Writing Essay and Summary for Recitation in Taiwan

    On the afternoon of November 3, 2017, I was at Wu Chuan middle school, just behind the China University Medical Center in Taichung. The school, old but expanded with annexes, was half empty because of the dwindling number of students born to economically challenged Taiwanese families. 

     The school was having an in-house English essay recitation to pick a representative for the regional contest. I was on a panel of four judges; the sole native listener. The students' recitations were  marvelous; I doubt many American students could read an essay in any foreign language, especially Mandarin. 

 Although the children used body language sparingly with little or no inflection in their voices, my difficulty in following had more to do with what they said, not how they said it; there was no repetition of topic or sub-topics and only four of the fourteen contestants' essays used transitional expressions; priceless in helping clarity in an essay recitation.The essays, written by the students, were edited by their teachers. They were typically unorganized of an  introduction, body, and conclusion. Simply, a topic sentence wound its way through examples to a  vague conclusion. An American essay would start with an introduction followed by a body and conclusion; that is not done in Chinese essays. Ironically, my Taiwanese cohorts might pan such an essay because it doesn't meet Oriental criteria.     

     In Taiwan, public middle schools that  participate in essay recitation contests choose the best  English as a Foreign Language students. They are given a choice of topics to write on. Their essays are  handed in to their EFL teacher who either accepts, rejects, or re-writes them. That's where I come in. The publisher's agent is asked by the school for help in polishing an essay. I am sent the hand-written essay by e-mail. In the example below, I was asked to rewrite an essay about Miaoli:

It is a problem for children in Taiwan who are not  taught how to write English essays or summaries  either in public schools or bushibans. More often than not, the child is given a topic by the teacher and is told to write, without much instruction.  Few schools  have instructors or workbooks explaining how to organize paragraphs. Nevertheless, some schools  provide their students with a selection of reading materials and tell them to go home, read it, come in and write something about a movie, TV show or video game.      
How to write a summary  

Summary Introduction: For starters, fill in this pattern: (1.title of literature) by (2.author) is a (3.mood)(4.genre) in the (5. [first or third] person point-of-view) about (6. topic). It takes place in (7a. place) in (7b. time period). It is about (8. protagonist's name) who (9.problem) and (10. goal or outcome). It will look something like this:
"The Gift of the Magi" is a touching short story by O Henry about gift giving in the third person point of view. It takes place in the city home of a young couple in modern times. Delia and Jim don't have enough money to buy gifts for each other and must find a way to get more. 

     Next comes the body of the summary. Tell the children that as they read to make a list of sentences with action verbs (not descriptions!) about the protagonist - at least 20 - and put them into time order, then choosing the 10 best actions about the beginning, middle and end. Remember to use present tense in the re-telling. Voila! They have a complete summary. A summary can be written about almost anything; not only literature. 
     More daunting for teachers and students is essay writing. Use the outline below and a basic essay can be mastered. Of course, there is brainstorming, organizing, eliminating of redundant or irrelevant sentences, and grammar and spelling to check, but that is all part of the writing process. Students have to be aware that every writer must go through this process; no one succeeds in writing one draft. 

How to write an essay
     It is not hard for a student to learn  basic  organization 
components  of  a  good   essay.

All essays have the same organization; whether they are  chronological, descriptive, comparative, or expository; an introduction, body, and conclusion are necessary. The teacher must tell the students about this and explain the parts. Give the students a choice of topics. Tell them to brainstorm one topic;  write a list of details. Then use a matrix for organizing the writing details into. For example, if a student is comparing or contrasting people, places, or things, it is good to use a Venn diagram or a T-Chart. A teacher can find many types on-line.

     Once the type of writing and strong details are organized, the student can work on rhetoric and style. 

Encourage your students to practice a variety of sentence openings. Start with a simple sentence and practice as many ways as they can to write it; then work up to compound and complex sentences. I highly recommend sentence combining exercises. In addition suggest ways that they can incorporate transitional expressions (bridge words) into the text; there are good lists of these on-line, too. This is a good start in creating an essay worthy of public recitation.
     Finally, if the children are doing a recitation, they must greet their audience with a "hello, good morning," and thank the audience for listening. It should be as short as possible since the time allotted for a recitation is usually three minutes. Simply say: "Good morning. I am __. My topic is __." Repeat the topic throughout the essay. Make eye contact with the audience and make sure they know your topic and 'big ideas.' At the end of the recitation,  repeat the topic in the conclusion, and say:  "Thank you for listening" before  bowing.
    It is an honor to be on a panel of judges listening to such bright students. When I am asked to say a few words afterwards, I always let the children know how proud of them I am. My advice on writing essays and summaries may be an over-simplification of the writing process, but it is better than having no plan at all. Not everyone can be a toastmaster or story-teller. Schools that prepare their children to write well and offer recitation contests motivate students. They can do it with your guidance.