Student Learning Continuity Program

6th August, 2020: Session 10

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Presenters: Rose Paia, Vissy Tupou and Georgina Buro Pita.

Expected learning outcomes:

For the take home task on paragraph writing, we expect you, by the end of the session and after working through the activities, to:

1. be able to construct a topic sentence based on a given a topic.
2. be able to expand the topic sentence in the rest of the in the paragraph.
3. be able to construct a relevant concluding sentence to sum up the paragraph.
4. understand what a paragraph is and the different parts of a paragraph

Recap from last session:

Topic: ‘ Family’

We asked you to consider the statement ‘ My family is important to me’.

We also helped you to start your topic sentence as follows:

‘ My family is important to me because of three reasons.’

This statement already indicates that the writer will go ahead to explain the three reasons why their family is important.
We will have one of our teachers to read what she has written as a sample paragraph:

My family is important to me because of three important reasons. Firstly, when I was growing up, I realised that my father and my mother have been there for me, doing everything they could for me. For instance, they fed me, clothed me, and were teaching me right from wrong. Secondly, in my family, I learned many important skills and ways of behaving. For example, I learned to wash my clothes, cook my food, and treat people with respect at all times. Lastly, my family is my first teacher. I realised that by that time I attended school, I was already prepared to do the right things because I had already learned skills and important community rules and values in my family. This is why my family is important to me.

Today’s Lesson:

a. Firstly, let us see how the topic sentence is constructed;

My family is important to me because of three important reasons.

Step 1: The topic sentence is constructed from the topic: ‘My family’.

Developing a topic sentence in a paragraph means constructing a complete idea in a complete sentence, which can be expanded further.

What complete idea do we see in the topic sentence we have developed?

My family is important to me/ because of three important reasons.

This idea is complete: it can also be expanded because it requires the writer to explain three reasons.

b. Secondly, let us check out how the topic sentence is supported with ideas.

Step 2: How is the topic sentence or main idea supported or expanded in the paragraph?

How many supporting sentences are there?

SS1: Firstly, when I was growing up, I realised that my father and my mother have been there for me, and doing everything they could for me. For instance, they fed me, clothed me, and were teaching me right from wrong.

SS1: Secondly, in my family, I learned many important skills and ways of behaving. For example, I learnt to wash my clothes, cook my food, and treat people with respect at all times.

SS3: Lastly, my family is my first teacher. I realised that by that time I attended school, I was already prepared to do the right things because I already learned skills and important community rules and values in my family. This is why my family is important to me.

Can you see how the topic sentence is being supported and expanded?
What ideas does the writer of this paragraph use to expand the paragraphs?

The use of examples is an excellent way to support ideas in explanations and discussions.

Step 4: Constructing the concluding paragraph. What is the purpose of a concluding paragraph?

Can you identify the concluding sentence students? Where in the paragraph does it come?

Yes, it comes at the end and it reads;

This is why my family is important to me.

How does the writer construct this?

Concluding sentence always sums up the ideas in a paragraph; telling the reader, the discussion is complete, and the writer is ready to move on to the next set of ideas.

When you have considered the steps above you should have developed a complete paragraph.

Can you now be able to define a paragraph in your own words?

A paragraph is made up of a group of sentences related to one main idea. It is made of a topic sentence, supported sentences and a concluding paragraph.

Conclusion:

To conclude, next lesson we will look at paragraph unity or cohesion. How do we ensure our paragraph is unified when we write?

Announcement and feedforward: MEHRD NGO partnership in community education.

Ongoing learning support is being developed as open learning to be accessed during or outside of school programmes. When it comes it will involve all of us in our homes, communities and churches. Learners will not only learn about modern subjects, but will be encouraged to learn more about community values, and learn to acquire useful home life skills.

This calls for a new realization that education of our children must continue to be supported wherever they may be, even if it means outside of school during crisis.