English Language Lesson

Life is Like a River: River as Metaphor*

Look at the picture below. It is a picture of the Grand Canyon in the United States. The Colorado River has formed this canyon. For tens of thousands of years, this river has cut its path through the ground.

In many cultures, there is the belief that life is like a river or that the river is a metaphor* or symbol of life. How may life be like the Colorado River that cuts a canyon? Or how is life like Cuu Long, “The Nine Dragons”—a slow, mighty river teeming with natural and human life?

*A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a name, descriptive word or phrase is transferred to an object or action different from its literal application. Life is a river flowing, for example.

"Perhaps one of the reasons why people have been drawn to rivers since time immemorial and why they have regarded them as sacred is because they are the perfect metaphor for our lives." --From Keith Harrison, Minneapolis Star Tribune, July 1995.

Read the questions below. Freewrite aboutand explore the meaning of "life is like a river." You need not write an answer to all the questions, rather write about whatever ideas come to mind as you think about these questions.

1. In what ways is life like a river? (Always moving forward; has a source and an end; starts small and gains substance from its river bottom and its tributaries; has a history; does not maintain a constant speed; meanders; floods; rapids; change in depth and breadth of channel; reacts to forces around it; etc.)
2. In what ways is human existence (and the history of human existence) like a river? (Humans have a common source; groups of humans have cut new channels, migrated, meandered; humans are constantly evolving, carrying with them much for deposit elsewhere; humans cut larger or smaller, more shallow or deeper, swaths than one another; etc.)
3. What is a river's end? (A body of water such as a lake, sea, or ocean.)
4. What is at a river's end? (A delta, a deposition of its load/sediment.)
5. What are your thoughts on the parallels between a river's end and the end of a human life?
6. "You can never step into the same river twice." This was said by Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher of the late 6th century BCE. What does this mean?

(source: http://cgee.hamline.edu/waters2thesea/activity2.htm)

Here is an Example of the Freewriting Exercise:

The first thing that pops into my head when thinking about rivers is a mountain stream—fresh, clear like crystal, freezing cold and pure. The river is so cold that it numbs the hand, and should your whole body be in it, your breath comes out in short, painful spurts and all you can think is “I need to get out of this water!” The rivers I think of are fast flowing. There are boulders and rocks in the rivers and this makes the water white with all the splashing. The river can be a challenge, difficult to cross or difficult to navigate. The current can push you off your feet and carry you away. It is difficult not to panic but to get out of the current, one must keep one’s wits and strategize. The river also symbolizes wonderful times in my childhood—camping, hiking in the mountains. Trying to see who can stay in the water the longest. Waking up in a tent in the morning and washing my face in the river. Wake Up! Seeing that I must cross the river on a log thrown across the river. Can I keep my balance? Can I keep my shoes dry? If I’m lost in the forest I close my eyes and listen for the rush of the river. If I can find the river, I can find my way home. There will be people on the banks of the river.

Vocabulary:

Below are non-fiction excerpts about rivers and waterways. These excerpts have words about rivers and waterways that may be useful when writing about rivers and waterways. Words that are in bold print are the vocabulary. Find their meaning in context.

The Mekong River in Southeast Asia “rises in Tibet as the Lancang Jiang and flows south through Yunnan Province, China. It forms the Burma-Laos border and part of the Laos-Thailand border and then flows south through Cambodia and Vietnam, creating a vast river delta that is one of the most important rice-producing regions in Asia (from Oxford Family Encyclopedia, 1997, p. 437).” Canal : Artificial waterway for irrigation, drainage, navigation, or in conjunction with hydroelectric dams (Oxford Family Encyclopedia). Rivers? Streams? Creeks? They are all names for water flowing on the Earth’s surface . . . [T]hink of creeks as the smallest of the three, with streams being in the middle, the rivers being the largest. A river is nothing more than surface water finding its way over land from a higher altitude to a lower altitude, all due to gravity. When rain falls on the land, it either seeps into the ground or becomes run-off, which flows downhill into rivers and lakes, on its journey towards the seas. In most landscapes the land is not perfectly flat—it slopes downhill in some direction. Flowing water finds its way downhill initially as small creeks. As small creeks flow downhill they merge to form larger streams and rivers. Rivers eventually end up flowing into the oceans. If water flows to a place that is surrounded by higher land on all sides a lake will form. If man has built a dam to hinder a river’s flow, the lake that forms is a reservoir. (from http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/eartivers.html)

Other words that may be helpful:

River	Verbs	Boats
river bank	to swim	out-board motor
river delta	to navigate	oar
river spirits	to steer	ferry
river bend	to float	rudder
shore	to sink	lucky eye
beach	to row	wake (of the bow)
current	to ferry across	barge
mud	to drown
sand	to fish
river plants	to bob	Adjectives
riverweeds	to surface	slow
irrigation	to flow	frigid
drainage	to be carried away	swift
river bottom	to be pulled under	cool
river source	to meander	underwater
headwaters		wide
tributaries		depth
channel	River structures	breadth
current	dock	deep
rapids	bridge	shallow
sand bar	quay
silt	monkey bridge
silt deposit
mouth of the river

Introduction to Skill(s):

Part One: Review—Paragraphs, Topic Sentence, and Thesis Statement

Paragraphs and Topic Sentences

A paragraph is made up of a series of sentences. These sentences are organized and related to a single topic in a coherent way. Organizing your writing into paragraphs should become a habit to you because paragraphs show the organization of your writing and enables the reader to grasp the main points.

Different kinds of information can be found in paragraphs. A paragraph could be a list of brief examples or a long description of a general point. It might describe a person, place or process; it may present a comparison or contrast something; it may narrate events or present a story; a paragraph may classify items into categories or describe causes and effects. But no matter what information a paragraph may contain, all paragraphs have certain characteristics in common. On of the most important characteristics is that all paragraphs have a topic sentence.

Topic Sentences

Paragraphs that are well-organized support a main idea. This single controlling idea is presented in a sentence called the topic sentence. A good topic sentence supports an essay’s thesis sentence. It brings order to a paragraph because all other sentences in the paragraph relate and support the topic sentence. And the topic sentence guides the reader by explaining to the reader what the paragraph is all about. Good readers look to the first few sentences in a paragraph to find out what the topic is and to see what perspective the writer may have on that topic. The topic sentence often is the first sentence in a paragraph but not always. Sometimes transitions need to be placed between one paragraph and another, and those transitions can sometimes be the first sentence in a paragraph. But usually the topic sentence can be found among the first few sentences of the paragraph. Sometimes the topic sentence appears as the last sentence in the paragraph.

Paragraph Structure

Most paragraphs have three parts—the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. The introduction should include the topic sentence and other sentences that may provide transitions or background information. The body follows the introduction and provides support and details for the topic or main idea. This support may be facts, arguments, analysis, examples, and other information. The final section of the paragraph—the conclusion—summarizes the connections between information in the body of the paragraph and the paragraph’s main idea.

Thesis Statement

Perhaps the thesis statement is the most difficult sentence of all to write. What the topic sentence does for the paragraph, the thesis statement does for the whole essay. Typically, the thesis statement is the one sentence that controls, organizes, and puts forth the argument or analysis of the essay. If the thesis statement is not thoughtful or persuasive, a paper may seem weak, without focus and not worth the reader’s time to read it.

So, the thesis statement has three characteristics: it will make a claim and put forth your ideas, it will organize and develop your claim/idea, and it will provide the reader with a “guide” to your argument. In general, the thesis statement will be good if you think of the thesis as the answer to the question that your paper explores.

How to Create a Thesis Statement from an Assigned Topic

In this chapter, you are asked to write on the topic of Life as a River. Almost all assignments can be simplified to a single question. For example, we may ask: How is life like a river? Why is life like a river? When is life like a river? Is life like a river? After you’ve chosen the question your essay will answer, write one or two complete sentences that answer that question.

Even if your assignment doesn’t ask a specific question, your thesis statement still needs to answer a question about the issue you’d like to explore. In this situation, your job is to figure out what question you’d like to write about.

For example, if we ask: How is life like a river? We may answer with:

The river has a current that carries all things in its path downstream.

This may be an argument that says we have no control over our lives and the essay may explain that life is fated and we just go with the flow.

Or we may answer:

The river has a mighty current, but we must learn to be strong and navigate our way.

Here is what one motivational writer writes:

“Life is like a river. It's moving, and you can be at the mercy of the river if you don't take deliberate, conscious action to steer yourself in a direction you have predetermined. If you don't plant the mental and physiological seeds of the results you want, weeds will grow automatically. If we don't consciously direct our own minds and states, our environment may produce undesirable haphazard states. The results can be disastrous.” Legendary Notes by Anthony Robbins http://www.geocities.com/livelifeuwant/Legn_Notes_Life_River.html

Strong Thesis Statement vs. Weak Thesis Statements

1. A strong thesis statement takes some sort of stand.

In an essay, you are to show conclusions about a subject. For example, it would be difficult to form a conclusion to a statement such as.

Life is like a river because it flows downstream.

This is a weak thesis statement because it does not take a stand. There is no argument with that river flow downstream. Plus, the phrase, “flows downstream” is very vague and the reader feels like asking, “How does it flow?—violently? lazily?”

You can be at the mercy of the river of life if you don’t take deliberate, conscious action to steer yourself in a direction you have predetermined.

This is a strong thesis because it takes a stand.

2. A strong thesis justifies discussion.

When someone reads your thesis it should inspire them to want to discuss it—to form an opinion about it.

The river of life is wide.

This is a weak thesis because it states an observation. Your reader won’t be able to tell the point of the statement, and will probably stop reading.

The river of life metaphor is quite different from the popular metaphor that likens life to climbing a mountain—which suggests hard, constant, and willful uphill effort.

This is a strong thesis because it shows how experience contradicts a widely-accepted view. We may be able to divide people into two groups: (1) those that feel that life is floating in a current and one is carried to one’s fate or destiny or one must fight the current, or (2) those that believe that life is an upward struggle to the top. A good strategy for creating a strong thesis is to show that the topic is controversial. Readers will be interested in reading the rest of the essay to see how you support your point.

3. A strong thesis expresses one main idea.

Readers need to be able to see that your paper has one main point. If your thesis expresses more than one idea, then you might confuse your readers about the subject of your paper. For example:

Life is like a river—from the steady trickle of a high mountain stream that transforms into a roaring river, they conjure up in us images of the wellsprings life is made of, ever flowing, never ceasing, constant day & night, always moving toward a larger body—where, together, the waters mingle in an ocean of fresh and abundant life.

This is a weak thesis statement because the reader can’t decide whether the paper is about a life like a rushing stream, a well-spring or an ocean of abundant life. There is too much to focus on here. To revise the thesis, the direct relationship between river and life should be established. One way to revise the thesis would be to write:

From the tiny well-springs life is made of, the river grows with each new experience—the creeks and streams that join it—so it is ever-flowing, never-ceasing, always moving toward a larger body—a destiny—the ocean.

This is a strong thesis because it shows that the two ideas (life and the river) are related. Hint: a great many clear and engaging thesis statements contain words like “because,” “since,” “so,” “although,” “unless,” and “however.”

4. A strong thesis statement is specific.

A thesis statement should show exactly what your paper will be about, and will help you keep your paper to a manageable topic. For example:

Face the challenges of life like a river.

This is a weak thesis statement for “challenges” is rather vague and can’t be discussed thoroughly in five or ten pages nor do we know how a river is “challenged.” A revised thesis might look like this:

Like streams and rivers encounter obstacles and challenges, our life must overcome these obstacles by wearing them down or finding a path around or through them.

This is a strong thesis because it narrows the subject to a more specific and manageable topic and it also identifies the specific ways to overcome obstacles and challenges.

Here is another good thesis statement that uses specifics to set up the metaphor:

As a river is born deep inside the earth in springs that gather into streams and join to become a river, so people's lives gather into families and communities and become part of the river of history.  

(Wilma Dykeman http://cgee.hamline.edu/rivers/Resources/Voices/dykeman2.htm)

(Paraphrased from: Writing Tutorial Services, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN)

Part Two: Thinking Strategies and Writing Patterns: General-to-Specific Pattern

(portions of this explanation are from: http://www.umuc.edu/prog/ugp/ewp_writingcenter/writinggde/chapter3/chapter3-10.shtml)

During your time of studying English, you have and will be writing a variety of assignments. Sometimes these assignments are based on your beliefs and opinions; other assignments require that you report on and evaluate existing research. You may even write short stories and poetry. Most common in university, your assignments will be to write research papers and to take essay examinations. Whatever it is that you will write, you will need strategies that help you use your critical thinking skills and apply them to the writing process.

General-to-Specific Pattern

The general-to-specific pattern is probably one of the more common patterns in college writing. It may be used in any of these familiar places:

• introduction to a paper
• background in a research paper
• opening paragraphs for a discussion or an analysis
• essay examination answers

At the beginning of this chapter, there was a freewriting exercise. To understand general and specific ideas, look once again to the example of freewriting. Here we separate the general ideas of that writing passage into groups of general phrases and specific phrases.

General information	Specific information
The first thing that pops into my head when thinking about rivers is a mountain stream	fresh, clear like crystal, freezing cold and pure. The river is so cold that it numbs the hand, and should your whole body be in it, your breath comes out in short, painful spurts and all you can think is “I need to get out of this water!” There are boulders and rocks in the rivers and this makes the water white with all the splashing.
The rivers I think of are fast flowing.	The current can push you off your feet and carry you away. It is difficult not to panic but to get out of the current, one must keep one’s wits and strategize.
The river also symbolizes wonderful times in my childhood—camping, hiking in the mountains.	Trying to see who can stay in the water the longest. Waking up in a tent in the morning and washing my face in the river. Wake Up!
The river can be a challenge, difficult to cross or difficult to navigate.	Seeing that I must cross the river on a log thrown across the river. Can I keep my balance? Can I keep my shoes dry?
If I can find the river, I can find my way home.	Close my eyes and listen for the rush of the river

As the name suggests, this pattern is characterized by a movement in your thinking from a generalization to specific details. Your opening paragraph would begin with a general statement and then add details that explain it. The details may continue to become increasingly more specific. The pattern ends with a broad statement that summarizes your thinking that resulted from the details.

As an example, we take one of the general statements above, and support it with three specific pieces of information. This can be the making of a paragraph:

General Statement:	The river can be a challenge, difficult to cross or difficult to navigate.
Specific Statement 1:	Seeing that I must cross the river on a log thrown across the river. Can I keep my balance? Can I keep my shoes dry?
Specific Statement 2:	The current can push you off your feet and carry you away.
Specific Statement 3:	It is difficult not to panic but to get out of the current, one must keep one’s wits and strategize.
Broad Statement Summary:	Though the river may be an obstacle or very controlling, it is possible to face these challenges and become a better human being.

 

Example of a General-to-Specific Pattern The river poses challenges and difficulties: but opportunities to cross it or navigate through it can build one’s character. First, facing the challenge and taking it step by step rather than turning away gives me the opportunity to find out what I am capable of. Crossing a log or stepping on stones across the stream may fill me with questions: Can I keep my balance? Can I keep my shoes dry? There is only one way to find out and that is to do it—to plunge in. Second, there is a possibility that the current can push you off your feet and carry you away. Perhaps learning to go with the flow is a lesson needed. See what life has to offer you. And thirdly, if you plunge in, and things go in ways that you cannot anticipate or ways that are difficult, one must be calm and patient. Don’t panic and collect one’s wits and strategize. One will eventually find the way out of a bad situation. Though the river may be an obstacle or very controlling, it is possible to face these challenges and become a better human being.

In this example, the first sentence presents the general statement about the river. The succeeding statements consist of details and examples, introduced by the transitions first, second, and third. Finally, the pattern ends with a broad or general statement that summarizes what the writer wishes to conclude about the meaning of the details.

This paragraph could have introduced a longer paper in which the writer discusses facing challenges and taking the first step, plunging in and working with that which happens to you, and then pulling your knowledge and ideas together to find one’s way out of bad situations.

You might find this pattern useful for writing mission and vision statements, definitions, marketing analyses, reports of scientific investigations, topical literature reviews, feature articles, editorials, and formal arguments from principle. Also, this mode of writing reflects deductive reasoning*, where your conclusion follows necessarily from your premises.

* Deductive Reasoning (as opposed to Inductive Reasoning) is the process of reasoning from general principles to other general principles or specific examples. For example, a reasoner, knowing that all crows are black (a general fact about crows) can conclude that my pet crow (a specific example) is black. Similarly, the same reasoner, knowing that crows are birds, can conclude that some birds are black (another general principle regarding birds).
(from http://www.skepticwiki.org/wiki/index.php/Deductive_Reasoning)

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Writing Assignment:

In this chapter, you are given a topic to write about. Part of the thesis statement is: “Life is like a river . . .” You choose how to complete the statement (you may use these words in different order or variation). You are to develop a narrative that is at least 5 paragraphs that explains the metaphor that Life is like a River.

You may choose to write in one of several different ways (see examples below):

1. You may choose to write a story (true from life or created from your imagination)
2. You may choose to write in an explanatory way—how you believe that Life is like a river.
3. Or you may choose to describe how life is like a river in your culture or for your people.

Use the exercises that follow to develop your narrative.

A Story Example: Life is like a River (Somewhat paraphrased from Richard Bach’s Illusions, Dell Publishing, New York, 1977) Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river. The current of the river swept silently over them all--young and old, rich and poor, good and evil, the current going its own way, knowing only its own crystal self. Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current what each had learned from birth. But one creature said at last, "I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom." The other creatures laughed and said, "Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed across the rocks and you will die quicker than boredom!" But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks. Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more. And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, "See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies!” And the one carried in the current said, "The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure." But they cried all the while clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they were left alone making legends of him.

An Explanatory Example: Letting Go With the River http://www.upperdelaware.com/visitor/activities/02-05-23river01.cfm By Tom Kane I was walking along River Road in Callicoon beside the Delaware on a Sunday afternoon recently. I like to walk there because it’s flat and provides an unimpaired view of the river and because there’s never much traffic. The road is a dead-end and is only traversed by the folks who live down that way. So my walk is hardly ever interrupted. The moist smell of the clear water enlivens the air and adds to the verve of walking. The river rushes by me in the brilliant afternoon sun. There isn’t a cloud in the sky. The lush trees on the side of the gorge over in Pennsylvania provide a quiet backdrop for the drama of the rushing water. The flow is like a vortex of energy cascading through me. It seemed to encourage me to let go of what I was holding back inside, afraid it would take me to places I don’t dare go. Rivers have a brilliance that is all their own, especially smaller rivers like the Delaware. It’s not majestic like the Hudson, but is humble and modest, swelling over the tops of hidden boulders, billowing into a churning wake or quietly dancing with a silvery shimmer over a bed of pebbles. What’s really wonderful about living near a river is that it can speak to you of profound things if you will only listen. The flow of life is like the river. They say you can never step into the same river twice. But when you think about it, you can never step into the same moment twice. It’s gone. Gone with its pains, its anxieties, its ecstasies and its opportunities. Life doesn’t stop flowing, just like the river. I sat down on a tree stump for a while and just watched and listened. For a river that isn’t very wide, the Delaware carries a powerful lot of water. I thought of all the people down river in Trenton and Philadelphia who would use this water that’s passing me by for their drinking water. It will bring them life and nourishment and energy for their souls. The scientists tell us that our bodies are 95 percent water. Small wonder then why we’re so fascinated at river side to sit and watch the flow or sit on a sandy beach to experience the waves rolling in without ceasing. I looked up and saw two canoes come barreling along, shooting over the boulders and riding through the silvery brilliance. It’s still Spring when the river is higher than usual and the water more abundant and powerful. A lot of folks don’t like to go on the river until late June and July when it’s more tame and canoe-friendly. The boaters never noticed me because they were so intent on conquering the flow and fighting where the river was taking them. They seemed to be afraid of the force of the water instead of riding it and using it. It could have been that they weren’t skilled enough at canoeing. A lot of folks don’t know how to conserve their energy and use the paddles intelligently, changing their direction with a minimal amount of effort. It’s all in knowing how. And it’s all in knowing when to let go and go with the flow. I think it’s Deepak Chopra who talks about the law of least effort. He says that the holy gurus of old said that when you learn to get in touch with your higher self, when you achieved higher awareness, everything that you need for your life happens effortlessly. It all flows to you like the river. Perhaps that’s the lesson I was trying to learn as I sat there on the banks of the Delaware. Perhaps that’s what the river is trying to tell us.

Example of River in Life of Culture: No More Gold in the River by Katherine H. Greenberg http://www.newhorizons.org/trans/greenberg.htm We rode in an old pick up truck from the city of Talca into this remote rural region of central Chile. The clothes I wore that day have been washed many times since then, but I can still smell the red, baby powder fine dust that rose from the bumpy roads to seep onto and inside all things animate and inanimate, especially those of us squeezed inside the truck. The people lived on subsistence farms in small houses hidden by the forest and hills. All we could see of the community was a small clinic, a four room school house, and the tiny home where the school director and his family lived for nine months of the year. We were there to attend a luncheon in our honor where we were served traditional tea, cheese, and bread, specially prepared by the parents of the children of the school. The teachers were participating in a workshop with me. This community (and I believe all communities), are facing change unlike any in past history. The story of these peoples is a powerful metaphor for a kind of change that all of us are facing--for there is no more gold in the river. My translator shared the story told by Jose, the director of the school. Just down the hill from our picnic table was a small river. Throughout the history of these people and their families, anyone in the community who needed money due to a crop failure or ill health in the family, could go to this river and quickly find a few grains of gold that could be used to purchase food or medicine. Because of an ever growing pulp industry in their region, others had learned about the gold in this river, gotten a permit from the government, and brought in machinery to take away all of the gold. The bank was emptied. But the saddest part of the story was still to come. What concerned me most was that the people were not particularly upset when there was no more gold in the river. Indeed, they were excited because the pulp industry was offering to buy their land in order to plant more pine trees. They would be moving to the towns where the money would last only a short while. They did not understand that they needed to prepare for the changes this would mean to their lives. They did not understand that only by knowing very clearly how to learn would they be able to gain the tacit knowledge of city dwellers that would be needed in order to learn a new trade and to get jobs.

Life is a River
Song Lyrics by Alexey Peshovsky

Life like a river flows
Down to the waterfall.
Why am I holding on?
Isn’t it time to go?

Though I know I would never return,
Though I know there’d be no turning back,
I could wash off the slime in the falls
And the leeches would fall off my neck

Why am I holding on
Paralyzed and embraced?
Why don’t I let it go?
River would do the rest.

But they whisper: “You’d never return,
You let go, and there’s no turning back.
You’ve got friends here, you’re never alone,
At least a dozen’s attached to your neck.

In this slime and this grass is your home.
You have earned our love and respect.
You’ve been blessed by the sense of belonging
With us, leeches that dwell on your neck...

Life like a river flows
Down to the waterfall.
They can try holding on
I’m gonna let it go …

http://peshkovsky.com/lyrics/life_like_a_river.html

Exercises and Activities for Building Skills:

Exercise 1:

Using the freewriting that you did at the beginning of this chapter, divide your ideas into general information and specific information.

General information	Specific information

Exercises and Activities for Developing Content of Student Writing:

Exercise 2: Selecting your Best Ideas and Sentences

In the introductory section of this chapter, you were asked to freewrite on the idea that “Life is Like a River.” Select the portions of your writing that you like the best. You may like the idea that is conveyed or you may like the way that you put the words together—you like the way that it sounds. After reading the examples provided above, you may have more ideas you want to write down. Take time to write more. Then, again, select the best ideas and phrases that you have written down.

Exercise 3: Asking Questions About the Topic

You have been give the topic of writing that “Life is Like a River.” According to the section, “ How to Create a Thesis Statement from an Assigned Topic,” when given a topic, you should first devise a question. Write some questions here that use the phrase: “Life is Like a River,” for example: “Why is life like a river?” or “Is the current of a mighty river like following one’s own fate?”

Create some questions here:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Select the question or questions you like best. How would you answer these questions?

Selected Question: __________________________________________________________ Possible Answers:

Selected Question: __________________________________________________________ Possible Answers:

Exercise 4: Brainstorm Ideas for Developing the Thesis Statement

Selecting from the answers that you wrote above, see what answers can be developed into a writing passage or narration. For Example:

Selected Question: Is the current of a mighty river like following one’s own fate? Possible Answers: 1. A strong and mighty current rushes me downstream: I haven’t the strength to change my direction or swim out of the current, so I go with the flow. 2. I have the strength to cling to the banks and pull myself out of the river: I can determine my own destiny. 3. Sometimes the current is strong, but sometimes there is the opportunity for me to change my course and control my destiny. If there are rapids, then I merely survive and find the ways around the rocks that will do me the least harm. When the river is slow and wide, I can maneuver myself to reach the edge of the current and gently ease myself out of the current. I’m not sure how far downstream that will be, but if I am patient and don’t panic, I can move out on my own. If the current is too strong, I should just laugh and enjoy the ride

Exercises and Activities for Incorporating Skills into Student Writing:

Exercise 5:

Write your narration creating at least 5 paragraphs. You should be telling a story, organize your story line using an introductory paragraph to begin the story and a conclusion. If you write an essay, follow good essay form. Use materials developed in the exercises above to enhance your writing.

Editing Process and Exercises:

Read your writing passage aloud to yourself. Have a friend or classmate read your paper.

1. Check for spelling and grammar mistakes. If you are working on the computer, do spelling and grammar checks.

2. What is your thesis sentence?

• Is it a good thesis sentence?
• Does it express one main idea?
• Is it interesting—will the reader want to read on?

3. Does each paragraph have a topic sentence?

4. Do the topic sentences support the thesis?

5. Are your paragraphs supporting the paragraph topic?

6. Do you have specific information that supports general ideas?

7. How is your conclusion?

Writing Second/Final Draft:

Turn in your final draft to your teacher.

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Vietnamese Language Lesson

Clean Water

 

 The private sector is becoming increasingly important in Vietnam, and can be seen as one group of people who can make positive, or negative, impacts on the environment. In groups of 2 or 3 people, go online and find a Vietnamese company that you think may have an impact on the environment, especially on the cleanliness of water. Then, after you have researched the company you are interested in and a mailing address and/or email address, draft a letter explaining why you are concerned about environment issues and what you think that company should be doing to help protect the environment. Send your letters/emails to the companies and wait for a response!

Remember to be clear, to the point and direct.

Grammar Points

“Có ... không?”: “Có ... không” is used to form a total question. A total question is a yes/no question, that asks the reality of the action or state placed within the structure.  

Examples:
	Anh có đồng ý với quan điểm của anh ấy không? Do you agree on his viewpoint?
	Vấn đề nước sạch có quan trọng đối với sức khỏe cộng đồng không? Is the issue of clean water vital to community health?
	Trong thời gian qua, Việt Nam có quan tâm đến vấn đề nước sạch và bảo vệ môi trường không? Has Vietnam concerned about the issues of clean water and environmental protection over the past few years?

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Persian Language Lesson

Persian Section

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Spanish Language Lesson

Spanish Section

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