DO ANY OF YOUR
REMEMBER HER?
MISS SALLY FORD
THE LEARNING OBJECTIVES
• The Features of Diary Writing
• How to write
• What to write
• Know the success criteria for writing a Diary
PURPOSE OF WRITING A DIARY
• Keeping track of events throughout the
day
• Express feelings and emotions
• Recording memories
• Inculcating creative writing skills
DO WE KNOW?
• Recently, diaries have been converted to electronic form, such as:
• blogs or online journals.
• There are many types of Diaries!
BLOGS
• A type of a diary posted on the Internet – What is it
called?
• People write about:
travel, cooking, technology, news, fashion and many
other things
LET US SEE WHAT DIARY WRITING LOOKS
LIKE…..
GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
• You may write about the past, present or the future
• You may use informal language : short forms, incomplete
sentences, exclamation etc
• You should use connectives to help the reader understand: instead
of, nevertheless, but, however, besides, moreover, furthermore
etc
DIARY WRITING FORMAT
POINTERS
Day, date and time
DETAILS
Saturday, January 12, 2012
Leave a line
Opening formula
Dear Diary,
Leave a line
Introduction- Begin with some kind of general sentence
about the day
*Today was a wonderful day
*I am very upset today
Leave a line
Main Part:
Write about –
*What happened to you…
*Why was it good or bad…
*How you felt or feel about it…
*What are your hopes and plans for the future…
Leave a line
Conclusion:
End with a final remark about your day or your feelings
*I feel better now that I have written it down
*It feels lighter after sharing it with you
* I have an early morning and a lot of HW to do!
Leave a line
Closing
* Rajeev
COPY THE FOLLOWING FORMAT IN YOUR NOTEBOOK AND WRITE IN (AT LEAST THREE)
PARAGRAPHS:
Date
Day
Time
Dear Diary,
Introductory sentence:
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Reflection sentence:
Name
FEATURES OF A DIARY
• It is in the first person- I, We , Us , We are etc
• Includes ones thoughts and feelings
• It is less formal in tone and language
• It uses emotive language, writer’s opinion and point of view
• It includes rhetorical questions - those that have no answers but make you
think
• Are written in past tense mainly unless you are writing about something
about to happen
• It has a rich and detailed description
• It uses time connectives and is chronological- starts with events that started
earlier in the day and ends with events that took place in the evening
FOCUS POINTS
• Your diary must feel like your best friend, someone you
share your deepest darkest secrets
• Give detailed description of people, objects, places &
events
• Talk about events that involved you or your family
• Do not talk about unrelated people or strangers that
have nothing to do with you or your writing
WRITE IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
• Start with events that happened early in
the day , and end with those that took
place later.
WRITE IN THE FIRST PERSON
• Use pronouns like I, We , Us, We’re, I’m
• This will make you feel part of the story.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
• Give detailed information about places, objects ,
people, and events.
• Avoid describing what is needed!
• Your diary has to include your personal touch, so you are
not going to write about something you are not interested
in.
FAMILIAR EVENTS
• Talking about events that involved you, or your
familiar , or close friends
• Avoid talking about strangers , and events you
were not involved in.
SHOW NOT TELL!
• If you are sad , remember to explain why – don’t just write,
“ I feel upset today.”
ONCE YOUR ROUGH DRAFT IS
READY- HERE IS A CHECKLIST:
I have used simple sentences
I have used compound sentences
I have used some kind of connectives – if, when, because , on the other
hand, meanwhile etc
I have used Capital letters/full stops/ range of punctuation
I have used Adjectives/ adverbs/ paragraphs
I began with the date/ wrote Dear Diary/ ended with my name
LANGUAGE OF THE DIARY
The following activity will help you to think about the language which you would
use in different situations.
Think back to your most recent school trip.
You are going to write two versions of this outing.
1.An account set as homework, for display in school.
2.Your diary entry for the day of the trip.
•
•
•
•
Writing an account of your daily life may not sound very exciting, but
in three hundred years time, a record of ordinary life in the twentyfirst century could be fascinating to historians.
Who knows, in the future, it could be your diary which reveals what
daily life was like in the twenty- first century!
Some of you may well keep a diary.
Most people try to do so at some time; however, many diaries are
abandoned after quite a short time. Diaries act as historical
documents
LET US RECAP
ARE WE READY TO WRITE?