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martes, 26 de mayo de 2015

COMPETITION ENTRY

In a competition entry you will have to nominate someone for a prize or award and support your nomination by explaining your reasons or giving a description. When you write a competition entry, your readers will be a judge or panel of judges. You will usually have to nominate somebody for something or propose yourself for selection for something (e.g. a grant to study). You will have to try to persuade the judges and give reason(s) why your choice is best.

A competition entry is a type of writing similar to an article but you need to include one or two sentences in which you say why your entry should be considered and persuade the reader that you deserve to win the prize / competition. This is usually done in the last paragraph but you could also mention it in the introduction if you wished.



HOW TO WRITE A COMPETITION ENTRY?

The best way to understand the procedure for writing this type of structure is through an example:


  •  You see this competition in an English language magazine.

“If you really want to learn English you should get a job in an English -speaking country, speak to the people and travel around.
Do you agree with this opinion? Give us your reasons why or why not. The best answer will win a ticket to London.”


Write your competition entry (220-260 words)

As a first step, you need to make a plan, in which you make brief notes about points you want to include, like this:

-  In support of the opinion: full immersion in the language, hear English every day

-  Against the opinion: few jobs enable you to travel around, in many jobs the language you use may be restricted to a few set phrases, loneliness may lead you to seek out co-nationals, without a good grammatical basis the learning process is slow and tiring

-  Conclusion: can be positive as long as the points against are taken into consideration.

  • Here is an example answer:


Living the Language It is often said that the best way to learn a foreign language is to go to a country where it is spoken. Living and working in the country enables you to assimilate the language quickly and painlessly. But is this really true? In support of this view it is certainly the case that living in the country gives the opportunity for a full immersion in the language. You are surrounded by it all your waking hours; on TV, on public transport, in the street. You hear a variety of accents and styles and this must surely aid progress.

On the other hand, few jobs give you much opportunity to travel around. It is far more likely that you will find yourself stuck in a shop or a café, where the language you use may be restricted to a few set phrases. In addition, loneliness often leads newcomers to seek out co-nationals, to create a comfort zone of familiar habits and attitudes. Finally, without a good grammatical basis the learning process can be a long and tiring one.

In conclusion therefore, I would say that getting a job in a foreign country can be an excellent way to improve your comprehension and fluency, but only under certain circumstances. You should first try to acquire a sound grammatical basis on which to build, look for a job which brings you into daily contact with other people and make every effort to integrate into the local culture. If you do all this, you will soon be speaking like a native!

References


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2 comentarios:

  1. Good explanation, but you can use some techniques such a paraphrasing in order to avoid the copy, paste and cite.

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