Lesson Plan 5: reading and the appreciation of style

This lesson can be used both in the classroom as well as in the computer lab.

Your needs

Let us imagine the following classroom situation:

You have a class of advanced students and you want to help them understand and appreciate style in written English.

Preparation

Step One

Find a suitable article in the magazine archive. In this case, we have chosen the article on hurricanes from Issue 6, 2003.(To view a simple text version of the article, click here.)

Read through the text at each level and identify the features of style that make levels 2 and 3 more vivid and interesting than the text at level 1. You should be able to identify the following:

Level 2:
the use of a repeated structure to give balance "Hurricane Isobel was big, it was powerful and it was destructive"
the use of short sentences amid longer ones to give a sense of drama "Then the hurricane came"
the use of a wide variety of verb tenses: past, past perfect and future in the past
richer vocabulary than at level 1, eg "power lines crashed to the ground" and the use of adjectives and adverbs "strangely quiet", "violent storm"

Level 3: Level 2:
the use of a repeated structure to give balance and added drama as emphasis falls on the final clause "It was big, it was powerful, it was destructive, and we were lying right in its path"
the use of short sentences amid longer ones to give a sense of drama "Then it came"
the use of a wide variety of verb tenses: past, past perfect and very effective use of future in the past to give a greater sense of immediacy and imminent danger "Soon buildings would be ripped apart, power lines crash to the ground, bridges collapse and cars in the street be swept away by a powerful flood."
richer vocabulary than at levels 1 and 2 with increased use of adjectives, eg "mounting trepidation", "eerie calm", "a curious mix"
the use of a vivid simile: "like bombs exploding"

You will refer to these features of style later.(See Follow up, below.)

Step Two (required only if you are using the material in the classroom rather than the lab)

Print and photocopy the text at all three levels. To print, select the appropriate frame by clicking inside it. Then select "print" from the menu. Choose "options" and select "print the selected frame". In this way you will only print the text rather than the whole screen. Make photocopies for the students.

In the classroom

Step One: pre-reading

As a way of introducing the topic and clarifying key vocabulary, get students to discuss the following questions:
1 What kind of damage do hurricanes do?
2 What is the best way to protect yourself from a hurricane?
3 How would you feel if a hurricane was coming your way?
4 What do you know about where and how hurricanes form?

During the discussion, write up any key vocabulary items on the board or OHP.

Step Two: Reading

Students now read the text at level 3 and do the comprehension questions.

Move around the class and offer help where necessary. When they have finished, go through the comprehension questions and clarify any problems.

Step Three: Follow up

The appreciation of style
Get students to work in pairs and read the first two paragraphs of the article at level 1 so as to compare the language used at the other two levels. Ask them to identify how levels 2 and 3 are more vivid and interesting. They should produce two lists, one for level 2 and another for level 3.

When they are ready, ask the students to read out their lists. Clarify any points, referring to your own lists that you previously prepared in Step One of Preparation above.

Homework suggestion
As a homework activity, you may like to ask your students to look at paragraph 4 of the text at level 2. Ask them to improve the style by adding adjectives or adverbs where necessary, varying the sentence structure and adding richeness of vocabulary by using synonyms to avoid repetition. Afterwards they can compare their modified paragraph with the actual one written at level 3.

When checking their homework, you could point out the following:
Level 2 contains more repetition and simpler sentence structures. In level 3 there is greater use of subordination to introduce more information. Synonyms and synonymous expressions are used to add richness, eg: "water - moisture", "also - added to this". The vocabulary is also richer, eg "spill over", "swell". There are more adjectives, eg "large scale flooding", "extensive rainfall".