Practice

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Just a reminder. All of you are expected to write an essay:

C1 students: 250 words on homeless people or gun control

B2 students: 150-200 words on any of the topics in Exercise 4C on page 101 of the textbook

And now today's post:

What happened to the Titanic? Yes. I know you know the story (who doesn’t?) but… Could you report it in acceptable English? Just bear in mind that, in order to tell the story successfully, you need to tackle at the very least the three points below:

1. WHAT was the Titanic? You should use any one of these words: boat, ship, vessel, liner…
2. What did she DO? Your options can include phrases such as: she hit an iceberg, she collided with an iceberg, she struck an iceberg…
3. What HAPPENED to her afterward? You may say: she sank, she went down, she foundered…

Clearly those three elements are absolutely key. Okay. Let’s take a gander at an “official” version of the accident. Here are the first lines of the Wikipedia article on the Titanic:

RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean in the early morning hours of 15 April 1912, after it collided with an iceberg during its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York City.

Okay. It might not be necessary to mention that it was her maiden voyage but you do get my point, don’t you?

Sometimes we think we can tell a simple story just because the plot seems uncomplicated and straightforward enough but the truth is that even the most basic story demands the use of a limited but specific set of terms. If I say that one particular tale features a “big bad wolf that wants to eat both a little girl and the food she carries in her basket” chances are you know exactly that I’m referring to “Little Red Riding Hood”. So, go and practice. Tell someone a story. Here are some ideas: what happened on August 15, 1947? what happened on September 11, 2001 in New York City? what happened on October 1, 2017 in Catalonia? Can you give an account of the basic elements?

You may find yourselves at a loss for words. It happens. So first make sure you jot down those necessary words before you begin to think about opening your mouth. The rest is practice. Just practice. Seriously, only practice. Some people believe that there is a chromosome makes it possible to excel at story-telling but I think it's all a matter of practice. Just practice. Plain and simple: practice. You know, practice. Remember... practice.