WRITING COURSE 1

By
Drs. Suhanto Kastaredja, M.Pd

PRODI

(20718)
PENDIDIKAN
BAHASA INGGRIS
(20718)
PENDIDIKAN
BAHASA INGGRIS

Mata Kuliah Kelas

530214 READING I (3
SKS)
530216 WRITING I (3
SKS)

(20718)
530216 PENDIDIKAN
WRITING I (3
BAHASA INGGRIS SKS)

Dosen

SUHANTO
KASTAREDJA
MPd (ANGGOTA)
SUHANTO
KASTAREDJA
MPd (ANGGOTA)
SUHANTO
KASTAREDJA
MPd
(KOORDINATOR
)

Learni
ng
Mater
ials

Jadwal Kuliah

UTS

JUMAT (18.00 20.00)

20 May
2015

29 July 2015

SENIN (14.30 17.00)

20 May
2015

29 July 2015

SENIN (18.00 20.00)

20 May
2015

29 July 2015

Suhanto Kastaredja Page_1

UAS

Universitas PGRI Adibuana

WRITING COURSE
Instructor: Drs. Suhanto Kastaredja, M.Pd
Level: Beginner

Objectives: Students are able to:

-write Personal Description
-write spelling of noun plurals
-use dictionary
-find out the differences of the British and American English spelling
-divide a Word When Writing or Typing

No
.
1

Website
http://esl.about.com/od/beginningwriting/a/writing_personal_descriptions.ht
m

Learning to write personal descriptions is important to provide information

about yourself or others. This guide to writing personal descriptions is perfect
for beginners, or beginning level English learning classes. Begin by writing
about yourself by reading the paragraph below, and using the tips to help you
write your own personal description. Continue by reading a description of
another person and then write a description about one of your friends. ESL
teachers can print out these simple paragraphs and tips to use in class when
helping beginning level students write personal descriptions.
Read the following paragraph. Notice that this paragraph describes the
person who is writing the introductory paragraph.
Hello, my name is James. I'm a programmer and I come from Chicago. I live
in Seattle with my wife Jennifer. We have two children and a dog. The dog is
very funny. I work at a computer company in the city. The company is very
famous and successful. Our daughter is named Anna and our Son is named
Peter. She is four years old and he is five. We like living and working in
Seattle.
Tips for Writing a Personal Description about Yourself

Use 'come from' for the city or country where you were born. Use
Suhanto Kastaredja Page_2

Topic
Personal
Descriptions

'live' for the city where you currently live.

Use the present simple tense to explain what you do every day.

Use 'have' or 'have got' to speak about your children, pets, etc.

Use 'a' the first time you mention something. For example, I live in a
house. Then use 'the' after the first time you write about it. For
example, I live in a house. The house is in Seattle.

Remember to use he, his, him for boys and men and she, her, her for
girls and women. Use 'our' when speaking about the whole family.

Use 'like doing' when speaking about hobbies.

Read the following paragraph. Notice that this paragraph describes a

different person than the person who is writing the introductory paragraph.
Mary is my friend. She is a student at a college in our town. The college is
very small. She lives in an apartment in the center of town. She doesn't have a
dog or a cat. She studies every day and sometimes works in the evening at a
small shop. The shop sells gift items like postcards, games and other small
items. She enjoys playing golf, tennis and walking in the countryside.
Tips for Writing a Personal Description about a Friend

Remember to add 's' to the present simple tense when writing about
other people.

In the present simple tense, 'doesn't' takes the 's' in the negative form.
Remember to use 'doesn't + verb' in the negative.

Use sometimes, often, never, etc. before the main verb in a sentence.

Remember to use he, his, him for boys and men and she, her, her for
girls and women.

Use 'enjoys doing' when speaking about hobbies. It's okay to connect
a few verbs using commas, but place 'and' before the final verb in the
list when speaking about someone's hobbies. For example, She enjoys
playing tennis, swimming and riding horses.

Exercise
1. Write a paragraph about yourself. Try to use a variety of verbs and 'a'

Suhanto Kastaredja Page_3

and 'the' correctly.

2. Write a paragraph about someone else. You can write about a friend or
a someone from your family.
3. Compare the two paragraphs and note the differences in pronoun and
verb use. For example,
I live in Seattle BUT She lives in Chicago.
My house is in a suburb. BUT His house is in the city.
2

http://esl.about.com/od/intermediatewriting/a/w_spellnoun.htm

How to Spell
Noun Plurals

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How to spell the plural of most common nouns
The plural of most nouns is formed by adding -s to the end of the noun.
For example dog, plural dogs - light, plural lights
If the noun ends in -s, -z, -x, -ch or -sh, then the plural is formed by adding -es
to the noun.
For example watch, plural watches; glass, plural glasses
How to spell the plural of nouns ending in -y
Nouns ending in -y are a little more difficult to change. When -y is preceded
by a consonant, form the plural by changing the -y into -ies.
For example city, plural cities; cranberry, plural cranberries
When the -y is preceded by a vowel, the -y is not changed in the plural form
-ys.
For example holiday, plural holidays; monkey, plural monkeys
How to spell the plural of a noun ending in -o
Some nouns that end in -o add -s to form the plural. For example piano, plural
pianos. Some add -es to form the plural.
For example potato, plural potatoes; tomato, plural tomatoes
Other nouns ending in -o add either -s or -es (both are correct).
For example volcano, plural volcanos or volcanoes
3

http://esl.about.com/od/intermediatewriting/a/w_usedictionary.htm

How to check the spelling of a word

The best way to learn how to spell a word is to find it in the Dictionary. To
find words in the Dictionary it is important to know the alphabet well. You
will need to be able to judge quickly whether any word comes before or after
another one, this is called alphabetical order. If the first letters of two words
Suhanto Kastaredja Page_4

How to Use
a Dictionary
Well

are the same, look at the next letters to decide the correct order.
Example: dare, dart, darn - in the case of these three words, 'dare' comes
first, 'darn' second, and 'dart' last. The first three letters 'd', 'a', and 'r' are the
same in all three words so the correct alphabetical order is based on the
fourth letter.
How to find a word in the Dictionary
Words are printed in large bold type at the upper top left-hand and right-hand
corner of any page to help you quickly find a word in the Dictionary. The first
of these two words show you which is the first word on that page, the second
shows you which is the last words to be found on that page.
Example: You are looking for the word 'signal'. You can find 'signal' on the
page which has the two words Signac and silage (example taken from the
Collins English Dictionary) printed at the upper top left-hand and right-hand
corner.
Understanding definitions
Once you have found the word you are looking for you need to understand a
few common conventions to make best use of your dictionary. Here is an
example entry in a dictionary:
feat (fi:t) n. a remarkable, skillful, or daring action; exploit; achievement:
feats of strength... (example taken from the Collins English Dictionary)
1. feat - the defined word
2. (fi:t) - a phonological transcription of the word (the correct
pronunciation), usually using the IPA (International Phonetic
Alphabet)
3. n. - the part of speech, in this case 'n.' means noun (look for a list of
abbreviations used in your Dictionary usually included on one of the
first few pages).
4. a remarkable, skillful, or daring action; exploit; achievement:
definitions of the word. Different meanings of a word will be
separated by numbers.
5. feats of strength - an example sentence using the defined word

http://esl.about.com/od/intermediatewriting/a/w_spelldiff.htm

Differences Between British and American Spelling

Suhanto Kastaredja Page_5

Differences
Between
British and
American
Spelling

Most dictionaries include both spellings and will make note of the two
spellings. Usually the differences are noted in one of two ways:
In many US dictionaries the difference is included in the headword with the
variation in parentheses:
For example colo(u)r
In British Dictionaries, the Dictionary makes note of the difference in
brackets immediately after the headword:
For example watch, plural watches; glass, plural glasses
The table provides a list of the main differences between British and
American spelling:
British
American
-our (honour)

-or (honor)

-re (centre)

-er (center)

-ogue (dialogue)

-og (dialog)

-ence (defence)

-ense
(defense)

-ise 1 (recognise)

-ize
(recognize)

American English spelling sometimes does not double the

consonant at the end of a word, while British English spelling
does, especially when the consonant is an 'l'.
For example travel, traveller, travelling (British) and travel,
traveler, traveling (American)
5

http://esl.about.com/od/intermediatewriting/a/w_divide.htm

Sometimes it is necessary to divide a word at the end of the line because there
is not enough space for the completion of the word. These days many
computer programs automatically take care of this problem for you. However,
if you are using a typewriter or handwriting on stationary it is useful to know
these rules.
In order to divide a word add a hyphen (-) typed without a space immediately
after the first part of the divided word at the end of the line.
For example ...The matter of job compensation is extremely important...
Here are the most important rules to follow when dividing a word

Suhanto Kastaredja Page_6

Dividing a
Word When
Writing or
Typing

1. By syllable Divide the word by syllables or units of sound.

For example important, im-por-tant - 'important' has three syllables;
thinking, think-ing - 'thinking' has two syllables
2. By structure Divide the word into the smaller units of meaning from
which the word is constructed. It may have a beginning (a prefix) such
as un-, dis-, im-, etc., (im-portant, dis-interested) or an ending (a
suffix) such as -able, -fully, (as in desirable, desir-able).
3. By meaning Decide how each part of the divided word is best
understood in order that the word is easily recognized from the two
parts.
For example compound words such as houseboat made up of two
words combined to make a single word, house-boat.
Here are six further rules to help you decide when and how to divide
words.
4. Never divide a word within a syllable.
5. Never divide an ending (suffix) of two syllables such as -able or
-fully.
6. Never divide a word with an ending of two letters such as -ed -er, -ic
(exception -ly)
7. Never divide a word so that one of the parts is a single letter.
8. Never divide a word of one syllable.
9. Never divide a word of less than five letters.

No
1

Website
http://esl.about.com/od/writinglessonplans/a/l_winteresting.ht
m

Suhanto Kastaredja Page_7

Topic
Expanding
Descriptive Verb
Use

2
Expanding Descriptive Verb Use
One of the most important steps in improving writing skills is
expanding the use of more descriptive language when
describing actions. Students tend to repeat verb usage: "He
said..., She told him..., She asked..., He ran quickly..., He
walked across the room...". The target of this lesson plan is to
get students more aware of the subtle variations that they can
employ by using more descriptive verbs such as: "He insisted
on..., She giggled..., They nibbled on..., etc.".
Aim: Improve descriptive verb usage in writing
Activity: Vocabulary expansion activity followed by writing
activity focusing on expanding on a bare-bones extract
Level: Upper intermediate to advanced
Outline:

Write the verbs 'say, laugh, walk, eat, think, drink' on

the board and ask students to divide into small groups
to think up as many synonyms for these verbs as they
can.

Once students have finished this exercise, pool the

results together as a class. You may want to have a
student take notes and photocopy the class results.

Have students return to their groups to do the exercise

below matching general meaning verbs to more specific
verbs.

Once students have finished, compare answers as a

class. Your acting abilities might be called for to
explain the subtle differences between a number of the
verbs.

Next, ask students to write a simple story about

something that has recently happened to them. Instruct
them to use simple verbs such as 'say, do, make, tell,
walk, etc.'

Have students pair up and exchange their stories. Each

Suhanto Kastaredja Page_8

student should then elaborate the texts of the other

student by using as many verbs previously studied as
they can.

Once students have finished and compared their stories,

the class can have some fun reading the stories aloud.

Interesting Writing
Match the more specific verbs to the general meaning verbs
in column one
tell
move
say
laugh
eat
drink
throw
run
move
hold
walk
exclaim
toss
stagger
munch
slurp
twist
writhe
hurl
sip
order
swallow
insist
giggle
clutch
fidget
chuckle
sprint
mutter
wander
Suhanto Kastaredja Page_9

instruct
nibble
gulp
snigger
lob
hug
trudge
munch
jog
mention
wriggle
bend
grasp
stagger
whisper
pass
swallow

Suhanto Kastaredja Page_10