Introduction
Diaries are popular and holds many secrets. Although no one is meant to read your diary, your writing skills nurtures your creative thoughts , allows you to express your inner emotions , assists in feeling in a safe place and is a good way of keeping record of certain events.
Diaries also come in many forms - notebook, a book with a small padlock and even on a computer !
Creative Writing: A way of expressing yourself through storytelling - raising your opinion and voice, whether its a email, letter , diary or magazine article.
Task
At the end of the lesson the learners would be able to:
- Create a diary entry
-Develop imaginatively and emotionally through writing
- Describe the diary entry format
- Explain the purpose of a diary
Design a diary entry, where you are writing from a first-persons perspective. It is personal, it is your experience, feelings and thoughts. It is written in a friendly manner and in past tense.
LINK ON DIARY ENTRY FORMAT:
(Africa Teen Geeks Association, 2020)
REMEMBER:
-Diaries are dated
- Be detailed as possible
- Refrain from slang language
Process
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Choose ONE of the following topics.
- Type a diary entry about 80 - 100 words
TOPICS:
A. You are angry with your parents today because they have cancelled a holiday , that you have been very eager to go on. Write in your diary, where you are expressing your feelings and what you all had planned for the holiday.
B. On your way home, you found a wallet containing a R1000 cash. What are you going to do? How do you feel? Write in a diary where you are expressing yourself.
C. You have just had an emotional day. Everything feels as if its just going against you. Write in your diary of the very first thing to the very last thing that went wrong. Express your emotions about each situation.
(Russel, 2021)
Evaluation
Total = /20
Marking criteria :
/5 = Structure (correct format and features of a diary entry)
/5 = Language ( correct spelling and punctuation marks)
/5 = Voice ( first-person , pronouns( I, me, she..)
/5 = Understanding the topic ( expresses emotions and gives details)
Conclusion
A diary entry is one of the easiest formats to remember and therefore the easiest to score marks, despite what topics are given.
It allows learners to be imaginative and allows them to even relate to similar instances they experienced.
One of the learners comments after writing a diary entry: " A diary is so different compared to other creative writing tasks, it do not even feel like a task or an assessment because a diary is so personal and there are no wrong or right answers".
In conclusion, learners still need practice in other creative writing areas (letter to the editor, magazine article, newspaper) , for the reason that a diary entry may not always be an option to do in a paper 3.
THANK YOU :)
- T.Louw
Credits
REFERENCES:
1. Africa Teen Geeks Association, 2020. YouTube. [Online]
Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XemwByvzODg
[Accessed 24 May 2021].
2. Russel, H., 2021. The Guardian. [Online]
Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/jan/09/the-secret-to-happiness-get-better-at-feeling-sad
[Accessed 24 May 2021].