How to improve your English?

Writing a journal

What is a journal?
A journal is a collection of your thoughts or responses to different events or situations in your life. Some may call it a diary but whatever you call it, writing a journal is one of the best ways to improve your English. When you write a journal, you are keeping a record of things that happened in your life. The things you write can be special events that happen to you or you can write about your feelings. A journal can also be the place where you keep stories and poems that you write or collect.
To write a journal you need to have some kind of notebook (or you can keep a journal on your computer!) and a pen or pencil to write with. Some people like to write in their journal every day, and some people just like to write on special days. Whenever you write, make sure you include the date, so you'll know when the events happened!

What is a journal prompt?
They are questions, fill-in-the-blank sentences or finish-the-sentence prompts to help you get started in your journalling journey. They are open-ended motivators that do not have a right or wrong answer. In fact, everyone's answer is bound to be different.
How do I use the prompts?
Read the prompt and respond instantly with the first thing that comes to your mind and with absolute abandon. Do not worry about your grammar. Prompts work to release your flow of thought and feeling. Don't just stop at one sentence or two. Write until there is no more left to write.
The beauty of written prompts is that they never get old. The same prompt you answered yesterday can work with a completely different answer on another day. This is because you are growing daily and dynamic lives lead to changing answers!
Apart from writing, you can also add pictures, photographs, poems and drawings at the end of the page where I have left empty.. Be creative and the limit is your imagination. So, grab a pen and let�s begin.

You can print this out and paste it onto an exercise book. Choose only those that are suitable for you. Happy writing. Let me know about your progress.

Tell about your favorite pet � what kind of animal is it? When did you get him/her? Why do you like this pet?
What is your favourite thing to do during the holidays? Why?
Tell about a trip your family took that you particularly enjoyed. Where did you go? What did you see?
What is your favorite movie? Why do you like it? What�s it about?
Tell something you enjoyed doing with your Grandmother or Grandfather?
What is the best birthday present you received? What is the best one you gave?
What was your favourite toy when you were a child?
If you could have your favourite dinner for your birthday, what would it be?
Tell all about your favourite friend and why they are special to you.
If you could have any animal as a pet, what kind would you choose and why?
Write something nice about your family that they do that makes you happy.
Tell your favorite joke or about something that makes you laugh!
What is a favorite board game or computer game of yours and why do you like it?
If you could watch a video over and over, what would it be and why? What is it about?
Tell about the house you live in. Have you lived anywhere else? If so do you remember the addresses and phone numbers?
Tell about a special Birthday party you�ve had or given or been to.
How do you like being the older, middle, or youngest child? Does it have any particular advantages or disadvantages?
Who is your favorite teacher? Why? Can you remember and tell about a special teacher?
What are you frightened of?
Describe your favorite clothes?
What kind of music do you like? What is your favourite song and why?
What was your most embarrassing moment?
Do you have a bicycle? What is it like?
What instrument do you wish you could play and why?
What would you give yourself if you had all the money in the world? What would you give your family?
Where do you go to school, what grade are you in, who is your teacher?
What is your room like? Do you share it with someone? What makes it special to you?
Describe a typical day during the school year.
What is your favourite holiday? How do you celebrate it?
Have you ever been sick and what made you feel better?
What is the most adventuresome thing you have ever done?
Write a want-ad that best describes you if you were for sale!
Tell about your favorite Aunt or Uncle.
Describe your perfect spring day � what do you like to do outside?
Tell about some of the places you have been in your life?
What are your favorite hobbies?
What is your mother�s best trait? Worst? Do you share any of these traits?
What is your father�s best trait? Worst? Do you share any of these traits?
Were you ever in a drama, speech, sports, pep or glee club or activity? Tell about it.
Do you go camping? Tell about your experiences.
How do you feel about school?
Describe a childhood birthday.
What do you think you would like to do when you graduate from high school or college?
What are some of your family holiday traditions?
What is your favorite food? What is your least favorite food?
Do you have any household chores? If so, what are they? Which ones do you enjoy the most/least?
Write about some places you have been with your mother.
Write about some places you have been with your father.
Where would you like to go someday and why?
Describe the classes you are taking this year in school. Which ones do you like and which ones don�t you like?
Do you belong to a church youth group? If so what are some of your favorite activities?
Describe the best teacher you ever had.
When are you happiest?
When have you felt lonely?
When do you feel proud?
Which quality best describes your life--exciting, organized, dull--and why?
Which quality do you dislike most about yourself--laziness, selfishness, childishness--and why?
Which place would you most like to visit--Africa, China, Alaska--why?
Which is least important to you--money, power, fame--and why?
Which is most important to you--being popular, accomplishing things, being organized--and why?
Who do you talk to when you have a problem?
Who or what has had a strong influence in your life?
Where would you prefer to be right now--mountains, desert, beach--and why?
Why is it important to be honest?
Why is important to have good manners?
Why is exercise important to someone your age?
Why do you think the rules you must follow are good or bad?
Families are important because...
Would you like to be famous? Why or why not? What would you like to be famous for?
What do you like to do in your leisure time?
Do you think boys or girls have it easier?
Do you think you have too many chores? If you could choose whichever chores you want, which ones would you prefer to do?
What would you do if everyone in your family forgot your birthday?
If you could travel in a time machine and go any distance into the past or future, where would you decide to go? Why?
What makes your class special?
If you could be invisible for a day, what would you do?
If you could choose any bedtime you wanted, what time would you pick?
Pretend that you were already grown up with children. How would you treat them differently from the way your parents treat you?
Would you like to have an identical twin? What would be the best thing about it? What would be the worst thing about it?
If you were not a ...........(fill your job here), what would you probably be doing and why?
Save this question for last: How did you enjoy working on this journal? Did it help you discover some things about yourself or your past that you had forgotten?

POWER WRITING

I have been experimenting with ways to teach writing, especially writing main ideas and supporting details. Power Writing is one technique to teach students how to write an effective paragraph. Try it with your class.

POWER WRITING

Power 1: Main idea
Power 2: Major detail to explain or support main idea
(first, second, third, lastly, finally, another, moreover, in addition,
Besides that, apart from that, next)
Power 3: Minor Detail to explain a major detail
(For example, for instance, in such cases,
in other words, because of …..)
Power 4: Concluding sentence
( In conclusion, in summary, these are the reasons)


Examples:
Basic Power Writing Paragraph (P1 – P2 – P2 – P2 – P4)

There are many benefits of reading. ( P1 ) One benefit is it improves the command of your language. ( P2 ) Besides, it also helps to widen your knowledge. ( P2 ) Another benefit of reading is you will be able to read about experiences faced by different people. Reading also can make you knowledgeable. ( P2 )Reading certainly brings a lot of benefits.(P4)


POWER 1
(MAIN IDEA) There are many benefits of reading.
POWER 2
(MAJOR
DETAIL TO EXPLAIN MAIN IDEA) One benefit is it improves the command of your
language.
POWER 3
(MINOR DETAIL TO EXPLAIN POWER 2) For example, if you read a lot of English
story books, you will definitely enrich your
vocabulary as well as improve your essay writing.



Now, you try another paragraph by using the formula (P1 – P2 – P3)



POWER 1 :
(MAIN IDEA) .
POWER 2 :
(MAJOR DETAIL TO EXPLAIN MAIN IDEA)
POWER 3:
(MINOR DETAIL TO EXPLAIN POWER 2)





Try writing another paragraph about the benefits of reading using (P2 – P3 – P3- P4).



POWER 2:
(MAJOR
DETAIL TO EXPLAIN MAIN IDEA) Another benefit of reading is …..
POWER 3:
(MINOR DETAIL TO EXPLAIN POWER 2)
POWER 3:
(another minor detail)
POWER 4:
CONCLUDING SENTENCE

Sonnet 18

In the SPM ENGLISH 1119, you are required to answer a stuctured question on one poem. You will be tested on your understanding of the poem and you are also required to give your opinion to issues raised. One way to prepare for the exam for poems is to paraphrase the poem, making sure you understand all the difficult words.
I found a useful paraphrase while surfing and I would like to share it with teachers and students alike.

SONNET 18 PARAPHRASE
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Shall I compare you to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate: You are more lovely and more delightful:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, Rough winds shake the much loved buds of May
And summer's lease hath all too short a date: And summer is far too short:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, At times the sun is too hot,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; Or often goes behind the clouds;
And every fair from fair sometime declines, And everything that is beautiful will lose its beauty,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd; By chance or by nature's
planned out course;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade But your youth shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; Nor lose the beauty that you possess;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, Nor will death claim you for his
own,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest: Because in my eternal verse you will
live forever:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, So long as there are people on this
earth,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee. So long will this poem live
on, giving you immortality.
ANALYSIS

[Line 9]* - The friend's 'summer' or 'prime of life' will remain eternal because the poet immortalizes him in verse. Lines 10-14 confirm this reading. For more on this theme, see sonnet 55.

[Line 12]* - Because of the poet's verse the friend will actually grow as one with time ("to time thou growest"). For similar imagery, see sonnet 15, line 14.

Sonnet 18 is perhaps the best known and most well-loved of all 154 poems. It is also one of the most straightforward in language and intent. The stability of love and its power to immortalize the poetry and the subject of that poetry is the theme. The poet starts the praise of his dear friend without ostentation, but he slowly builds the image of his friend into that of a perfect being. His friend is first compared to summer in the octave, but, at the start of the third quatrain (9), he is summer, and thus, he has metamorphosed into the standard by which true beauty can and should be judged. The poet's only answer to such profound joy and beauty is to ensure that his friend be forever in human memory, saved from the ultimate oblivion that accompanies death. He achieves this through his verse, believing that, as history writes itself, his friend will become one with time (or, more informally, keep up to time). The couplet reaffirms the poet's hope that as long as there is breath in mankind, his poetry too will live on, and ensure the immortality of his muse.
How to Cite this Article

Mabillard, Amanda. An Analysis of Shakespeare's Sonnet 18. Shakespeare Online. 2000. (day/month/year you accessed the information) < http://www.shakespeare-online.com/sonnets/18detail.html >.