Thanks to Isabel Bastida & Ana Mena

AN ANECDOTE

1. AROUSINGINTEREST

-Something I’ll never forget is when …

-One of the weirdest things that happened to me was …

-I had the funniest/ most embarrassing experience when …

-You won’t believe what happened to me on my last holidays …

My trip to Ireland

You won’t believe what happened to me when I went to Ireland.

2. SETTING THE SCENE

I had felt stressed out lately and decided to travel to get away from it all.

After looking for deals on the web, I found a last minute bargain to Ireland with Ryanair.

I was going to drive to the western side of the island and visit some national parks. That was exactly what I needed - nature, villages, vegetation and some peace and quiet.

-Main character

-Where

-When

-Who with

-Others

3. DESCRIBING THE MAIN POINT

-What

-Focus on the story

Every day I went trekking for at least 1 hour. I could also visit Clonmacnoise, Connemara National Park , Delphi Mountain, Aran Islands and Cliffs of Moher.

The weather was really changeable, but mainly overcast and rainy.

I also visited the Burren and area with a landscape that reminded me of the Moon. On my last day in the area I was determined to see a dolmen I hadn’t found on the previous days.

4. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END AND REACTIONS

DEVELOPMENT OF DRAMA

-It was a nightmare/ so embarrassing/ really funny.

-I was petrified/ speechless.

-Others.

While I was driving, I could see the prehistoric dolmen before my very eyes. So I parked to take a picture and strolled around. I was admiring the dolmen, when suddenly I stepped down a rock and landed on wet grass. Unfortunately I sprained my ankle. At that moment I thought I had broken a bone and din’t know what to do. Other tourists were looking at me and I was scared stiff.

After I recovered, I came back to the B&B to rest .

5. CONNECTING THE STORY TO THE PRESENTCONCLUSION

-When I think about it I still feel embarrassed/ I feel like laughing …

-I’ll never forget it because …

-Others

I’ll never forget it, because it ruined the end of my journey. In fact, I missed the tour in Dublin.

YOUR TURN

FIVE STEPS TO A GOOD ANECDOTE

•1- Arousing interest.•2. Setting the scene.•3. Describing the main point.•4. What happened at the end and reactions.•5. Connecting the story to the present.

DON’T FORGET TO USE GOOD NARRATIVE TENSES, INCLUDE EXTREME FEELINGS OR EXPERIENCES, EXAGGERATING.

DON’T FORGET TO BE AN ACTIVE LISTENER.

 THE DAY I GOT LOST

 

THE WORST JAM EVER

THE TIME I RAN OUT OF PETROL

LEARNING TO DRIVE

A CRAZY DRIVER

 THE DAY I WAS STOPPED BY THE 

POLICE

WRITING: AN ANECDOTE•1. Give your story a title•2. Write at least 4 paragraphs:• Par. 1: Background info• Par. 2 & 3: Main part of the story• Par. 4: climax or what happened after

climax

• Use past continuous for background info: It was raining heavily as we left the house.• Use past perfect before the main events of the story: …but Anne had kindly lent me her umbrella.• Use simple past for main events: There wasn’t a single person in the street. • Use time conjunctions (while, by the time..)• Use expressions like I couldn’t believe my eyes, I was scared stiff,… to express feelings.

 THE DAY IT WAS A TOTAL DISASTER

 

 THE DAY YOU HIT THE ROOF

  

THE DAY YOU WENT BRIGHT RED  

THE DAY YOU WERE SCARED STIFF  

THE DAY YOU WERE OVER THE MOON 

 THE DAY YOU FELT LIKE BURSTING 

INTO TEARS.

TIME

PHRASES

PHRASES FOR

DRAMATIC EFFECT

DIRECT

SPEECH

CONCLUDING

STORIES

It all began

Shortly afterwards

Meanwhile

Not long afterwards

Some time later

It all began

Shortly afterwards

Meanwhile

Not long afterwards

Some time later

Suddenly

All of a sudden

Without warning

Out of the blue

Just at that moment

Quite unexpectedly

As if from nowhere

".....", said Fred

".....", shouted Fred

".....", screamed Fred

".....", whispered Fred

".....", announced Fred.

".....", thought Fred

".....", cried Fred

".....", promised Fred

When it was all over

Looking back now

In retrospect

In the end

After all that had happened