It really had an impact on me - Review

' It really had an impact  on me.'

Informal review

Today we are going to look at an informal review. The title for this review is 'It really had an impact on me'. Therefore from this title we can infer the following things:

1. The examiner is not seeking classical review structure, i.e. write 200 words about a modern adaptation of Brecht's Mother Courage.
2. Nor are they asking you to say 'I went to see a film in the cinema, it made me cry. Boo hoo hoo.'

Oh that´s lovely, How shocking! - Look at the following images and respond appropriately.

What we are looking for here is something which shows your own opinion, while demonstrating in a fairly journalistic style what you are talking about.

Basically some good adjectives, reasons why you feel this way and a little bit of history, culture, whatever, written in the passive.

Adjectives and explanations.

Before we take a look at this example from Vice Magazine lets revise some vocabulary from having an impact.

Vocabulary - Powerpoint and Pictures taken from Vice UK.

Explanations (contrasts, expanding your ideas)

Ok so now we have the impact part of the story, a few adjectives. Next it's important to back up our ideas. This is gut wrenching because ... Obviously the obvious contrast here is with European state hospitals, or we could point out similarities, for example: 

The photos really had an impact on me because they effectively how much trust is placed in doctors, we really put our lives into their hands, though this isn't usually shown so bloodily in Europe, instead we consent to taking prescription drugs.

Objectivity (or semi-objectivity)

A review in English makes heavy use of the passive and reported speech. You will also need to demonstrate an effective control of narrative tenses to tell a story.

So here you can find a fake transcript of the interview. That I made up solely for this exercise.

What I would like you to do is transform the transcript into a journalistic piece, using adjectives to describe how it impacted on you and using the best bits of the interview for quotations.

Similar review

Before we go lets look at some student reviews. Here is one by my student Jose about Sevilla's fine arts museum.

Sevilla fine art museum review.

and Maria´s modest and understated review of

Journey to the past.

Examples

Check out Sara's excellent work based on this lesson. Street Doctor's in India.