Essay Outline Practice2

Name: _______________________________________________ Period: ________ Date: ___________________

Outlining an Essay Part A: Read the essay below and pay careful attention to how it is organized. Complete the outline for the essay on the following pages. ESSAY: Learning to Listen in English As a newcomer to the United States, have you ever had a difficult time understanding normal spoken English on TV, at work, or in school? If you have, you are not alone. Many beginning students of English have a difficult time learning to listen in English. Listening can actually be one of the more difficult language skills to master, but there are a number of strategies that can help you comprehend spoken English better. These strategies could be broken down into pre-, while-, and post-listening strategies. The process of preparing yourself to listen to a TV program or classroom lecture is sometimes just as important as the actual practice of listening. If you know that a lecture or TV program is going to be on a particular subject, you can practice the strategy of predicting. Predicting is when you try to guess what you will hear before you actually hear it. If you think about a subject before you listen and predict what is going to be said, you will understand more of the lecture or TV program as you listen. Try asking yourself these questions before listening: What is the topic? What do I already know about the topic? What do I need to know before I listen? What can I predict will be said? An excellent while-listening strategy is the practice of making guesses about what you hear. Oftentimes, people do not need to understand or hear every word of a lecture, conversation, or TV show to understand the main idea of what is being said. Some ways of making good guesses in listening is to first pay attention to the speakers’ gestures and facial expressions. These things can often communicate more than the words people say. To practice this strategy, try listening to a video without sound. Pay careful attention to the speakers’ gestures and facial expressions. As you watch, try guessing what the speakers are saying. When you are finished watching, rewind the tape to see if your guesses are correct. You will probably be surprised at how much you were able to understand just by guessing! An important post-listening strategy that will help you become a better listener is evaluating. You need to check to see if you what you understood from the TV program, lecture, or conversation is correct. To do this, you can ask a classmate or co-worker to summarize what you just heard. By doing this, you will be able to determine whether or not you are making progress in your listening skills or if you need to adjust your goals and expectations. Learning to comprehend normal spoken English can sometimes be a difficult and frustrating experience for many beginning English language learners. However, the strategies of predicting, guessing, and evaluating can help lessen some of the frustration. Try these strategies today and see if you notice an improvement in your listening skills.

Name: _______________________________________________ Period: ________ Date: ___________________

I. Introduction A. [Attention grabber:] B. [Background information:] C. [Thesis Statement:]

II. Body Paragraph Topic: A. [Topic Sentence:] B. [Supporting detail] C. [Supporting detail] D. [Supporting detail] E. [Supporting detail] III. Body Paragraph Topic: A. [Topic Sentence:] B. [Supporting detail] C. [Supporting detail] D. [Supporting detail] E. [Supporting detail] IV. Body Paragraph Topic: A. [Topic Sentence:] B. [Supporting detail] C. [Supporting detail] D. [Supporting detail]

Name: _______________________________________________ Period: ________ Date: ___________________

V. Conclusion A. [Summary Sentence:] B. [Thesis Revision Sentence:]

Part B: Now, think about the topic you have chosen for your essay. Use your thesis statement and your research to create an outline for your essay. You can copy the blank outline format above to complete this assignment or make your own outline. The topic sentences are just good planning. You can also have a concluding sentence for each paragraph. Put it as the last letter in the section. Remember you may also have some sub-topics (1. 2., etc.) underneath the letters (A., B., etc.) Some questions to think about and discuss are listed below. Does every topic sentence in the outline support the thesis statement? Do the details in your paragraphs support the paragraphs’ topic sentences? Are there enough details in the outline to help you write the essay?