How to write a summary of an argumentation
Teaching objectives:
1. Students can find out the main point of an argumentation and the evidence to support the main point.
2. Students can summarize the main point of an argumentation.
Teaching important points:
Students can write a summary of an argumentation.
Teaching difficult points:
Students can write a summary of an argumentation with their own words.
Example 1
Let children learn to judge their own work.
A child learning to talk does not learn by being corrected all the time. If corrected too much, he will stop talking. He notices a thousand times a day the difference between his language and others’ language. Bit by bit, he makes the right changes to make his language like other people’s.
In the same way, children learn to do all the other things. They learn to talk, run, climb, ride a bicycle by comparing their own behaviors with those of more skilled people, and slowly make the needed changes. But in school teachers never give a child a chance to find out his mistakes for himself, even fewer chances for him to correct himself. They do it all for him. Teachers act as if the student would never notice a mistake if they did not point out it to him. They act as if the student would never correct it unless he was made to. Soon he becomes dependent on the teacher.
Let the student do it himself. Let him work out, with the help of other children if he wants it, what this word means and what the answer is to that problem.
The processes of writing:
1. Reading carefully, try to catch the main points
Evidence:
2. Summarizing, try to write down the author’s opinion
Example 2
Scientists find that hard-working people live longer than average men and women. Career women are healthier than housewives. Evidence shows that the jobless are in poorer health than the
job-holders. A study shows that whenever the employment rate increases by 1%, the death rate increase correspondingly(相应地) by 2%. All this comes down to one point: work is helpful to health.
Why is work good for health? It is because work keeps people busy, away from loneliness. Researches show that people feel unhappy, worried and lonely when they have nothing to do. Instead, the happiest are those who are busy. Work serves as a bridge between man and reality. By work, people come into contact with each other. By collective activities, they find friendship and warmth. This is helpful to health. The loss of work means the loss of everything. It affects man spiritually and makes him likely to disease.
Besides, work gives one a sense of fulfillment and a sense of achievement. Work makes one feel his value and status in society. When a writer finishes his writing or teacher sees his students grow, they are happy beyond words.
The processes of writing:
1. Reading carefully, try to catch the main points
Evidence:
2.Summarizing, try to write down the author’s opinion
Example 3
(2013,广东高考)
To many people even the word “work” sounds unpleasant, not necessarily because they are lazy. The same man, who dislikes his job in the factory or even in the office, may work hard at the weekend, painting the house or digging the garden.
What is the reason, then? In most cases, it is because these people simply do not enjoy the Job they are doing. It does not give them any real satisfaction. It may be quite easy, like making up wooden boxes, but it is very boring. Very often they are doing a job which is just a small part of a much larger one, such as attaching a door handle to a car. But the part they play in actually making the car is so small that they can never say: I have made something!
Yet in modern society somebody has to do ordinary jobs such as cleaning streets because this is the way society is organized. No matter how ordinary a job is, it plays a part in society and therefore deserves our due respect.
Conclusion: The topic sentence is usually in the first paragraph or last paragraph of an
argumentation.
Exercise 1
Parents and children often disagree with each other because of lack of communication and understanding.
Children want to be free to choose their own friends, select their own course in school, plan for their own vocational future, earn and spend their own money, and generally run their own life in a more independent fashion than many parents are able to allow.
Obviously, young people wish to be understood and even supported by their parents. On the other hand, most parents don’t quite understand their children. First, they regard it as their responsibility to teach their children traditional beliefs. Second, they want the young people to be obedient and do well in school. Therefore, misunderstanding often arises from the tendency for parents to interfere(干涉) in children’s daily activities.
Exercise 2 (2013佛山普通高中高三检测二)
If you ask people what makes them happy, you will probably get many different answers but there are two fundamental things that will ensure happiness.
The first part of what makes people happy is growth. When you feel like you are improving your life, that's when you are happy. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to constantly buy bigger and better things. You need to feel like you are growing on a personal level. You need to know that the essence of who you are is continually improving in some way. Keep looking for ways to make yourself better today than you were yesterday. This can mean different things to different people but the point is that you have to feel like you are improving and getting better as a human being as time goes by.
The second part of what makes people happy is the sense of contribution. Everyone wants to
believe that they were put here to do something great. As long as you know that by your being here,by doing what you are doing, you are helping someone somewhere, it will bring you happiness.
These are two ways of how to find happiness. Are these the only answers to what makes people happy? That depends on how you define happiness.
Exercise 3 (2011 惠州高三第二次调研)
Some people prefer to spend most of their time alone．Others like to be with friends most of the time．Do you prefer to spend your time alone or with friends?
I prefer to spend most of my time with friends．because friends offer excitement and new ideas，they can comfort me when something bad happens，and spending too much time by myself can be boring．
Friends can offer excitement and flesh ideas to a situation．For example，if I am shopping，a friend makes the experience more fun．We can look at things together, and explore our likes and dislikes．
Friends Can also comfort me if something bad happens．If I get bad news．and a friend is around，I do not have to feel bad by myself．A friend will try and cheer me up，and attempt to take my mind off whatever negative things happened．For example．1ast year I broke my leg and was in a cast a11 summer I had friends around me to cheer me up and distract me from the misfortune．
Overall, I think having friends around me is the best way for me to spend my time．
Exercise 4
To be sure, only children experience some things differently from those with sisters and brothers. Many feel more pressure to succeed. They also tend to look only to their parents as role models in the absence of brothers and sisters.
Most people think only children are usually treated too kindly and are spoilt, which leads to their lack of responsibility. However, according to Britain’s David Emerson, the author of the book, the only child, the only child in the family bears terrible burden in having to make all the decisions alone, such as caring for aging, unhealthy parents. With no sisters or brothers to turn to, he has to solve problems all by himself and take the responsibility of the whole family.
Summary: