Today’s class is a bit of an oddball: we’re finishing up with Definition Paragraphs (Unit 6), but mostly we’re going to do a brainstorming exercise.
We’ll start by talking about Definition Paragraphs a bit more, and move on to today’s brainstorming work.
First, we discussed how to build a mind map for a Definition Paragraph, and how to think about the order of the points.
We brainstormed ideas for today’s Paragraph Blog and for the Process Explanation Video you’re making for next week’s class.
I also discussed five unique elements in Canadian culture. Ahem.
- The Moose Blood Festival. This is an annual festival people gather in the countryside and drink moose blood every April 1, to celebrate the arrival of spring.
- Burnday, an annual national holiday on 24 August when Canadians celebrate the British troops who burned the White House down in Washington.
- The Beaver Law, the little-known law that requires all Canadians to provide food and safety for any beaver who needs it. If you do not help a beaver who needs it, you may go to jail for up to 10 years.
- The snowshoe closet, a special closet Canadian houses all have where you can put your snowshoes (see link), and why Canadian houses still have them even though most Canadians don’t use snowshoes regularly anymore.
These examples will be useful for you in your Paragraph Blog post for this week.
We will also review the writing process I talked about with you a few weeks ago, as a preparatory step for your Midterm Exam.
Finally, we discussed the Homework Assignment for this week, your Process Explanation Video. (See the bottom of this page.)
Paragraph Practice
For this week’s Paragraph Practice, write a Definition Paragraph explaining a fake thing from your culture—one of the things you came up with during your brainstorming session. It can be a food, a holiday, a tradition, a type of clothing or structure, or anything you want. The examples I shared were fake Canadian cultural features, but I made them all up! However, it would be fun to write a Definition Paragraph defining them to shock and amaze non-Canadians who might not realize they’re fake!
Have fun making up something in your own culture that someone from another culture might not realize is fake. Your goal here is to write a definition that does all three of the following things:
- It contains enough details to make it believable.
- It is ridiculous and could not be real.
- It is funny.
This is a challenge, but hopefully a fun one. It’s also a great way to practice the Q&A Method I explained in the first Non-Textbook Related Video for this today, since imagining what questions someone would ask will help you to invent facts about this imaginary thing.
Do your best, and don’t stress out about it being perfect or believable: trying and having fun with the exercise is the important part.