Making a Pitch for a Narrative Essay
Write a short (100 to 150 word) pitch for your narrative essay idea. Why would we be interested in the person you chose? What makes this person interesting? What influence have they had on you that is interesting to others?
Please bring a copy of your pitch to class on Wednesday, March 30, word processed and printed.
36 comments:
Andrew Stanton's List:
1. "Make me care"---it can attract people.
2. 2+2, not 4.
let audience figure out the meaning themselves.
3. the major character has a spine: inner motor
4. "change"
5."drama is anticipation with uncertainty"
6. like your characters
7. have a theme
8. invoke wonder
9. express values from deep inside
My Uncle Gav
My Uncle Gav provides a good example of a life lived long, and, for the most part, well. He was a kind of “still waters run deep” guy who didn’t say much. Gav expressed his nature physically—on Hollyburn and Garibaldi as a young man; at Silver Star after retirement —from his teen years right through to his 92 birthday. He skied beautifully. His story, of career and schooling denied by the depression and war years, of diligent work at a job beneath his intellect, of 28 years of joyful skiing in retirement, would be of interest to many who live in the shadow of the mountains that he loved. I learned many things about living well from my Uncle Gav.—121 words
My Friend Puffy
My friend Puffy provides a special example for being a good teacher. We have worked together for 8 years as Computer Science teachers before I immigrated to Canada. She smokes (not in front of her students). She dated with a 22 years old young man when she was 32. I could not really agree with her personalities at these parts. She also likes outdoor adventures-saw wolves at Kinas Lake. She went to Pakistan to do a voluntary teacher during her summer vacations. She changed her teaching subject from Computer Science to Photography because she could take her students to outside all the year round. She always surprised me and let me thinking what makes a good teacher.
-117 words
“Nana” is a very old Berber woman, my neighbor and landlord when I lived in Tripoli, Libya fifteen years ago. She was a hard-working and thrifty person, but a little bit stingy marcher. One day she came to me for cake cooking, then I found my envelope filling with three thousand dollars cash lost after she left. I suspected her for a long time, and move out from her house several months later. In my new house, I found the lost envelope, but I was afraid to explain and say sorry to her till she died. I regretted that I could only send my apology to her in heaven. It is too late while I realize my fault. The character and story are both true. I think it is impressive and memorable for every readers. (134 words)
My One and Only Son
My son, Franco provides happiness and inspiration to my life. He always say “I love You.” We have a lot in common. We are both homebody, sensitive, and quiet. He has severe atopic dermatitis, and allergic to nuts and seafoods, and until now he is struggling with this condition. He is only eight and I can see that he will be a responsible man. He is very caring and sweet. He always think of safety first; he always tells me to be careful when cutting fruits or vegetables. He always ask how I'm doing, and he thanks me when I did something to him. When I'm mad and stressed out, I said sorry to him and he said “ I understand, mommy.” At his young age, I learned a lot from him. He taught me how to love unconditionally. His life threatening condition will be a touching moment for every readers.
150 words
My Uncle
My uncle let me know what is good family member is. Even though he likes to stay at home every day and to make order list -such as boiling tea or coffee- to me, he always worry his family and me. For example, he doesn't sleep until whole family completely arrive at home, and also when he fought with my cousin, he tried to wait her until she feels better tried to make a reconciliation by playing her favorite song when she was with him or making a dinner appointment at my cousin's likable restaurant. Even though my uncle is not a nice person, I can learn what is a good family from his life.
- 115 words -
My Dearest Father
My father provides a good example of a caring and old-fashioned parent. Since my mother used to be busy, my father spent most of his time taking care of me and sacrificed many opportunities of promotion. He voluntarily did the anonymous work and kept his optimism. And he was very humorous. All my cousins (of my grandma’s family) always expected his funny jokes and fascinating storytelling. On the other hand, he was a stern father. He believed family members should stay together. He kept criticizing me about my “unpractical and irresponsible behavior” of immigrating to Canada. His opinion not only made me feel ashamed, but also motivated me to establish a better living circumstance for supporting their lives in Canada. No matter how much time passes, I am always proud to have him as my father – not enlightened (not able to understand me in some aspects,) but my greatest father.
-150 words
My Ronda
Ronda provides a great example of what a best friend should be. She is always happy to me no matter what; even after I yell at her. She is great for cuddling with her soft blue hair. She will protect you while you are sleeping at night. She loves to go for long walks - rain or shine. She is still young and very curious with all the things she comes in contact with; squirrels and birds. She is adopted. She loves to lay down in the sun and soak in the vitamin D. She befriends everyone she meets. Ronda has provided me with love and friendship I couldn't ask for.
111 Words
This is the saddest story I had ever eye-witnessed in my whole life, and I couldn't forget it because it happened, happens and will happen to us in some different way always. I was a graduate and assigned to work in a city called Xian—a proud city because of its ancient culture and tradition. My aunty, who was adopted by her uncle and his wife (my granduncle and grandaunt), her family and my grandaunt lived there at that time. I wasn't very familiar with my grandaunt before I came to Xian, but I had heard her story for a few times, and I had sympathy for her. I had never thought her sad story wasn't finished until the last breath of her life, and I was there for her funeral. She committed suicide at age of 70. This story is about life and death that we all concern.
(149 words)
My Teacher Tenpa
I learned how to live a happy life from my teacher, Tenpa. He is a professional monk and spiritual teacher in our school. His parents were killed by the Chinese government when he was 15 . He said that he struggled a lot to escape from Tibet. However, he never lost his hopes. Fortunately he is a good teacher now, and he is very happy and contented with his life. He always advices us to love ourselves and to be compassionate. I wasn’t happy and satisfied with my life, but he made me realize that the most important thing is to enjoy your life and to be happy with whatever you have. He took me to explore many different places which made me feel great. Besides that, he is very kind hearted and compassionate. He motivated me to study because education is the key to happiness. I learned several things about living a happy life from him.
155 words
My Cousin Tammy
My cousin Tammy is a typical Down syndrome patient who needs a lot of help to survive; however, she is always optimistic. She has a very sad life because it is all about hospital and medication. For instance, everyone who works in the hospital knows her since she has come there too many times. She is simple and innocent. She smiles when she is happy, and she cries as a baby when people misunderstand her. On the other hand, she loves to help people although she is not able to do much. She joins to a group which is specific for people having Down syndrome and does some easy volunteering jobs under her caregiver’s monitoring in order to be considered as a part of the society. She makes me change my thought of life, and I should be more motivated and live more positively because I am luckier than her thousands of times.
(153 words)
My Mother
My mother provides a good example of being a strong, hardworking and caring woman. As long as I can remember she worked in the restaurant seven days a week. Each day she had to work long hours and very hard in order to make money for her kids to be well educated and have better lives. At that time, I didn’t understand why my mother never went to see me at school events; I wished my mother could have spent more time with me. She always teaches me to be a caring person who always helps out family members. It seems working hard and caring for family members are values my mother deems to be the most important. However, spending time with your children is also an important value in my opinion as time flies very fast. You never have a chance to go back to change the past.
--151 words--
Special teacher
A Gym teacher, Mr. Lee who was in charge of my grade 5 class would be the hero in my story since he influenced all my classmates in a variety of ways. Mr. Lee wasn't a typical teacher. His first impression wasn’t positive either. Moreover, he wasn’t interested in our studies at all but always enthusiastic in teaching. He was adventurous and was willing to take some risks to achieve his goals. Besides, the way of his teaching and the curriculum that he used was unique; therefore, some conservative people objected his special classes. My readers would be wondering how amazed our classmates were to learn his valuable lessons.
(109 words)
Nathan -weighs 39.5 pounds, 3 feet and 9 inches tall- is a small cute boy. He is seven years old with extreme shyness. He is smart (loves to read science book), inquisitive, a nature-lover (loves the beach so much), picky eater (the only pizza he eats is cheese), loves music (plays guitar) and brave. His innocence coupled with discrete wit serves an inspiration to other children and parents dealing with anxiety disorder. During his kindergarten; it was a drastic challenge for us but he continued to fight his meltdown until he conquered his fears. He has a great influence on me because he is my son. His story as a young person living with selective mutism can be an eye opener to others. As an adult – a parent to be specific- we can learn so much about life from children.
(140 words)
Amy R.
My Father
My late Father thought me the significance of being healthy– not just physically, but also mentally. He was a disciplined man with a gentle heart towards people. Even though his entire teen years (thirteen-nineteen years old) were during World War 2, he loved adventures in life. He grew up in a remote countryside, moves to the big city and managed to work overseas for a number of years. During his time, he was a degree holder and had a deep enthusiasm in the fitness world. Whatever life situations he had, he always find time to take good care of his physique and chose to be happy. My father was the one who guided me to choose healthy option kind of foods; he motivated me to be physically active and have a strong self-control. I learned from him that, “health is wealth.”
143 Words
Joshua - my first son
In my narrative essay I want to write about my son, Joshua, because my life has dramatically changed since we had him in our family. Even though he is typical 8 years old son, I learned many things from him, especially his persistence. He never gives up. I remember his first skate lesson when he was 3 years old. My husband and I watched him keep falling down more than 100 times. We thought he would have cried and never come back to link again. After the lesson he told me that he had a great time and wanted to come back for more practice. He plays hockey now for Burnaby Bulldog and enjoys skiing.
-118 words
Sarjeevan
My uncle Satnaam
My uncle taught me, the real value of the food. He has been living in USA since last 18 years. Last year, when he came to India, he still looked young and healthy more than my father, even though he was eight years older than my father. I think the secret of his good health is the result of taking fresh food. Therefore, I surprised; when I saw he was eating old food which were made by one day before. Then I decide to ask the reason of eating old food, and he told me food never gets old and fresh, if it’s healthy. As in these lines, he said, “we are lucky we have a good food for eating and lots of choice in it.” Beside this, he said if you see some people were died without food and instead of them we get our food on time and forget to say thanks to god. Overall, my uncle’s inspiration changed my thought about food and realized the value of the food.
Words 172
Mother
After growing up , I have become you--my mother . My mother is the best friend and teacher in my life . She is a very bright and intelligent woman who knows her own mind . She had excellent worked as a professional accountant . My mom believes that the knowledge can change people's destiny . So she always support me in education . I am willing to heart-to-heart talk with my mom about some secrets like a girlfriend . I still remember I even told her my first love when I was sixteen years old. Luckily , she totally understood me without any blame . Also , my mom provides some useful advices at the important moments of my life. My mother is worthy to be admired.
121words
Hanna is an impressive friend (classmate) in my life. When we were college students, she always kept silence for herself, but if she spoke to us, we all had to be pay attention about what she said. Because, we believed that she will be a fortune teller (a talent God in her) soon. However, we all agreed that she was a very different than us like a typical young ladies. When we wondered about future career before the graduate, she advised us very clearly. Her advice was not from any astrology or foretell, she could catch person's natural character.-100words
My Father
My father provides a good example as my teacher- even though he didn't thought me verbally- from his action I learned a lot. After he finished high school, he decided to work and helped his parents to sustain their needs. He was a hero; he sacrificed his self in order to support all of his siblings to finished their school. Though many trials, challenges, and bullies he faced, he never gave up on what life ahead of him. He is smart (wise in all things), a good adviser (based on his experiences), and generous. He has a good influence to me as my father and learning his mistakes makes me more strong not to do what he had done. Being his son, I’m looking forward to be like him as a future Father to my son. -138 words
My daughter Emily
She provides me an opportunity of life-long learning about parenting and self reflections. Her coming is whole family's expectation, but her allergies are out of our expectation. I struggle to deal with her eczemas and allergies since she was born. Now she just celebrated her 10 year-old birthday. She has no choice to face this situation that many foods can trigger her allergic reaction and she cannot enjoy vivid foods as "normal" people. She is sensitive and fells like an alien when her photo must be put on the wall to remind her classmates and carries Epi-pen with her. But her bright and talents provide different point of view to let me see differently this world. I appreciate that I learn about parenting which any text book cannot teach from my first daughter Emily. The process is filled up with tears, anxiousness, angers and joys; I am delighted to recognise myself and have more courage to be her parent. (159 words)
My mother
My mother provides a good example of being a patient yet strong woman. My mother has been through so many difficult situations that could have destroyed her but through patients, prayer, hard work and determination she is always able to turn those situations around to her favor. My mothers story of how she migrated to a foreign country due to war, how she had to be strong and live alone with six children in a new country while my father worked hard in another country far away, how she was able to learn English through her children and through volunteer work,will benefit many people who are on the verge of giving up or people who have no hope. My mother taught me that any situation can be turned into a good one if you are determined to or able to see it in a different light.
-149 words
MY AUNT JANET
My aunt Janet is a great example of a woman with no limit. She is one amazing person, with great heart, good sense of humor and very beautiful. The one special thing I admire about her is; she is a Gold gette.She is never afraid to any challenge, the more toughly something seem,the more she wants to do it. She has gone through a lot in life, but, that didn’t slow her down from achieving her dreams. I am a big believer that dreams do come true, only when you work towards getting them. The fact she played a big role when her husband abandoned them, makes me respect her. Having courage to persevere all the storm she faced is incredible. I am very grateful to have her in my life. She has greatly changed my life which her advises.147words
My Best Friend
Her name is Geanina; it is said that that the opposites attract each other – so it was in our case. She is the most extrovert and “crazy” person I’ve ever met, extremely honest (maybe to honest sometimes), confident and self-assured while I am an introvert, quiet and rather diplomat kind of person. She used to be almost all the time cheerful, she used to get upset extremely fast but she calmed down just as faster. We are not best friends anymore and none of us is to blame but life. We live now on the opposite parts of the world with more than 10,000 km between us, but there was a time when we were inseparable. Even though she is younger than me, she was my mother, my friend, my sister, my roommate, my colleague for almost a year.
(139 words)
Forever Young
My younger brother Angelo imparts a good example of enlightenment -- physically, mentally, and spiritually. Before his accidental death (he was only 20 years old), he lived a happy life. He was talented , independent, caring, and his self-restraint was limitless. He anonymously succor a child from a third world country, but ended with a very unfortunate event. He was relentless and refuses to give up on his dreams of becoming an animation designer. We were five years apart; he looked up to me ever since he was a little child. However, I was too caught up in the ways of being a teenager to notice his existence, and I felt like I failed to communicate as a big brother to him. He venerated to me over the years, but it was the other way around. I learned many things during his living and his death. - 145 words
My life partner
The best idea of my husband (Maywand) changed my life and gave me some new insight to follow. In 2010, our wedding was in Afghanistan. Maywand worked in General Consulate of Afghanistan in New York. After my marriage, we moved to New York City. On that time, I decided to stop studying and having more kids, but Maywand showed me the right path of life and encouraged me to continue my education. Maywand’s hard working and studying confused me. After asking my question, his live examples showed me the importance of education and how to use that for a better life.
(105words)
My Father
The majority of the memories I have with my father are silly ones. He was indeed the disciplinarian of the family, but I have very vivid memories of him waking my brothers and me up for Saturday morning breakfast (bright and early). That all changed after he was diagnosed with cancer. Even with that diagnosis he kept his silliness, and tried to make the best out of his situation. He was always hopeful that things would get better, however that was not the case for him. He came to my room one day, before he got too sick to walk around on his own. The conversation we had together changed they way I looked at life and made me see how fragile it really is.
(125 words)
My teacher Ms. Selwa
My teacher Ms. Selwa provides a good example of a remarkable teacher. She was my science teacher during my entire elementary school life. Ms. Selwa was 34 years old and single (being single in your 30s and not married is unexpected in my country’s culture). Although, I didn’t realise it at first, Ms. Selwa significantly helped me through many difficulties. She gave me the opportunity to see myself improved by continuous support and guidance. I could feel a strong drive to study more and more science. By giving us so much practice, reviews and helping us memorize what we studied, as well as advice on how to improve ourselves, my teacher made the class inspiring. She guided me through by showing me different techniques that I could use to do well in an exam. I learned that being a teacher is hard; and, for someone to be a passionate and dedicated teacher is the most difficult.
156 words
My friend Bernadette
Bernadette was one of my classmates in Korean counselling course in Canada. I learned from her many things that I thought important and meaningful for me: enthusiasm about learning things, devotions for hospice patients, humbleness, and leadership. When she lived in Korea, she was a chief nurse and worked hard for patients, staffs, and hospital. In Canada, she learned about hospice in English and got a certification for teaching hospice, and then she taught Korean peoples in Korean. Moreover, she organized the Korean hospice organization as non-profit and still worked for hospice patients and their family. She would like to learn whatever it is interesting to her. Through her life, I learned what is meaningful and important for me.
119 words
My Significant Other
My boyfriend James is the person who has impacted my life the most. Ever since I’ve met him, my perspective on life has changed and I’m genuinely a happier person. I felt lost and unhappy, but James has opened my eyes and taught me to enjoy every waking moment. I remember him telling me his father’s favourite quote, “You are the architect of your own destiny”, and I couldn’t agree more. Not only is he by my side on my pursuit of happiness, he’s right there with me helping me battle my anxiety. I met James on New Year’s Eve and my resolution for this year was to get out more, enjoy life, and stop being so anxious. With James’ patience I’m making a lot of progress. Overall, he is a very kind and understanding man. He has provided me with a new insight on life.
[145 words]
8 years ago I decided I wanted to get my first aid license so I could work as an attendant at the Pacific National Exhibition. I spoke to a co-worker who was working in the first aid department at the time and he explained the difference between the first aid courses and he encouraged me to take the highest level, as it would benefit me the most in life. I completed the recommended course and soon found myself working my first shift in my new department, an all night dance party more commonly known as a rave; an eye opening experience that has stayed with me to this day. These skills have indeed unexpectedly found their way into other moments of my life. How a seemingly simple job choice years before has been a catalyst for pivotal positive experiences in my life was unexpected, but something I am very thankful for.
151 words
My father, Arsma Hurov, is the perfect person who has influenced my life for the better. He was born a couple years before WW2. As a child he lost both of his parents and had to live in poverty and hunger. He survived with his one older brother, two older sisters and one younger sister. They work on a farm to make a small living. After the war the time was very difficult and the society was trying to re-build. However, my father through all of his past difficulties stays very positive and caring. Through his actions as a parent my father has taught me many great lessons. I am amazed every time my father tells me about his childhood and all of the struggles because I realize how lucky I am to have such a great father. He is a role model for all of his seven children. (149 words)
My father, the idol of my life, is a devoted man who not only has sacrificed himself for his family, but for his country. He is a retired colonel who has served the Iranian army for more than 35 years—eight years of which he’s spent in the war front lines during Iraq invasion of Iran from 1980 to 1988. 27 years after the end of the war his lungs wounded by chemical weapons have not cured yet and he rushes to the hospital when he’s unable to breathe. His sickness hasn’t impacted his serious personality so he might treat as if we are his soldiers when it comes to discipline( I don’t blame him!). His straight forward rules has made us strong kids who overcome hardships and support one another at anytime. As his daughter, I’m proud to be able to learn from my courageous father whose story is a life learning lesson to those who are afraid to live bravely.
163 words
My teacher Vidovina knows life like an open book. She is experience, kind hearted and a rules model to me. Very close to me, she is my best friend and guide. My teacher not only taught me English, but she also gives me the strength to not give up in study even though there are many obstacles in my way. My teacher gives up her lunch times to help me with my homework. In addition, she enrages to be strong and stand for my own rights. She has influence in my life. She is my “Hero”, and she is always there for me.
My Unassertive Friend
Gerd is my best friend --over 30 years. But I doubt myself how much I understand her now. She is pretty, smart, and very kind. Her parents love her and even spoil her a little bit, although she is an adopted child. They cared her too much that she couldn’t choose her friends to hang out. Gerd had many pursuers, but she dared not date any of them. She loves her husband, but she doesn’t know if her overwork for her in-laws well worth. She turns to seek spiritual support in recent years. She hopes her effort could calm her down and wish the world around her become more peaceful.
-110 words
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