by Linda Galloway
Too few details can make a writing uninteresting or even ineffective.
Last month, we looked at asking reporters’ or detectives’ questions (Who? What? Where? Why? and How?) This time we will use sensory questions. Ask students to imagine a special room from memories of childhood. Very often it will be a room where their family gathered. They should write this place at the top of the page where they will do pre-writing. Ask them to close their eyes except when they are writing notes.
Now they should add three or more items they can ‘ see’ in this memory. That is the usual place where students might end the description.
Next, ask them to add two details about what they remember hearing. This might include the voices of special people, laughter, an argument, a chair rocking, the wind or traffic outside, or the sounds of pans clattering in the kitchen.
Third, ask them to think about what they might have felt. It could be an emotion or a physical sensation, like the soft hug of their grandmother, the bristly face of their father, or the hardness of the folding chair children were given to sit on. One touch memory is probably enough, but one physical and one emotional detail would make the writing especially vivid.
The fourth sense is that of smell. This is actually our first sense when we are born, and it remains an important sense, but we do not often use it in description. Again, for this it helps if students close their eyes, or you can ask them what helps them think of this place. It is often the smell of a familiar perfume or food, but it might be an unpleasant smell, too, of a dog just in from a bad adventure or an overcooked dinner, for example.
The hardest one might be the last one: taste. Family gatherings often involve food, making this easier. However, even without food, we can have a taste of fear, dryness or illness in our mouths. If students push themselves, they can often produce a detail about taste. This should be a bonus detail.
Describing this room or an event in a creative paragraph should be easier with these details, even if not all of them are used. It may lead to developing second language vocabulary, as well. This paragraph would make a welcome gift for those who were also there.