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Technique for Teaching Writing

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8 views

Technique for Teaching Writing

Uploaded by

wanda
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A.

Technique for Teaching Writing

In many contexts, writing may be neglected because it is not included on


state and standardized tests, whereas the other skills are. When learners don’t feel
like they’re writing for a real audience, they become less interested in continuing
with writing. Writing becomes boring, and when it’s boring, we don’t want to
practice it. This post focuses on the ways to make learning to write in a new
language fun and engaging for young learners in particular, although most of
these activities would appeal to older learners as well.

A key feature of young learners is that they are often still developing their
literacy abilities in their first language, which means that they cannot draw on as
much prior knowledge about text structure or rhetoric as older learners can.
Young learners often have a shorter attention span and less awareness of their own
future goals and needs than older learners. They are also still dependent on their
family for guidance when they are outside of school, which means they are less
likely to be able to seek out language models and practice opportunities on their
own. Nevertheless, young learners are ready and eager to learn how to write in a
new language.

a. 4 Principles for Teaching Writing to Young Learners


When teaching writing to young learners, the teacher should try to
keep a few principles in mind:
a) Draw on students’ sense of play and imagination
The teachers expect children to be serious, but they like to play. If the
teachers design activities that allow them to learn language at the same
time as having fun, they will both feel more positive about the language
and learn to use it for communicative purposes.
b) Start writing from the beginning
Don’t wait until the students have mastered the language before letting
them write. Even low proficiency learners can do creative things with a
limited vocabulary and incomplete knowledge of grammar systems.
c) A little goes a long way
The teachers don’t have to teach many different things in one lesson.
Instead, students learn through repeating. They even like to repeat the
same activities and games because it is familiar and because they can gain
skill—each time, they can do better.
d) Focus on progress, not perfection
Students should not be expected to create perfect texts. Instead, the
teachers should value their ability to make progress and get better at what
they are able to do. Provide feedback for development, and don’t grade
based on error.

As teachers, we know for better that writing is demanding for all learners
and it also puts an extra burden on our shoulders. It is a matter of fact time-
consuming and exhausting. Teachers often try to ignore it because they don’t want
to carry stacks of students’ papers home to correct. However, writing skills are
fundamental, and teachers are left with no option other than to teach writing. The
aim of teachers to get students to write is to make writing a fun activity that
engages students.

b. Writing Activities to Help Students Develop Writing Skills:


a) Story Chains
This is a group activity for students. Teachers divide the class into
groups and jot down a prompt on the board, and then ask students to
take a piece of paper and a pen. Teachers ask one student from each
group to write something in one minute and then pass the paper to the
next student in the same group to finish from where the first students
stopped. The goal is to have students write a coherent story through
teamwork.
b) Creating Classroom Journals for Students
In this writing activity, teachers only need to bring journals and
colored pens. This is a great activity and students will definitely feel
excited. The goal of the activity is to express self. Teachers tell
students to write about anything they did yesterday or during the last
week. Students can write about their daily routines, favorite movies,
and hobbies. Students will be more than happy to write about
themselves. They will even feel excited if you ask them to express
their feelings. After writing, you ask students to exchange places and
read their classmates’ journals
c) Using Index Cards
This is another way to get students to write. Teachers can use index
cards. Instead of assigning regular homework on a copybook, teachers
can tell students use index cards to write about a funny story they want
to share with classmates. Next session when they are in class, teachers
collect the cards and randomly distribute them and ask students to read
them.
d) Story Completion
Teachers can design templates of stories with pictures and a few words
distributed systematically throughout the story and ask students to use
those words and the pictures to complete the story. This is a fun way to
get students to write. Teachers will definitely be surprised of students’
creativity and imagination.
e) Retelling Favorite Story
Teachers can often ask their students to write about a story they like
and inspired them. Students can write about a real story – something
that happened to them or just a story a movie story. Students will learn
to use descriptive adjectives to describe people and places and also the
narrative style.
f) Word Challenge
Teachers can also use the word challenge activity. In this activity,
teachers can pick a word they have just taught to their students and ask
them to put it in a sentence. Students read the sentences aloud, and
then teachers ask them to exchange the sentences and write a story
using the sentence as a prompt. This is a fun way to practice creative
writing skills with your students.

REFERENCES

Gilliland, B. (2020). Activities for Teaching Writing to Young Learners. Accessed


March 6, 2023, from http://blog.tesol.org/activities-for-teaching-writing-
for-young-learners/
Teaching Utopians. (2021). 8 Amazing Writing Activities to Improve Your
Students’ Writing Skills. Accessed March 6, 2023, from
https://teachingutopians.com/2021/02/02/8-amazing-writing-activities-to-
improve-your-students-writing-skills/

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