The teacherd’s

handbook
Of writing
FOR STUDENTS WHO STRUGGLE WITH IT

@teacherd._
 INTRODUCTION
WELCOME TO THIS WRITING HANDBOOK
Honestly, I have no clue on how to start this introduction because
I would have never thought about writing something for people to
read, other than my students. I think a good way of starting may be
to tell you about my relationship with writing. But telling you that
I used to suck and still feel I do would not be very charming. I can
also tell you why I started teaching writing, which is closely linked
to the first statement: I used to write horribly and when I was
offered the head teacher position in a writing course at college, I
wanted to prove myself I had improved. Teaching how to write has been
a wonderful experience mostly because it was healing. Yeap, who would
have imagined that teaching how to write could bring about
resilience.

I have struggled with writing my whole life. It was not something

that bothered me until I reached college. Then, I realized writing
was key to mastering a language and that training this skill was
extremely difficult for me. I would always fail my writing tasks and
get confusing and even ill-intended feedback that did nothing but
frustrate me. My writing teachers did not help me at all, I had to be
my own teacher and I do not want this to happen to you. But… life is
not fair, especially academic life, so if you are struggling with
your writing courses now I can only tell you that sooner or later you
will thrive. Get to know yourself as a writer through practice and
always remember that you are doing your best and that is something to
be proud of. Keep it up!

My college years of suffering, tons of paper used, and liters of

shed tears taught me some things that I would like to share with you:

● Writing is a skill that needs to be fragmented to be properly

trained. The sentential and the suprasentential levels come
into play in such a way that training everything at once is
useless and overwhelming. Sometimes you need to focus on
grammar, others on vocabulary, use of language, genre
structures, logic, etc.
 ● Detailed, individualized feedback is necessary. Unfortunately
(I know this first hand), writing courses are crammed with
students and it is extremely difficult for teachers to give
proper feedback. We end up giving general feedback and
instructions without making a close up to every writing and
the student behind it. I found that the best way of tackling
this problem is to teach my students to be more independent.
Needless to say, this is not the same as leaving them alone
with no guidance.
● Language use is a key aspect of writing so we should never
lose focus on this. Most of the time the grammar used in a
text is ok but something sounds off. This is because language
use is not properly trained and left aside to place focus on
other aspects of writing.
● We need to be careful with confusing writing skills with
creativity. Many writing teachers ask students to write a
story out of the blue without bearing in mind that some people
do not have the talent to improvise stories. This does not
mean that they are bad at writing, it simply means they do not
have interesting (?) anecdotes to tell and that should not
cost them a writing course at college. The same logic applies
to the writing of argumentative texts without background
research allowed.
● Input is great for developing language skills but not enough.
In order to improve your writing skills, you need to write.
Even if there is no one around to read your productions.

Without further ado, I just want to say that this handbook is meant
to give you some tools but mostly prompts to start writing what you
want and how you want to. This contribution is in no way meant to
outline a “proper” or “better” way of writing nor to train you for
language exams. The handouts are supposed to introduce you to
different fields of writing, have a laugh, ponder over some serious
issues, and express yourself through writing.

I hope you enjoy reading and using the handouts as much as I did
writing them. If you are a teacher, tell me later if you used them
in class. I would love to know!

Thanks for being interested in what I do!

Love, Jaz.
 Why Writing?
INTRODUCTION
Let’s start this class by asking a very simple (simple?) question:
Why do we write? There are many theories around this. In case nobody
has told you this before, we will start this course by stating that
writing is a human invention. Unlike language, which is an inborn
human ability (according to Generativism), writing is a human-made
system, the visual representation of a language. It is mind blowing
to think that people like us, thousands of years ago, came up with
such a revolutionary tool. Because writing, such as language if you
follow a Functional approach, is a tool, like many and any others.

If we trace back the invention of writing to the Ancient Egyptians

(there are many birthplaces for different writing systems, though),
there was controversy among the different gods (let’s believe they
actually existed and had this argument) because they believed writing
implied laziness. People would not be doing so much effort to
remember or incorporate ideas if writing existed. Thus, writing
implies the decay of brain and memory use. It was not a tool but a
weapon, some sort of ticking bomb.

Like it or not, writing proliferated and enabled human evolution.

Humankind 1, Egyptian gods 0. So, going back to the opening question:
Why do we write? Let’s see if you come up with an answer after this
class.

DISCOURSE GENRES
Reflect upon the following definition of genre:

Genre Written by Joseph M. Moxley

Genres reflect shared textual expectations and values (e.g., respect for intellectual
property) between readers and writers. Genres reflect the histories, activities, and values
of discourse communities (aka communities of practitioners). Use genre knowledge to
communicate clearly and persuasively.
Retrieved from https://writingcommons.org/section/genre/
 In other words, genre is the classification one text (or piece of
discourse) will fall into depending on the characteristics it has. Or
is it the other way round? We may state that because a text belongs
to X genre, it follows certain conventions inherent to that genre.
Nevertheless, we know that genres and conventions go hand by hand.
For instance, we expect that a theater play has acts and dialogues, a
research paper has an abstract, and that a recipe is divided into
steps.

There are different written discourses: explanatory or academic,

descriptive, opinion, and narrative. In this class we will focus on
the last one.

If we take into account the notion of genre we may agree on some

premises when it comes to narrative writing:

● You are telling a story. In other words, a sequence of events

that have chronological order and logic.
● Stories have a beginning and an ending and this needs to be
clearly stated.
● Stories are worth telling: You are not going to tell an
irrelevant story. There is a purpose for telling it: to make
people laugh, cry, or learn a lesson.
● Stories are meant to be told and enjoyed by an audience. Never
forget that (in narrative writing) you are writing for someone
to read your production.

To learn more about writing genres, check this article: The 5

Types of Writing Styles with Examples | Skillshare Blog

LANGUAGE AND GRAMMAR

In English, you may write a story using the present or the past
tenses. Tense shift (the chaotic use of tenses) is a very common
mistake in L2 writers. Luckily, this is easy to solve through
practice.

Usually, L2 writers of English are told to write in the past tense.

The reason for this is, in my opinion, that there are fewer tenses to
worry about once you set your story in the past tense. However, it is
not wrong nor impossible to tell a story in the present tense.

Here’s a grammar box that will be helpful to structure and organize

your writing process:

● Use the past simple to tell the main events.

● Structure the events in chronological order. Give
yourself time and practice before playing with
timelines.
If your ● Resort to the past perfect to tell whatever
happened before the main events. (Do not overuse
story is this structure. Most of the time, you can rearrange
sentences and imply the order of events without
written in using the perfective aspect.)
the past ● Use the past continuous to signal processes, long
periods of time, or interrupted actions.
● Bear in mind the tense shifts needed in reported
speech.
● Do not use the present tense (simple, continuous,
perfect, or perfect continuous.)

● Write the main events in the present simple.

● If you need to refer to past events, use the past
If your simple (for finished and time-specific events) or
the present perfect (for unfinished, unspecified,
story is recent events, or those with visible consequences
in the present) if necessary.
written in ● Use the present continuous to signal processes,
long periods of time, or interrupted actions.
the present ● Bear in mind the tense shifts needed in reported
speech.
● There is no need to use past perfect if you are
writing in the present tense.
 INSTRUCTION
I want you to theorize on the origins of writing. You can resort to
your imagination or do some research. You will write a story that
accounts for the origins of writing. Feel free to make up characters
and contexts because the story does not have to be real nor
plausible. Let your imagination flow. However, always remember that
our story has to make chronological sense. That is the aspect of
writing we are focusing on this week. In case you have any doubt, you
can contact your teacher and/or your classmates.

WORD LIMIT: Up to 500 WORDS.

 From enemies to lovers
“You look like you’re cycling through a lot of things right now.”

“Like what?”

“Like whether you should kiss me or punch me.”

“It’s a daily struggle.”

― Dating You / Hating You by Christina Lauren

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INTRODUCTION TO POETRY

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Poetry is a genre that has been used to express all sorts of
emotions and ideas throughout human history. The first type of poems
are thought to be epic poems. To learn more about the history of
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poetry, check A Brief History of Poetry, The Origins and Power of
Poetry, and The Historical Timeline of Poetry.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, poetry is “literature that evokes a

concentrated imaginative awareness of experience or a specific emotional response
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through language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound, and rhythm.”

Let’s focus on the last three terms because they are what make
poetry so beautiful yet so complex. Meaning, sound, and rhythm are
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intertwined in such a way that reading poetry becomes not a mental

but a sensory experience. Mainly through sounds, the poet makes the
message come across our minds and bodies.
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Since poetry is a sensory experience, I will resort to videos to

show you how it works. First, watch The pleasure of poetic pattern -
David Silverstein to understand how rhythm makes poetry.

Poetry is a genre that uses its own very characteristic and

specific tools to convey meaning. These are called rhetorical
devices. Repetition, alliteration, and rhyme, as mentioned in the
video, are some examples. Another very common rhetorical device is
the metaphor. Here’s a video to understand how metaphors work: The
art of the metaphor - Jane Hirshfield
 All these “tools” come into play to make one piece of discourse
that sends a message, usually related to strong feelings and
emotions. Poems are usually associated with love but this is not the
only theme poetry deals with. Of course, reading Shakespeare’s sonnet
18 may trick us into believing poems are mainly about love but there
are many other poets besides Shakespeare. There are several writings
about subjects other than love and even anti-love poems.

FUN FACT: the word “poetess” was used for female poets but it fell
out of use. Nowadays, when we say “poet”, we imply both genders.

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Since I am about to end this section, I must clarify: This
introduction is meant to make you closer to this genre. However, it

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is an extremely brief and reductionist explanation of what poetry is
and stands for in our culture. Spoiler alert: I am not going to ask
you to write a complex poem from scratch, unless you want to try.
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If you are still doubtful about the fact that poetry is a sensory
experience, watch this experiment with Whitman’s poem “A Noiseless
Patient Spider”.

“FROM ENEMIES TO LOVERS”: THE LATEST? TOXIC TREND

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If you have watched movies like Pride and Prejudice, Clueless, The
Proposal, 10 Things I Hate about you, Divergent, How to Lose a Man in
10 Days, and the latest, hideous The Kissing Booth, you are
acquainted with this “enemies to lovers” repeated and overused trope.
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I want to place special emphasis on how stories like this tend to

naturalize toxic and violent relations.

Here you have an article that analyzes this topic in more depth: Is
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the Enemies-to-Lovers Trope Harmful to Inexperienced Adolescents?

Nonetheless, I profited from this kind of story to come up with

your writing prompts.

INSTRUCTIONS
I will provide different options and you will choose one. Before we
start, here is some aid on how to write a poem: LEARN How to Write a
Poem in just 3 MINUTES!! | Gawa ni Kahel. The idea is that you learn
from the process of writing. Nobody is asking you to write an amazing
poem. Don’t put too much pressure on yourselves.

1. FROM ENEMIES TO LOVERS.

a. Write a poem to someone you hate.
b. Write a poem to someone you hate but in the middle you
realize you love.
2. Take two poems from the “Anti-love” section and merge them
into one. This means you can take lines from both and combine
them as you wish to make your own version. Feel free to
include new words and lines of your own. Play with the poems.

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If you go for this exercise, please, paste the two poems you chose to work
with so that I can compare them with your production.
3. Make a list about characteristics a person MUST have for you

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to date them. Then turn that list into a poem or a poem-like
text.
4. Make a list about characteristics a person MUST NOT have to
date you. In other words, list red flags. Then turn that list
into a poem or a poem-like text.
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 Further Greenwich

INTRODUCTION
If I ask you to think about Chinese, Japanese, and Korean cultures,
what comes to your mind? Probably Mulan, anime, k-pop, and some
stereotypical images associated with the East. In this class we are

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going to learn more about these cultures by analyzing their
literature.

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Literature is a valuable tool to understand a society’s culture.
Through writers’ lenses we can understand what customs and traditions
are installed but also what ideas are/were challenged. Literature
does not innocently and dettachedly portray society, it analyzes and
even criticizes it.
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The word folklore may have already come to your mind. And if not,
now it has. (I love the power of language to insert ideas and images
in your mind) Probably because this word comes in handy when talking
about literature and culture. According to the Oxford Dictionary
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“folklore” means:

“the traditional beliefs, customs, and stories of a community, passed through the
generations by word of mouth.”
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When we take a closer look at the word’s etymology, we can see that
“folklore” is the combination of “folk” and “lore”. “Folk” means
“relating to the traditional art or culture of a community or nation
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and relating to or originating from the beliefs and opinions of

ordinary people.” “Lore”, similarly, means “a body of traditions and
knowledge on a subject or held by a particular group, typically
passed from person to person by word of mouth.”

So folklore may be the best genre to approach a culture we know

little about. No, binge watching anime does not make you an expert on
Japanese culture. And, yes, I used the word “genre” but I was not
referring to discourse genre, I was talking about literary genres.
 Here’s a playlist with different folk stories from those places
further Greenwich. Enjoy them and travel without having to pack your
underwear and thinking about your credit card debt.

Further Greenwich Playlist

INSTRUCTION

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You are going to choose one of the stories from the playlist and
adapt the audiovisual version to a written production. You can write
it as a short story, a theater play, a poem, or any genre you feel

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comfortable with.

WORD LIMIT: Up to 500 WORDS.

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 Freedom
of Speech?
INTRODUCTION
Google the word “opinionated”, I’ll wait… Ready? So… it is a

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pejorative term for someone who has strong feelings about certain
topics. But, why is having a strong opinion on a topic seen as
something negative? Let’s try to find it out together.

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There is nothing wrong with having a strong opinion on certain
issues or even changing it when confronted with arguments and
evidence that prove a different point than yours. Personally, what I
DO reject is when people form rushed and unfounded opinions based on
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their biased, uninformed, uneducated, and reductionist view of the
world. *Jazmín is getting angrier as she is writing this
introduction.*

There are some problems that I have

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noticed in my adulthood related to
opinions and arguments: 1. People are lazy
and skip all the research stage before
stating an opinion so they leave that task
to the media or their social circles and
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we know how that ends. 2. POSTMODERNISM.

Which takes me to: 2a. People do not trust
the system so they end up not getting
information from any source because they
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deem all institutions untrustworthy and

manipulative; and 2b. They took the
postmodern premise that “everything is
relative” to delusional extremes. No, everything is not relative and
changing your opinion as if it were underwear does not mean you are
an informed and open-minded person, quite the contrary.

It is ok to build our opinions on some non-changing premises, for

example: human rights. It is ok to trust institutions even when they
are flawed. For example, the academic world. And it is ok to point
out when someone’s opinion is simply wrong. In case you are afraid of
being the irrational one when stating your opinions (we have all
been there, probably), watch this video: Do politics make us
irrational? - Jay Van Bavel

One phrase that I have been hearing a lot recently is “I have the
right to have an opinion, any opinion, because my freedom of speech
is a human right”. Let’s see where this fallacy comes from so next
time you hear this, you can confront (if you want to) these people
with some facts.

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The Declaration of Human Rights does, in fact, protect freedom of
speech, in article 19:

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“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes
freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”
However, many countries have adapted this article1 so as to control
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the rise of intolerance and hate speech. Freedom of speech is
limited. And that is perfectly reasonable.
Because freedom of speech comes at a high
cost: to invest time in staying properly
informed.
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What I want to emphasize in this introduction

is that I would always celebrate that you
train your critical thinking skills and form
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opinions. But I want you to understand that

forming an opinion is not child’s play: it
should be taken seriously and done
responsibly. Together we are going to see how
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to do so properly.

STRUCTURE
There are some conventions over opinion and argumentative essays.
Here’s a guideline on how to write this type of text. Keep in mind
that many other formats are possible, I’m just providing one for you
to organize your ideas easier.

1
Article 19 - Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70
Artículo 19: libertad de opinión y expresión | Noticias ONU
 All essays start and end (dah),
thus, they have an introduction
and a conclusion. Introductions
contain background or general
information on the topic that is
going to be discussed. For
instance: Vegetarianism. We will
also find the topic sentence or
thesis statement there. This
sentence shows your opinion (the

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one you are going to back up in
the essay). “Vegetarianism is
proven to be good for your health,

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your home economy, and the environment” could be a good opening.

Between the introduction and the conclusion we will write the body
of the essay. This section contains the arguments (ideas) that back
up what you wrote in your thesis statement. You can (and should)
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organize your essay following categories of analysis. This means,
subtopics of the main topic. In this case, the topic would be
“vegetarianism” and the subtopics “health”, “home economy”, and “the
environment”. Each subtopic will take a paragraph. And how do we fill
those paragraphs in? With more ideas that build on the main ideas or
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categories of analysis, examples, hypothetical scenarios, facts and
data (from trustworthy sources), etc.

To round up your essay, you will need a conclusion. Usually,

conclusions paraphrase the main ideas of the body. In that way, you
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are making emphasis on proving your point. Conclusions can also

contain warnings, reflections, rhetorical questions,
suggestions or advice, and any other rhetorical
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device useful to leave an impact on the reader.

Read this article on vegetarianism and see how

pro writers organize their ideas when writing
argumentative essays: Why I Started Eating Meat
Again After 17 Years of Vegetarianism | by Meredith
Kirby | Human Parts
Here’s more guidance on argumentative writing:
How to Write a Good Argumentative Essay: Easy
Step-by-Step Guide - 2022 - MasterClass
 And since your critical thinking skills are key for you to
build an informed opinion, here you have some videos to train
them:

CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS PLAYLIST

INSTRUCTION

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Guess what! You are writing an argumentative essay!
Choose any topic that gets your attention, for example:
vegetarianism, and write an essay stating and supporting

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your opinion on that topic. If you have trouble thinking
about your thesis statement, let me know. Writing this
type of essay could be difficult and frustrating so I’m
here to help.
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 It’s my opinion
INTRODUCTION
This class is clearly linked with the previous one. In
case you have not read the handout, here it is:
CLASS 4_ Freedom of Speech_ .pdf

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I remember being told in college that when writing an argumentative
essay you must have a clear cut opinion and die with it (at least in
the essay). This meant that there was no room for open-mindedness. I

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guess it was a teaching strategy for us to focus on how to write for
that course’s purposes and not the truth of argumentative writing.

Of course, when you get to the point of writing a text containing

an opinion you strongly believe in, you will not change your mind in
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the middle of your production. But you might in the prewriting
process and even with the passing of time.

Prewriting is a very important step in the writing process because

that is where you gather, classify, and select ideas. And it is in
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this step where you may find out that your opinion is wrong. Remember
that last class we talked about backing arguments up with data and
more arguments? In the prewriting process you may do research on the
topic depending on how knowledgeable you are about the subject
matter. Sometimes you find out while you are structuring your ideas
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that you are missing the point of the debate or that you are simply
wrong. That is why prewriting is vital. When we handle the ideas and
concepts beforehand, it is simpler for us to see what the logical
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connections between them are (or not) and if we are on the right
path.

What about changing your mind over time? I’ve written essays I
strongly disagree with now and that’s fine. This means I’m learning
and rethinking my stance on certain issues. What should not change is
the internal consistency of the essays I wrote. That is what my
teachers meant with “you must be right all the time”. However, as I
stated in the previous handout, you should “sound right” but your
opinion does not need to be radical. I appreciate those writers who
say “I adhere to this view but I do not agree with these specific
ideas”. For instance, “I believe college education must be public but
we need to take measures to make the system less bureaucratic” or
“Welfare programs are necessary for people to survive in times of
struggle but they do not solve the problem of poverty.” Here’s a very
interesting video that talks about this last issue:
Why is it so hard to escape poverty? - Ann-Helén Bay

One last thing… and I’m repeating myself here but I need to make
this clear: In order to write good, interesting, and enriching
argumentative texts, you must know about the topic you are writing

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about. How on Earth are you going to provide insightful opinions if
you know little about the subject matter? Do research and you’ll see
how easier it becomes to write your opinion on any topic.

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INSTRUCTION
OPTION A: Choose one of the following
tweets and comments and write an
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argumentative essay replying to them.
Remember to write a thesis statement and
then supporting arguments to make your
point clear.
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OPTION B: Choose a tweet that is not
in this handout (it could be in Spanish)
and write an essay about it. Quote the
tweet so that I know what you are
writing about.
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 Shrek did it!
INTRODUCTION
Fairytales are well known for depicting classical ideas on gender
roles, romantic love, and sexuality. However, they were also used as
cautionary tales for the children of the time (Little Red Riding Hood
and Hansel and Gretel are two examples of this trend). So, to

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understand fairy tales we need to understand the world that birthed
them. One question that I have been pondering over is: Is it
necessary to adapt fairy tales or should we understand them as the

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product of a historical period?

People celebrate and/or (yes, sometimes both) complain about the

fact that nowadays fairytales are rewritten and updated to meet
present-day standards, debates, and worldviews (this always thinking
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from a Western perspective, right?). Gender roles and romantic,
heterosexual love are the most controversial aspects that are usually
discussed and redefined. But has this happened nowadays only?

There is a movie that rests in all

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millennials’ hearts and that is 2001 Shrek.
This animated comedy tells the story of an
ogre who lives in a fantasy world inhabited
by all the characters we thought we knew
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from classic fairy tales. What makes Shrek a

masterpiece, among the humor, the catch
phrases, the voiceovers, the soundtrack, and
the plotline is that it elegantly and
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effortlessly redefined the classical roles

assigned to the different folk characters.
Shrek played with the idea of villains and
what moves them but also with the concept of
family, royalty, gender roles, sexuality,
and gender identity. Quite revolutionary for
a 21-year-old movie, right?

Why wasn’t there so much fuss about Shrek at the time? Maybe
because we were not so receptive and as alert as we are nowadays. In
recent years, we have developed a sharper sight to identify when
narratives are altered. Either because you think they are necessary
or because you become indignant about these adaptations, you become
aware of them. And that is highly positive because debate has been
installed.

Debate has got to the point where a mother in the UK demanded that
The Sleeping Beauty be removed from schools’ curricula because the
princess did not consent to being kissed. She (The Sleeping Beauty,
not the lady) was asleep so it was quite difficult for her to have a
say in that situation. For today’s standards, it is wrong to kiss
someone who cannot consent, even if you think they want to be kissed.

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And I think that policy is perfectly reasonable. Some agreed with the
lady, others mocked her, and many did not understand how far this

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practice of changing and banning stories will go. (I must say I do
not like the idea of banning anything) I belong to the first and the
third group. Where do you stand?

I believe it is intellectually cultivating to discuss

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these issues, even if we don’t reach the same conclusions.
For some, fairytales are a product of the past and we
should read them and remember that the world they portrayed
is gone (Is it, though?). For others, we should rethink and
reshape absolutely every product of the past and that's ok
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as well. Both practices can coexist, even in the same
person. Sometimes I like to talk about all the red flags
Prince Charming has. And others, I enjoy dreaming about
being saved from a tower and becoming a princess. All of us
do not need to be revisionists all the time. While I enjoy
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a classical movie, someone else is writing the script of a

new version of a feminist, empowered Cinderella. And maybe,
when that person is crying over The Notebook, I’m
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discussing gender roles in class. We can take turns so that the fight
against the status quo doesn’t turn exhausting and we don’t become so
uptight.

FROM THE NARRATIVE GENRE TO THEATER PLAYS

Theater plays have been written since ancient Greece and the format
has never fallen out of use. The narrative genre could also be found
around those times although it was not meant to be read in the way we
do nowadays. Stories in both formats were meant to be heard (remember
the oral tradition of storytelling) and in the case of theater plays,
acted out.

Theater plays have very characteristic elements that make this

genre easy to recognize. The story is told through dialogues, that is
to say, interactions among characters. However, many plays
(Shakespeare’s Hamlet, for instance) contain soliloquies, long
monologues delivered by one character. Here’s an exquisite summary of
Shakespeare’s Hamlet:

Hamlet (Shakespeare) - Thug Notes Summary and …

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Plays are divided into acts the same way movies
have scenes. Each act contains dialogues and

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interactions among the present characters and they
can exit or enter the act as it is necessary for
the plot to continue. There are some written
he descriptions besides dialogues but they are used
to describe settings and actions that cannot be
inferred from what is said. For example: “She
touched her hand”.

If we focus on grammar, we need to bear in mind

that knowing direct and reported speech becomes a valuable tool for
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playwriting. If you need to revise how reported speech works, check
here: Reported Speech. Theater plays are one of the few instances
where direct speech is used in most of the work and fits perfectly.
This is not so common in narrative writing. If you read a novel full
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of inverted commas, you will feel that the structure is quite odd.
This has to do with the conventions we discussed in our first class,
remember? If you don’t, here it is:
CLASS 1_ Why Writing_ - SAMPLE.pdf
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INSTRUCTION
OPTION A: Choose at least two scenes from Shrek and
rewrite them as a theater play. If you want to, you
can do the whole movie but I know that would be very
time-consuming.

OPTION B: Choose any fairytale and rewrite it as a

theater play. You can change plot details and come up
with your own version or stick to the original one.
 “Am I a Buendía?”

“What does he say?' he asked.

'He’s very sad,’ Úrsula answered, ‘because he thinks that you’re going to die.'

'Tell him,' the colonel said, smiling, 'that a person doesn’t die when he should but when he

._
can.”

― Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

rd
INTRODUCTION
he
Read the following fragment from One Hundred Years of Solitude and
think, is this possible to happen?

“A trickle of blood came out under the door, crossed the living room, went out into the street,
continued on in a straight line across the uneven terraces, went down steps and climbed over
curbs, passed along the Street of the Turks, turned a corner to the right and another to the left,
ac
made a right angle at the Buendía house, went in under the closed door, crossed through the
parlor, hugging the walls so as not to stain the rugs, went on to the other living room, made a
wide curve to avoid the dining-room table, went along the porch with the begonias, and passed
without being seen under Amaranta's chair as she gave an arithmetic lesson to Aureliano José,
and went through the pantry and came out in the kitchen, where Úrsula was getting ready to
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crack thirty-six eggs to make bread.

"Holy Mother of God!" Úrsula shouted.”

@

The answer is: No, it’s not. A trickle of blood does not have the
agency to move around rooms as it pleases. However, when you read
about it in the fragment, the narrator never makes this phenomenon
sound supernatural or extraordinary. That’s the beauty of magical
realism: When magical events are inserted in a mundane world and
nobody in the narrative is surprised about that.

If you watched Encanto, one of Disney’s latest releases, you have

already experienced a bit of what magical realism is about.
Basically, magical realist stories show how Latin American families
lead their lives conditioned by the historical and political context
(wars, dictatorships, imperialism, and cyclical economic crisis),
strong cultural influences (indigenous and colonial), and magical
elements that spice up the plot.

Since I consider myself someone very

interested in history and politics, I
find magical realism pleasing on two
levels: The isolated plotline (how the
mundane gets interrupted yet unaltered
by magical elements) and the criticism

._
of what colonialism did AND STILL DOES
to Latin America. Magical realism is

rd
considered by some as a celebration of
Latin American identity. But we must
not forget that our identity is soaked
in blood. We are the result of a
genocidal process that costed not only
he the lives of millions but also their
culture (their language, their
religion, their customs). Present Latin
American culture and identity is not
the innocent blending of two
ac
civilizations that met 500 years ago,
it is the surviving traces of the
indigenous people who have endured the slaughter of colonial rule.
And magical realism portrays and denounces this.
te

To understand more about magical realism, here’s an article that

fully explains this literary movement: Magical Realism - Definition
and Examples
@

In my experience, I must say that magical realism is easier to

understand if experienced. This is why this handout is going to be
full of references to novels and short stories instead of having
paragraphs full of void explanations written by me, just a fan far
from being an expert. Here’s a very good article with 11 FAQs about
magic realism that will clear some of your doubts: 11 questions
you're too embarrassed to ask about magical realism - Vox. However,
as I have just stated, magic realism is better understood when you
experience it. So go grab a book!
 LATIN AMERICAN WRITERS
Whenever we discuss this literary
movement, we must mention Gabriel
García Marquez. Many of his novels
and short stories fuse the magical
and the mundane to keep readers
immersed in these fantastic
(“magical” if we want to be precise
with the terminology) stories. A

._
Hundred Years of Solitude is his
masterpiece but not the only magical
realist story he wrote. Others such

rd
as A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
and Light is like Water (my favorite short story) are beautiful
narratives for you to start exploring the world of magical realism.

If you are interested in reading A Hundred Years of Solitude, the

he
following videos will come in handy:

100 Years of Solitude Part 1: Crash Course Literature 306

100 Years of Solitude Part 2: Crash Course Literature 307

ac
Why should you read "One Hundred Years of Solitude"? - Francisc…

One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel García Márquez) - Thug N…

Other authors considered part of this movement are: Juan Rulfo, who
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wrote Pedro Páramo and The Burning Plane; Isabel Allende, who gave us
The House of the Spirits; and the amazing Jorge Luis Borges, who
wrote, among many other stories, The Aleph and Other Stories.
@

Other non-Latin American authors are considered part of the magical

realist movement but I decided to focus on those in Latin America.
There is still a lot of controversy among what magical realism
exactly is and who represents this movement. For instance, writers
from European countries (the colonizers) who claim to write magical
realist stories are accused of committing cultural appropriation.
Since that debate is completely open and unsettled, I am not going to
focus on it because it just fuels quarrels between literary critics
instead of celebrating how many beautiful narratives were born after
so much suffering. Colonizer or not, google the Buendía family tree
and start reading.

INSTRUCTION
OPTION A: Read the short story “A Noisy
Neighbor” and change the plot so that magical
elements are included in it. Also, add an ending to
the story, a resolution to the problem.

OPTION B: Insert yourself as a character in the

._
short story The Book of Sand by Jorge Luis Borges.
You can take the place of one of the two characters
or be someone else. I suggest that you copy and

rd
paste the original script and highlight your intervention with a
different color.
he
ac
te
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 Breaking News

INTRODUCTION
What is news? From a grammatical perspective news is an uncountable
noun, just like “water”. So we will always say “news IS…” Having

._
stated this, I will draw another parallelism with water. News is also
like water in the sense that it flows naturally. This could be a
blessing or a curse depending on how good we are at controlling this

rd
flow. News could save us from information droughts or drown us in a
flood of fake news.

To better understand what news is and their origin read the

following article: A Brief History of News.
he
MEDIA LITERACY, FAKE NEWS, AND
SENSATIONALISM
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It sounds quite obvious to say that
news is a double-edged sword but seeing
the consequences the manipulation of
information brings unto society I think
it is always necessary to go back to this
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premise: The ill-intentioned use of news

is extremely dangerous.

According to The Oxford Dictionary,

@

“sensationalism” is the presentation of

stories in a way that is intended to
provoke public interest or excitement, at
the expense of accuracy. In the past,
sensationalism was looked down upon and
even punished. Nowadays, it seems as if
it is a must in news articles writing.

How can we deal with fake news and misinformation? That’s a

question I’m still pondering over. I have read loads of articles and
watched documentaries but I still have no clue on how to deal with
this phenomenon but through fostering media literacy.

Media literacy is the ability to analyze the content of media

messages that they receive and send so as to be critical and not
gullible whenever they are presented with tampered information.

To understand more about media literacy check this website: What is

Media Literacy? I still think media literacy is not enough but at
least it is a good start.

._
For you to become acquainted with the dark side of news and social
networks, I strongly recommend that you watch the Netflix

rd
documentary: The Social Dilemma to understand how fake news operates
and erodes the foundations of democracy and society. Many present day
political tensions can be traced back to the manipulation of news and
social networks. In case you want to see what it is about, here’s the
he
trailer: The Social Dilemma | Official Trailer | Netflix

TRADITIONAL NEWS ARTICLE

STRUCTURE
ac
We have all studied the structure of
news articles at school but I believe
that format is changing toward a
simpler, more direct, one. I still
te

cannot decide if that is positive or

not. Still, I think it is necessary to
know both, the traditional structure and
the abridged, social network version.
@

If we analyze the picture on the

right, you will notice that we are
telling a real story. We are reporting
on what happened basing our explanation
on what other people witnessed. The aim
of a news article should be to report
events in the most transparent and
trustworthy way possible.
 Of course, it would be naive to think that it is possible to be
objective even when reporting events. Everything is biased. However,
there are ways in which we can detach from whatever we are describing
to be as objective as possible. I hate it when people excuse their
uncontrolled bias and ignorance by claiming that objectivity is
unattainable.

NEWS IN SOCIAL NETWORKS

Have you noticed that newspapers are changing the format of their

._
news stories when they publish them on social media? They usually
keep the title and write a very short, reductionist explanation of
whatever happened. The title is usually

rd
written in CAPITAL LETTERS AND USES
SHOCKING WORDS. It feels as if someone is
yelling at you. Sources are dropped and
the language used is extremely vague,
unclear, and sensationalist. Knowing that
he this is done on purpose is developing
media literacy. It is easier to write
news when nobody asks for sources. And it
is even easier to make people react to
news that is presented in a way that hits
ac
raw nerves. Bear this in mind next time
you are scrolling on social media and bump into news stories.

INSTRUCTION
te

OPTION A: GOOD NEWS! Choose a recent event that

will bring joy and write a news article reporting
it.
@

OPTION B: Make a family newspaper and make a

story about any of the members (even pets).

OPTION C: Write a news article on any topic you

want.

NOTE FOR BOTH OPTIONS: The format could be the

traditional or the abridged version for social
media.

Word limit: 350 words.

 Not even Orwell…
INTRODUCTION
What do Cinderella and The Handmaid’s Tale have in common?

Speculative fiction is a literary “super genre,” which encompasses

a number of different genres of fiction, each with speculative

._
elements that are based on conjecture and do not exist in the real
world. Sometimes called “what-if” books, speculative literature
changes the laws of what’s real or possible as we know them in our

rd
current society, and then speculates on the outcome.1

Genres from magical realism to science fiction fall into this

category. You can go back to our class on magical realism and see how
the different characteristics of speculative fiction are present.
he
I’ll wait. CLASS 7_Am I a Buendía__ .pdf

Within speculative fiction, we find science fiction, a genre that

ponders over (and warns about) the detrimental effects the
uncontrolled and unethical use of technological breakthroughs may
ac
have on society. When the story is set in a world where these
consequences have already taken place, we are reading a dystopia.
George Orwell’s 1984 and Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale are
clear examples of dystopian novels.
te

THE ATWOOD-LE GUIN DEBATE

There is controversy over the term
@

“speculative fiction”. In my case, I usually

associate the term with dystopian literature
because my literature classes followed Atwood’s
stand on this debate. One I dare to say she
started. If you are unfamiliar with Atwood’s
opinion on the term “speculative”, I will
explain it: she believes that speculative
fiction is a specific genre (not a broad
category) that contains stories that reflect on
1
What Is Speculative Fiction? Defining and Understanding the Different Genres of
Speculative Fiction - 2022 - MasterClass
what may happen in a dystopian future including elements that already
exist in the present (technology but also real life-inspired events).

Some articles that explain this debate in more depth are:

● What is Speculative Fiction? | Imagining the End

● Margaret Atwood on Science Fiction, Dystopias, and Intestinal
Parasites | WIRED
● Speculative or science fiction? As Margaret Atwood shows,
there isn't much distinction

._
SCIENCE FICTION AND DYSTOPIAS - MUST
READS

rd
The last half of the 20th century gave rise to
the most prominent dystopian science fiction
writers. Some of the novels you must read to
delve into this genre are: 1984 by George
he Orwell, Fahrenheit 451 from Ray Bradbury, The
Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, and
Slaughterhouse 5 from Kurt Vonnegut.

In this article you will find those and other

ac
books that deal with dystopian futures and the
problems that arouse in these disturbing
settings: The 30 Best Dystopian Novels Everyone
Should Read | Reedsy Discovery
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IS THE WORLD HEADING TOWARDS A DYSTOPIAN REALITY?

If you read Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale,
@

you will notice that everything that happens

in Gilead has happened in real life. This is
because Atwood purposefully chose historical
events to inspire this story. In Atwood’s
case, the resemblance to reality was
purposefully part of the narrative. However,
many writers have told stories that were not
true at the time they were published.

Orwell’s 1984 is a clear example:

government surveillance of citizens is part
of our everyday lives in 2022. Bradbury’s obsession with and aversion
to screens seemed quite exaggerated 50 years ago but makes total
sense now. So the inevitable question arises: Are we heading towards
the dystopian future these writers have been warning us about? The
answer is up to us… for two reasons: because we are the ones who can
see that we are, indeed, pushing the world to these apocalyptic
scenarios and because we are the ones who can do something about
this.

INSTRUCTION

._
Read one of the short stories in this list and
write an argumentative text (paragraph or essay)

rd
explaining whether we are (or not) heading towards
the reality depicted in the short story. In case you
need to revise how argumentative writing works,
here’s
he the handout:
CLASS 4_ Freedom of Speech_ .pdf

WORD LIMIT 350 WORDS

ac
te
@
 This is what dreams are
made of…
INTRODUCTION
Surrealism is one of the main and many artistic movements from the

._
early 1900. Founded by Andre Breton and inspired in psychoanalysis,
surrealism was meant to portray the human unconscious experience. If
we talk about psychoanalysis, of course we need to think about dreams

rd
and the human mind. For this movement, dreams were the key to
accessing the subconscious and fascinating raw material to inspire
art. Dreams or dream-like experiences filled canvases throughout
Europe showing us that our minds are deep, complex, beautiful, and
many times scary, creepy, and overwhelming places.
he
Surrealism was taken so seriously that there is even a manifesto
its founder wrote. Check it out! MANIFESTO OF SURREALISM.pdf

You may ask if there is a difference between surrealism and magical

ac
realism and, in my opinion, the difference can be traced to the
origin of both movements. In case you don’t remember much about
magical realism, here’s the class we had on it:
CLASS 7_ _Am I a Buendía__ .pdf
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Surrealism stems from the revolution and paradigm shift

psychoanalysis triggered whereas magical realism is born from the
political turmoil Latin America was going through. Surrealism seeks
@

to understand and represent the human psyche whereas magical realism

portrays the outside world denouncing the calamities of colonial
rule. The former operates on an internal, and (of course) mental
level -the individual human experience- whereas the latter deals with
societies and human interaction.

To understand better where surrealism comes from, watch this video:

Surrealism in 5 Minutes: Idea Behind the Art Movement
 WHAT IS SURREALIST LITERATURE?
This section was retrieved from: Surrealist Literature | Study.com

Imagine that you're having a dream. In this dream, you're walking along a path in the
woods. Everything seems pretty normal until you realize that the sky is green. Okay, that
seems odd, but you just keep on walking. Suddenly, the path you are on turns into a fashion
runway. You look down at what you're wearing, but you are distracted by your hands. Instead
of five fingers on each hand, you now have four fish sticks. You then hear a noise and look
out to the audience. You can hear and see people cheering you on, but these people don't

._
look quite right. Each person is at least 15 feet tall, and they all have mailboxes as heads. In
disbelief, you close your eyes for a second. When you open them, all of the 'people' suddenly
transform into millions of multi-colored butterflies. They are all flying towards you when

rd
you finally wake up.

he What a weird dream, right?

Just like some of our dreams,

surrealist literature takes us
into a completely different
world and is designed to seem
ac
unrealistic, bizarre, and
completely illogical.

Here are some of the major

elements associated with
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surrealist literature:

Imagery Juxtaposition–
●
This occurs when Surrealist writers juxtapose objects that are
@

not normally put together. An example from the above scenario

would be the giant people who have mailboxes for heads. At
first, it may seem as if these objects or images are
completely unrelated. However, after further analysis, one can
see a unique connection between the two objects.

● Association– This connection between two seemingly dissimilar

objects is known as association, and it is meant to make
readers think about things in an entirely different way. An
example of this can be found in the poem Central Heating. In
 this poem, poet Pierre
Reverdy makes an
association between the
human heart and a central
heating unit.

● The Unconscious Mind–

Surrealist writers are
especially fascinated
with the unconscious
expanse of our thoughts,

._
and because of this, they
are interested in writing

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about and trying to
understand the depths of
the human mind. This is
also why Surrealist literature is normally set in a dream-like
world.
he
CHARACTERISTICS OF SURREALIST LITERATURE
Retrieved from: What is Surrealism in Literature? | Study.com
ac
Surrealism is meant to be strange and shocking. It is meant to push
the envelope in a way that forces people out of their comfortable
ideas, so much so that it has even been known to cause riots. While
the idea of surrealism is complex, surrealist literature does have
common characteristics
te

Surrealist literature will have

contrasting images or ideas. This
technique is used to help readers make
@

new connections and expand their reality,

or rather the reader's idea of what
reality is. They pull from Freudian ideas
of free association as a way to steer
readers away from societal influence and
open up the individual's mind.

Surrealism will use images and metaphors

to compel the reader to think deeper and
reveal subconscious meaning. Instead of
relying on plot, surrealist writers
instead focus on the characters, discovery, and imagery to force
readers to dig into their unconscious and analyze what they find.

Surrealism also uses poetic styles to create dreamlike and

fantastic stories that often defy logic. Rather than incorporate the
normal prosaic structure like linear plots and structured settings,
surrealism uses poetic techniques, like leaps in thinking (free
association), abstract ideas, and nonlinear timelines.

LOGICAL WRITING IN SURREALISM

._
So, if surrealism lacks logic, what
do we do when we write? Well… The fact
that surrealism lacks logic does not mean

rd
that writings do. Even if they belong to
this movement. The key to understanding
this is that we are not talking about the
same kind of logic. The illogical
he
component in surrealism is related to the
nature of the events and their connection
with the context and each other. In
writing, we can portray this and we are
not going against logic. It is said that
ac
there are problems with logic in writing
when the connection made between events
disrupts the expected sequencing. For instance, it will be hard to
follow your writing if you suddenly change the time or setting
te

without a proper transition. In the dream described above, the

narrator closed their eyes AND THEN the scenario changed. Can you see
what I mean? In surrealist literature logic governs how you tell the
story, not what happens in it.
@

INSTRUCTION
OPTION A: Choose one famous painting from any surrealist artist and
write a story set in that painting.

OPTION B: Track your dreams! Throughout the week, note down your
dreams as soon as you wake up. At the end of the week, write a story
based on one or many of those dreams.

WORD LIMIT: 350 WORDS

 Happy birthday!
INTRODUCTION
We all feel different about birthday celebrations: There are people
who love throwing parties, there are those who despise celebrating,
and those who feel nothing about that “special” date. What team are
you in?

._
I believe that what and how we feel about birthdays is obviously
associated with our personalities and life stories. For instance,

rd
many people have built their feelings and opinions on birthdays based
on their family history and traditions. If you come from a family
that loves to celebrate birthdays, the chances that you also love
them are quite high. So what makes birthdays a complex topic is that
they are closely linked to our family.
he
WHY DO WE CELEBRATE BIRTHDAYS?
I found a very interesting article on birthday
celebrations and one fact that blew my mind was
ac
that birthdays started as a form of protection from
evil spirits. It was believed you were more
vulnerable on that day and needed to be sheltered
from dark forces. I could have been more skeptical
te

about this in the past but after this last birthday

(I bled my uterus out), I certainly believe some
protection may be needed *laughs and cries*. Here’s
the article I just mentioned: How Did The Tradition
@

of Birthdays Begin? | Pump It Up.

HOROSCOPES
I know that regardless of what I write here, I may hit a raw nerve.
If you ask me if I trust the horoscope in a yes/no question, the
answer will be: No, I don’t believe in the horoscope. HOWEVER, I do
believe that the zodiac (it’s not the same) makes some sense. Not so
much in the predictions made but in the sense that planets and stars
affect us. Most importantly, I think that we need to respect what
others believe in as long as their view of the
universe does not affect us.

I think that the horoscope has great potential as

a tool to trigger introspection. When we are given a
profile based on our birth date, we are forced to
question ourselves if we are the way the zodiac
says. Either to embrace or reject what we are told,
we rethink who we are.

._
THE BARNUM EFFECT
Barnum Effect, also called Forer Effect, in psychology, the phenomenon that occurs

rd
when individuals believe that personality descriptions apply specifically to them (more so
than to other people), despite the fact that the description is actually filled with
information that applies to everyone. The effect means that people are gullible because
they think the information is about them only when in fact the information is generic.
he
This effect explains why horoscopes are written the way they are.
Let’s analyze the following prediction:
ac
te

Can you notice the vague language used to make you fill in with the
missing information? Who is “the person of your dreams”? What does it
mean “to heal emotionally”? Can that be one with a person? Can’t you
@

heal when you are single? Whatever happens in your love life, these
predictions fit most scenarios, unless you remain single. So the key
of the Forer effect is to state prediction vaguely enough to make
people fill in the plot holes with their own lives.

In case you want to learn more about the Barnum effect: Here are
some videos.

The Barnum Effect - Why Do People Believe In Horoscopes?

I gave fake personality tests, and people believed it.

 James Randi Debunks an Astrologer

James Randi Speaks: My Horoscope

WILL AND GOING TO

In English, the modal verb “will” is used to
make predictions, usually based on evidence.
This is why it comes in handy for writing
horoscopes. In case you don’t remember how to
use “will”, here’s a simple explanation:

._
'Will' or 'be going to'?

INSTRUCTION

rd
Option a: Write a horoscope for your sign, you can
make everything up and write something you would
he like to happen this week, month, year. Make sure
it sounds convincing. You can use the following
horoscopes as models for your text. Taurus yearly
predictions 2022: Education, career, business,
love, marriage, children - Times of India

Option b: Tell me about a birthday that has left a

ac
mark in your life (the happiest, the saddest, the
weirdest).Write a narrative essay telling me what
that day was like.
te

Option c: What is your opinion on birthdays? Are they special,

magical, a social convention, a tradition? Write a text telling me
what you think.
@

WORD LIMIT 350 WORDS

THIS IS THE
END…
FOR NOW.

@teacherd._