INTERMEDIATE ENGLISH I

2021-1

ACADEMIC FILE IE I 1
SKILLS DEVELOPMENT: WRITING 1
AN ENDANGERED SPECIES
GUIDED PRACTICE
Name: MAYRA GUILLEN SANCHEZ Date: 23 / 04 /2021

Teacher: Claudia Donayre Class: S-007

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

 Develops writing skills and strategies

 Analyzes and identifies the elements of a paragraph
 Writes a paragraph about an endangered species that needs protection
o Employs language and vocabulary from Unit 1
 Develops critical thinking skills
 Develops self-regulation skills to achieve a writing task

Strategies 1 & 2: Previewing, Activating prior knowledge

STUDY SKILL 1: ALLOTTED TIME: 5 minutes

A paragraph and its elements

In groups of three, read the following questions and answer them. Use your own words.

1. What is a paragraph?

2. How many sentences do you need in a paragraph?

Strategy 3: Critical thinking

TASK 1: ALLOTTED TIME: 15 minutes

Watch the video and complete the ideas: (the link for the video is on the references)

1. A paragraph consists of ... sentences written about one particular topic.

2. A good ... always has a good topic sentence.

3. In addition to a topic sentence a paragraph needs supporting details or ideas that ...
a topic sentence and its point.

4. Finally, a good paragraph needs a ... sentence.

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1. Now, read the following examples of topic sentence and complete the chart with its
elements:

Topic Sentence: People search their ancestors for a variety of reasons.

Element Key ideas
 Motivation to find out about their
ancestors.
Supporting
 Tracing your family may help reconnect
ideas
with lost relatives.
 All in all, one of the most common
Concluding sentence
motivation is simply curiosity.

Topic Sentence: Genealogy is very popular on the internet.

Element Key ideas
 Genealogists have a huge amount of
Supporting
information.
ideas
 Some websites have billions of historical
data.
Concluding  It is becoming more and more common to
sentence find information related to family tree
connections on the web.

TASK 2: ALLOTTED TIME: 10 minutes

Each set of three sentences belongs to a paragraph. Write the topic sentences for each
of paragraph.

1. Topic Sentence: Changes in society in recent years have made family life week.

a. First of all, today’s mothers spend much less time with their kids.
b. In addition, family no longer eat together.
c. Finally, television has taken the role of family conversation and togetherness.

2. Topic Sentences: The best gifts I received on my birthday.

a. Firstly, my very first gift I got was a Harry Potter book.

b. Additionally, the other gift I received was a trip to Panama City.
c. To conclude, on my birthday my parents surprised me with both gifts and I thanked
them again and again.

STUDY SKILL 2: ALLOTTED TIME: 5 minutes

Read the sentences and use number from1 to 6 to organize the text.

NUMBERS SEQUENCING

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OR LINKING
WORD
she reached out her school counselor, and they
3 First, discussed about her symptoms.
After that, she got her medication and began her therapy
5 sessions.

7 Anne has a mental illness, but she is able to live a

In summary, happy and healthy life.
1
When Anne was fifteen, she started developing some signs
of a mental illness.

6 Finally,
4 Second,
2 ------------
she learned how to cope with her illness, and she
practiced self-care.
her family took her to see a psychologist, and she
was diagnosed with OCD.
she started having an obsession on repeating some
tasks many times, she is a perfectionist, and she had
a persistent feeling of being contaminated with
germs.

TASK 3: ALLOTTED TIME: 5 minutes

Unscramble the following sentences to create a paragraph. Write numbers inside the
parenthesis ( ) in the correct order and highlight the sequencing or linking words.

( 7 ) As a result, Canada is a desirable place to live in.  

( 4) Second, Canada has a high standard of education.
( 5 ) Students are taught by well‐trained teachers and are encouraged to
continue studying at university.
(1 ) Canada is one of the best countries in the world to live in.
( 6) Finally, Canada's cities are clean and efficiently managed. Canadian
cities have many parks and lots of space for people to live.
( 3) All Canadians have access to medical services at a reasonable price.
( 2) First, Canada has an excellent health care system

References:

Campbell, G. (1994). Transition words. Retrieved from:

https://msu.edu/~jdowell/135/transw.html

English-at-home.com (2020). Linking words. Retrieved from:

https://www.english-at-home.com/grammar/linking-words/

How to write a perfect paragraph. (n.d). Retrieved March 24th, 2021, from:
https://www.csun.edu/sites/default/files/Auerbach-Handout-Paragraph-Writing-
Examples.pdf

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How to write a perfect paragraph. (n.d.). Retrieved March 24th, 2021, from
(video):https://study.com/academy/lesson/teaching-paragraph-structure-to-esl-
students.html

BLENDED INTERACTIVE TASK:

WRITING TASK: DUE: At 22.00 the day before the class on Week 4

Write a paragraph on the following topic:

An endangered insect

Consider the questions below before you start working on the assignment.

1. What do I have to do?

I have to describe the functions, habitat and other characteristics of the Cataract
Hooktail insect.

2. According to my knowledge and abilities, …

a. how much time will I need for this task?

- I will need a day to complete the task.

i. Do I need to divide the task in two days or more?

- I am going to divide it by times so far this day to be able to correct

errors if I had them.

b. When is it more feasible for me to complete the assignment? I have to

identify on which days and at what time of the day I will be able to have very
little interruption.
- I am doing it on Friday morning when I do not have classes and I send
it in the evening after correcting it.

3. What tools do I need to complete the task?

- I need a dictionary and class guidelines.

4. Do I need to ask for help? Should I need the help of a classmate or do I need to
contact the teacher?
- Consult the class delegate so as not to forget any guideline given by
the teacher.
Read the assessment criteria before you start working.

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COMPLETE THE PRE-WRITING AND WRITING TASKS.

I. PRE-WRITING TASKS: TASK STRATEGIES

A. BRAINSTORMING

Complete the organizer below.

 Use the link at the end of this page 1 where you will see a list of endangered
insects. Write key words only.
 An endangered insect will be assigned to you by your professor (see the last
page of this document*)

Cataract Hooktail

Three reasons for its Reason(s) to protect it

endangerment

1. The usually live in dams or on the banks of a

1. Destruction of their habitat. river and are destroyed by man.
2. The shape of its beak 2.Since its beak is so long, people tend to think it
3. This insect takes a long time to is poisonouns and that is why they kill them.
mature. 3.It takes 3 years for this wings to come out
completely which delays its maturation process

B. ORGANIZING THE INFORMATION

This section is to help you organize the ideas from the brainstorming section in
sentences. You should spend around 15 minutes.

Organize and plan your notes in sentences.

You do not have to write all the sentences, but the key ones (no more than four words)
only.

OUTLINE

I. Topic sentence:
1
Endangered insects of Africa. Retrieved April 2nd, 2021, from: http://www.earthsendangered.com/continent.asp?
view=&ID=1&gr=I

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Characteristics of Cataract Hooktail

II. Body

A. Supporting idea 1:

It is an insects that has many varities.

Detail of supporting idea 1: There are about 900 species in that family of insects.

B. Supporting idea 2:

Its tail is peculiar.

Detail of supporting idea 2: The tail of this insects is between 1.5 and 2.5 inches
long.

C. Supporting idea 3:

They spend 3 years as a nymph

Detail of supporting idea 3: Being a nymph makes it’s a maturation process slow
compared to its wings .

III. Concluding statement:

It is an insect with a very peculiar appearance, but also vulnerable.

II. WRITING TASK

Use your notes from section I to type it out.

Start writing your paragraph below the blue line.

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Cataract
Hooktail

The cataract hook tail is a very particular insect from the way it lives to its basic
characteristics and its development with its community. First, it has a great variety,
there are around 900 species of this family. Second, the particularity of its beak
becomes its main characteristic, the beak measures approximately 1.5 and 2.5 inches
long, which does not prevent it from developing. with the rest of insects, but being so
large its beak makes it look a bit dangerous, which worries since they can scare
people and take it as a dangerous insect. Finally, it is an insect considered a nymph,

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which is not so common among insects since, as it is, it takes longer for the maturation
of the wings and this prevents it from moving to many places in order to survive. In
short, it is an animal that is not in danger but its physical characteristics make it
vulnerable to the environment.

END OF THE PARAGRAPH.

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Comments: ……/ 5

1. Before submitting the assignment, make sure your writing meets the following
question: Does my paragraph meet the goal of the task?
Double check this in the assessment criteria.

2. Reference your sources following APA.

3. Label the document in the following way: Last nameFirstname_AF1.

4. Submit AF 1 with the typewritten text to UE virtual.

Assessment criteria

Task achievement  Fully completes pre-writing and writing tasks

 Addresses all parts of the task successfully:
 Writes a paragraph on the given topic
 Employs formal language and style
 Cites sources of information following APA
 Types the text in a Word document
 Labels the document as follows: Last
name_Firstname_AF1
 Submits the whole AF 1 by the due date

Organization  Always organizes information in sentences that are

(coherence & cohesion) connected in a paragraph
 Considers all the elements of a paragraph:
 a topic sentence
 three supporting ideas with their supporting
details each
 a concluding statement

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 Uses 6 sequencing or linking words correctly

 Types the linking words in red
 Always uses referents (pronouns) correctly

Lexical resource  Always spells words correctly

(vocabulary)  Uses 5 vocabulary words correctly from word list unit 1
posted on UE virtual
 Types the requested vocabulary in blue

Grammatical range and  Always writes complete sentences (subject + verb +

accuracy complement/ object)
 Always has a good control of grammatical structures

Capitalization and  Always uses capital letters for proper names and to start
punctuation sentences
 Always uses periods and commas correctly
 Always uses full forms

IE I Team 2021-1

* The endangered insect will be assigned to you by your professor.

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