Unit 6 Writing

Writing is one of the two productive skills in learning English, therefore, we as teachers must give special emphasis to this skill. Teaching writing is not a matter of obliging students to write something, but it is a complex process of teaching them how to organize their ideas from brainstorming to proof reading.

In class, we should start by creating small compositions to essays and long letters. When students have Spanish as their mother tongue, they tend to create big sentences without punctuation and subject. Thus, the first thing we have to teach our students is punctuation in English using basic cohesive devices such: and, but, so, and because. Then, we can teach them the use of contrast, and addition transition words such as: In addition, and on the other hand. In the book “Writing from Within” by Curtis Kelly and Arlen Gargagliano, we can find a lot of lessons and exercises to teach students writing step by step and we can download it for free on the internet.

Sometimes correcting writing can be a daunting job for one teacher, so we can use peer assessment in the class because it helps us on the administrative issue and at the same time it helps students to develop essential skills when writing.

On the links below, we can find great information for teaching writing:

Grammarly

It is a website where students can get really good information for writing and grammar in general. It also offers a paid app to correct punctuation and writing mistakes.

https://www.grammarly.com/s?AT3079=2

Plagiarism

This website gives tips to avoid plagiarism, it can be helpful when teaching academic writing. To our students.

http://www.plagiarism.org/

TEFL Class Instruction: How to Teach Writing Skills in the ESL Classroom.

On this video you may find useful strategies when teaching writing.

References

Grammarly. (14 de January de 2016). Grammarly. Obtenido de https://www.grammarly.com/s?AT3079=2

IntTEFLAcademy (Dirección). (2011). TEFL Class Instruction: How to Teach Writing Skills in the ESL Classroom. [Video].

iParadigms. (12 de November de 2014). Plagiarism.org. Obtenido de http://www.plagiarism.org/

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2012). The TKT Course Modules 1,2 and 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.