Essay Writing – Cultural Geography
I wanted to give you all more information about how to structure your essay. Several questions about it have made me think that you may benefit from a ‘sample’ or an essay ‘stem.’ I’m going to provide that here.
In preparing for your essay, the first thing you must do is read the articles on Newsela. They will be your source of information. That’s where you will get your facts, your impressions of each cultural area. You have 5 to choose from:
South America
Asia
Africa
Australia and Oceania
The next thing you will do is think to yourself: Which cultural/geographic regions would I like to live and work in for 6 months? Choose two. Maybe you’re curious about what it might be like to live in Oceania? Asia sounds interesting too! What about Africa? Choose two places and think about why you might learn/benefit/grow from living there. Use the information you gained from reading the Newsela articles to make your choices. Use details from the Newsela articles to support your choices.
Once you’ve done that, you’re ready to write your article.
Paragraph 1: Here you are going to introduce the idea of the essay and name your choices. It might go something like:
“I am very excited to have been offered this amazing opportunity to live and work in different cultures and geographic regions for the next year of my life. My family and I have considered . . . . . and we have chosen to spend 6 months ________________ and 6 months ______________________.
Paragraph 2: Here you are going to explain your first choice. Why do you want to live and work in ____________? What did you read in the article about that region that makes you want to experience the life there firsthand? Your paragraph may go something like this:
______________ sounds like a wonderful place to experience for 6 months for several reasons. Firstly, it has ________________ . Secondly, I think it would be interesting to see _________________________. Another fascinating thing about ________________ to experience firsthand will be ______________.
Paragraph 3: You will do the same as in paragraph 2, but this time with your 2nd choice.
My family and I are also very excited to experience life in _________________________. We can’t wait to learn _______________________. We will do our best to learn _______________________ (insert language), and we will definitely enjoy ________________________________ (insert important city or festival or landscape, etc.).
Paragraph 4: This can be your conclusion. You remind the reader why learning about different cultures and geographies can be exciting and beneficial. Does it help to understand our world to know that different people live differently? Does it help to know that, although they may live differently, some of our issues have been similar?
In conclusion, I believe my family has much to learn by travelling to these regions and spending time with the people there. We look forward to ___________________ and to __________________.
I hope this helps in your planning. Please let me know if you need more information. I’m here to help you.