A Collaborative Approach to Writing

 

I have used this method with many beginner and intermediate levels. I give the students a writing assignment with a specific topic, for example, writing about their weekend, or their hometown.The students double space their work and hand it in. I critique it thoroughly, circling errors, drawing arrows to show mistakes in word order, writing question marks where I don't understand, suggesting words by giving a few letters as hints, etc. I then photocopy all the stories and hand back a booklet containing all the stories to each student. We work through several during each class, checking with each writer as to what they really meant, and helping each writer to polish their work. This technique obviously demands a high level of student-student and teacher-student respect, and it builds even greater respect. I often compliment the students on their interesting sentences and thank them for their efforts. I emphasize the miscommunication caused by errors, so they can see that writing correctly is not a matter of pleasing the teacher but of saying what they really mean. I tell the students how wonderful it is that they can all learn from each other, and they really buy into it.

 

With smaller classes, I have the students all write their paragraphs on the board. I then go through them with a red marker, highlighting what I'd like changed, and we correct it as a class. The students often like to copy each other's stories.

I use some of their sentences on our weekly tests. This validates the importance of the learning that occurs during this activity, as well as the students' experiences and ideas. I have also had the students write about their home and re-write their stories when corrected, then put them all into a booklet and give it to them for Christmas.

 

Student-Led Dictation

 

Level: Intermediate or Advanced

 

I bring in at least enough of the same newspaper for half the class. I have my students divide up in pairs. They then do timed dictation, from any article we choose, one student with a newspaper dictating to a student without, ONE LETTER AT A TIME. Content is not necessarily important here, just the ability to pronounce and understand English letters. They say "space" between words. The punctuation should also be noted. I call time after 5 or 10 minutes and see who got the farthest without mistakes. Then they switch. I make a half-hearted attempt to make it a contest but my adult students don't seem to really care about competition. They're too busy working on their pronunciation, and sometimes too busy laughing, to care about winning.

 

Limerick Writing Activity

 

Level: Intermediate-Advanced

 

Skill: Practicing the past tense.

 

INSTRUCTIONS - Part A

 

1) Students work in pairs or groups. Each group receives a limerick that has been cut into strips. They then put the strips of paper into what they think might be the correct order.

 

INSTRUCTIONS - Part B

 

1) Across the top of a blank sheet of paper, each student writes 5-6 places s/he's lived or visited.... cities, provinces/states, countries, addresses, etc.

 

2) Choose the 2 places that are easiest to rhyme (this may take some experimenting and more than one try). With the help of the teacher, students "brainstorm" rhyming words which they then write in columns underneath the place names. This can be done using only the last syllable of the name.

 

Example:

Beijing: bring, fling, king, Ming, opening, ring, sing, sling, sting, thing ...

 

3) Using one or both of the templates, students write limericks by filling in the blanks with their own rhyming words. Use past tense.

 

Example:

There once was a man from Beijing .

All his life he hoped to be King .

So he put on a crown,

Which quickly fell down.

That small silly man from Beijing .

 

Template - A:

There once was a __________ from __________________.

All the while s/he hoped _______________________________.

So s/he _______________________________.

And _________________________________.

That _______________ from ___________________.

 

Template - B:

I once met a _____________ from ___________________.

Every day s/he _______________________________________.

But whenever s/he ______________________.

The _________________________________.

That strange _______________ from ___________________.

 

Pass the Story

 

This can be used for all levels where the students have at least a basic vocabulary. Depending on class size begin by writing some beginning of stories out. Only the first line or two. For example. I was walking to the store one day. Or I had just bought a lottery ticket when i heard the news on the radio. In groups pass the stories around giving each group time to add 2 to 4 lines to the story. End activity when you think it is appropriate. Move around the class and work on tenses, grammar and vocabulary with students.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Have some fun activities/ideas?  How about worksheets, review sheets or songs?

Send your ideas to malloryforseth@gmail.com. Please include a short summary of the activity along with any worksheets or extra materials needed for the activity.