Reflection - Luz - 3rd Session

In the third session with Luz, we looked at writing, it’s something I had been looking forward to as I’m often stumped for good ideas to make writing interesting. We started with an energising warm-up, which I loved as it can be used for such a wide variety of situations.  Not only does it incorporate TPR, but as Luz pointed out, such a simple activity can be used as a starting point for story writing.  It was to be the key takeaway message from this session in miniature - using classroom activities to stimulate writing ideas.

Another key idea that is we have a tendency to assume that only speaking comes under the umbrella of the communicative approach and often forget that writing is also part of it.  We also have to motivate students to write by giving them a reason or an objective, this could be a competition or simply the fact that students know that someone other than the teacher will read it (as in Luz’s idea about the book reviews.)

I also loved the idea of the letter to the teacher, it seems to me a perfect first writing activity in the school year.  Not only does it function as diagnostic evaluation for the teacher, but it also facilitates the process of the teacher getting to know the students by providing information about their interests, their relationship with English and their future plans.  The idea of showing the students the letter again at the end of the school year was just brilliant. 

Luz made an excellent point about when and where we should do writing with students.  The one and only time when students will have to do timed writing is during an exam - and no one enjoys exams.  In forcing our students to write in such a controlled environment, without the chance to think, revise or look up words - we are not only taking all the fun out of writing, but also depriving them of the opportunity to develop their ideas and self-evaluate before turning in the finished product.  It is also simply not reflective of how most of us write in the real world.  The class time should be an opportunity to spark ideas and to orally share ideas.  The writing can be started in class, but they must have the opportunity to finish at home. 

Here we took a little detour to talk about the fours skills - Speaking, Listening, Writing and Reading.  We shouldn’t think of them as four separate monolith skills, rather they are all interconnected and related to each other, quite often Reading and Listening are groups together, as are Speaking and Writing.  But what about a conversation?  That would require a synthesis of Speaking/Listening or Reading/Writing skills if it were written correspondence.  And what about making a summary?  That could be Listening/Speaking, or Listening/Writing, Reading/Speaking or Reading/Writing! To that end, it makes a lot more sense to talk about Reception, Production, Interaction and Mediation rather than the four traditional skills.  

The rest of the class was chockablock with ideas - picture stories, using videos as stimulation, guided description stories, Minimax poems, story cubes, agony aunts, - I could go on! In fact, as soon as I finish this blog I’ll be typing up my notes to keep these ideas to use as soon as I can! Here, however, I’ll conclude with what I saw as key to this session: 

• Writing certainly doesn’t have to be boring!
• Personalisation, as ever, is paramount.
• Give them a real reason to do it. 
• The same input material can be used at all sorts of levels, it all depends on what you ask them to do with it.
• Class time should be dedicated to brainstorming ideas, establishing relevant vocabulary and grammar, providing scaffolding. A speaking activity can lead on to a writing one. In short, the student should come away from the class armed with all the material they need.
• In the same line of thought, writing doesn’t exist in isolation. There is a symbiotic relationship between the skills.
• Keep rubrics simple (for the sanity of the teacher as well as clarity!) 
• Make students aware of the rubrics, so that they know exactly what is expected of them.  
• Give students an opportunity to submit a first draft and a final draft. 
• Comments or writing codes are infinitely more effective than corrections made by the teacher.