English Language and Literature

Resourcesheet
MYP Year :4

Unit 2: To Sports with Love

Criterion in Focus : Analysing and Producing Text

Text Type : Diary Writing

Key Concept: Creativity

Global Context: Personal and Cultural Expression

Learning Objective: Exploring different mediums of expressing thoughts

informed by a purpose

Instructions: The task has three parts that gradually build understanding. Please read
through it in a sequence.

 The first step is to read a slam style reflective poetic apostrophe to future.
 The second allows you to think through a visual. This may suggest another
aspect of future.
 The third is a task for you to do. You can assimilate understanding gathered by
both the visual and the poem into the task to create something new and in a
different text type. This is called SYNTHESIS
 In case you are feeling stuck, refer to the resources given at the end.
Poetry transcends time and the norms of chronology and builds bridges where exist
none. Read aloud the poem below written to a person’s future self.

To my future self
Mon, 06/08/2015 - 15:40 -- Chubacabra

Dear Future Me,

If you are reading this letter,

That means you are in your early twenties.
Fresh out of college
And eager to start your journey into the world.
But there are some things you must remember.

When you wake up in the morning

Think about the years that have already surpassed you,
So fast, that all you are able to see is a blur.
Like flipping through pages of a book
With no notion of time, and no warning.
Take a moment to examine these pages of life’s book.
Their discoloration, their wrinkles.

And when you finally do get up,

Do it with a smile.
Because you are you.
Remember that.

And that includes all of your little quirks and idiosyncrasies.

Like the way you often sing out of tune… and forget the lyrics to the song.
How you set your favorite part of the meal aside so that you can eat it last.
The way you can sleep only after you have said goodnight to everything, save the moon
and stars.
How you say good morning to everything, save the sun and clouds.
Your irrevocable obsession with penguins
The way the paper is smeared a little from your writing because you are left handed

Eat until you are full.

But only vegetables.
Don’t be stubborn, but be firm in your decisions.
Don’t be afraid of growing old.
You know what they say: “Like a fine wine we get better with age” ... up to a certain
point.
Don’t ever fall in love.
Because you can always fall out of love.
Don’t confuse candle-lit dinners at expensive restaurants
And jewelry and flowers for love.
When he tells you that he can’t live without you,
Don’t fall into the trap.
Don’t let the mirage of romanticism
And the diamond engagement ring
Cloud your judgement.

If he hits you, then leave him.

Don’t stay because you are afraid of him.
Remember her mistakes so you don’t have to make the same ones.
She thought he loved her. But the fighting shows otherwise.
Don’t tell yourself that you do not deserve better like your mother did.

And when you do find the one,

Become friends first.
That way you will know each other and he will love you because you are you.
That way you will have already spent a lifetime together.

And love yourself.

Every night, look in the mirror at your reflection.
If you see something that you don’t like,
Reshape and mold yourself
Into the person you want to be.
And love yourself.
Because how can you learn to love someone
If you don’t even love yourself?

Because they don’t tell you to build a brick wall around yourself and shut people out.
You just do.
And they don’t tell you that because of your parents’ mistakes, you have a higher risk of
becoming addicted just like them.
They don’t tell you that you are a lamb thrown into a world of wolves.
If you don’t keep guard, they will tear you to pieces and they will devour you.
But you are the exception
You will make a difference.
Remember that.
Best regards.

P.S. When you wake up in the morning, think about the years that have already
surpassed you.
Like the turning of pages in a book.
And when you do get up, do it with a smile, because you are you.
Remember that.
Discuss on your table

When I woke up from my Mom’s stomach at 7 in the morning, I was treated like the King
of Arabia, given everything I wanted, whenever I wanted. From toys to the warm hug of
my mom-dad, there was nothing else I wanted.

Tick tock, the clock ticked over, it was 8 o clock. It was time for my admission in school.
I’m not going to lie, I almost got dehydrated by the amount I cried when I was forced out
of my mums lap right into a classroom where I was sitting in the corner, depressed like
a cow with an inability to give milk. Although, this only lasted a little bit when I was
comfortable in my peers and soon wanted school to be my home.

 Observe the visual given below. Does this also connect with some aspect
of future?
 Can you explore your understanding in another reflective medium such as
a diary?
 What do you need to focus on to create 2-3 diary entries on a similar
subject?
 Discuss briefly the conventions of diary writing that you are familiar with.
Task

Diary pointers – Adjectives kill expression, use a lot of imagery, describe your
emotions. If you’re feeling hopeless, how is it feeling like, how to you see the
people around you, bring balance between imagery and metaphors.

Create an entry in your diary in which you reflect on what different possibilities could
you acquire for your own future. Try to include some of the following points:

 Describe your own thoughts and wishes, but also your fears
 your parents' jobs, wishes, expectations
 experiences you already have made,
 your own strengths and weaknesses,
 your own character traits
 In your response use variety of sentence structures, descriptions , metaphors
and time transitions .

Tuesday 4th December 2018

Dear diary,

So far, this day, the journey of life, has been a joyous jitter of light. I’m here to tell the
tale which will hopefully guide you to a happy good night’s rest from life.

The clock keeps ticking, tick tock, tick tock. I am writing this diary at 10 o clock, just at
the beginning stages of my life. Till now, my life has been without any stress, any
depression but I’m afraid it doesn’t stay like that. As time ticks over, life becomes
harder, people become meaner, academics become astoundingly hard. I am here to
give encouragement to you and you end this day on a high note.

Tick tock, when the clock ticks to afternoon, I will eventually have to decide what to do
later in the day, or the world would become a gloomy, dark jungle with people being as
ferocious as a hungry bear. People would start to eat me up .for every little mistake I

Additional Resources

Example Diary entry

Thursday 14th June 1942

Dear diary,
Well this has been the scariest day of my life! Luckily, I'm still here to tell the tale and
hopefully shall be from now on.
At about half past eight this morning life was going as normal: well as in we were all
creeping around in our stocking feet so the workers below couldn't hear us. Then it
happened. The clank of footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. I knew they'd
reached the third step from the top - it creaked like grandmother's knees. Immediately
we all stopped, stood still and held our breath. Mother went white as a sheet and made
that face at me- like don't you dare make a sound! As if I would be so silly. This was our
hiding place, our only chance of not being caught, our one secret that must never be
told.
It was as if time stood still (though after I'm sure it was no more than five minutes) like
the air had been sucked out from all around me! Nothing, no movement, no sound. Just
waiting to hear if the steps would descend back down the stairs. My heart was beating
like a drum; my ears were pounding as they listened for any sound that would indicate
we'd been found. I stood like a statue staring at my mother, who was doing the same,
making no movement no sound. One minute, two minutes, three minutes, how many
had passed? Still we stood, frozen to the spot.
After what seemed an eternity the footsteps turned, making that gritty sliding on
floorboards sound. Voices could be heard getting fainter and fainter. Whoever it had
been had finished their chore and had moved on. My mind filled with the most dreaded
thought. Who could it have been? Gestapo? Workers collecting something? I stared
wide-eyed at my mother. The all-clear signal to move was given to me by my mother. I
crept into my small, cramped bedroom at the back of the secret annexe and quietly
pushed the door to.
Collapsing heavily, the biggest sigh ever left my chest! I was sure that was the closest
we'd ever come to being found. I can't even imagine what would happen to us if we did.
How long do we have to live like this? There are so many things I miss: my school
friends; visits to the park; theatre trips and just being outside!
It fills me with dread, what will tomorrow bring?
Love
Anne

Conventions of Diary Writing

A diary is a personal record of things that have happened to the writer. It can also
record the writer's thoughts or feelings.

Structural Conventions

 Date at the top

 Clear paragraphs with topic sentences
 Varied Sentence types
 Images and doodles /optional
 Sign off

Literary conventions

Descriptive words (to bring out a clear sense of writer’s personality and changing
feelings.
Use of first person pronoun I
Provide a sense of time and sequence (use time connectives: finally, afterwards, earlier,
later that day...)
Varied Punctuation
Use mostly past tense.
Links to present or future tense
rhetorical questions
Informal expression

Tone
 Casual
 Reflective

Purpose
 Recording personal/ significant information
 Describing a single incident its impact on feelings and emotions
 Reflecting or evaluating on feelings and experiences