Techniques in Teaching Practical Writing

Practical Writing

• Has both a clear purpose and a specific audience.

• Examples: messages, forms, invitations, letters and instructions.

• Benefits to students: practicing writing in new language, learning about the conventions of the new culture.

Forms

• It is useful to be able to fill out a form in another language.

• Students have the opportunity to transfer information from one format to another.

• Example 1: Forms and interviews- Role-playing: interviewer takes the part of interviewing an applicant for a job, filling out a form as the job interview proceeds.-interviewing someone they know: friend, colleague, student from another class-completing a form for the purpose of completing a survey of people’s hobbies/family size.

• Example 2: Forms and readings

From a short reading passage, students extract the necessary info. to fill out a form.

Example 3: Survey forms

When students have completed the survey, they present it in a graph/table.

Letters

• Teaching letter writing deals with a variety of forms and functions.

• There are letters to invite, explain, apologize, congratulate, complain, inquire, order, apply, acknowledge and thank.

• Each of them has their own vocabulary, sentence structures, choice of words and tone to fit the audience.

• There are various level of formality and informality.

• Example 1: Letters and forms

-Show the class a sample advertisement for a job.

- Show a sample of letter application and explain the form and mechanics of writing a letter of application for a job.

- Let students writes his letter application for the job and fills out a registration form.

• Example 2: Informal Letters

-Establish a situation in the classroom

( invitation to a party/ ask each other questions)

-Students can also write a note to the teacher.

• Example 3: Pen Pals

-Teacher can arrange for the class to correspond with a class in another country.

Lists

• People write lists to help them remember what to do.

• Examples: shopping lists, lists of people to invite to a party, lists of things to do tomorrow.

• Example 1: Students brainstorming and writing down what they would take with them for four days of camping.

Daily Notes

• A record of the daily events/ ideas on the events

• Fluency will increases.

• Example 1: Ask students to keep a special notebook and to write in it in English for a few minutes every day.

Instructions

• We write to tell our friends how to find our house, how to water our plants, write a recipe to a friend, bake a cake, change a flat tire and etc.

• Example 1: Interview each other and take notes on the steps in the procedure and then write the instructions. Use words like first, second, next, then and finally.