School Magazine Article

Check out the way this student has effectively used the we pronoun that thereby
shows his understanding of its usage for a particular audience. He has also been very
careful in choosing the right vocabulary appropriate for the format of a school
magazine article.
You recently represented your school in a competition with other local
schools. You were very pleased with the result and have been asked to write an
account of the event for your school magazine. You must include the following
details:

When, what and where the event was held

How you prepared yourself for the competition

Some details about the event itself

Your feelings when the result was announced

The reactions of your friends and family

You may add further details if you wish.

Sample answer
When we arrived at the padang to take our places, I could see the cynical look on
the faces of our opponents. There were whispers and side-glances and bemused
smiles. We were the only competitors from a neighbourhood school which had
reached the finals. Bruce spoke to us in his usual confident manner; we would make
use of their cynicism to our advantage. They would be caught off guard; their
underestimating us would be their undoing. Major Lim, our commander, agreed and
smiled his famous wicked smile.
We were the last to perform. When our turn came, Agnes, our Sergeant-Major
marched out briskly. I could see that the judges were visibly shaken when she
bellowed her orders. They started! Then Bruce marched in and took over the platoon.
As he barked command after command, we put in all that we had rehearsed all those
weekends. I could see what everyone was doing, but I could hear the precise
movements. I swell with pride when I realize that I belong to a swell company of
army cadets.

The end was inevitable; we were unanimously voted champions by the judges
a panel of military professionals. The chief judge made a comment while announcing
the results, I want to especially commend the platoon commander and sergeant-major
of the champion platoon, I sincerely hope you make the army your career. We need
people like you
After the results were announced, our supporters rushed into the field and literally
carried us in triumph. We were proud that we have done our school and our parents
proud. I want to tell all of you that we did it all for you; and succeeded because of
your support and your faith in us. To all of you, a big Thank you.
Checklist for the students:
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The article has no Title, which is expected to be in a school magazine article.

However, this does not make much of a difference because the writer structures
his/her entire content in a very appropriate manner requisite for acquiring a good
grade in this section.
See how the candidate begins forcefully and engages the attention of the
readers from the start.
The refrain of the pronoun we shows how the writer of the article takes pride
in being a part of a group of students in representing his/her school in a
competition. In addition, the jubilant victory is experienced not just through the
writers eye alone but by involving a group of students along.
Moreover, the use of our, us and you pronouns invite the entire students of
the school (audience) to participate in the winning experience with their fellow
school mates who represented their school in a competition.
The candidate has covered all the points asked in the questions, along with
providing extra relevant details to his/her readers.
All paragraphs are coherently linked together.
The writer appropriately uses a friendly register throughout the article.

You'll definitely have to write an article at some time during your

school course and for exams. It might be a piece of writing that needs to
persuade, argue and inform, for example. Above all, though, being an
article, it will need to be interesting and lively.
Here are some typical questions:

Write an informative / persuasive article for

...your local newspaper / a teenage magazine / your school
magazine / a travel guide

on the topic of
...adventure holidays / the benefits of exercise / keeping a pet / eating healthily /
cycling to school.

WHAT IS THE EXAMINER LOOKING FOR?

In an article written for the exam, technical accuracy is often worth
many marks so spelling and grammar are important. Marks are also
awarded according to the how well your writing shows that you have
considered the following key aspects:

AUDIENCE
This is far more important to the marks you will receive than most students
realise. The examiner will be looking closely for evidence that you have
considered your audience in the style of writing you use.

What style of language will attract and suit the type of reader you are
writing for?

Would a formal style be best? Or a more informal even chatty style? Or a

subtle combination?

You absolutely must capture and hold your reader's attention! And this
means being lively and interesting - most especially when you begin
writing (a flat sounding... y-a-w-n ...opening to any article is a sure mark
loser!).

The chances are you will need to adopt a quite formal style but... these days,
most modern newspaper and magazine articles often intersperse a little chattiness
or informal features as a way to soften the formality and create
a friendly, conversational tone; in girl's and women's mags especially, the tone
or 'voice' can sometimes seem to be that of a slightly older, rather wiser friend.

PURPOSE
What style of writing will achieve the aims of your article? Are you writing
to persuade, inform or explain? The Englishbiz pages on these kinds of writing
should help.

GENRE
What style and form (i.e. format) of writing would satisfy the genre
conventions you need to follow for an article?

Think what you would expect to see and read in such an article: catchy or
witty headlines maybe using a pun (i.e. a witty play on words)

or alliteration, a by-line to show who the writer is, subheadings to aid clarity and reading, use
of bulletpoints, lists, images, tables, etc.

Would the writing need to be very lively, even chatty or perhaps much more
formal - perhaps a mixture of the two styles (which is an increasingly
common aspect of the style of articles these days)?

CONTEXT

Where and in what situation is the article likely to be read and understood
- the situation or context of your reader?

What language choices will help in such a context?

What tone of voice needs be adopted to suit such an audience in such

a context?

Often an article is not read in depth, pored over and studied because full
concentration is often not possible when a newspaper or magazine is read, so...
a catchy lively style which does not demand too much of your reader and which
follows a clear and logical structure is almost certain to be a good choice for
many articles.

WRITING THE ARTICLE

YOU WILL NEED TO WRITE IN A WAY THAT
1-...captures your readers eye and attention
How can you achieve this? A catchy title or headline? A suitable image or photo?
Become the reader for a moment: what would catch your eye and attention?
2-...hooks your reader's interest
How can you hook your reader to want to read on? Make the opening sentence
intriguing, lively, catchy! Give the outline factsimmediately answering
briefly: What? Who? Where? When?
3-...is lively and interesting
How can you achieve this? A short opening sentence? A mix of shorter and longer
sentences? Use clear succinct paragraphs that open with a topic sentence, one
that gives, in a nutshell, what the rest of the paragraph will explore in more depth.
Try hyperbole(exaggeration for effect - but use with care!).
4-...gives the most important facts and information first

How can you achieve this? Work out what is most important and
interesting and write about this first? Leave the less important
aspects and the finer detail till later?
5-...sounds authentic and gains your readers trust
How can you achieve this? Aim to create a sincere 'voice' write in
a natural, lively style. Remember that if your writing doesn't capture the trust of
your reader, it won't succeed!
6-...sounds authoritative and is believable and persuasive
How can you achieve this? Write confidently; include made-up interviews with
experts; use made up statistics and evidence forauthoritative sources (but
keep all this reasonable and believable). Use a mixture of vocabulary including a
few more complex words and a few technical terms.
7-...avoids being overly emotional or too personal

As you write, try to develop the mind-set of your potent Recent

reports have stated that more young people in Hong Kong are overweight and
unfit than ever before. Health experts are becoming worried about the life styles
of young people who do less exercise than they should and who have an
unbalanced diet.
Write an article for your school magazine giving reasons for this problem and
suggesting how young people can improve their fitness. In your article, try to
persuade the students in your school to adpot a healthier life style.
Please do check if there is any mistake!(for format,grammar and spelling)
(i think there's a lot!)thanks!
Title:Take care of your buddy!
Eat,eat and eat!Nowadays,many teens are overweight and unfit. Many surveys had found
out that more and more young people suffer from obesity,damaging their health.Therefore,
stop eating too much!That is not alone about your appearance, but also abut your health.
Lack of sport is a major problem causing teenagers overweight.Without consumption of
calorioes, they will accumlate in your body. Then,you will get fatter and fatter.Unfortunately,
most young people love playing video games and computer rather than sport.Of course, the
intake of the diet cannot be cancelled out.Overweight body is resulted eventually.
Another reason is due to high content of calories in the diet.Eat too much calories is harmful
as they will deposit in our blood vessels.This leads to fat bodies and then heart dieases.
Youngsters are under stress as the school work is so busy.Eating candies and snack is a
common method to relieve pressure.However,it is unwise because candies and snack doom
you to gain weight easily.
In fact,we can only use one rule to solve the problem-the uptake should be always greater
than the intake !
Playing sport is a good method to lose weight.Besides,you will feel more comfortable after
played sport.Hence, you cann see it as a relaxing practise to relieve stress.
To avoid the high content of calories,you should have a balanced diet. Don't eat too much

snack!Eat much more fruits and vegetables instead of meat and

carbohydrates.They also can make you feel full.
Our bodies are belonged to us.Nobody know it better than ourselves and we will suffer if
there is anything going wrong of our bodies. Being fit is good for our health and hence we
should keep fit from now on!Care about your buddy - body,let's keep fit today

Directed Writing: Format of a

School Magazine Article
Format of a School Magazine Article

News about school clubs and societies, school trips both at home and abroad,
exchange visits with language students, exam results and original contributions
written by students of all ages.

It is written by students for students that is people of about the same age as
you and with almost the same education, background, culture, ideas and outlook on
life as you.

It is like writing to a large number of friends all at once

Personalise Replace I with We

Share any point you have common with the readers(attitude of parents, school
work, friends .

Be interesting, remember that most of the readers are at school with you, they
know the things you know- present information about a different, more interesting
angle.

 School magazine articles can be divided into the following

different sections:

TITLE

Always give the article a title and underline it Make it interesting, from the
beginning show the examiner that you know exactly what you are doing. Try to
think of an effective, interesting title. Choose something opposite/contrast to the
article.

An effective introduction starts with a question to involve the readers and

encourages them to continue reading. Example: Are you one of the many students
with exam nerves?

Paragraphs should be nicely linked through transition words The points should
be properly structured in your article like you do in essay writing.