, every now and again...

INDIVIDUAL TASK
Let's hope now you have introduced yourself confidently you feel less nervous and are ready to start your monologue. Notice you have the bullet points with information you must include, and you have to prove you know a variety of structures and vocabulary while talking with fluency making as few mistakes as possible. My advice here is find a balance between fluency and accuracy; do not try to speak very fast because you will make more mistakes but do not take one whole minute to say a couple of sentences either.

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In the first bullet point where you are asked to agree or disagree with the statement use structures such as I agree with this statement 100 percent... I couldn't agree with it more... There's no doubt that... I agree in part... (agreeing); or I totally disagree with a statement like this... To be honest, I don't think this statement is true... I'm afraid I have to disagree... I'm not sure I agree with this... (disagreeing); and then back up your argument giving reasons that support your opinion: because, since, because of, due to... 

In the second bullet point you are asked to compare your current life with that before mobile phones became an everyday object. We would all agree that the use of comparative structures is mandatory here: we may find much worse inventions than the mobile phone... I can't stand now that I'm far more available than before... when I didn't have a mobile phone I wasn't as busy as I'm now and this gadget helps me organise my working week... and we can also use the present perfect to link the past with the present: the mobile phone has seen an increase in popularity in the last 20 years... mobiles have become an object we cannot live without... since I got my first mobile phone I've had 6 or 7 other phones... 

In the third bullet point you must discuss reasons why people love mobile phones. Here it's a good idea to make generalisations as we are talking about people in general: Generally speaking... On the whole...Most people tend to... and use structures that mean like and love: mobile phones are absolutely terrific... what people love about mobile phones is... are very keen on mobile phones... the best thing about mobiles is...

In the event that you are not the first candidate speaking do not spend those extra minutes going through your notes since there is very little you can do in 3 minutes. Instead spend this time listening to your partner, analysing what they have done well so that you could use some of their expressions and paying attention to their mistakes in order to avoid making the same ones.

COLLABORATIVE TASK
I'm 100 percent confident that with these tips you'll do great in the monologue section. Let's move now to the dialogue. The main difference with the monologue is that now you don't only depend on your skills but you have to take into account your partner. A very weak candidate can ruin the whole task for both of you whereas a strong candidate might try to get control over the conversation not allowing you to speak. With weak candidates always make sure you include them in the task, addressing them and asking them questions: I believe the best idea is to... what do you think?... do you agree with me?... do you have any other suggestions?... On the contrary, with candidates who want to impose themselves you will have to let them know they can't just interrupt you: can I just finish what I was saying?... if I could finish making my point... can I say something here?... you've made your point, now it's my turn to..

As it is said in the first bullet point you must defend your opinion so give reasons to convince your partner that you have a point and your idea is much better: I think we should take a... and a... because... don't bother bringing a... because... we don't have to take a... we can just buy it there... 

In the second bullet point you are asked to use discussion language so again use structures for agreeing and disagreeing. But this task in particular is also great to use conditional structures: it'd be a good idea to pack a raincoat in case it starts to rain... if we don't take our toiletries we'll have to buy them all there... bring lots of warm clothes unless you want to be freezing...

Finally, as it says the third bullet point, you should make an agreement (if possible). Here is where you can make suggestions: why don't we bring the... instead of the...? How about bringing a small suitcase and a big one? alright, we'll pack the... but not the...

COMMON MISTAKES
One very common mistakes people make in the individual task is to mention the information in the bullet points explicitly: and finally about discuss the reasons why people love them so much, well I think... Do not mention the bullet point, just do what you are required to do; if you have to compare two elements or say whether you agree or disagree just do it, examiners know what your instructions say, there's no need to remind them.

Another common mistake is to keep silent when you don't know a word or you just go blank. Whenever this happens use hesitation fillers to give you time to think about the right word or to paraphrase what you want to say. Some hesitation fillers are you know... you see... how do you call it?... I've forgotten what it's called now... it's like... With such expressions you'll sound more natural when speaking in English.

Regarding the use of language certain mistakes are usually repeated no matter whether we talk about B1 or B2. The things you should pay attention to when speaking are present simple with since and ago (I live in Valencia since 5 years ago), here the use of the present perfect is required: I've lived in Valencia for 5 years. Using must and can followed by to: We must to bring lots of money. We use to with have to and ought to but not with can, could, may, might or must. Using the infinitive when we are talking about the past is something some students do when speaking and also saying I'm agree is something you must be careful with.

Well, if you are planning to do the EOI or PACLE exam, good luck with it, I hope you've found this article useful.

Improve your skills: writing and speaking

Telling a story.

The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary defines the term story as a description of events and people that the writer or speaker has invented in order to entertain people; that would be true provided the story is imaginary. That's why another definition is provided: an account, often spoken, of what happened to somebody or of how something happened; this definition would be the correct one for real stories.

Now we will have a look at some of the aspects that should be taken into consideration when writing or telling a story. First of all we need to express the order in which the events occur; some of the basic expressions we can use for sequencing include first, next, last, before, sometimes and now. But in order to improve the quality of our story some synonyms should be used:

- First: the first thing, at the beginning, in the first place.

- Next: then, after a while, shortly afterwards, as soon as.

- Last: at last, in the end, after a long time, eventually, finally.

- Before: earlier, formerly, not long ago, previously.

- Sometimes: at times, from time to time, periodically, occasionally.

- Now: recently, by now, currently, until today, meanwhile.

Another aspect we must pay attention to is tenses. Look at this video for a quick explanation of tenses. Since our story (either real or invented) is usually something that refers to the past, the use of narrative tenses is considered to be a must. The following are examples of different narrative tenses:

- Past simple: I spent last summer with my grandparents at their house by the lake.

- Past continuous: My friend Joan and I were swimming in the lake when we saw an enormous...

- Past perfect: We had never seen such a big...

- Past perfect continuous: We had been waiting for an hour to be rescued when Joan noticed something...

When telling your story your main objective should be to catch the attention of your audience. You would want your story to sound as exciting as possible, to appeal to your audience interests and make them reflect on what they have just read or listened to. Appropriate vocabulary will make the story more interesting, therefore we should choose adjectives and adverbs carefully in order to add that element of excitement. Use strong adjectives rather than gradable adjectives to emphasize what you are trying to say: shattered, freezing, terrified, disgusting, starving, gorgeous, fabulous, hilarious, delighted, awful, fascinating, terrific, huge, tiny, devastated... Use adverbs to add more information, especially adverbs of degree: absolutely, particularly, extremely, remarkably, fairly, terribly... and adverbs of manner: awkwardly, fortunately, mysteriously, suddenly, unexpectedly...

And finally use linking words to add coherence and cohesion to your story. Connectors can express: reasons (due to, because, since, as), results (therefore, consequently, as a result), contrast (however, nevertheless, despite, although), giving examples (for example, for instance), adding information (in addition, furthermore, moreover, besides).

To practise this here is a writing prompt that can be used in class with B1-B2 students:

You wake up in the boot of a car after two days missing. With you there is a bag full of money, a plane ticket and a wallet with a fake ID card. Little by little you start to remember things. Write the story of what has happened to you in the last couple of days.

Song: use of questions tags

Listen to the song A Little Time by the British pop band The Beautiful South. Fill in the blank spaces and also choose from the pairs of words.

I need a little time

To _____ it _____

I need a little place/space

Just _____ _____ _____

I need a little time

To find my freedom

 I need a little...

Funny how quick the milk turns sour/flour

_____ it? _____ it?

Your face has been looking like that for hours

_____ it? _____ it?

Promises, promises turn to bust/dust

Wedding bells just turn to rust/gust

Trust into mistrust

I need a little room

To find myself

I need a little space/place

To _____ it _____

I need a little room / moon

All alone

I need a little...

You need a little room for your big bread/head

_____ you? _____ you?

You’ll need a little space for a thousand beds/bells

 _____ you? _____ you?

Lips that promise - fear the worst/thirst

Tongue so sharp - the bubble cursed/burst

Just into unjust

I _____ _____ a little time

To find the proof/truth

Now I _____ _____ a little room

To check what’s wrong/gone

I _____ _____ a little time

And I still love you

I _____ _____ a little...

You had a little time

And you had a little run/fun

 _____ you? _____ you?

While you had yours

Do you think I had gone/none

_____ you? _____ you?

The freedom that you wanted bad/back

Is yours _____ _____

I hope you’re glad/mad

Sad into unsad

I had a little time

To _____ it _____

Had a little room

To _____ it _____

I found a little garage/courage

To _____ it _____

I’ve had a little time…

I’ve had a little time…

I’ve had a little time…

I’ve had a little time…

Lesson plan: JK Rowling

Taking an interview with JK Rowling, famous writer of the Harry Potter novels, I have created this lesson in which students will practise reading, speaking and writing while reviewing past modals of deduction. This is to celebrate International Women's Day.

The lesson is appropriate for level B2 and you will need to allow 35 minutes to complete the tasks.

The reading activity is an interview with the author with a multiple matching exercise. Students must match the questions to the answers. The text is completed with a grammar point where students will review the use of past modals of deduction following an inductive approach. In the vocabulary section they must find the verbs that match the definitions.

In the speaking sections students aregiven for newspaper headlines and they must make deductions about the story based on the headlines.

Once they have worked in pairs to guess what the stories are about, for homework they must write the articles following their deductions.

You can download the activity here.