Self Access Language Center

Ashley and White Horse By Clark Ness www.clarkness.com         One day Ashley was out in her yard. She was watering her flowers. There was a clop, clop behind her. She looked and there stood a white horse with wings.         “Hello,” said the white horse with wings. “I am White Horse.”        “Hello,” said Ashley. “I am Ashley. What can I do for you?” Ashley tried to be brave but was a little scared of the big talking horse.        “We are looking for a girl to help us. We need you to ride our young horses. They need to feel what it is like to have a person on their back,” said White Horse.        “Have you had a girl ride your young horses before?” asked Ashley.        “Yes, we have, but she has grown up now. So we need a new girl,” said White Horse.        “I could maybe help you. I love to ride horses. O...

Creative Writing Creative writing could be “defined” broadly as the pursuit of artistic ends through the written word. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, prose poem, memoir—the possibilities for the form that your writing, and thus your message, may take are as diverse and numerous as there are writers writing. And as a creative writer, just as important as your final product is the process by which that product comes to be—how you develop your own personal toolbox of skills, strategies, and styles is going have an impact on the form your final product will take. It could be (and should be) argued that this is all, to some extent, true of writing in any discipline; —however, here we will focus on the tools that may be helpful specifically in a creative writing class. While it is important to be creative in such a class, it is equally important to keep in mind the skills or techniques being practiced in a given assignment. The development and demonstration of th...

WRITE A DESCRIPTIVE TEXT A good description creates a vivid picture of a person, place or thing and, sometimes, how the author feels about it. Often the author will describe what happens or what something or someone is like as well as expressing their emotions. To do this they need to create an image, feeling or emotion in words. Descriptions are found in many different types of texts: narratives, reports, persuasive texts, biographies, etc. The key to a good description is capturing the ‘mood’ through describing details – not just what you see but what you can hear, smell, taste and touch. Techniques to create a picture in words Below are some of the common techniques writers use to create a picture in words. Writers of good descriptions wouldn’t use all the techniques in the one description. They would use ones that suited what or who they were describing. However, the more techniques you are familiar with and know how to use, the more ‘tools’ you have...

MOVIE REVIEW A FILM REVIEW DEFINITION: A critical movie review is a short semiformal essay (from one page to chapter-length) involving an opinion of and some information about a movie, recent or not. A review is not the same as a mere summary of the scenes or a re-sequenced outline of the story. A good review should include a statement of what the filmmaker has tried to do, evaluates how well the filmmaker succeeded (in the opinion of the reviewer), and presents appropriate evidence to support that evaluation. The reviewer should always give sufficient information to allow the reader to form a personal opinion of the movie in question. WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT IN A MOVIE REVIEW 1. Screenplay Is the script believable as a story, at least according to its own terms? Do the lines make sense in general coming from such characters? 2. Pictures / Editing             Are the scenes (the mise en scene )...

SPEAKING PRACTICE INSTRUCTIOS! 1. There are two script by Gabrielle Amestoy 2. Chose one of them. 3. Play the script with your partner or members or friends. 4. Record how well you play the role. 4. Submit your result to my gmail ( zaahinbaroroh@gmail.com ). Script 1. A policeman is asking a witness questions One winter's evening a man was knocked down by a car. The man was very hurt, but the driver drove away. A teenager who was riding his bike saw the accident. Policeman: What make of car was it? Witness: It was a BMW. Police: What colour was it? Witness: I think it was black. Police: Did you see the number plate? Witness: No, I'm sorry. It was dark. Police: Was it a man or a woman? Witness: A man. Police: How old was he? Witness: He was very old. Police: Where were you? Witness: I was just there. Police: What were you doing? Witness: I was riding my bike. Police: What exactly happened? Witness: The man was crossing the road, then the ...

SPEAKING PRACTICE DESCRIBING A PLACE - My Home Town Here you will have to use these linking structures called relative pronouns: WHO for people, WHICH or THAT for things, WHERE for places. A descriptive composition about a place should consist of: a) An introduction in which you give the name and location and the reason for choosing it. b) A main body in which you describe the main aspects in detail. c) A conclusion which includes your comments/feelings and/or recommendations. To give the reader a more vivid picture of the place at the moment you are describing, you can refer to the senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch): Visitors can watch the moon rise over the mountains, or hear the sound of church bells ringing, enjoy a freshly-ground cup of coffee, remember the aromas of exotic herbs and spices, or relax in the soothing warm waters of the river: Nouns to Describe Places : bank, church, cathedral, university, market, tobacco store, newsagent's, gr...

SPEAKING PRACTICE 1. There are three videos from TED talk, and what you need to do is watching those videos. 2. Chose one of those videos which has interesting topic for you. 3. Summarize and paraphrase the video you've chosen. 4. Practice to it by record your voice. 5. Submit it in the form of mp3 on my email ( zaahinbaroroh@gmail.com ). Example What would happen if you didn’t drink water? - Mia Nacamulli The summary in mp3 form (you can click) NOW, IT'S YOUR TURN VIDEO 1.    Success, failure and the drive to keep creating | Elizabeth Gilbert VIDEO 2.   What would happen if you didn’t sleep? - Claudia Aguirre VIDEO 3.   Why thinking you're ugly is bad for you | Meaghan Ramsey