WRITING FORGE

Presented by:PETER ALLAN

HOW TO TEACH WRITING

The teachers of the speakers of English as a second language (ESL students) have a challenging but rewarding job. ESL students in a classroom may perform at different levels and come from countries with vastly different cultures. The teacher must not only find out how much the students know about writing in English but also learn about the differences in cultures within the classroom.

Give the students opportunities to do functional tasks such as making lists of things they need to bring for a party, writing friendly letters, reading and copying poems that you write on the chalkboard and writing notes to their families about school events.

Introduction to teach writing

• Suggest topics that the students might like to write about: their friends, their family, how they feel, their favorite food or their favorite book. Give students the opportunity to read their entries to their classmates.

• Have the students brainstorm a topic such as "family." Draw a word web on the chalkboard. Write the word "family" in the middle circle. Then ask for words that tell about families in the circles that you draw around the main circle.

• Have students make a mural that tells or retells a story--for example, summarizing the events in a story they have read or how their family makes preparations for a holiday.

• Ask the students to make up a story together. The story can be something that really happened, such as a game they played outside or a trip that someone took, or it could be a made-up story, such as "One day Juan saw a flying car."

Teaching writing• A well-written piece can be

described as incorporating elements of writing in such a way that a reader can experience the writer's intended meaning, understand the writer's premise, and accept or reject the writer's point of view.

Effective Writing: • is focused on the topic and does

not contain extraneous or loosely related information;

• has an organizational pattern that enables the reader to follow the flow of ideas because it contains a beginning, middle, and end and uses transitional devices;

• contains supporting ideas that are developed through the use of details, examples, vivid language, and mature word choice; and

• follows the conventions of standard written English (i.e., punctuation, capitalization, and spelling) and has variation in sentence structure.

30 I d e a s f o r t e a ch i n g wr i t i n g

1 . Use th e sh ar e d e v e n t s o f s t u d e n t s ' l i v e s t o i n s p i r e wr i t i n g

2 . Es t a b l i s h a n em a i l d i a l o g u e b e twee n s t u d e n t s f r om d i f f er e n t s ch o o l s wh o a r e r e a d i n g t h e s ame b o ok .

• Use wr i t i n g t o i m pr o v e re l a t i o n s am o ng s t u d e n t s .

• Hel p s t u d e n t wr i t er s d r aw r i ch ch u nks o f wr i t i n g fr om e n d l e s s s praw l .

• Work w i t h w or d s re l e v a n t t o s t u d e n t s ' l i v e s t o h e l p t hem b u i l d v o c a b u l a ry .

• Hel p s t u d e n t s a n a ly z e t e x t by a sk i n g th em t o i m a g i n e d i a l o g u e b e twee n a u th or s .

1 . Sp o t l i gh t l a ng u a ge a n d u s e gr o u p br a i n s t o rm i n g t o he l p s t u d e n t s cre a t e p o e try .

2 . Ask s t u d e n t s t o r e f l e c t o n a n d wr i t e a b o u t th e i r wr i t i n g .

3 . Ea se i n t o wr i t i n g w orksh o p s by pre s e n t i n g y o ur s e l f a s a m o d e l .

4 . Ge t s t u d e n t s t o f o c u s o n t he i r wr i t i n g by h o l d i n g o f f o n gr a d i n g .

11. Use c a s u a l t a lk a b o u t s t u d e n t s ' l i v e s t o g e n er a t e wr i t i n g .

2 . G i v e s t u d e n t s a ch a n ce t o wr i t e t o a n a u d i e n c e f o r re a l p u r p o s e .

3 . Pra c t i c e a n d p l ay w i t h re v i s i o n t e ch n i q u e s .

4 . Pa i r s t u d e n t s w i t h a d u l t r e a d i n g/wr i t i n g b u d d i e s .

15. Tea ch " t e n s i o n " t o m o v e s t u d e n t s b ey o n d f l u e n cy .

16 . Enc o ur ag e d e s cr i p t i v e wr i t i n g by f o c u s i n g o n the s o u n d s o f wor d s .

3 . Req u i r e wr i t t e n r e s p o n s e t o p e er s ' wr i t i n g .

4 . Make wr i t i n g re f l e c t i o n t a ng i b l e .5 . Make grammar i n s t r u c t i o n

dy n am i c .

20 . Ask s t u d e n t s t o e x p er im e n t w i t h s e n t e n ce l e n g th .

21 . He l p s t u d e n t s a sk q u e s t i o n s a b o u t th e i r wr i t i n g .

3 . Cha l l e n ge s t u d e n t s t o f i n d a c t i v e v erb s .

4 . Req u i r e s t u d e n t s t o m ake a p er s u a s i v e wr i t t e n a rg ume n t i n s u p p o r t o f a f i n a l gr a d e .

• Grou n d wr i t i n g i n s o c i a l i s s u e s i m p o r t a n t t o s t u d e n t s .

• Enc o ur age th e " fr am i n g d e v i c e " a s a n a i d t o c o he s i o n i n wr i t i n g .

• Use re a l wor l d e x amp l e s t o r e i n f o r c e wr i t i n g c o n v e n t i o n s .

• Th i nk l i k e a f o o t b a l l c o a ch .

1 . Al l ow c l a s s r o om wr i t i n g t o t ake a p age fr om yearb o ok wr i t i n g

2 . Use h ome l a n g u a ge o n the r o a d t o St a n d a r d Eng l i s h .

3 . I n t r o d u c e mu l t i - g e nre wr i t i n g i n t h e c o n t e x t o f c ommu n i ty s erv i c e .

Thank you

Peter Allan