The narrator travels to Ireland to get away from stress and visits national parks in the western part of the country. Each day, they go on long treks enjoying the scenery. On the last day, the narrator sees an ancient dolmen they had not found before and stops to take a photo. However, upon inspecting the dolmen, they slip on a rock and badly sprain their ankle. Other tourists witness their painful accident. Though they recover, the narrator misses the tour of Dublin and will never forget how their trip was ruined by the sprained ankle at the end.

1. Thanks to Isabel Bastida & Ana
Mena
AN ANECDOTE

2. 1. AROUSING
INTEREST
-Something I’ll never
forget is when …
-One of the weirdest
things that happened
to me was …
-I had the funniest/
most embarrassing
experience when …
-You won’t believe
what happened to me
on my last holidays …
My trip to Ireland
You won’t believe what happened to me when I
went to Ireland.

3. 2. SETTING
THE SCENE I had felt stressed out lately and decided
to travel to get away from it all.
After looking for deals on the web, I
found a last minute bargain to Ireland with
Ryanair.
I was going to drive to the western side
of the island and visit some national parks.
That was exactly what I needed -
nature, villages, vegetation and some peace
and quiet.
-Main character
-Where
-When
-Who with
-Others

4. 3. DESCRIBING
THE MAIN
POINT
-What
-Focus on the story
Every day I went trekking for at least 1 hour. I could
also visit Clonmacnoise, Connemara National Park
, Delphi Mountain, Aran Islands and Cliffs of Moher.
The weather was really changeable, but mainly
overcast and rainy.
I also visited the Burren and area with a landscape that
reminded me of the Moon. On my last day in the area I
was determined to see a dolmen I hadn’t found on the
previous days.

5. 4. WHAT HAPPENED
AT THE END AND
REACTIONS
DEVELOPMENT OF
DRAMA
-It was a nightmare/
so embarrassing/
really funny.
-I was petrified/
speechless.
-Others.
While I was driving, I could see the prehistoric
dolmen before my very eyes. So I parked to take a
picture and strolled around. I was admiring the
dolmen, when suddenly I stepped down a rock and
landed on wet grass. Unfortunately I sprained my
ankle. At that moment I thought I had broken a
bone and din’t know what to do. Other tourists
were looking at me and I was scared stiff.
After I recovered, I came back to the B&B to rest .

6. 5. CONNECTING
THE STORY TO THE
PRESENT
CONCLUSION
- When I think about it
I still feel
embarrassed/ I feel
like laughing …
- I’ll never forget it
because …
- Others
I’ll never forget it, because it ruined the end of my
journey. In fact, I missed the tour in Dublin.

7. YOUR TURN

8. FIVE STEPS TO A GOOD ANECDOTE
• 1- Arousing interest.
• 2. Setting the scene.
• 3. Describing the main point.
• 4. What happened at the end and
reactions.
• 5. Connecting the story to the
present.
DON’T FORGET TO USE GOOD
NARRATIVE TENSES, INCLUDE
EXTREME FEELINGS OR
EXPERIENCES, EXAGGERATING.
DON’T FORGET TO BE AN ACTIVE
LISTENER.
THE DAY I GOT LOST
THE WORST JAM EVER
THE TIME I RAN OUT OF PETROL
LEARNING TO DRIVE
A CRAZY DRIVER
THE DAY I WAS STOPPED BY THE
POLICE

9. WRITING: AN ANECDOTE
•1. Give your story a title
•2. Write at least 4 paragraphs:
• Par. 1: Background info
• Par. 2 & 3: Main part of the story
• Par. 4: climax or what happened after climax
• Use past continuous for background info:
It was raining heavily as we left the house.
• Use past perfect before the main events
of the story: …but Anne had kindly lent me
her umbrella.
• Use simple past for main events: There
wasn’t a single person in the street.
• Use time conjunctions (while, by the
time..)
• Use expressions like I couldn’t believe my
eyes, I was scared stiff,… to express
feelings.
THE DAY IT WAS A TOTAL DISASTER
THE DAY YOU HIT THE ROOF
THE DAY YOU WENT BRIGHT RED
THE DAY YOU WERE SCARED STIFF
THE DAY YOU WERE OVER THE
MOON
THE DAY YOU FELT LIKE BURSTING
INTO TEARS.

10. TIME PHRASES PHRASES FOR
DRAMATIC EFFECT
DIRECT SPEECH CONCLUDING
STORIES
It all began
Shortly
afterwards
Meanwhile
Not long
afterwards
Some time later
It all began
Shortly
afterwards
Meanwhile
Not long
afterwards
Some time later
Suddenly
All of a sudden
Without warning
Out of the blue
Just at that
moment
Quite unexpectedly
As if from nowhere
".....", said Fred
".....", shouted Fred
".....", screamed Fred
".....", whispered Fred
".....", announced
Fred.
".....", thought Fred
".....", cried Fred
".....", promised Fred
When it was all
over
Looking back
now
In retrospect
In the end
After all that had
happened