The Elegant Essay Jr Edition: Write the Right Way

Kindly note:
This is an ESL friendly class, CEFR  level — C1, C2 (Advanced)
Please feel free to write me via Outschool email with questions.
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Essay writing is the backbone of all great writing, the path to becoming a writer of confidence and skill.

The Elegant Essay Jr. Edition aims to introduce  advanced younger learners to the descriptive and narrative essays, to give them the opportunity to be the writers they are meant to be.  In this 6 week class, one session per week, we will master both the descriptive and the narrative essay forms.  

The Elegant Essay Jr. is adapted from my own The Elegant Essay class, created specially for younger learners.  The class will cover the basic essay writing forms and move to enhance learner writing through a thorough understanding of descriptive and narrative techniques. 

The Elegant Essay Jr Edition  is limited to 6 learners to maximize attention that each learner receives in the classroom. Classes will involve both lecture and interactive student response to illustrative descriptive and narrative essays.  Outside assignments will be given so each learner will also receive personal attention to their specific writing needs.  Detailed responses to written assignments will be sent individually to learners after each session. 

The essay is the  backbone of all persuasive writing — from the elementary school  book report to the college essay to the flap copy on published books. This is the  essential core skill of superb communication, one of the key building blocks of ongoing success. 

Learning to think and write well through the crafting of the essay  is the cornerstone as one moves through middle school, high school and college— for Speech and Debate,  for job interviews, and for the workplace.

The Elegant Essay Jr Edition will teach each learner not just how to write well for a single essay, but how to write well for a lifetime.  Once learned, this essential skill belongs to the learner for always. 

Moreover, I will show learners how to tap into and expand on the inner spark that belongs to each and every writer, to transform writing beyond the merely competent into the memorable and never to be forgotten.

It time to learn to delight, to surprise, to persuade, and above all to communicate. It’s time for every writer to become the writer they are meant to be. In short,  It is time to write. 

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This class will do the following:

We will examine the links between reading well and writing well, work with both reading and writing exercises to maximize comfort and skill level. There will be writing assignments both long and short all of which will work towards the weekly goal of crafting essays of style and elegance.

Students will read an essays per week which we will analyze together in class. Students will also write a complete essay per week and receive immediate personalized feedback on their work sent to them individually,

Classes will focus on discussion and analysis of assigned essays: student work will be assessed via personal communication between teacher and learner. 

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Essays for use in this class include: 

-Good Readers and Good Writers by Vladmir Nabokov
-The Miss Dennis School of Writing by Alice Steinback (Descriptive)
-Joyus Volodoras by Brian Doyle (Descriptive)
-In Case You Ever Want to Go Home Again by Barbara Kingsolver (Narrative)
--Why I Went to the Woods by Henry David Thoreau (Narrative)
--A Thing Shared by MFK Fisher (Descriptive and Narrative)

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Assignments will include:

--vocabulary exercises
--grammar exercises
--creative writing exercises
--essay writing assignments with prompts