Teaching Writing

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• Do your students like writing?
• Do you like writing?

we teach english
 What do you think?

What makes a good piece of writing?

we teach english
Тeachers and students were asked what features make
a very good piece of writing. Student’s top answers
were accuracy and spelling whereas teachers claimed
that they appreciate interesting ideas and more
concerned with quality of the thoughts. As we see,
there is a problem – different expectations…

Have you ever asked yourself :”What should a student

do to impress me? And is this student aware of my
expectations?”
 W.R.I.T.E
• Who for?
• Range of grammar and vocabulary, style
• Items of the task
• Text: lay out, paragraphs, cohesion and
coherence
• Edit
 Do you agree?

Writing in class is a waste of

time. The learners may as well do
it at home.

we teach english
 Instant writing
 Expanding sentences.
Write on the board a short sentence, for example:

The man walked along the road.

make it longer.

The middle aged man walked along the road.

The middle aged man walked slowly along the road

Exhausted after a hard day’s work, the middle aged man walked along the road

Exhausted after a hard day’s work, the middle aged man, wearing a crumpled suit and carrying a
briefcase, walked along the road

Exhausted after a hard day’s work, the middle aged man, wearing a crumpled suit and carrying a
briefcase, walked along the road that led from the station to his home, pausing only to look at the
night sky. we teach english
 Instant writing
 Completing sentences.
Dictate half sentences for the students to complete, for example:

One of the things I really can’t stand is....

allow students a few seconds to complete the sentence. As soon as they have finished, give them another clue –

because… and in some seconds

However,..
You may give them different linkers to develop their piece of writing .

we teach english
 Instant writing
 Using music and pictures, realia.
 play a piece of music and the students have to imagine and write out the film scene they think
it accompanies.

 ask students to write descriptions of one of a group of pictures; their classmates then have to
guess which one it is.

 write postcards based on pictures you give them.

 Show them a tray with a few objects and let them write a story.

 get them to look at the portraits and write the inner thoughts of the characters or their diaries,
or an article about them.

we teach english
 Instant writing
 Free writing.

Give your student just one word (day, light, TV etc) and ask them to write everything
that comes to their mind as a flow of thoughts. If you students exclaim that they do
not know what to write, offer them such a beginning:

“I can’t think of anything to write about …”

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 Stages of Writing Lesson
1 Warm up
2 Pre-teaching new vocabulary
(if needed)

3 Reading or Listening for gist

4 Genre Analysis
(focus on content and language in the model text )

5 Writing Task
(set up a task similar to the model one which was analyzed and gives clear instructions for ss to
carry out)
6 Follow up Task
(Natural task in relation to the type of writing done)

7 Homework
Sample Writing

Product Writing
 Sample Writing
1. Read the letter then look at the questions below 3. Look again at the letter and put the number of the
sections in the boxes below. The first is done for you.
A Past activities 4

B Des cription of weather and place

C Pl a ns for the future

D Wha t the writer is doing a t the moment

E Greetings

4. Now you write your letter to a friend,

similar to the one above but include details of
2. Answer these questions your holiday you are on now.

a. Who wrote the letter?

b. Do Tony a nd Anne like Pa ndora?
c. Where is Anne?
d. How ma ny places did they vi sit yesterday?
e. Where do they wa nt to work? Why?
What would you add or change?
• Warming up
• Who for?
• Focus on the language
• Brainstorm ideas
• Follow up natural task
• Communicative purpose

weteachenglish
 Product Writing
1. Task: 3Think about how you want to begin and end your
You are on holiday. You sent all your postcards last week but letter
today, the day before leaving, you remember someone you haven’t
sent one to! Now, write a postcard to someone you know. ----------------------------------

2. Decide who you want to write your postcard to ----------------------------------

4.
- Draft your postcard onto one of the templates
provided.
3. Before you write: note down what aspects of you holiday - Once you finished writing, check it thoroughly
you want to include in your postcard (just write one-word
notes)and decide which order to write them in. for spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes.
- Ask your partner to read and check your postcard
-----------------------------
----------------------------- and then write it again on the second template.
----------------------------- - You do the same for them with their postcard.
-----------------------------

How does this framework differ from the

previous one? Which do you prefer and why?
More than 60% of a successful writing lies in preparation phase.

Make sure the student left your classroom with clear understanding
of what he is going to write about (brainstorm the ideas as a whole
class) and how he is going to do it (supply the student with a good
sample, equip him with all necessary language tools and a clear
layout).
if you get garbage from your student,
it is what you put in!
Mary Jane
 Check yourself

I felt myself coming down with a cold last week and it made me depressed. If
there is a bug going round, I’m certain to pick it up. And it takes me ages to get
over it. I think it’s to do with my unhealthy lifestyle. I’ve tried cutting down on
fatty foods and I’ve managed to cut out chocolate altogether. However, this
doesn’t seem to be making any difference and I’ve even managed to put on
weight instead of losing it! I’ve also given up smoking and taken up yoga but,
again, with no obvious effect.
 Match the phrasal verbs to the meanings.

1. Come down with • To start doing

2. Pick up • To reduce to amount
3. Cut out • Gain (weight)
4. Cut down on • To start getting
5. Give up • To stop doing
6. Put on • To catch
7. Take up • Recover from
8. Get over • To stop using completely
 Put the verbs into the correct box

Separable Inseparable
 Put the verbs into the correct box

Separable Inseparable
• Take up • Come down with
• Pick up • Get over
• Cut out • Cut down on
• Put on
• Give up
Fill the gabs with the correct verb and then write 2 more
questions using some of the other verbs from the text.

1. Do you _ weight easily?

2. Do you_ the amount you eat of something or even _ it _
altogether? What?
3. Have you _ a cold or another bug recently? Where?
4. …
5. …
 a multiple skills and systems activity.

Learners practise listening, writing and speaking (by working in groups)

and
use vocabulary, grammar and discourse systems in order to complete the task.
• Preparation - introduce the topic, the language focus and the key vocabulary.

• Dictation
“Pens down listening” - read the text at a speed a little bit slower than native speaker speed. Ask a few comprehension questions.
Note taking - read the text again at native speaker speed and on the second reading students individually make very brief notes (sentence
fragments) on main ideas.
Remember that the purpose is to get the main ideas, not every word exactly as it appears in the text, so do not read too slowly.

• Reconstruction - the students work in pairs and then fours to compare notes and write a shared version of the text, editing for accurate
punctuation, spelling and inclusion of the main ideas.
• Analysis and correction - the students compare reconstructions with other groups and with the original. Discuss the differences.
• Dictogloss takes about 1 hour if done carefully.
What is the focus of the dictogloss?

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dictogloss
• Ss work individually and produce their texts.
• Ss work in pairs
• Ss work in mini groups: ss could assign roles to each group member. One student could write down
key words, one student could write down chunks, one student could remember the introduction,
one student could remember the conclusion. One student could be in charge of remembering the
gist. One student could be in charge of remembering numbers and names.
Choose someone who has tidy handwriting or quick typing skills to finalize the group work. Pick
someone with a good eye to proofread the final copy.
• Ss first write down only nouns, while listening for the second time they add verbs and so on.
• Ask your ss to leave some space between the chunks and lines to be able to add more detail later

• It may get loud! If your students are communicating in English, that’s great! Speaking is an
important part of this group activity. This is meant to be a group activity, not a dictation exercise.

• Highlight the importance of paraphrasing. Students should not try to write things down word-for-
word. You may want to walk around the room to make sure that students are taking point form
notes. Remind students that the point is not to reconstruct the text perfectly.

• The first few times you try this activity, the dictogloss will be challenging. Your students will learn
some strategies if you use it regularly.

• You can incorporate grammar or vocabulary , linkers etc

• T collects the papers and checks them.

• One student from each group reads the story aloud.

• Ss put their works on the board, read each other’s works and vote the best.
 Homework

• Watch the videos.

• Try out instant writing and dictogloss and write self-
evaluation in the group.