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Teaching and learning
- Use the model text
Should We Ban the Car (Word 22KB)
to provide examples of language features that are useful for students to learn and incorporate into their persuasive writing.
- Select or design learning tasks to unpack some of the language features of the model essay that meet the identified learning needs of students. You could:
- Focus on language to show reason-and-result relationships, using differentiated levels of support and providing multiple opportunities for language use. For example, you could:
- Work with a group and give each student in the group a copy of the
Sample Essay (Word 63KB)
. Discuss the language used for giving reasons in the model essay. Model writing a viewpoint on the whiteboard. Ask the group to consider and provide reasons for the viewpoint. Prompt the students to provide varied examples of sentences. Identify problems, explain what you are doing, and model correct syntax as you write these on the whiteboard. Tell the students to work individually to construct their own sentences giving reasons for the viewpoints shown on the worksheet. Ask the students to share their sentences in pairs.
- Have the students work in pairs or small groups to write viewpoints and give them to their classmates to provide reasons.
- Ask the students to work in pairs or small groups and look back at samples of their writing. Do they support their points clearly? Have them consider their language choices and where appropriate improve their writing by using a greater variety of language, or more persuasive language, to give their reasons.
2. Focus on academic language and appropriate tone:
- Write the sentences “Going by bus is dumb. Cars are easier.” on the whiteboard. Ask the students to find a sentence that expresses this meaning in the model text
Should We Ban the Car (Word 22KB)
Discuss the difference in register and tone between the two sentences. Choose a topic and ask the students to give their opinions using casual spoken language. As a class, transform these sentences into formal academic equivalents.
- Identify the language demands of the task; for example, discuss typical generic terms that the students use, such as “good” and “bad”. Brainstorm words that have similar meanings but provide greater specificity and clarity.
- Give the students, working in pairs, propositions to argue and ask them to write viewpoints and then reasons for their viewpoints in casual spoken language. Ask pairs to swap their sentences and transform the sentences into formal academic language. Select some of the students’ examples as models to share with the class.
- Ask the students to look at a sample of their own writing and identify words, phrases, or sentences that they could alter to produce a more appropriate tone and register and greater specificity. Have the students work in pairs or small groups to improve their sentences.
3. Encourage the class to use their learning to add further statements to their list of criteria for writing effective arguments.
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