Using 4-step Approach to Teach Writing 9 th March 2012 (Friday) 1:45 pm – 4:00 pm Language Learning Support Section Education Bureau

Using 4-step Approach to Teach Writing

9th March 2012 (Friday)

1:45 pm – 4:00 pm

Language Learning Support Section

Education Bureau

Planning the writing curriculum

1. Using task-based approach

Be meaningful, purposeful and authentic

With clear audience and purpose (s)

Have specific text type (s) targeted

2. Providing chances for students to use

language skills

Make effective use of the textbook materials

Set writing tasks that can apply vocabulary

and structures to express thoughts and

feelings


3. Enabling students to write different text types

Provide sufficient reading input for writing output

Expose students to a variety of text types

Teach text features and language structures of

specific text types

Experience different phases of writing process

collaboratively


Planning the writing curriculum – designing

writing tasks

1

Generating & organising

writing ideas –

Using graphic organisers

2 Turning ideas into a text –

using different writing

activities

3

Revising, editing & assessing

4

4-step Approach

Writing in Action: Writing in Action: Inside the classroomInside the classroom

School case 1

Writing a story ending

4-Step Approach in teaching writing

Planning the

writing curriculu

m – designing writing

tasks

1

Generating & organising writing ideas – Using graphic organisers

2Turning

ideas into a text – using

different writing

activities

3


4

Develop writing tasks using thematic approach

Level: Primary 3

Unit: Unit 10 Keeping Pets

Background • Teachers wanted to improve students’ writing competence• Picture story was chosen as the focus as teachers wanted

students to be exposed to a variety of text types .

Emphases in the Teaching Design

Pre-writing input was emphasised during planning and teaching:

1. Elements of story were taught explicitly

2. Graphic organiser was introduced to students as a planning tool for writing

3. Shared writing was done to demonstrate the writing process

4. Unified editing codes was developed for both teachers and students to facilitate Assessment for Learning (AFL)

5. Self and peer editing was done to strengthen students’ sense of learning ownership

Understanding the instructions

What makes a good story?


Planning the

writing curriculu


tasks

1


2Turning


different writing

activities

3


4

Emphases in the Teaching DesignPre-writing input was emphasised during planning and teaching:


2. Graphic organiser was introduced to students




Using graphic organisers to understand the construction of the text

2Deconstructing a story


Planning the

writing curriculu


tasks

1


2Turning


different writing

activities

3


4







Main TaskYou keep a cat as a pet at home. Look at the pictures and write a story about it. You may use the words in the boxes to help you. What happens in the end? Finish the story.

?Grandma / catch birds

sleep/ sausages fish bowl / sofa

3. 4.

2. 1.

Picture 1 Picture 2

Picture 3

Picture 1

Picture 2

Picture 3


Planning the

writing curriculu


tasks

1


2Turning


different writing

activities

3


4







Marking codes Examples ( : Wrong : Correct)

v.f. (Verb form) v.f. I like play the piano. I like playing the piano.

adj. (Adjective) adj. John is a carefully driver. John is a careful driver.

adv. (Adverb) adv. Mary runs slow. Mary runs slowly.

sp. (Spelling) sp. The childen are clever. The children are clever.

w.w. (Wrong word) w.w. We forget to take our books. We forget to bring our books.

Tense (T.) T. I watch TV last night. I watched TV last night.

plur. (Plural) plur. Peter likes apple. Peter likes apples.

sing. (Singular) sing. I have a brothers. I have a brother.

art. (Article) art. Ann has a orange. Ann has an orange.

Editing codes introduced to students







Revising & Editing:3. Use the revision checklist and editing checklist below to help you check your work.

Self assessment done beforepeer assessment

Writing the final draft

Writing a picture story

Read the pictures and write a story about them.

What to do?

Understanding the task Cindy likes dogs. She keeps a puppy at home. Look at the pictures and write a story in about 30 words.• You may use the words in the boxes to help you.•What happened in the end? Finish the story.

?Cindy / feed lost/ poster / find

see/ find/ return

Parts of a story:

Characters

Setting

Problem

Events

Story

Where

Resolution &

Ending

What happens?

Who are the characters?

Characters

Cindy likes dogs. She keeps a puppy at home. Look at the pictures and write a story in about 30 words.• You may use the words in the boxes to help you.•What happened in the end? Finish the story.


see/ find/ return

Parts of a story:

Characters

Setting

Problem

Story

Where

Resolution &

Ending

EventsWhat happens?



see/ find/ return

SettingWhere

Where does the story take place?

Parts of a story:

Characters

Setting

Problem

Story

When Where

Resolution &

Ending

EventsWhat happens?

Problem



see/ find/ return

What happens?

How do the character feel?

EventsWhat happens?

Parts of a story:

Characters

Setting

Problem

Story

When Where

Resolution &

Ending

EventsWhat happens?

What does the character do to solve the problem?



see/ find/ return

Resolution

How does the character feel?

What happens?

Parts of a story:

Characters

Setting

Problem

Resolution &

EventsStory

When Where

Ending



see/ find/ return

Ending

What happens finally?

Level P6

Language focus

- Adjectives to describe personality- Use”who” to add information about a person- Use “that” to add information about somethin

g- Use “myself”, “herself”, “ourselves”, etc t

o refer to people or things mentioned beforeText types exposed

-Conversations -Notes-Emails - Poems

Writing Task

Write a letter of appreciation to a good friend

E-mail Vs letter

letter

More personal & sincere

Why writing a letter?Why writing a letter? a common text type that students

have to master a meaningful and purposeful task authentic (real audience) teach moral values and attitudes allow students to put vocabulary items

and target structures in use


Planning the writing curriculum – Designing

writing tasks

1


Planning the writing curriculum – Designing writing tasks

1

Understanding the

organisation of text type

using graphic organisers

2

Text analysis based on graphic organiser

How does a letter structure?

What is the expected end product?What is the expected end product?

Dear Annie, We have been friends for 6 years and I want to thank you for all th

e things you did for me. I am happy to have a friend who is always kind to me. You listen t

o me when I am sad. You are not angry with me when I make mistakes. I am delighted to have a friend who is always helpful to me. When

I can’t do the homework myself, you always teach me to do it. I am lucky to have a friend who is so patient. When I can’t do the

sums myself, you always teach me how to do them. All the teachers would like to have a student who is hardworking and smart like you.

In our spare time, we always have fun. Do you remember we liked to make cookies ourselves? They were not yummy but we had fun! I enjoy shopping and eating with you too. I am happy to have you to play ball games with me because I can’t play ball games myself.

Thank you, my friend. Hope our friendship will last forever. Love, Peggy

Salutation

Greeting & signature

Idea 1

Idea 2

Idea 3

Idea 4

Idea 5

Idea 6


Planning the

writing curriculu


tasks

1

Understanding the

organisation of text type

using graphic

organisers

2Generating ideas and

turning ideas into a text

using different writing

activities

3

School-based exampleSchool-based example

A booklet with a series of activities developed to help generate ideas and give language input.

Why is a sample included?Why is a sample included?Dear Annie, We have been friends for 6 years and I want to thank you for all the things you did for me. I am happy to have a friend who is always kind to me. You listen to me when I am sad. You are not angry with me when I make mistakes. I am delighted to have a friend who is always helpful to me. When I can’t do the homework myself, you always teach me to do it. I am lucky to have a friend who is so patient. When I can’t do the sums myself, you always teach me how to do them. All the teachers would like to have a student who is hardworking and smart like you. In our spare time, we always have fun. Do you remember we liked to make cookies ourselves? They were not yummy but we had fun! I enjoy shopping and eating with you too. I am happy to have you to play ball games with me because I can’t play ball games myself.Thank you, my friend. Hope our friendship will last forever. Love, Peggy

Encourage students to put the language learned in use


Planning the

writing curriculu


tasks

1

Generating &

organising writing ideas – Using

graphic organisers

2Turning


different writing

activities

3

Revising, editing & Assessing

4

“…There should be an emphasis on the process of writing as well as the product.”

“…There should be an emphasis on the process of writing as well as the product.”

I do careful

planning!

You make writing easy

for me!

Student

Teacher

Points to note:Points to note:1. Choose a relevant and meaningful

text type to write2. Make use of graphic organisers to

do text analysis with students3. Think of relevant activities to give

students content, organisation and language input

4. Show samples if necessary5. Encourage revising and editing



Writing in Action: Writing in Action: Outside the Outside the classroomclassroom

To provide an opportunity for

students to apply the writing skills learnt in class through the use of the 4-step approach

To provide a platform for students to produce a piece of writing collaboratively

To develop students' generic skills (e.g. communication, creativity and collaboration)

For students to learn from each other and know more about their own strengths and weaknesses

Aims of the activity:

What writing activities do students take part

in?

1. Warm up activitiesa. Categorising words and phrases

b. Rearranging jumbled words into sentencesc. Rearranging jumbled sentences into a

paragraph

d. Matching supporting details with main ideas

2. Writing process

3. Editing activity –Spot the mistakes

Writing Assessment

CONTENT• interesting & relevant ideas• supporting details• an appropriate ending• clear information • sufficient number of words

LANGUAGE & ORGANISATION• use a (small) range of vocabulary • use suitable (different) sentence patterns• use cohesive devices to link ideas within & between paragraphs • make no / few grammatical & spelling mistakes• write in appropriate format and with language structures

Impact of 4-Step Approach

on Writing

More students are able to: More work needs to be done in the following areas:

Write stories with beginning, middle and ending

Elaborate ideasWrite more words (longest text: 237 words)

Creativity

Use the simple past tense when writing stories

Incorporate the use of dialogues

Use punctuations correctly in dialogues

Spelling (e.g. leson, putted, maked),

Prepositions (e.g. out at (of))Punctuations (use commas i

nstead of full stops to break sentences)

L1 interference (e.g. very like, gave teacher punish, etc.)

Write in paragraphsUse a variety of cohesive devices (e.g. After a day, because, suddenly, finally, etc.)

Use some cohesive devices appropriately (e.g. two day)

Con

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gu

ag

eO

rgan

isati

on

Teachers’ observations

After adopting 4-Step Approach to teach writing, students• have become more confident writers • show improved writing fluency • are more aware of the fact that writing is a process • recognise the features of different text types • use graphic organisers to plan their writing• have developed the habit of revising and editing

Planning the curriculum holistically

Making use of textbook and Reading Workshop materials

to design writing tasks

Deconstructing good reading texts to help students

understand the features of different text types

Using graphic organisers to brainstorm and organise ideas

Documents

Using 4-step Approach to Teach Writing 9 th March 2012 (Friday) 1:45 pm – 4:00 pm Language Learning Support Section Education Bureau