There was a long line of people waiting for service and you had to stand in line for at least 20 minutes. Just as you were nearing the front of the line, four masked men holding guns rushed into the bank and ordered everyone to lie down with their faces to the floor. You heard one of the men run past you and order the bank staff to put all the bank’s money into the large sack he was carrying.

Unfortunately for you, when the gunmen entered the building, you were holding your wallet in your hand. One of the gunmen must have seen this because he came over to you and tried to take it away. When you resisted, he fired a shot into the bank’s ceiling. Needless to say, you gave him what he wanted.

After about four minutes, the gunmen ran out of the building into a waiting car. The police arrived only two minutes later, but by then the gunmen had already escaped. You were suddenly 9,000 baht poorer.

Your sad situation gained a lot of sympathy, however, and you were interviewed by several newspaper and television reporters and you actually got to see yourself on TV twice. You were also featured in several news stories and one newspaper wrote a four-paragraph story on you alone.

This would obviously be a story that you would tell again and again, to your friends, your parents, maybe even someday to your children and grandchildren. And each time you might tell it in a different way.

For example, depending on your personality, you might begin the story this way when you meet your best friend:

Now that you have your friend’s complete attention, you can tell him all about your misfortune at the bank. Consider other ways that you could tell your story. How, for example, might you tell it to your parents, your brothers and sisters or your teacher.

Now suppose you were asked to write your story. What would it be like then? Actually, it would depend on your purpose in writing. Below are three possibilities. Read them and consider which would be most appropriate for (1) a summary of the facts (2) a story which begins by trying to catch the reader’s interest before giving the main details (3) a more serious and thoughtful story which explores the meaning of the experience.

a. Time is money. If I didn’t believe that old saying before, I do now. Five more minutes and my money would have been the bank’s responsibility. Instead, my hard-earned term-break income is in someone else’s pocket…

b. Four masked gunman staged a daring midday robbery yesterday at the Suan Som branch of the First Thai bank, escaping with over seven million baht in cash…

c. I didn’t mind the heavy lifting nor the 12-hours days. In fact, I found manual labour to be a welcome change from my studies, especially since the money was good. By the end of the term break, I had 9,000 baht ready to deposit in my neighbourhood bank. It never reached my bank account…

Actually all three of the above styles are commonly found in your Bangkok Post. The first story is typical of what you might find at the beginning of an editorial – the story which gives the viewpoint of the Bangkok Post on important issues of the day.

I’m sure you recognised the second as the style used for most news stories. The final example would most likely be found in the feature section of the newspaper where the stories are generally written to entertain as well as inform.

The section that follows gives you a number of excerpts (parts) from stories found in various sections of the Bangkok Post. Read through them quickly and decide which of the three above styles (editorial, news, or feature) they are most similar to. Then look through the various sections of your Bangkok Post for more examples of these styles.

Certainly, two of the most spectacular events scheduled to celebrate his Majesty’s 72^nd birthday will take place in the sky. To find out what I am talking about, just turn to this week’s cover story in today’s real.time section of the Bangkok Post.

Entitled "Reach for the skies", the story will give you complete details on both events as well as some interesting background. In particular, be sure to read the section about stunt man B.J. Worth, a regular stand-in the for James Bond actors like Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, and Pierce Brosnan.

Here is some vocabulary to help you with the feature:

The lesson’s main point is that our newspaper contains more than one style of writing. In fact, it is full of variety because our readers have many different interests. They want to be informed, but they also want to be entertained.

The lesson begins with a hypothetical experience. Have your students read it and then lead a brief discussion about how they might tell others about the experience. Consider how the story might change when it is told to different people. And it will change in a big way when it is put on paper. That should be clear from the three examples I have written for them to consider.

The exercise is quite straightforward and the students should be able to do it without problems. Be sure to have them also consider actual stories from the newspaper.

The first, third and seventh stories use the news style. The second uses the editorial style, The rest — the fourth, fifth and sixth stories use the feature style.

This week’s story from real.time can be used in several ways. If you have enough time in class, have your students quickly scan through the story for the most pertinent details about the upcoming skydiving events in honour of the King – dates, venues, participants, requirements for those taking part, etc. Then have them read the story in more detail over the weekend for a short discussion some time next week before the first jump takes place. Also, remind your students about the "what’s on" section of real.time that we covered last week. Suggest that they use it on their own to find interesting things to do.

Next week: a special lesson honouring the King entitled "His Majesty speaks"

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