Lesson 1

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Lesson 1, description
Goals: 
Identify the description characteristics; 
recognize the constructive parts of the descriptive text;
verify discursive genres that contemplates or includes the descriptive model.
Describing is an activity in which all senses are used in order to capture some real information and translate it into a verbal tissue. 
 
In other words, there are Descriptive texts in which a real context may be grasped by senses and then interpreted through linguistic images.
 
Read the following texts:
“Brazilian Cuisine
The three most traditional dishes in Rio de Janeiro are Feijoada, Bacalhoada and Tutu à Mineira. Rice and beans is also a dominant dish there. Many of these foods are not as common to Rio as they are to other regions of Brazil. The population is a mix of many cultures, such as Portuguese, African, Italian, Spanish, German, Asian, and more. This is reflected in the food.”
“This is traditionally a slave dish but it has become the national dish of brazil. It is made of beans, various pieces of pig (foot, ear, tail), ham hocks, pepperoni, pork or beef ribs, bacon, onions, olive oil, garlic, and black pepper. It is also served with rice.”[1: [ C ] mainly us the meat on the lower leg of an animal: ham hocks]
Fonte: <http://www.rentinrio.com/Food.htm>.
“Roses have been around and are documented longer than most of our garden plants.  The earliest record of them seems to be rose leaves found in the Colorado Rockies, dating back 35 to 32 million years to the Paleolithic era.  First mention of them, and their appearance in artistic motifs, was in Asia about 3000BC, with mention elsewhere about 2300 BC. The fragrance of roses was valued by the Romans, used to scent rooms and after bathing.  Cleopatra supposedly filled a room over a foot deep with rose petals while wooing Marc Anthony.  The two main roses used in this era were the Damask and Gallica types.”[2: woo somebody (old-fashioned) (of a man) to try to persuade a woman to love him and marry him. synonym court]
Fonte: <http://aroseinfo.blogspot.com.br/2012/03/growing-roses-from-seed.html>.
Developing a sensorial perception (which refers to the senses) in order to make a Description means exercising our creative imagination and awakening asleep senses.
 
For example, in text 1, the author opts for presenting some details which make the reader “taste” the flavor of a “feijoada” and, in text 2, the part in which the author makes reference to “the fragrance of roses” suggests a very good smelling.
Now you’ll be in contact with other simple types of descriptive texts and specific characteristics will be shown:
A personal description
July Brand is one of my cousins and has been my role model for as long as I can remember. She’s 24 years old and is one of the nurses of a very important hospital in Chicago and lives in a small apartment with her two younger sisters. I admire her because of her open-minded personality.
She’s tall, with long blond hair. She has beautiful blue eyes and a lovely smile. She always has a kind word to everybody. She loves pop music. She spends most of her free time at home, reading her favorite books, but she also enjoys traveling. She can speak German and Italian. Traveling and speaking so many languages has helped her to accept other’s people’s differences I like her very much because she’s such a kind person. She’s fascinating because of her patience and independence.
Activity
Make the correlation and mark the CORRECT option:
1. Paragraph 1
2. Paragraph 2
3. Paragraph 3
(2) Appearance 
(3) Personality
(1) Personal details       
(3) Hobbies                    
(3) Abilities
2,3,1,3,3
As you’ve noticed, the text about Julie Brand presents an introduction, a body and a conclusion, which are the main parts of a personal description. The following outline may be useful whenever you are supposed to write a PERSONAL DESCRIPTIVE TEXT:
Activity
1. Paragraph 1
2. Paragraph 2
3. Paragraph 3
(3) Reliable 
(2) Curly
(1) Model 
(2) Slim
(3) Perfectionist
3,2,1,2,3
The description and other discourse genres
Discourse genres correspond to certain patterns that are determined by the context in which they are applied: reports, diaries, biographies, chronicles, letters and e-mails etc. All of them may present a descriptive model too or include part of it.
Whatever the discourse genre is, we need to decide if we`ll narrate, describe, present ideas, argument on something or simply give instructions. Moreover, for each case, we should consider a specific structure, a type: a narration type, an exposition type, an argumentation type, a description type, an injunctive type. Depending on the objectives, sometimes we apply more than a type of composition in the same text.
In a REPORT, for example, it`s very common finding descriptive and narrative.
“Report 2005: Naples & Sicily: Warmly Welcomes Travelers
By Teezee from US, Spring 2012
 
Trip Description: May/June 2012 - This year’s adventure started for us in Ischia and ended in Palermo, with Naples and a nice slice of Sicily in between. It included monumental architecture, astonishing archaeology and history, heart-stopping hairpin rides through narrow streets in a variety of winding hill towns, mosaics, museums, beaches, oceans, and, of course, food and wine. And “gelato”. And cookies. And an astonishing number of warm-hearted, charming people.[3: a hairpin curve or hairpin bend: a very sharp bend in a road, especially a mountain road]
Outside of the hotel, the spa, and the little neighborhood walking down to the port, we saw less of Ischia than we should have, and it seemed worth more time than we had to spend. We managed a visit to and lovely walk through La Mortella Gardens and wished we had time to include more exploration of the island, which retains a rustic interior neglected in favor of the lovely seaside ports that dot the island.”
A description is the type of text in which the characteristics presented refer to people, objects, situations etc.  In the following text, which was taken from a DIARY, the author describes four people, specifying a lot of details about them. So, the text is mostly descriptive. Click the PDF icon to read the text.
 Diary 
August 3rd* 
There are five people at our table, including myself. I’ve already learnt a great deal about them in the short time we have been at sea, although we rarely meet except at meal-times. 
First of all, there is Dr. Stone ─ my favorite, I must confess. He is a man of about sixty-five, with grey hair and a humorous face. He gave up his practice a short while ago and is now travelling round the world before he retires to some quiet country village. As a young man, he served abroad for many years as a doctor in the Army. He speaks several languages and has told us a great deal about the ports we are going to call at. He seems to have been everywhere. During the day, when he is not talking to his fellow passengers (one gets the impression that he already knows every-body on board!), he sits on deck reading or else gazes out to sea through an old-fashioned telescope. 
Then there is “grandmother”. I call her that because her name escapes me. In spite of being a grandmother, she looks remarkably young, not more than forty-five. She is on her way to visit a daughter who emigrated to Australia some years ago. Naturally she is very excited at the thought of seeing her again, and her three grand-children, whom she has never seen. She can talk of little else. This voyage is a great adventure for her: she has never been abroad before. 
Then there is a man I do not care for very much, an engineer by the name of Barlow. He has been on leave in England and is now returning to his work in Singapore. He seems full of energy: he swims or plays tennis the best part of the day. I have never in my life met a man with such a loud laugh. He has the cabin next to mine and I can hear his laugh even through
the wall! 
The other person who sits at our table is Mrs. Hunt. I have found out hardly anything about her. She is extremely quiet and rarely talks, except to consult the doctor about her children’s various ailments. She is on her way to join her husband in India. 
* Extract from a diary. 
BYRNE, Donn. Intermediate Comprehension Passages. São Paulo: Longman, 1993.
Although a BIOGRAPHY is presented according to the Narrative model, elements of the description may be clearly identified too.
Will Smith
Willard Christopher Smith, Jr. (born September 25, 1968) is an American actor and rapper. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second of four children.
Partial biography
Will Smith started his career as part of the pop-rap duo DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince, performing humorous, radio-friendly songs, most notably "Parents Just Don't Understand". Smith was a charismatic and energetic performer, and in 1990 the NBC television network signed him up and built a sitcom, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, around him. Smith began a successful movie career near the show's end with Bad Boys (1995).
After Fresh Prince came to an end in 1996, Smith began a successful solo career in music and starred in several movies, including Men in Black, Independence Day, Enemy of the State, Wild Wild West, and Ali. Smith released a string of hit singles, often associated with his most recent movie, throughout the late 1990s.
Will Smith is married to actress Jada Pinkett Smith. Along with his brother Harry Smith, he owns Treyball Development Inc., a Beverly Hills, California-based company named for his son, Willard Christopher "Trey" Smith, III.
Fonte: <http://www.famouspeople.co.uk/w/willsmith.html>.
The main items specified in Biographies are concerned to:
• Subject’s life
• Birth date/place
• Date of death (if it’s the case)
• Country or city the subject is from
• Significant contribution
• Problems or obstacles the subject had to overcome
• Important events from history
• People who influenced the subject
Activity
Watch the video about Nelson Mandela and identify the information below:
● Birth date 
● Date of death 
● State or city he was from 
● Problems or obstacles he had to overcome 
● Significant Contribution
Birth Date - July 18, 1918
Date of death – December 5, 2013
State or city he was from – a small South-African village
Problems or obstacles he had to overcome – may include: escape pre-arranged marriage, political prosecution and banishment, divorce, prison
Significant Contribution – establish a law firm to help the blacks, ended apartheid; Nobel prize winner, president
Certainly, you must have already read, in daily newspapers, texts in which the author starts from his own experience concerning a fact and then presents a general reflection about it.
 
That genre is a CHRONICLE.
The author’s perspective is subjective and his intention is to help people interpret what is not clearly revealed to the common sense. 
 
As there are many possible themes related to daily facts, there are also several types of chronicles, formal and informal. But, all of them follow a pattern that includes Descriptive elements.
Read the Chronicle taken from The New York Times and notice that the writer uses simple language, comments on a recent fact, presents some “unrevealed information” and also includes descriptive elements.
 They Have to Make Money Somehow 
Benét J. Wilson is a freelance aviation and travel writer and blogger at Aviation Queen. She has covered aviation since 1992, has worked for two airlines and an aircraft engine manufacturer, and is working on her private pilot’s certificate. 
JULY 18, 2012 
When it comes to airline fees, travelers have no one but themselves to blame. All of us hunt down the lowest possible fares and pat ourselves on the back. But like it or not, airlines are businesses, and businesses need to make money to survive. 
If travelers don't like the extra fees, they have no one but themselves to blame. 
And despite airlines’ best efforts to raise fares, we still refuse to pay them. The average roundtrip airfare rose from $307 in 2005 to $368 through the fourth quarter of 2011, reports the Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics. So, carriers are getting that money from you with more fees. 
The number and amount of fees depends on the airline you’re flying, according to this chart from Smarter Travel. On one side, Spirit Airlines charges a fee for just about every function of a flight, including boarding pass printing, seat selection and carry-on (yes, carry-on) bags. On the other side, Southwest Airlines seems to me to be the least fee-crazy carrier. 
I recently had to book two airline tickets, and I weighed the complete cost of the tickets. For one ticket, I chose Southwest because it had the best fare, you can check two bags for free, there was no fee to change a ticket and I pay only $10 each way for Early Bird boarding, which guarantees you an A boarding pass. 
For the other ticket, I chose United Airlines because of the lower fare, a more convenient schedule, the fact that I could avoid paying a checked bag fee and a lower chance I’d have to shell out $150 to change the fare. And I will consider paying extra for Economy Plus if the option is given to me when I check in. 
In the end, you do have some control over what airline fees you will and won’t pay if you plan carefully. 
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2012/07/18/the-airlines-and-their-nickel-and-dime-strategy/airlines-have-to-make-money-somehow
suggestion
Watch the movie KOYAANISQATSI, once its structure is similar to that one applied in a Chronicle: a reflexive process.
Fonte: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PirH8PADDgQ>. (trailer)
The descriptive structure may be found in letters and e-mails too, depending on the purpose of the message, both in Formal and Informal contexts.
 
For example, if you need to send a letter or an e-mail in order to apply for a job, you certain will include descriptive elements in your composition.
See that adjectives are very much used and the correct place of the words is important:
Dear Peter,
 
How are you? Hope everything’s OK. I’m writing to let you know that I think I’ve found the perfect summer cottage for you.
It’s in a really nice location. It’s a quiet area, but the best thing about it is that it is less than a kilometer from the sea. Also, the rent for the cottage is only £150 a week. The house is really charming outside. It’s an old brick farm building which has been converted into a holiday cottage. It’s got a patio and is surrounded by a beautiful garden.
Inside, the house is nice and comfortable. It has two floors. On the ground floor there is a cozy living room and a kitchen with all the modern equipment you would expect, as well as dining room and a WC. Upstairs there are two small bedrooms and a bathroom. The house is fully furnished so you don’t need to worry about that.[4: /ˌdʌb·əl·juˈsi/ uk a toilet, especially in a public place]
Let me know if you like the sound of it. I can easily talk to the owner, Mr Smith, for you. I hope I’ll see you here soon. I’ll tell you all of my news then.
 
Yours,
Laura
Now, read this sample formal letter and identify the descriptive elements presented in it:
See that adjectives are very much used and the correct place of the words is important:
George Gilhooley
XYZCompany 
87DelawarRoad
Hatfield, CA 08065
 
Mr. Gilhooley,
 
I am writing to apply for the programmer position advertised in the Times Union. As requested, I am enclosing a completed job application, my certification, my resume and three references.
The opportunity presented in this listing is very interesting, and I believe that my strong technical experience and education will make me a very competitive candidate for this position. The key strengths that I possess for success in this position include: I have successfully designed,
developed, and supported live use applications I strive for continued excellence.
I provide exceptional contributions to customer service for all customers. With a BS degree in Computer Programming, I have a full understanding of the full life cycle of a software development project. I also have experience in learning and excelling at new technologies as needed.
Please see my resume for additional information on my experience. I can be reached anytime via email at john.donaldson@gmail.com or my cell phone, 909-555-5555.
Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to speaking with you about this employment opportunity.
 
Sincerely,
John Donaldson
In this class, you:
Analyzed the structure and characteristic of descriptive text;
Observed many discursive genres that have or include the characteristics of description;
Identified specifics information of description on written and oral practice.
Next class, you will study:
Techniques of elaboration of the description;
semantic context pertinent to descriptive texts;
grammar contents essentials to the descriptions elaboration.