Lukas Liebermann

I am an ESL teacher and educational psychologist.

Diary Entry

The writing plan

  • Does the plan include notes for the introduction (the beginning)?

  • Do the notes include something that is likely to catch the readers attention, for example an introduction which tells your diary why you’re writing?

  • Does the plan include a problem you (or the character whose diary entry you’re writing) faced? Are there notes for a (possible) solution to the problem?

  • Does the plan include notes for the end of the diary entry?

  • Is the plan visually structured (beginning, middle, end)?

  • Time management: Did you take not more than 5 min to make you plan? Did you use bullet points instead of whole sentences to make the most of your planning time?

Diary entry

Content

  • The diary entry starts with the date, e.g. 28 March 2022

  • You use the salutation “Dear Diary,”.

  • You explain why you wrote the diary entry, and your story is interesting / funny / exciting / tragic.

  • You write about the events of the day. You explain the situation(s) in detail, so that someone who wasn’t there would understand what happened.

  • You describe your thoughts and feelings!

  • You end with a closing sentence, which shows the reader that they’ve reached the end of the diary entry.

  • You use the writing prompt(s) for your story (i.e. the information you were given to tell you what you should write about)

  • The diary entry ends with a sign-off and your signature in the next line, e.g.:

    • sign-off: Until tomorrow, / Yours,

    • signature: Jane

Structure

  • You use paragraphs, and every paragraph is about one idea or separate part of your story.

  • You use several time markers, e.g. this morning, as soon as, before, immediately, while, since, …

  • You join sentences with different transition / linking words.

Language

  • You use the first person.

  • You use the past tense for finished events and actions in the past.

  • You use different adjectives and adverbs.

  • You use descriptive nouns or verbs.

  • You use different sentence structures, e.g. rhetorical questions or sentences with relative clauses.

  • Bonus point: You use similes:

    • as WWW as XXX, e.g. as white a snow

    • YYY like ZZZ e.g. a face like a mask

  • The length of your diary entry is above the minimum word count.