An oral activity designed to help prepare college students of English as a second language for assignments and rhetorical strategies for essay writing is described. The activity, which comprises several tasks and can require up to two class periods, requires students to compare and contrast a painting and a poem that have a common theme or aspect. Pre-writing tasks include paired observations and note-taking on specified aspects of the works, then oral comparisons using specific sentence- and clause initial discourse markers and transitions (e.g., "similarly, moreover, therefore"). Written tasks include: a 20-minute free-writing session in which students write a summary of the comparison, using the discourse markers; an exchange of summaries with partners and a revision using alternative discourse markers; and a homework assignment consisting of an expanded written comparison. Followup activities included an oral in-class summary, incorporation of new transition terms, another partner-exchange with revision, an additional revision by the original author, a comparison of the three versions, and a discussion session on the discourse markers and transitions. The painting and text used in the class are appended, with additional ideas for instructional materials and a worksheet. (MSE)