TSA Writing Skills(Secondary 3)

Pre-writing

You are Thomas. Your aunt from America is visiting Hong Kong. You went to Ocean Park with her today. You want to write a diary entry about it.

Write your diary entry in about 150 words describing your visit to Ocean Park. Use the following pictures and your own ideas.

Read the question

Underline the key words

SituationText type

What to write Number of words

Brainstorm ideas(1) Pictures

?

bus dolphin show roller coaster

jellyfish cable car

From the pictures, find out:

• When is it?

• Who are the people?

• Where are they?

• What are they doing?

• How do they feel?

• Can you think of any other ideas?

Brainstorm ideas(2) Mind map

• Think of as many ideas related to Ocean Park as possible

• Put them into groups and draw a mind map

(2) Mind map

Ocean ParkGo on rides

Watch seaanimals

Roller Coaster

Cable car

dolphins

jellyfish

restaurants

pandas?

Can you think of any more ideas?

Main ideas

Supporting details under the main idea

Other ideas

What: the thing or action

When: the time Where: the place Who: the people Why: the reason …

How: the way something happens

How many: the number of something

How much: the price …

Brainstorm ideas(3) Question words

• Use ‘wh-’ words and ‘how’ question words to brainstorm ideas of different areas, e.g.

(3) Question words

• When? • Where?• What (did you

do)?• Who?• Why?• How (did you

feel)?

• today• Ocean Park• went on rides, watched sea

animals, watched the pandas…• my aunt and I• she came to visit Hong Kong• excited, happy

While-writing

(1) Topic sentences

Use topic sentence to introduce the main idea of a paragraph

We went on the rides as soon as we arrived at Ocean Park. We queued up for the roller coaster. There were many people and we waited for about 40 minutes. But the ride was exciting! Then we went on the pirate ship. We screamed while the ship was swinging. We enjoyed all the rides.

A topic sentence is usually put at the beginning of a paragraph.

(2) Supporting details

We went on the rides as soon as we arrived at Ocean Park. We queued up for the roller coaster. There were many people and we waited for about 40 minutes. But the ride was exciting! Then we went on the pirate ship. We screamed while the ship was swinging. We enjoyed all the rides.

1. Use examples to support the main idea of the paragraph

Examples of the rides

Main idea

(2) Supporting details

I think Ocean Park is a good place to visit. My aunt and I had great fun there. We not only enjoyed the exciting rides, but we also watched many sea animals. The view in the park was also very beautiful. We took a lot of pictures.

2. Give reasons to support the main idea of the paragraph

These sentences explain why Ocean Park is a good place to visit.

Main idea

(2) Supporting details

We went on the rides as soon as we arrived at Ocean Park. We queued up for the roller coaster. There were many people and we waited for about 20 minutes. But the ride was exciting! Then we went on the pirate ship. We screamed while the ship was swinging. We enjoyed all the rides.

3. Use relevant vocabulary items

These are some vocabulary items of a theme park.

(2) Supporting details

I think Ocean Park is a good place to visit. My aunt and I had great fun there. We not only enjoyed the exciting rides, but we also watched many lovely sea animals. The view in the park was also very beautiful. We took a lot of pictures.

4. Use appropriate adjectives

These are some adjectives to describe the writer’s feeling towards the things in Ocean Park.

(3) Linking ideas

When we got to Ocean Park, we quickly queued up for the roller coaster. There were many people, but we still waited patiently…

After going on the rides, we went to see the sea animals. We watched a dolphin show. We also went to the jellyfish aquarium…

Use connectives to link up ideas

More connectives

• Cause: because, since, as• Addition: and, too, also, besides• Contrast: but, however, yet, on the other hand• Purpose: in order to, so as to• Result: therefore, as a result• Sequence: first, then, after that, finally

These connectives can link up short, separate sentences and make the paragraph more natural.

Formats

• What happened

• How you think and feel

(1) Diary

Date and weather

(2) Informal letter

Recipient

• Opening

• Main body

• Ending

Date

Sender

Closing

(3) Formal letter

Salutation

• Opening• Main body• Ending

Date

Sender

Sender’s address

Subject

Closing

Recipient’s address

Different tones in informal and formal letters

• Hi Chris,• How are you?• I’m fine.• Please write soon.• All the best,• Regards,• Love,

• Dear Mr Chan,• Dear Sir / Madam,• I am writing to…• With reference to…• I would be grateful…• Yours sincerely,• Yours faithfully,

Informal letters Formal letters

(4) Article / Essay

Introduction• introduce the topic

Main body• main idea 1 + supporting details• main idea 2 + supporting details• main idea 3 + supporting details

Conclusion• sum up the ideas• share your viewpoint

(5) Story

Beginning

• introduce the setting and the characters

Development• Introduce the plot / problem

Climax• the most important or exciting part

Ending• Explain how the problem is solved

Post-writing

Proofreading

• Reserve 5-10 minutes

• Check the language

- tenses

- spelling

• Check the format (especially letters)

• Check the number of words (about 150 words)

- The End -