My ideal home
Skills: Writing
Learning goals:
Keywords
Learning about the structure of an article
New
Learning some of the language typically
used in descriptions of places
ceiling, cliff, cosmopolitan, floor, lively,
patio, peaceful, polluted, shore,
unspoilt, waves
Learning more vocabulary associated
with houses and locations
Planning an article describing a place
and making notes
Contents
Aims
Year 12
Lesson 25
Writing a short (120–180 words) article
describing a place
by the sea, clean, floor, noisy,
peaceful, quiet, natural, varied, vibrant
Revision
balcony, city centre, detached (house),
on the coast, path , suburbs, upstairs,
window
Language Analysis
Writing an article
The English to take away screen asks students to write a short article about their ideal home. The
following are some tips for them to consider:
1 What are you going to write about? Select your topic and then decide whether it is going to be a
detailed or general article.
2 Think about what categories you are going to cover and make some rough notes about each.
3 Who is going to read your article? Think about your target audience and what information they would
like to read about.
4 Do you need to carry out further research? What does the reader need to know? You might already
know enough information but sometimes you might need to find out more on the Internet or go to the
library.
5 Write your article – think about how you are going to catch the reader’s attention and maintain it:
- Use everyday language and interesting descriptions.
- Keep the language simple and catchy.
Do not make it too complicated or use long-winded sentences.
Looking at synonyms
The Practice 3 screen asks students to think of another word for each of the adjectives.
In English, when there is another word/phrase with the same meaning as an original word/phrase, we
call it a synonym, e.g. big/large, cold/chilly, cruel/mean. Any part of speech (e.g. nouns, verbs, adverbs,
etc) can have synonyms. Learning synonyms is a good way for students to expand their vocabulary
© Young Digital Planet 2015 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
range and improve their writing skills. Using a variety of words makes for more interesting reading than if
the same word was repeated continuously. However, students need to be aware that sometimes a
word/phrase cannot be replaced exactly with its synonym because it might not be used in the same
context in a particular sentence as the original word.
Using a thesaurus
The word thesaurus is from a Greek word meaning treasure and that is exactly what a thesaurus is; a
treasure of words. Whereas a dictionary contains words and their definitions, a thesaurus is a book that
contains words and lists of their synonyms. The word lists can be arranged alphabetically or they might
be arranged based on similar themes/concepts. A thesaurus is a useful reference book for when
students are looking for synonyms to express their ideas more descriptively and effectively.
© Young Digital Planet 2015 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Procedure
Lead-in
Key:
1 lively
2 cosmopolitan
3 polluted
4 peaceful
5 unspoilt
6 cliff
7 waves
8 floor
9 ceiling
10 patio
11 shore
Ask students to match the words with the
definitions. Then tell them to answer the
questions.
Extension: Choose some students to share their
views with the class.
© Young Digital Planet 2015 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Main input
Key:
1F
2T
3F
4F
5T
6T
Tell students to read the task and the student's
essay. Then ask them to choose True or False.
© Young Digital Planet 2015 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Practice 1
Key:
Part 1
12
24
31
43
Part 2
Ask students to read and answer the questions.
© Young Digital Planet 2015 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Practice 2
Key:
Description of house
enormous windows from the floor to the ceiling
upstairs, with a balcony
a patio
a path
Description of suburbs
clean
quiet
peaceful
Introducing a purpose or effect
so (that)
Saying where something is
to be located in
Description of cities
lively
varied
cosmopolitan
plenty of culture and entertainment
noisy
polluted
full of traffic jams
Introducing a conclusion
To sum up,
Giving an opinion
I can’t think of…
Tell students to read and complete the chart with
the correct words.
© Young Digital Planet 2015 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Practice 3
Key:
1 unspoilt – natural
2 lively – vibrant
3 on the coast – by the sea
4 cosmopolitan – varied
5 quiet – peaceful
6 noisy – quiet
7 ceiling – floor
8 polluted – clean
Tell students to read and match the words with
their synonyms and then with opposites.
Extension: Put students in pairs and give them a
copy of the Handout. Tell them to fill the chart
with as many synonyms and opposites for each
word.
Then tell them to cut the strips and jumble them
up. Now get them to swap their strips with another
pair and tell them to match the words with their
correct synonyms and opposites.
© Young Digital Planet 2015 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Practice 4
Key:
Tell students to read and choose the correct
answers.
© Young Digital Planet 2015 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Practice 5
Key:
Students’ own answers.
Ask students to read the task and plan their
essays. Tell them to make notes under each
heading in their notebooks.
Monitor and feed in ideas if necessary.
© Young Digital Planet 2015 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
English to take away
Key:
Students’ own answers.
This is a ‘free practice’ stage. The aim is
personalisation. Give students the following
instructions:
Now it's your turn! Write a short article (120–180
words) in response to the task.
Extension: Choose some students to read their
articles to the class.
© Young Digital Planet 2015 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Handout
Word
Synonyms
Detached
Centre
Combination
Enormous
View
Beauty
Polluted
Noisy
Varied
© Young Digital Planet 2015 – Core Curriculum for English – Teacher’s Guide
Opposites