45th IATEFL Conference - Brighton

Cecília Lemos cecilia@abaweb.org ABA, Recife, Brazil

Ideas for Improving Students’ Writing

Skills My Experience

Background Information

• ABA

- approx. 3,600 students- 2 schools

- Binational Center, founded in 1988

- Great Place to Work 2008, 2009, 2010

• Me - Teaching since 1993- Mostly groups from High Intermediate on

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The Problem

• Their writings are short• The structure / vocabulary used do not reflect the level they are in

• Students in fluent levels (high intermediate on) don’t write as well as expected

• Students are not motivated / engaged in the writing tasks

What could we do???

Idea # 1

Create 4 or 5 writing prompts on the same topic – the one being discussed in class

Have 10’ writing storms in class, one at a time

MINI WRITINGS

End of the unit – from storms to an essay

Example for Idea #1

Prompt 1: How powerful are advertising and media? Prompt 2: How much influence do media and advertising have over you?

Topic: Media and Advertising

Prompt 3: What strategies do companies / advertising agencies use to influence people?

Prompt 4: What can be done to fight the strategies used by companies to influence us?

Idea # 2

The concept: every class a new wordWords are presented in the beginning of class, students are encouraged to give the definitions and use the word in a sentence.

VOCAB BANK

Example for Idea #2

Example for Idea #2

Idea # 3

One way: give students feeback on the content of what they wrote, incite them to take it further

Using Feedback to Encourage Writing

Another way: Make sure they read and understand the feedback, have them read everybody’s

• Tyson’s Activity Idea

Idea # 4

The concept: students read the same book.

Book Meetings: lively discussions, engaging activities, creativity and personal opinion.

READING CLUB

Choosing the book: things to consider.

Books used so far: • The Five People You Meet in Heaven (by Mitch Albom) • My Sister’s Keeper (by Jodi Picoult) • The Secret Life of Bees (by Sue Monk Kidd) • Three Cups of Tea (by Greg Mortenson)

Example for Idea #3

First Meeting:

The Five People You Meet in Heaven:

Character Card,

Eddie discussion, The student’s person, NotesSecond

Meeting: Sharing of notes,

Discussion about Heaven and HellThird

Meeting: Writing Class

Fourth Meeting: Bookmark – choosing, swapping / sharing, interacting

with the author

First Meeting:

The Secret Life of Bees:

Summarizing, Quotes & Story, Updating the story

Wrapping Up

Any Questions?

CONTACT INFORMATIONCecilia Lemoscecilia@abaweb.orgTwitter: @CeciELTBLOG: http://cecilialcoelho.wordpress.com

Thank You for coming!!!