Teaching Writing As An Integrated Skill Ekl

Teaching Writing as an Integrated Skill Erin Lowry CCA In-Service Training January 16, 2009

Overview
Ideas for integrating more writing activities into your lessons
How to adapt textbook activities

Writing for Learning
Reinforcement writing
Preparation writing
Activity writing

Writing for Writing
Objective is to help students become better writers and learn how to write in various genres using various registers
Includes the following
Handwriting
Orthography
Punctuation
More…

Writing Subskills
Writing accurately
Spelling correctly
Forming letters correctly
Writing legibly
Punctuating correctly
Using correct layouts
Choosing the right vocabulary
Using grammar correctly
Joining sentences correctly
Using paragraphs correctly

Writing for Writing
What’s the purpose? Invented or real?
For an exam?
Creative writing?

Tasks for Writing Teachers
Demonstrating
Motivating and provoking
Supporting
Responding
Evaluating

What Students Need to Write
Information & task information
Language
Ideas
Patterns & schemes
J. Harmer (2004), pp. 62-63

Writing Continuum

Writing Process Pre-writing Writing Peer Editing Revising Rewriting Proofreading Finished Writing

Example from AIO Pre-Int , Unit 2
Rewrite the letter in #1 to make it sound positive
Describe a vacation destination and why you would go there in 50 words
Anecdote: tell a partner about the best city you’ve ever visited (originally a speaking activity)

Example from Top Notch 3 , Unit 6
Write about a historic disaster
Provide instructions on preparing for a disaster
Explain the factors that contribute to the severity of an earthquake

Sentence & Paragraph
Sentence production
Paired sentences
Paragraph construction
Controlled text construction
Free text construction

Group Writing
Write the starter sentence on the board and have each student give you a sentence to continue the story.
As you go around the room the story will develop.
Students give the sentence orally and the teacher writes it on the board.
Rewriting and expanding sentences

Sentence Starters
Often when we ask our students to write about something they freeze
My favorite month of the year is…
The best movie I’ve ever seen is…
One of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me is…

Writing Storms
Something funny that happened to me this week
What I really hate!
My favorite thing
A surprise I had
A landscape
A building
A memory from childhood
My best friend
My boss

Graphic Organizers
Common language classroom g.o. functions
Describing
Comparing and contrasting
Classifying
Sequencing
Cause and effect
Decision Making
Common designs
Cluster/Word Web
Describing Wheel
Fact and Opinion
Five W's Chart
KWL/KWHL Chart
Sequence Chart
Spider Map
Tree Chart
Venn Diagram

Using Pictures
Describing pictures
Suspects and objects
Write the postcard
Portraits
Story tasks

Portraits http://www.365portraits.com

Sequence of Pictures

Writing Poems
Acrostic poems / alphabetic poems
Stem / frame poems
Metaphor generators
Model poems

Example Poems
Hockey
H ockey is my favorite sport
O n the ice or street
C ool and fun
K eep on playing
E xercise and stronger
Y ou should try
My Favorite Things
A is for armadillos that I like to watch but don’t want to eat
B is for batter of cookies (which I do eat)
C is for cat (I miss mine a lot)

Dictogloss
Students re-create a text or story that the teacher reads to them
Ss get into groups to re-formulate the content – grammar can be different but they should try to maintain integrity of information

Dialogue Journals & Blogs
Written conversations in which a learner and teacher (or other writing partner) communicate regularly
Learners write as much as they choose on a wide range of topics and in a variety of genres and styles
Teacher writes back regularly, responding to questions and comments, introducing new topics, or asking questions
http://www.cal.org/caela/esl_resources/digests/Dialogue_Journals.html

Writing to Each Other
Penpals / Keypals
Emails
Live chat
Forums

Comics and Graphic Novels

M. Satrapi. The Complete Persepolis .

G. Larson. The Far Side.

W. Senft Writing 4 3 2 1 You planned before writing. Web has 5 or more details. Web has 3 or 4 details. Web is incomplete. Did not complete a web. You wrote about the correct topic. Stayed on topic and followed your plan. Stayed on topic, but forgot a few details from your plan. Wrote about a different topic. Did not hand in a paper. You used simple past tense correctly. 2 mistakes or fewer 3-4 mistakes 5-6 mistakes Did not hand in a paper. You ended sentences with periods. 2 mistakes or fewer 3-4 mistakes 5-6 mistakes Did not hand in a paper.

Sample Rubrics Online
ESL Writing 001 from Rubistar
FUHSD Writing Rubrics—Samples
The Rubric Bank from Chicago Public Schools
Teach-nology's Rubric Generators

Resources
Campbell, C. (1998). Teaching Second Language Writing: Interacting with the Text . Heinle & Heinle.
Ferris, D.R. & Hedgcock, J.S. (2005). Teaching ESL Composition . Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.
Harmer, J. (2004). How to Teach Writing . Pearson Education.
Herrin, J. (2007). Task-based Activity Templates for Engaging Multi-level Learners . Training given by ELF 2006-07 in Kyiv.
King, J.M. (2007). Teaching Reading and Writing . Course taught by ELF 2006-07 in Turkmenistan.
Olsher, D. (1996). Words in motion: An interactive approach to writing . Oxford Univeristy Press.
Omaggio Hadley, A. (2001). Teaching language in context (3 rd ed.). Thomson Heinle.
Pavlik, C. & Keenan Segal, M. (2007) Interaction 1 Writing, Silver Edition . McGraw Hill.
Senft, W. (2007). Teaching and Assessing Writing . Training given by ELF 2007-08 in Costa Rica.
Slagoski, J. (2007). Communicative Writing Activities . Training given by ELF 2006-07 in Russia.

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Teaching Writing As An Integrated Skill Ekl

by Erin Lowry

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