TEACHING WRITING

Isis Estévez Alvarado

Elías Morales Rocha

W R I T I N G O R N O T W R I T I N G.

( I T ’ S N O T A Q U E S T I O N )

WR IT ING IN T HE CLASSROOM

Needs that require to work on writing skills:

Academic study

Examination, Preparation and Bussines English

Writing involves different kind of mental process.

TEACHING THE SKILL WRITING

Set writing task

Collecting in

Mark

YOU CAN DO AS TEACHER :

Choose a topic

choose a genre

get ideas

discuss ideas with others to get new perspectives

find grammar and lexis suitable for the text

study sample and model texts similar to what they want to write

co-write sections of text in groups

write a final version, find appropriate readers.

STAGES OF TEACHING

WRITING (SEOW)

Planing.

Drafting.

Revisng.

Editing.

Responding

Evaluating.

Post-writing

OLD SCHOOL WRITING

VS

CREATIVE WRITING

Write real letters / emails Think of real people to whom

students can write, eg Members of

Parliament, manufacturing companies,

fan clubs, local newspapers, other

schools, etc. Send them. Get replies.

Write back.

Write your own newsletter,

magazine, blog, etc

Class magazine, school magazine,

fan newsletter, local news, campaigning

on environmental or political issues, etc.

Advertise (ideas, school events,

products, etc)

Advertise around the school,

around town; send in your ads to local

papers.

Send comments, replies to

discussions, reviews, etc to websites

There are now a wide number of

discussions, message boards and

newsgroups specifically for students or

for special-interest groups. Many shop

and consumer sites invite reader reviews

of books, products, events, etc.

Write questionnaires and then

use them out In the street

These can be written in English

or in the learners' own language.

Write up the results. Publish them!

Long-term projects These are a good way of

integrating writing with other work.

The aim could be a file or book at

the end .

Apply for things, fill in forms

register for things, etc \

This can be done directly

online if students have Internet

access or printed out on paper.

S T E P 1 . A S C E R T A I N I N G

G OA L S A N D I N S T I T U T I O N A L

S T E P S I N P L A N I N G A W R I T I N G C O U R S EA N D T R A I N I N G T E A C H E R S O F W R I T I N G

C O N S T R A I N S :

• M I N I S T R I E S O F

E D U C AT I O N

• E X A M I N I N A N D

AC C R E D I T AT I O N

AG E N C I E S .

Writing in 1L

Confortable

Free.

Self-assured.

Open.

Loud

Psotive

Writing in 2L

I’m not the real me.

I’m choking in a word that

won’t come out.

Institutional Constraints ----- Form committes, find ways.

STEP 2 : DECIDING ON

THEORETICAL PRINCIPLES

Some teachers insist that their teaching is not associated with ideology

in any way.

Teachers need to confront their ideological position and recognize

their perception of the relationship between the type of writing and the

roles they are preparing students.

S T E P 3 . P L A N N I N G C O N T E N T.

STEP 3

Is there a correct content of writing classes?

Social issues Personal Experiences

Cultural Issues Literature

Etc.

BRAINSTORMING

Rhetorical Model

Students need topics that allowed them to

generate ideas, find the forms to fit ideas

and invite risk taking.

STEP 4 : WEIGHING THE

ELEMENTS

We need to consider which ones will be the most important for a

course: content, organization, originality, style, fluency, accuracy, or using

appropriate rhetorical forms of discourse.

S T E P 5 . D R A W I N G U P A S Y L A B U S

TYPES OF THE SYLLABUS ORGANIZATION FOR WRITING

COURSES.

STRUCTURAL.- Organizated around grammar and sentece

patterns. (sentences, descriptions, analyses… etc)

FUNCTIONAL.- Organizated around Rhetorical activities:

describing, defining, explaining, arguing, persuading, comparing and

contrasting, classifying.

TOPICAL.- Organized around themes: housing, health, house, education

or abstractions like succes or courage.

SITUATIONAL.- Organized around situational transactions: Applying

for a jobs, writing letter to the newspaper, writing bussines memo etc.

SKILLS AND PROCESS.- Organized around skills ad process as

generating ideas, organizing ideas, revising, writing fluency, writing

efective.

STEP 6 : SELECTING

MATERIALS

To open up the classroom to shared experiences, to topic to

stimulate writing teachers turn to materials such as VIDEOS,

SOFTWARE, AND BOOKS.

The material have to fit as far as possible with the goals, principles,

content, and weighting.

STEP 7 . - P REPARATING ACTIVITIES

AND ROL ES

The teacher have to be student to.

Think about what students will be doing and lerning in the

classroom rather than the comprehensiveness of the information we

will imparting.

“Banking”: depositing knowledge in the learner’s head.

STEP 8 : CHOOSING TYP ES AND

M ETHODS OF F EEDBACK

As a teacher we have to decide :

The method and type of response.

What do I have time for?

What is the purpose of my response?

STEP 9 . - EVALUATING THE COU RSE

Use of questionenaires, reflective logs.

PORTFOLIOS

Include some specified types of writing: in-class writing and

revised work.

Another teacher could be the evlatuator, and the teacher becomes

in a coach.

STEP 10 : REFLECTING THE

TEACHER’S EXPERIENCE

Teachers in writing courses will then write along with their

students and present their own writing for discussion.

1.- Introduce the

topic

Get students interested, maybe by reading a

text (article, letter; advert, etc) showing figures,

discussing some key issues, etc.

2.- Introduce and

summarise the main

writing task

Make sure students are clear what they have to

do. They need to know the genre (magazine article?

letter? formal report? etc), who they are writing for

and why. Avoid bland, 'genre-free text for no

particular audience' writing tasks.

3.- Brainstorm

ideas

Whole class: use the board to collect as many

ideas as possible. Small groups: speak and take notes.

4.- Fast-write A very good way to overcome 'blank page'

terror and get ideas flowing is to 'fast-write' (see

Section 7).

5 5.- Select and

reject ideas

What's worth leaving but?

6 6.- Sort and

order ideas

Start to plan structure of text by

arranging ideas.

7 7.- Decide on

specific

requirements:

style, information,

layout, etc

How is the text to be laid out,

paragraphed, organised? Are there any

special rules (eg if it's a letter, report, etc)?

Are there things that must be included or

stated in a certain way?

8 8.- Focus on

useful models

Help students to study sample(s) of

written texts similar to the one they are

writing. Focus on content, message,

organization, grammar, phrases, etc.

9 9.- Plan the text Use notes, sketches or cut-up cards to start

organising a possible shape for the text.

10.- Get feedback At various points, you, other students or

groups can read and make helpful comments /

suggestions about a text. This help may be on the

content and message, the organisation, the language,

etc.

11.- Prepre

draft(s)

Students often benefit from preparing a draft

version before the final one. This gives them the

chance to get reader reactions and corrections. .

12.-Edit Students carefully go through their own text,

checking if it says what they want it to, if it reads

clearly and smoothly, if its language is correct, eta.

13.- Prepare final

text

Based on feedback, students write a finished

text

14.- Readers! Rather than simply 'mark' a text, get other

students to respond to it in some^ more realistic

ways.

CLASSROOM ACT IVIT IE S AND

ST R AT E GIE S TO DE VE LOP T HE

WR IT ING SKILL

Text-starts

A lot of real-life writing involves looking at other texts and

summarising, reporting, responding to them, selecting ideas from

them, commenting on them, etc. Supplying 'text-starts' can be a good

way to provide useful writing work for students and practise reading /

writing skills that are useful in professional life and academic research.

FAST-WRITING

start writing about the topic;

not stop writing;

not put their pen down at all;

not worry about spelling, grammar, etc;

write 'um, um, um' or 'rubbish' or something else if they can't think of

what to write;

not stop to go back and read what they have written;

keep writing till you say 'stop' (which will be after five / eight / ten minutes

or however long you think is appropriate for your group).

USING A DIALOGUE

JOURNAL

Be creative and adapt the activity to the situation

and the learner's needs.

Keeping a dialogue journal can be a practical way to help learners

develop reading and writing fluency:

improve spelling and handwriting

understand that writing is a means of communicating, and

make reading and writing part of everyday life.

STEPS

1. Write a personal message in the journal that is designed to get a

response from the learner.

Examples: Start with a question such as

"Have you planted your garden? What do you usually plant?"

"What is the next event to celebrate? How will you celebrate it?"

2. Have the learner write a response and return the journal to the

teacher to continue the dialogue.

Have the class discuss and agree upon a question for the next entry in

the journals.

Have learners exchange journals and read each other's thoughts and

ideas.

3. Continue to exchange the journal in this way to keep the dialogue

going

CONFERENCE WRITING

Conference writing is an activity where writers

discuss and share their writing with an individual or

group.

WRITING FLUENCY ACTIVITY

Fluency in writing, as in reading, should be one of the

aims even of beginning lessons.

This writing fluency activity helps learners learn to:

transfer a flow of speech to written words on paper

visualize spoken words, phrases, and sentences as they hear them

write entire chunks of speech rather than syllable by syllable

write fluidly rather than haltingly

Begin working word by word. Progress as soon as possible to

phrases and then to entire sentences, according to the learners' ability.

Encourage the learners to write the entire chunk (word, phrase, or

sentence) without stopping to correct mistakes.

Encourage them to write quickly but legibly.

Work on problem words only after a sentence has been written.

Do not stop during writing to sound out letters or make corrections.

WRITING FLUENCY ACTIVITY

FR E E R E SOURCE S T HAT WILL

IMPROVE YOUR WR IT ING SKILLS

1. Grammar, Punctuation & Co.

Ultimate Style: The Rules Of Writing

HyperGrammar

Grammar Girl

Grammar Girl provides short,

friendly tips to improve your writing.

Covering the grammar rules and word

choice guidelines that can confound even

the best writers. Grammar Girl makes

complex grammar questions simple with

memory tricks to help you recall and

apply those troublesome grammar rules.

2. COMMON MISTAKES AND

PROBLEMS

Common Errors in English

A collection of common errors in English, with detailed explanations

and descriptions of each error.

AskOxford: Better Writing

A very useful reference for classic errors and helpful hints with a

terrible site navigation.

Dr. Grammar’s Frequently Asked Questions

Answers to common grammar questions related to English grammar,

with examples and additional explanations.

3. GENERAL WRITING

SKILLS

Writer’s Digest

Writer’s Digest offers information on writing better and getting

published. The site also includes community forums, blogs and huge

lists of resources for writers

Infoplease: General Writing Skills

Various articles that aim to teach students how to write better.

The Elements of Style

A freely available online

version of the book “The

Elements of Style” by

William Strunk, Jr., the

classic reference book.

Poynter Writing Tools

A blog dedicated to writers and

journalists. Poynter also

provides Fifty Writing Tools:

Quick List, a collection of

podcasts related to writing.

4. PRACTICAL GUIDES TO

BETTER WRITING SKILLS

Copywriting 101: An Introduction to Copywriting

This tutorial is designed to get you up and running with the basics of

writing great copy in ten easy lessons..

A Guide to Writing Well

“This guide was mainly distilled from On

Writing Well by William Zinsser and The

Elements of Style by Strunk and White.

Other sources are listed in the bibliography.

My memory being stubborn and lazy, I

compiled this so I could easily refresh myself

on writing well. I hope it will also be helpful

to others.”

THANKS

Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write

for the public and have no self. Cyril Connolly, The New Statesman

The original writer is not one who imitates nobody, but one

whom nobody can imitate. ~François-René de Chateaubriand

http://goo.gl/6cAJu