NAME OF TRAINEE:

LSA NUMBER: Four

WHICH SKILL OR SYSTEM? Skill: Writing
NAME OF ASSIGNMENT: Process Writing Approach for PreIntermediate Learners
DATE OF LESSON:
LEVEL OF CLASS: Pre-Intermediate
TIME AND DURATION OF LESSON: 10.00-11.00 am (1 hour)
EXPECTED NUMBER OF STUDENTS: 12

The Learners

1.1 The class

The students mostly come from a Spanish background, and they
are studying general English. This is a class that is being taught
for the first time, as they had another group of CELTA teachers for
the past three weeks. This class seems to have a group of mixed
abilities, but they are quite keen and motivated to improve their
level of proficiency in English. Their level of proficiency is ranging
around pre intermediate, where some of them (Celia) have a
better command and others (Antonia) are at a disadvantage.

1.2 Individual learners

Ana is a secretary and hopes she can get a job as a quality control
officer. She is originally from the Ecuador and has lived in
Granollers for the past 11 years. She started learning English in
University, but she is motivated to improve her proficiency level
to land a better job. She identifies her strengths in speaking and
grammar, but finds writing to be challenging to her.
Elena is a chef and uses English regularly for work and research.
Her first language is Catalan. She communicates well and is
strong in reading and speaking; while she describes that her main
weakness is in vocabulary and has a difficulty recalling verb
forms.

Aims

2.1 Main aims

By the end of this lesson the students will...
ALL students would be better able to:
Plan and draft text(s) describing places (where they come
from).
Use mind maps to generate ideas around the topic.
MOST of the students will be given a chance to:
Develop their writing fluency.
SOME students will be better able to:
Select ideas from a draft to use in a final text.
Write a description of their cities/villages using adjectivenoun collocations.
2.2 Secondary aims
Recycle the lexical set of nouns and adjectives that describes
places.
3
Lesson fit
At the beginning of this week, this group had a task based lesson
on describing people where they were able to write and speak
about their peers. Therefore, I decided on describing places which
I think will benefit them at this time of the course. In my
experience and after consulting some writing books (Ready to
write and Reason to write) I figured out that descriptive writing is
helpful at this part of the course, as this kind of descriptive writing
involves the use of present simple, verb-noun collocations and
adjective-noun collocation which were presented more than once
during this course.
Also this group of learners will be presented with a pronunciation
lesson with word and sentence, and I believe it is necessary to
have some variety which allows different approaches; especially
this is their last week in this course.

Assumptions

- The awareness of the importance of planning before writing was

not raised in previous lessons, so they are introduced to
understanding the planning procedures.
- Through the diagnostic session, at the beginning of this course,
it was noticed that these students were trained on writing skills
during first language acquisition, so they are expected to be
familiar with the progress they achieve and be more encouraged
to use the process writing approach more often.
- This group is mostly seniors. In the needs analysis questionnaire,
they all highlighted their need of how to write. Therefore they
are expected to do more effort in learning the process writing
approach, simply because this approach addresses their
autonomy and creativity.
- They are expected to get involved and enthusiastic about the
topic (tourist attractions in Spain/ Catalonia). As they like to talk
about their cities/villages more than any other places.
- Students are expected to use chunks more than words, as they
are able to use collocations such as (e.g. big city/ hot weather/
interesting places etc).This will enhance their writing and develop
their abilities. Therefore they are expected to be well motivated.
- Since most of the students are visual learners, I will use more
visuals during the lesson (videos, slides, and pictures). Also, there
are four kinaesthetic learners; I am planning to include some
hands on activities.

Anticipated problems and solutions

a. Anticipated Issues - sessions aims and learning outcomes:
Issue 1
Students may have difficulty in understanding the video, as in
this stage (pre-intermediate) their listening skills are the
weakest compared to other skills.
Appropriate Solution
I will use an authentic video, but I will edit it to match the
learners level. I can edit the speed of the video to make it a bit
easier for them. In addition, a full understanding of the text is
not necessary and vocabulary will not be tackled as a class.
The learners will be given a chance to discuss and plan in pairs
after listening. The use of visuals at this stage is meant to
ensure students understanding of the topic and to encourage
them to start drafting their ideas on paper.
Issue 2
There may be grammatical issues (present simple)
encountered in the production of text and the learners may
want to focus on this.
Appropriate Solution
Since the focus of this lesson is the process itself more than
any other linguistic features, it does not have a grammar focus
so these can be tackled discretely and individually if need be.
In my experience, this approach reduces the stress on learners

and enables them to write more comfortably with much focus

on meaning.

b. Anticipated Issues - learners and the learning context

Issue 3
This group is a multi-level class to some extent, as there are
two false beginners at least. Sometimes these two false
beginner pair together and this negatively affects their
performance.
Appropriate Solution
Be careful with groupings that the two false beginners do not
fall into one group. Balance the pairings. I will act as a manager
and circulate, encouraging and facilitating students work.
Issue 4
Some learners may start to write sentences rather than ideas
at the pre-writing/planning brainstorming stage.
Appropriate Solution
I will give clear instructions, use instruction check questions to
check instructions, monitor and guide individual learners.
Issue 5
Learners may not pay much attention to the planning stage,
and accept it as a warmer. Having poor planning will lead to

poor drafting. Therefore, students may ruin the whole process

by bad planning.
Appropriate Solution
This is due to a lack of understanding of the process of writing;
the teacher needs to give clear instructions and check
instructions well. Also the use visual at the beginning of the
lesson will engage students. The conclusion of the lesson may
include a description of the process to give learners a chance
to realise the importance of different stages.
Issue 6
Some learners may face problems shifting from group work
(planning) to individual work (drafting); especially slow
learners. I expect the false beginners at least to struggle
drafting even after planning.
Appropriate Solution
Make sure that planning is good enough to lead them to
drafting and ask them to work in groups so they can assist one
another. Use visuals during brainstorming and make sure that
students are engaged. Use concept check questions, and
monitor their planning with some assistance to those slow
learners. Teacher should make sure that they are using their
mind map to transfer ideas into sentences.

Issue 7

The learners may have issues writing at the drafting stage or at

the final stage of producing a final version, where they may
want to focus on grammar, spelling and punctuation.
Appropriate Solution
There is an editing stage which will involve their peers where
they are asked to check content. Use Instruction Check
Questions to highlight that it is the content that is the focus
and not the accuracy at this stage. The learners may find this
difficult to accept but stress this at all the relevant stages.
c. Anticipated Issues - equipment, materials and resources
Issue 8
The projector might not work. Also I might have a problem with
speakers or video quality.
Appropriate solution
Test PC and connections. Print out handouts and use
whiteboard as part of the contingency plan.
6

Materials

A Video (The Original video is retrieved form you tube).

White board
Hand outs
Over-head projector

7
Language analysis
The session follows the process approach to writing and follows
the path of;
Planning the purpose of the planning stage in process writing is
to assist lower level learners to generate, select and organise
ideas; various techniques such as brainstorming, mind-mapping
etc can be used to plan before writing about their villages/cities.

In this instance I will involve them writing their ideas in a mind

map and working collaboratively to list a range of ideas. I will
check understanding via monitoring and observing the ideas that
the learners list and eliciting ideas and guiding if necessary.
Drafting: Here the learners select and transfer their initial ideas
into text. Learners can refer back to planning and edit their ideas
if needed.
This will involve the learners using the ideas from the planning
stage to write their sentences to describe their villages/cities.
This will be in the form of sentences; as they produce the text the
teacher will ask them to check if they have included ideas from
their plan. Students will be asked to work individually in this
stage.
Editing: After the first draft the learners now work on improving
the quality of their work.

This will include the learners working together to peer assess and
focus on the content of their work. Learners will be asked to peer
assess and edit each others work for content.
Final version: here they will use the work completed at editing
stage to produce a more coherent final piece of text.
The quality of work/content and the range of ideas within the text
will be the understanding the learner displays.
The stages above are not linear but cyclical and there can be
movement backwards and forth as needed by the writer to
improve text but for the purpose of this session it will by and large
follow the linear process with little deviation.
The learners will produce text and they will use the present
simple, and adjectives, but the grammar of the sentences, or
spelling is not the focus and will not be tackled within the session;
it is the process to develop their ideas that is the focus and to
take the learners away from a grammar focus; a process approach
rather than a product approach.
Present Simple
The learners will be using;
S + V1

My village has a population of 2000 people.

Adjectives
There will be use of adjectives as part of the sentence.

 It is a big city.
Adjective-noun collocations:
As noted by (Hill, 2000) collocations are of prime importance in
expanding low-level learners mental lexicons, so students will be
given a chance to use some familiar adjective-noun collocations:
- Adjective-noun collocations can be used to describe places
(e.g.
Interesting places, a small village, cold weather etc )

8
Commentary
In my experience, I taught a lot of pre-intermediate classes.
Writing was always a challenge to the learners and not a
preferable lesson for them. Most learners look at writing as a tool
that supports their learning of grammar and vocabulary (Harmer
2000). This group of learners are mostly retirees and they do not
have any actual daily or occasional need to writing in English.
During this course, Ive noticed that they depend on fixed
language structures to write and speak, Therefore, they are like
my Saudi students in using writing as to learn grammar and
vocabulary and not as a skill in its own right.
As (Hedge 2000) noted that writing is not just putting ideas on
paper, it is one of human communication methods. It is the result
of employing strategies to manage the composing process, which
is one of gradually developing a text. Most of this group, if not all,
have not received the necessary support to build up writing skills
in their first language. For example they write complete sentences
when they were asked to think about a topic or plan for a
discussion or a composition.
Referring to the above mentioned facts, I chose writing skill for
this lesson, and since the recent years witnessed a lot of research
on writing and writing methods (Thornbury 2006), many teaching
approaches were presented. I decided on the process writing
approach for this group of pre-intermediate learners. With Saudi
pre-intermediate learners, I have noticed that they benefit from
the process writing approach more than any other approach. I
think the same will be correct with my current Spanish students.
Hedge (2000) noted that this approach tries to provide useful
support for students, and this support will vary according to their
age, backgrounds and needs. I think this will fit this certain group
of learners, as they have an interest to think about individualized
issues such as names, lifestyle and cities.

I decided on a descriptive paragraph writing for many reasons;

first as they would be interested in describing relatively
individualized topics of interest. In addition, learning the stages of
writing rather than studying certain written product encourages
their creativity and enhances their autonomy.
I also chose the topic of describing places, and narrowed the
scope to writing about where they come from to maximize
personalization chances and raise their enthusiasm.
Since process writing was described by Harmer (2000)as a linear
process (stages follow each other in a line) at some stages or
levels and a recursive process (students can move between
stages as per necessity) in general. For this group of learners, and
as pre-intermediate learners, I decided to go for the linear more
than the recursive process. I wouldnt mind getting back to any
stage if needed, but I believe this lesson will go for a linear more
than a recursive process.
In order to manage the composing process, students need to go
through the following stages:

A warmer/ Lead in:

At this stage students are introduced to the topic and their
interest is to be raised.
Pre-writing/ Planning:
It is a crucial stage, as students work collaboratively on
brainstorming and calling out ideas. They dont write sentences
this stage, they only decide on ideas.
Drafting:
Students filter their ideas and write sentences. Students learn
how to work on the quality of their writing and eliminate irrelevant

and unnecessary information. They also learn how to write for a

purpose and audience.
Editing:
At this stage students get a chance to look at each others work
for content, and this highlights that it is not all about checking for
grammar and content is equally important.

Reviewing:
Students review their second draft and notice the progress
happened; starting by planning till drafting. Also they can review
grammar and punctuation mistakes at this stage.
Word Count: 634

Lesson Outline

Stage Name/ Stage Aim

Interaction/
Time

Lead in/
To get them involved into
the topic. To activate
students schemata
(Talking about travelling)
Bring learners attention to
description

Lockstep
SS-T-SS
7 mins

Setting up the context/

Generate interest in the
topic, and encourage
students to start planning.

Lockstep

Plan:
Learners brainstorm to
generate ideas of
descriptions.

T-Ss-T
Ss-Ss
10 mins

Introduction of a mind map

as a technique for learners
to plan ideas for writing.

Ss-T-SS
Ss-Ss
8 mins

Procedural
Detail
Teacher asks students Do you like travelling?, and encourages Ss to
give different answers. T responds to their answers.
T asks students to imagine that they won 10000 Euros, and asks them to
talk about where to go, and what to see there?
T collects answers and highlights the important chunks (e.g. love to see
museums, go diving in the sea, visit interesting places, and speak
languages).
Teacher acts as a manager by giving instructions and encouraging learners to
contribute. Teacher is also a contributor here, by eliciting ideas or forward
suggestions.
Teacher tells students that she wants them to travel to her hometown
Cairo, so she will show them a video for Cairo.
Ss watch the video to collect information about Cairo.
In pairs Ss decide if they want to visit Cairo or not? Discuss why?
Feedback from students and teacher collects information and write ideas
on the board e.g. location, population, interesting places... etc.
Teachers role here is to facilitate, monitor and manage.
T asks Ss to think about visiting a tourist city like Barcelona, and if they
want their classmates to come and visit this city.
Do you love this city you chose? Yes
Do you want your classmates to visit it? Yes
T draws a circle on the board and Ss to complete a mind map.
CQs: Do you write these ideas for yourself? No
Do you write it for your friends? Yes
Why? To make them visit my city.
Ss share ideas and fill in a separate mind map in pairs about their tourist

Direct students attention

to plan with a purpose and
audience in mind

Draft
Drafting to use their ideas
to form descriptions.
To use the planning stage
to inform their writing at
the draft stage.

Draft
Learners individually to
select appropriate
information from their
draft.
Here this will highlight that
not all information in the
draft need be included in

city. (handout 3)
CQs Do you work individually or in pairs? in pairs
Do we share ideas? Yes
Do we have the same plan and the same city/? yes
Will you write complete sentences? No
Will you write only one or two words or long sentences? Yes only
ideas
Teacher monitors, collects mistakes and gives whole-class feedback by
highlighting students planning mistakes (e.g. writing sentences not ideas,
lack of ideas).

T-Ss-T
Ss-Ss
Ss-T
10 mins

Teacher role at this stage is a manager by giving instructions, facilitator by

observing and assisting learners, and Assessor by collecting and correcting
mistakes.
Teacher writes on the board:
Morgan 07 Safa. Asks students if they can explain this.
T collects predictions and give a different explanation to get students
understand that he understands it easily as she writes it.
CQs Did I write this to you? No
Did I write it to myself? Yes
Was it easy for you to understand? No
Did I think about you when I wrote this sentence? No
Teacher asks students to get ready to write about their city.
CQs Do you write this for yourself? No
Do you write it for your friends? Yes
Do you write sentences like the one on the board? No, complete
sentences.
Teacher asks students to use their plans to write as many sentences as
they can about their city in their groups. Just to transfer their ideas into
sentences with no worries about grammar.
Ss are asked to pick six important ideas to write about considering the
reader of their paragraph (friends)
CQs: Do you write in groups or alone? In groups
Do you worry about spelling? No
Do you worry about grammar? NO, only meaning.
Do you write about everything in your plan? Not everything, only six
things.

the final version

Teacher monitors to make sure that students are using their plans, and to
make sure they are writing collaboratively.
Teachers role here is a source of information by explaining the importance of clear
ideas, and manger by giving instructions, and guiding students through the whole
stage. Also she monitors and assists when necessary.

Editing Content:
Peer evaluation of the
composition.
Highlights that there is a
stage after writing that
involves checking content.

T-Ss
Ss-Ss

T asks students:
Do you think this is your final copy? No
Can you publish it in the class? No, it needs some changes.

10 mins
T Highlights the issue of checking meaning only.
CQs Do you correct spelling or grammar? No
Do you correct information to make meaning understood? Yes
T provides Ss with a content check list to check their draft according to it.
(handout 1)
In groups students evaluate their compositions. Each group evaluates
anothers writing.
T monitors editing and collect notes for whole-class feedback.

Editing Language:
Error correction
awareness raising.
Highlight grammar,
spelling and
punctuation errors for
final draft.
Final Piece
Learners complete their
final piece.

T-Ss
Ss-T-Ss
15 mins

Teachers role here is a facilitator.

T provides Ss with Handout 2 to raise students awareness to language
editing. Each Ss is given a handout to work on their own. T then asks Ss to
compare answers in pairs and shows them the answer key on the board.
T highlights on the importance of highlighting all the errors in the text, so
it could be ready for publishing.
T asks Ss to switch their writing again with another group to correct the
errors they have in grammar, spelling and punctuation.
T directs Ss to write their final draft according to the feedback they got
from the other groups.
T monitors Ss progress and provides final feedback for their work on the
different stages of writing.

Teachers role here is a facilitator.

Bibliography:
Blanchard K. & Root C. (1994). Ready to Write. Addison Wesley
Publishing Company.
Hill j. (2000) Teaching Collocation: Further Developments in the
Lexical Approach. Hampshire: Heinle Cengage Learning.
Miller J. L. & Cohen R. F. (2001). Reason to Write. Oxford
University Press.
Video about Cairo city tour. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvuX8nEPl4&playnext=1&list=PL2AAD258FDB7BD1EA .on 09/08/2011.

10 Appendices
Handout 1
Content Editing List:

Does your paragraph have a title?

Is your title interesting?
Are all your ideas important?
Do you need to add any ideas?
Do you need to delete any ideas?

Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No
Yes/No

Handout 2
Teachers Own

Handout 3
Mind Map

Teachers Own

Visit the city of

Teachers Own