SESSION 1:
FACT OR OPINION
One of the problems I find in your writings is the fact that you tend to state your opinion as if it were a fact or you simply add ideas without even giving any support. Things like:
Most young people are in favor of abortion
Half of the students in my school use an iPhone
Wearing a hijab should be banned from schools
Those who eat meat are committing murder
Something is a FACT when you can prove if it is true or false. An OPINION cannot be proved, it is pure assertion without any support.
Being able to discriminate fact from opinion will help you become more autonomous and analytical when reading or listening to a piece of news. You need to distinguish between fact and opinion to be more critical with what appears in the media and avoid sharing news you did not have the opportunity to contrast. In short, it is necessary if you do not want to be manipulated.
Have a look at this presentation to see examples.
2. Listen to how this teacher goes through both concepts analyzing an excerpt from an article.
Also, the language used can help you discern whether it is being framed as a fact or an opinion. For instance:
this confirms
it has been recently discovered
according to scientists
the discovery demonstrated...
FACT OR OPINION?
he claims it is false
his view of the problem is
she argued not being there
the police suspected ...
3. Check your understanding with the following exercise:
SESSION 2:
EDITORIALS
2. Read the article Reckless Tactics that appeared in El País on Madrid's regional premier's insistence on a harmful legal challenge.
3. By analyzing the vocabulary determine what is fact and what is opinion. Remember:
SESSION 3:
Remember what Maddie said about the PEE method:
POINT: What is the main idea of your paragraph? Your thesis.
EVIDENCE: How do you know that your point is correct? Give examples, support your thesis.
EXPLAIN: Why did you chose that example? What effect does it have?
If you want to be clear and interesting you need to follow these steps. You cannot make a point without giving evidence and explaining yourself. It can become either a statement of fact or an unjustified opinion.
1. WATCH THIS VIDEO TO KNOW MORE:
2. READ Haruki Murakami's passage from Kafka On The Shore carefully.
“Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this storm isn’t something that blew in from far away, something that has nothing to do with you. This storm is you. Something inside of you. So all you can do is give in to it, step right inside the storm, closing your eyes and plugging up your ears so the sand doesn’t get in, and walk through it, step by step. There’s no sun there, no moon, no direction, no sense of time. Just fine white sand swirling up into the sky like pulverized bones. That’s the kind of sandstorm you need to imagine.
And you really will have to make it through that violent, metaphysical, symbolic storm. No matter how metaphysical or symbolic it might be, make no mistake about it: it will cut through flesh like a thousand razor blades. People will bleed there, and you will bleed too. Hot, red blood. You’ll catch that blood in your hands, your own blood and the blood of others.
And once the storm is over you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.”
– Haruki Murakami, Kafka On The Shore
3. After reading this extract answer the following question:
What, in your opinion, does Murakami mean when he refers to fate as a sandstorm?
Write a paragraph following the PEE method: Point. Evidence. Explanation.
SESSION 4:
VERB SHIFT
This is possibly one of the most common mistakes in your writings. There are correct verb shift, like those in conditional tenses. The most important thing to keep in mind about verb shift is to make sure that any verb tense shift in your writing is intentional and logical. In other words, do not change the verb tense within your writing if the time frame that you are referring to is the same as in the other verbs you used.
1. There are several types of shifting. Read this.
2. Do this exercise and decide if the sentences are correct or not.
3.
4. Read the excerpts below and look for verb tense shift errors. Underline the verbs that are wrong and provide a correction above the verb(s). If there are no verb tense shift errors, write “correct” next to the excerpt.
Yesterday, we went to a great party in which they had acrobats from a famous circus. Andy arrived late to the party, so he misses the show.
By the time they arrived yesterday, it had stopped raining. After they unpacked, we head downtown and visit an art museum with them. It was great!
I watched the news last night and hear that my neighbor won the lottery last week. Now I understand why she moved out without saying good bye.
In Vietnam, when a baby is born, there were many rules. When the baby is one month old, no one should visit him or her because it will make the baby sick, especially while he or she was sleeping.
Kim and I have been working on a project for our English class for a month. It hasn’t been easy to work with her because she often said that she has other plans and can’t meet with me when I try to finish the project with her.
The Chinese have many beliefs about dreams. When I was a kid, I usually dream of my grandmother after she passed away. I miss her so much, especially after I had those dreams. Then my mom went to the temple to entreat my grandmother to leave me alone.
In China, people believe that if you saw a black cat at night, you might experience something bad because they think a black cat is a sign of bad luck.
My cousin was confident about his driving skills and kept texting behind the wheel, and it was the longest time of my life as I kept imagining myself getting into an accident because of his stupidity. When I argue with him to put the phone down and focus on the road, he was rude and yell that nothing will happen.
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