Exercise: Sellers have to do more than just sell books

This exercise is linked to the article: Sellers have to do more than just sell books

This exercise is linked to the article: Sellers have to do more than just sell books

Opener: Describe your favorite book. What about the book makes it your favorite? What would life be like without books?
—Write the question on the board, give students five minutes to answer the prompt, and then go around and share answers (writing and speaking).

Pros and cons: Make a list of the pros and cons of eBooks versus traditional, hard copy books. Which do you prefer and why?

Reading: Read the Spectator College article, going around and making sure each student has a turn to read. Instruct students to highlight or underline words they are unsure of. Explain the words to them afterward, and then have students use each one in a sentence.

Writing: Write a five-paragraph pro and con essay about new media books (kindles, iPads, etc.) versus the traditional, hard copy books, using the pros and cons list made earlier in the lesson. Students should follow the below five-paragraph essay model:

• Introduction (1): Write about recent changes to how people read literature, and when the changes began happening (when eReaders became popular and why, etc.)

• Changes your predict (2): How do you predict people will read in the future? Do you think newspapers will disappear completely, for example, or hard copy books/publications altogether? Why or why not?

• Advantages to eReaders (3): Talk about the advantages to using an eReader (pros).

• Disadvantages to eReaders (4): Talk about the disadvantages to using an eReader (cons).

• Conclusion (5): Sum up everything in the first four paragraphs, expressing your overall conclusion — which do you prefer and why? Encourage others to choose what you prefer by expressing a strong argument.

Homework: Students should finish their five-paragraph essay for homework, bring in a typed copy the following week, and exchange their essays for editing. Then, they should turn in a final draft on a date the teacher chooses.

This exercise is published as part of Spectator College, a programme created by The Slovak Spectator with the support of Sugarbooks, a distributor of foreign language books.

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