Teaching writing

Some teachers provide all their feedback orally by asking students to submit a cassette tape with each draft. This method probably works best when the teacher silently reads a student's paper and makes comments directly into the tape recorder while marking some accompanying numbers or symbols on the student's text. For EFL students, this method has the advantage of providing more extensive feedback than that likely to be made in writing, as well as allowing the student to replay the tape as many times as necessary to understand and benefit from the teacher's comments. Once the teacher has learned to use this technique, it probably takes less time to complete taped remarks about a paper than it would to put them in writing.

Peer Response. Because the use of peer response is a key component of classrooms teaching writing as a process in the LI environment, many ESL teachers embraced the idea of having students read and/ or listen to each other's papers for the purpose of providing feedback and input to each other as well as helping each other gain a sense of audience. But embracing a philosophy without understanding how to translate it to the L2 environment can often lead to rather disappointing results. That is, simply putting students together in groups of four or five, each with rough draft in hand, and then having each student in turn read his or her paper aloud, followed by having the other members of the group react to the strengths and weaknesses of the paper in the role of interested audience member, indicating further reader needs that have not been addressed, is not a format likely to work with even the most sophisticated class of ESL students. Because ESL students lack the language competence of native speakers, who can often react intuitively to their classmates' papers, peer responding in the ESL classroom must be modeled, taught, and controlled in order for it to be a valuable activity.

One way to control peer response is for teachers to provide a short list of directed questions which students address as they read their own or other students' papers. A first exercise of this type can involve giving students a short checklist of attributes to look for in their own papers, such as to check for a particular grammatical feature that might have been discussed in class (e.g., subject- verb agreement) or to check to assure that no irrelevancies have been included. The checklist is submitted with the paper as a way for the student to assume responsibility for reading over his or her paper carefully. Next, students can be trained to read and respond to other students' papers by reviewing an essay written by a student in a previous class and working through, as a class, a peer editing sheet that asks a few specific questions that would elicit both a general reaction to the paper and suggestions for improvement. As the students gain practice in reading and analyzing each other's papers and their awareness of the conventions of writing increases, the questions can be made more complex and varied. Some typical questions to begin with might include these: "What is the main purpose of this paper?" "What have you found particularly effective in the paper?" "Do you think the writer has followed through on what the paper set out to do?" Some peer guideline sheets for students who have more practice in the technique might include the following steps: "Find at least three places in the essay where you can think of questions that have not been answered by the writer. Write those questions in the margins as areas for the writer to answer in the next draft." "Read only the introduction and then write what you predict the rest of the essay will discuss. Then read the essay and compare your predictions with the actual content of the essay."

In order to maximize the value of the feedback to the EFL student, responses should be written, incidentally providing practice in the valuable skill of text analysis for the student commentator. These written responses can be given to the student writer with or without the anonymity of the student reader preserved or used as the basis for oral discussion between reader(s) and writer. The teacher might also want to read the student feedback sheets to assess the analytical skills of the student readers.

Error Correction. Regardless of what agenda the writing teacher sets and the number of drafts that students produce, the papers that EFL students write are likely to exhibit problems in language control. However, it is very important that the teacher not be swayed by the presence or numbers of these problems into turning a writing course into a grammar course. Rather, error must be dealt with at an appropriate stage of the composing process, and is perhaps best considered part of the final editing phase. The role of editing, when seen as distinct from rewriting, is essentially working to eliminate grammatical problems and stylistic infelicities; this type of editing is certainly essential to the production of good prose, but it should be an activity that is probably best attended to when a text is considered complete in terms of having been shaped by content, organization, attention to the needs of the reader, and a consideration of its purpose. In fact, editing or correcting errors on first drafts can be a counterproductive activity, possibly exacerbating whatever insecurities students might have about their writing and drawing their attention away from the other kinds of revision work that must be attended to. Chenoweth concedes, "It may be hard for teachers to give up their habit of correcting every grammatical mistake," but also believes grammatical problems should only be dealt with "when the meaning the student wants to express has been adequately dealt with.

In addition to deciding when to correcf errors, teacher must also decide who will cor rect the errors, which errors to correct, and how to correct errors. Besides the obvio role the teacher plays as a corrector of errors, the student writer and other students in the class can also be called upon to provide feedback on errors as part of the peer feedbac process. Again, the use of a checklist naming specific grammatical features often helps to focus student attention on areas the teachei feels the student should be able to monitorfoi and self-correct.

The decision whether to address all or selected errors is a complex one and probably depends a great deal on the level of writing the student is capable of producing, However, correcting all of a student's errors is probably rarely called for, unless there are very few errors present in the text. Rather,the teacher should probably concentrate on calling the student's attention to those errors which are considered more serious and/or represent a pattern of errors in that particular student's writing. Traditionally, we take "serious" to mean that which most interferes with communication, soer rors of sentence structure are very important to deal with, while those errors which are unlikely to lead to faulty interpretation or to interfere with the reading process might be seen to be less significant. Unfortunately some errors which are not serious by these standards tend to have an "irritation factor," and many faculty outside EFL programs, for example, find little tolerance for errors in EFL writing which seem like careless proofreading mistakes to them, most notably mistakes in article usage. Since mastery of the article system is actually a very difficult task, con- I sciousness raising about typical ESL learner problems among non-ESL faculty might be just as important as attempts to improve proficiency in article usage among ESL students.

Finally, the "how" of calling students' attention to the errors they have committed is also a complex issue. Teachers can choose to (1) point out specific errors using a mark in the margin or an arrow or other symbolic system; (2) correct (or model) specific errors by writing in the corrected form; (3) label specific errors according to the feature they violate (e.g., subject-verb agreement), using either the complete term or a symbol system; (4) indicate the presence of error but not the precise location (e.g., noting that there are problems with word forms); or (5) ignore specific errors. Most teachers use a combination of two or more of the methods mentioned above, depending on what they perceive to be the needs of the student, and studies of acher feedback are inconclusive as to what the best methodology might be. One study of feedback procedures by Robb, Ross and Irortreed, for example, concludes that "the more direct methods of feedback do not tend to produce results commen- ' rate with the amount of effort required of the instructor to draw the student's attention tothesurface error." However, another study by Fathman and Whalley involving feedback on content versus feedback on pnmar reports that all students who revived feedback on grammar improved the grammatical accuracy of their revised texts while only some students improved the content of their writing following feedback on ontent. The best approach to feedback on rrors must undoubtedly derive from con- idering the circumstances of the individual udent coupled with the goals of the , course and the stage of the composing process a particular draft reflects.

Part 3. Making writing more communicative

Students need to be personally involved in writing exercises in order to make the learning experience of lasting value. Encouraging student participation in the exercise, while at the same time refining and expanding writing skills, requires a certain pragmatic approach. The teacher should be clear on what skills he/she is trying to develop. Next, the teacher needs to decide on which means (or type of exercise) can facilitate learning of the target area. Once the target skill areas and means of implementation are defined, the teacher can then proceed to focus on what topic can be employed to ensure student participation. By pragmatically combing these objectives, the teacher can expect both enthusiasm and effective 1 learning.

Choosing a Target Area . Choosing the target area depends on many factors; what level are the students? What is the average age of the students, Why are the students learning English, Are there any specific future intentions for the writing (i.e. school tests or job application letters etc.). Other important questions to ask oneself are: What should the students be able to produce at the end of this exercise? (a well written letter, basic communication of ideas, etc.) What is the focus of the exercise? (structure, tense usage, creative writing). Once these factors are clear in the mind of the teacher, the teacher can begin to focus on how to involve the students in the activity thus promoting a positive, long-term learning experience. Having decided on the target area, the teacher can focus on the means to achieve this type of learning. As in correction, the teacher must choose the most appropriate manner for the specified writing area. If formal business letter English is required, it is of little use to employ a free expression type of exercise. Likewise, when working on descriptive language writing skills, a formal letter is equally out of place. With both the target area and means of production clear in the teacher's mind, the teacher can begin to consider how to involve the students by considering what type of activities are interesting to the students: Are they preparing for something specific such as a holiday or test?, Will they need any of the skills pragmatically? What has been effective in the past? A good way to approach this is by class feedback, or brainstorming sessions. By choosing a topic that involves the students the teacher is providing a context within which effective learning on the target area can be undertaken.

Finally, the question of which type of correction will facilitate a useful writing exercise is of utmost importance. Here the teacher needs to once again think about the overall target area of the exercise. If there is an immediate task at hand, such as taking a test, perhaps teacher-guided correction is the most effective solution. However, if the task were more general (for example developing informal letter writing skills), maybe the best approach would be to have the students work in groups thereby learning from each other. Most importantly, by choosing the correct means of correction the teacher can encourage rather discourage students.

The most important factor in writing exercises is that students need to be personally involved in order to make the learning experience of lasting value. Encouraging student participation in the exercise, while at the same time refining and expanding writing skills, requires a certain pragmatic approach. The teacher should be clear on what skills he/she is trying to develop. Next, the teacher needs to decide on which means (or type of exercise) can facilitate learning of the target area. Once the target skill areas and means of implementation are defined, the teacher can then proceed to focus on what topic can be employed to ensure student participation. By pragmatically combing these objectives, the teacher can expect both enthusiasm and effective learning.

Choosing the target area depends on many factors; What level are the students?, What is the average age of the students, Why are the students learning English, Are there any specific future intentions for the writing (i.e school tests or job application letters etc.). Other important questions to ask oneself are: What should the students be able to produce at the end of this exercise? (a well written letter, basic communication of ideas, etc.) What is the focus of the exercise? (structure, tense usage, creative writing). Once these factors are clear in the mind of the teacher, the teacher can begin to focus on how to involve the students in the activity thus promoting a positive, long-term learning experience.

Having decided on the target area, the teacher can focus on the means to achieve this type of learning. As in correction, the teacher must choose the most appropriate manner for the specified writing area. If formal business letter English is required, it is of little use to employ a free expression type of exercise. Likewise, when working on descriptive language writing skills, a formal letter is equally out of place.

With both the target area and means of production, clear in the teachers mind, the teacher can begin to consider how to involve the students by considering what type of activities are interesting to the students; Are they preparing for something specific such as a holiday or test?, Will they need any of the skills pragmatically? What has been effective in the past? A good way to approach this is by class feedback, or brainstorming sessions. By choosing a topic that involves the students the teacher is providing a context within which effective learning on the target area can be understaken.

Finally, the question of which type of correction will facilitate a useful writing exercise is of utmost importance. Here the teacher needs to once again think about the overall target area of the exercise. If there is an immediate task at hand, such as taking a test, perhaps teacher guided correction is the most effective solution. However, if the task is more general (for example developing informal letter writing skills), maybe the best approach would be to have the students work in groups thereby learning from each other. Most importantly, by choosing the correct means of correction the teacher can encourage rather discourage students.

Writing, like all other aspects of language, is communicative. Think about what we write in real life. We write e-mails, lists, notes, covering letters, reports, curriculums, assignments, essays perhaps if we study. Some of us write articles or work on blogs, forums and websites. A few write stories and poems - but very few. All of these writing tasks have a communicative purpose and a target audience. In the English language classroom, however, writing often lacks this. There are lots of reasons, as there are lots of ways to make the writing we do with learners more communicative. By its nature, writing is often a solo activity, done silently, involving physical effort and taking a lot of time. This may not make it attractive to learners or teachers as a classroom activity. In addition to this, writing is difficult, even in L1. There are linguistic, psychological and cognitive problems involved, making teaching it and learning it a considerable challenge. It is also important to remember that many people never write anything of any length in their daily lives, or anything using paper and a pen, or without using a spellchecker. But this is often what we ask them to do in English.

Responding appropriately to writing that learners give us is time-consuming and taxing, whether we are addressing errors or the content. We often have to work as hard as our learners have done. Our response is also often dictated by our concern with sub-skills and so correction is often at this level rather than at that of communicative competence. This is aggravated by the fact that it is not easy to evaluate this competence, especially formally - as can be seen in the complexity of the speaking criteria for exams such as IELTS and Cambridge Main Suite. In addition, it is important to recognize that learners are equally concerned about correctness in writing at a sub-level, in areas such as spelling and punctuation. This is especially true when compared to speaking. This inhibits communication.

The kinds of tasks we set learners may not be motivating, relevant or indeed very communicative. Writing is rarely incorporated into a lesson, ending up relegated to homework - which reduces the possibilities to be communicative. We need to give learners tasks that are intellectually satisfying, especially when writing. Adult learners become aware of their limitations very quickly when they try to express complex ideas on paper. As a final note coursebooks don't necessarily always help us develop writing. We need materials that provide relevant, real and communicative practice.

We need to make a distinction between writing to learn (other things, like structures, spelling and vocabulary) and learning to write. If we understand this distinction and make sure our learners do too then the communicative purpose of writing will be clearer.

We need to work hard on developing ways of responding to the content of what our learners write - the message - and not just the level of language. If we can do this effectively, then our learners will make more effort to communicate when they write for us. This can support an emphasis on the importance of writing for a real audience, but we do also need to find real audiences for learner writing. This could include ourselves if we can respond as readers, other learners and groups, and public forums such as blogs, websites and letter pages.

We need to find ways to integrate writing with other skills and activities, giving it more relevance and importance - and also making it more interesting. We need to use meaningful, realistic and relevant writing tasks, based on our learners' needs and interests. We may need to design individual tasks based on what individual learners need to write. In addition we should talk about writing with our learners, how we write well, why we write and for who, and what makes it difficult. Learner training like this can provide valuable support and motivation.

Finally, we need to evaluate the impact on our learners' written English when most of our focus on writing is as homework. Are we supporting them as well as we could as they tackle the difficulties we discussed above?

The following ideas are helpful to make writing communicative:

1) Publishing in blogs, in newspapers, and on posters. Get learners to create individual and group profiles on social utility sites such as Facebook. Publish a class magazine of previous writing work.

2) Encouraging learners to write with a clear purpose and for a clear audience, for example in letters to newspapers, pen friends, to teachers and other students.

3) Finding challenging and rewarding tasks which can support a variety of learning aims and integrate other skills and language systems, such as summarising, project work, translation, writing up notes from interviews, and preparing a briefing or talk.

4) Using relevant and realistic tasks such as writing notes, recipes, e-mails, filling in forms and preparing signs for the class.

5) Responding to the content of the work that the learners give us as well as correcting the errors they make, by adding your own comments to their homework or establishing a dialogue through e-mail and learner diaries.

6) Making writing easier and more fun by doing group writing activities and group correction and editing of work. Process writing includes elements of this.

7) Supporting writing with reading. This not only helps learners develop the sub-skills they need but also helps them understand that good writing is a powerful and important communication tool.

Chapter 2. Teaching creative writing techniques

Part 1. The methods of developing creative writing skills

Creative writing normally refers to the production of texts which have an aesthetic rather than a purely informative, instrumental or pragmatic purpose. Most often, such texts take the form of poems or stories, though they are not confined to these genres. (Letters, journal entries, blogs, essays, travelogues, etc. can also be more or less creative.) In fact, the line between creative writing and expository writing is not carved in stone. In general, however creative writing texts draw more heavily on intuition, close observation, imagination, and personal memories than expository texts.

One of the chief distinguishing characteristics of creative writing texts is a playful engagement with language, stretching and testing its rules to the limit in a guilt-free atmosphere, where risk is encouraged. Such writing combines cognitive with affective modes of thinking. As the poet, R.S. Thomas once wrote, `Poetry is that which arrives at the intellect by way of the heart.' The playful element in creative writing should not, however be confused with a lax and unregulated use of language. On the contrary, creative writing requires a willing submission on the part of the writer to the `rules' of the sub-genre being undertaken. If you want to write a Limerick, then you have to follow the rules governing limericks. If not, what you produce will be something other than a limerick: obvious, perhaps, but important too. The interesting thing is that the very constraints which the rules impose seem to foster rather than restrict the creativity of the writer. This apparent paradox is explained partly by the deeper processing of thought and language which the rules require. Creative writing aids language development at all levels: grammar, vocabulary, phonology and discourse. It requires learners to manipulate the language in interesting and demanding ways in attempting to express uniquely personal meanings. In doing so, they necessarily engage with the language at a deeper level of processing than with most expository texts.1

The gains in grammatical accuracy and range, in the appropriacy and originality of lexical choice, in sensitivity to rhyme, rhythm, stress and intonation, and in the way texts hang together are significant.

As mentioned above, a key characteristic of creative writing is a willingness to play with the language. In recent years there has been a resurgence of interest in the role of play in language acquisition. In some ways, the sunami of the Communicative Approach has done a disservice to language teaching by its insistence on the purely communicative functions of language. Proponents of `play' point out, rightly, that in L1 acquisition, much of the language encountered by and used by children is in the form of rhythmical chants and rhymes, word games, jokes and the like. Furthermore, such playfulness survives into adulthood, so that many social encounters are characterized by language play (punning, spontaneous jokes, `funny voices', metathesis, and a discourse which is shaped by quasi-poetic repetition2. These are precisely the kinds of things L2 learners are encouraged to do in CW activities. This playful element encourages them to play creatively with the language, and in so doing, to take the risks without which learning cannot take place in any profound sense. As Crystal states, `Reading and writing do not have to be a prison house. Release is possible. And maybe language play can provide the key.'

Much of the teaching we do tends to focus on the left side of the brain, where our logical faculties are said to reside. Creative writing puts the emphasis on the right side of the brain, with a focus on feelings, physical sensations, intuition and musicality. This is a healthy restoration of the balance between logical and intuitive faculties. It also affords scope for learners whose hemisphere dominance or learning-style preferences may not be intellectual or left brain dominant, and who, in the normal process of teaching are therefore at a disadvantage. Perhaps most notable is the dramatic increase in self-confidence and self-esteem which creative writing tends to develop among learners. Learners also tend to discover things for themselves about the language… and about themselves too, thus promoting personal as well as linguistic growth. Inevitably, these gains are reflected in a corresponding growth in positive motivation. Among the conditions for promoting motivation, Dornyei cites:

1. Create a pleasant and supportive atmosphere.

2. Promote the development of group cohesiveness.

3. Increase the students' expectation of success in particular tasks and in learning in general.

4. Make learning more stimulating and enjoyable by breaking the monotony of classroom events.

5. Make learning stimulating and enjoyable by increasing the attractiveness of tasks.

6. Make learning stimulating and enjoyable for learners by enlisting them as active task participants.

7. Present and administer tasks in a motivating way.

8. Provide students with regular experiences of success.

9. Build your learners' confidence by providing regular encouragement.

10. Increase student motivation by promoting cooperation among the learners.

11. Increase student motivation by actively promoting learner autonomy.

12. Increase learner satisfaction.1

All these conditions are met in a well-run creative writing class. The exponential increase in motivation is certainly supported by my own experience in teaching creative writing. Learners suddenly realize that they can write something in a foreign language that has never been written by anyone else before, and which others find interesting to read. Hence the importance of `publishing' students' work in some form. And they experience not only a pride in their own products but also a joy in the `flow' of the process.1 Finally, creative writing feeds into more creative reading. It is as if, by getting inside the process of creating the texts, learners come to understand intuitively how such texts function, and this makes similar texts easier to read. Likewise, the development of aesthetic reading skills provides the learner with a better understanding of textual construction, and this feeds into their writing. Teachers, as well as learners, should engage with extensive reading. In the same spirit there are significant benefits to teachers if they participate in creative writing. There is little point in exhorting learners to engage in creative writing unless we do so too. The power of the teacher as model, and as co-writer is inestimable.

Creative writing is one way of keeping teachers' English fresh and vibrant. For much of our professional lives we are in thrall to the controlled language of textbook English and the repeated low level error-laden English of our students. As teachers of language, we surely have a responsibility to keep our primary resource alive and well.

Creative writing seems to have an effect on the writer's level of energy in general. This tends to make teachers who use creative writing more interesting to be around, and this inevitably impacts on their relationships with students.

The experimental stance with regard to writing in general appears to fee back into the teaching of writing. Teachers of creative writing tend also to be better teachers of writing in general.

Part 2. Teaching creative writing techniques

There are a lot of techniques to teach writing. On of them is using mind maps. Using mind maps is effective to develop writing. Mind maps can be used for a multitude of purposes. They can effectively be used to help support and develop students' writing skills. A mind map1, or spidergram, is a strategy for making notes on a topic, prior to writing. It is a structured strategy, which shows the (hierarchical) relationship of ideas, as opposed to an unstructured strategy, such as brainstorming, in which students produce notes at random on paper. Having an organised display of information from the outset of the writing process may help some students, as it is more easily converted into a draft, whereas in brainstorming, the random recording of ideas might lead to problems with the structure of students' texts. Making a mind map should be a spontaneous pre-writing activity. Students start with a topic at the centre and then generate a web of ideas from that, developing and relating these ideas as their mind makes associations. Mind maps work well as their visual design enables students to see the relationship between ideas, and encourages them to group certain ideas together as they proceed. Mind maps work especially well when created in groups, since the discussion this engenders aids the production of ideas, and makes the task livelier and more enjoyable. The procedure for organizing mind map is the following:

1. Choosing a topic. Traditionally, students are given a topic to write on by the teacher. However, with certain classes, students may prefer to nominate the topic themselves. This can lead to greater interest in the task on the part of the student, as well as, perhaps, greater knowledge of the topic under study.The mind map strategy can be used to explore almost any topic, though discursive essays and narrative work particularly well as they front students' ideas and lend themselves to discussing ideas in groups. For instance, choose a discursive essay with the title "Why do people start smoking?" In this genre the language is used to give reasons and explanations. The discursive text is useful in highlighting this feature of English, and in raising awareness of the noun phrase, a particularly tricky area for intermediate students.

close their eyes and think about it for a minute or two, in silence. They then have two minutes in which to note down their ideas. If they do not know a word in English, they can write it in L1 at this stage, as dictionaries or too much teacher intervention tend to halt and inhibit the creative flow. Then, working in groups, they can compare and discuss their ideas, perhaps adding to their mind maps as they go. This stage also provides the opportunity for peer teaching, as other students may be available to provide the English word for the idea that was noted down in L1.

3. Feedback. The next stage, in which the teacher makes a collective mind map on the board, is optional, but is useful for students who are new to the idea of mind maps, or for weak classes. It is also in this feedback stage that any remaining language problems can be ironed out. As the teacher elicits students' ideas, and reformulates expressions or corrects, students will learn how to express their ideas in English. Such personalisation is said to aid vocabulary learning. The map is fluid and changeable, and new connections or subgroups can be made, or branches added, as the students make suggestions. The end result should be an organised display of information, showing the central topic, and a number of subtopics and further points that stem from it.

4. Organising mind maps. In the next stage the students organise their mind maps into a linear format to decide the best way in which to present their points. They should first think about the overall structure, i.e. the order in which to relay the information, and then focus on the precise function each paragraph will have in their final text, as this helps to clarify their writing. This can be done in groups, or as a class with the teacher leading the discussion. However it is carried out, it is important to provide a context and audience. I told my class, who were writing about drugs, that they were writing for their college magazine. Having an audience in mind helps students to decide which ideas are most important, and also helps students to choose the appropriate style.

5. Writing. Students should then begin to write their compositions, working in pairs if they wish. After two paragraphs, they should exchange their compositions, so they become readers of each other's work. This allows for feedback, and possible re-writing. Once they have finished, they should again exchange their texts. This gives their texts a communicative purpose, as well as developing an awareness of the fact that a writer is always producing something to be read by someone else, rather than for the display of writing alone.

5. Continuation. Once students are familiar with the idea of making mind maps, they can be encouraged to use this skill for further writing activities. It is a useful technique and often improves the clarity and organisation of student texts.

This writing technique is applied to the following lesson which we used in English classes during school practice.

Lesson 6. “Fly High” 7. Project 1. p.35

1.Choosing a topic. `The Olympic Games are a good/bad thing'

Students sit in pairs and decide what side to support.

2. Note making. Once the topic has been introduced, students are encouraged to think about it for a minute or two. They then have two minutes in which to note down their ideas. Some ideas are already given in the book. They can choose from this list or write their own.

3. Feedback. The teacher elicits students' ideas, and reformulates expressions or corrects, students will learn how to express their ideas in English.

4. Organising mind maps. In the next stage the students organise their mind maps into a linear format to decide the best way in which to present their points.

The following sample of mind map was made by students.

5. Writing. Students should then begin to write their compositions, working in pairs or individually. In this case we chose working in pairs. After they write, pairs can exchange their writings in order to give feedback to each other. (the sample is enclosed).

The following mind map is done by students during the English classes in our school practice. Students enjoyed making mind maps and it was very helpful for them to develop their not only writing skills but also speaking skills. Before writing they could briefly tell their ideas using mind map.



Lesson 3. Customers' rights. “Fly High” 7. p.48

In this lesson there is given a letter of complaint to Customer Rights Officer complaining about a problem with recently bought TV. The writing task is to give advice to the person who has a problem with the purchase. In this case, we remodeled this lesson and prepared a writing activity where students learn to write a letter of appreciation. It is not always when we write such letters. Mostly people write letters of complain and it will be interesting for students to learn to write such letters as well.

Activity: Thank You Mr. Restaurant

Duration: 45 minutes

Description: Letter writing is an important task for students to learn to master. This lesson helps students begin this process.

Goals: To write a letter to a local restaurant.

Objectives:

1. Students will learn the letter writing process.

2. Students will write letters to their favorite restaurant.

Materials: Paper, pens, addresses

Activities:

Stage 1 Students brainstorm their favorite restaurants and record those restaurants on the board.

Stage 2 Show the students how to write a letter including Dear... and Sincerely,

Stage 3 After students have decided on their favorite restaurants, they write down why they like to eat at the restaurant, and what they like to eat.

Stage 4 Using this information they write the letter and thank the manager for their service.

Stage 5 Teacher checks these for errors and have the students edit and rewrite them. Send them off to the restaurants.

Assessment: Check for spelling, grammar, and complete sentence structure.

Another activity is also used to teach creative writing. In order to make students interested in writing a teacher should make the tasks more creative. The following tasks are examples and can be used in teaching writing. We applied them in secondary school English classes and found them very effective. In the book writing task is given in a form of writing suggestions. As we analyzed this textbook, most writing tasks are based on writing suggestions. That's why to change such tasks and be more creative, we chose this task. Students like to speak from different point of view imagining themselves like birds, animals and etc. They like to imagine unreal things which can be very handy for learning too.

Unit 9. Travelling “Fly High” 7. pp72 Lesson 1. Planning a trip.

Activity 1. Birds of a Feather

1) Have the students imagine that they are birds.

2) Tell them to write about a trip that they recently took, but from a bird's perspective. For example, if they went to another state, ask them to tell what it looked like from up in the sky and they can describe the places that they "landed" such as on a statue or on someone's head!

3) Another option is to plan their trip to different countries from a bird's perspective.

Activity 2. Writing stories

This activity can also be used in this unit but here students imagine that during their trip there happened some funny or interesting stories and write imaginative story. The following scheme will help them to organize the events of the story. For younger learners such activities may seem complicated and that's why it is better to use easier tasks for creative writing. To make writing more fun it is better to use writing templates. These templates will help students to give ideas how to write and make writing task more exciting. Moreover, using such writing templates help them to a certain idea where to start and how to write. For this case we chose “Fly High” 5.



There is a unit where students learn to speak about their families. In this unit there is no writing task but could be created as we think teaching writing should be started at early age. Taking into consideration our students' age, we designed the following tasks.

Unit 2. Lesson 5. This is my family. P.13

Using family tree template students write about their families. The template already has a sample of writing so that students could use it as an example. After they fill in the template using the information they write a short story about their family.



Unit 8. Lesson 1. My Day. P. 71

In this unit students learn to speak about their daily life. Writing task is given but it is only writing sentences. Combining those sentences and using Activity Timetable Worksheet they can easily a short story about their daily routine. As we mentioned above writing should be taught not in separate sentences but in a context where students can understand what they are writing about. After they finish, they can do peer checking. ( the sample is enclosed)

Unit 12. Seasons. Lesson 1. My favorite season. P. 113

The main aim of this unit to teach students about seasons and weather in England /Uzbekistan. Writing task is given in the form of writing poems which is also a type of creative writing, but before writing the poem it is better if students work on writing a short story about weather. Using the template, in their stories they can write about the weather and also types of clothing they can wear in those seasons. Before doing this activity, students should be introduced some vocabulary such clothing and weather types.

Writing poem is also very effective activity for students to develop their writing skills. During our research work, we applied an activity for composing poems which is called “Diamond poetry”. 1

Diamond poetry provides a creative language arts writing center activity that uses alternative assessment to test student knowledge of nouns, verbs, and adjectives. The theme season is the perfect topic to combine writing with revising grammar. Diamond poems are a great way to combine parts of speech, love of language, and an appreciation of nature. Diamond poems also encourage an understanding of relationships since the top and the bottom lines of the poem are dissimilar but related in some way.

Materials: White board, white board markers, a worksheet or poster with diamond poem guidelines, computer with word processing software, printer, scissors, glue, construction paper.

Group Activity (Modeling):

1) First brainstorm with students possible poetry topics. Write the topics on the board without commenting. (Possible topics: winter, spring, summer, autumn, flowers, sun, colors, etc.)

2) Encourage students to explain how seemingly different topics are related. For instance, students might notice that in spring the weather is very sunny, in winter it is cold, etc.)

3) Next, model the crafting of a seven-line diamond poem .

4) In the first line, students will write a one word concrete noun based on one of the brainstormed topics. For instance, a student might write the word “flower” at the top of his or her page

5) In line two, students should write two adjectives to describe the noun in the first line (Ex: beautiful, nice)

6) In line three, students should think of three verbs that tell what the noun in line one does (Ex: grow, bloom, bend)

7) Now students should skip down to line seven and write a noun that is seemingly different but related in some way to the first noun. (Ex: tree ) This seventh line of poetry will end the poem.

8) Now going back to line four, students should write four nouns that are common to or that somehow connect the nouns in lines one and seven (Ex: Water, Mud, Sky, Sun)

9) In line five, students should write three verbs that tell what the bottom word does (Ex: grow, move, break)

10) Finally, in line six, students should write two adjectives to describe the noun in line seven. ( Ex. Tall, strong)

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If centered, the resulting poem will make the shape of a diamond.

Individual Activity:

1) At the writing center, provide a worksheet to guide students through the line-by line requirements of the assignment.

2) Students should now be able to write a diamond poem of their own.

3) Have students publish their final draft using word processing software such as Microsoft Word. If students use the Center Justify function, the printed poem will be the shape of a diamond. Students should use a moderately large font (such as 14) in a style of their choice.

4) Have students cut out their printed diamond poem.

5) Glue the printed diamond poems to bright construction paper for display.

Assessment: Be sure to provide students with assessment guidelines at the beginning of the activity.

a) Did the student use specific concrete nouns for the first, fourth, and seventh lines?

b) Did the student use vivid adjectives in the second and sixth lines?

c) Did the student use interesting verbs in the third and fifth lines?

d) Does the poem show a clear relationship between two seemingly unrelated nouns?

e) Is the final draft free of spelling errors?

f) Did the student use the center justify function in order to create a diamond shaped poem?

g) Did the student neatly cut out the diamond poem?

h) Is the finished poem glued to a bright piece of construction paper?

This type of composing a poem is real fun for students but teachers should take into account their level of knowledge. To compose such poems, students should have enough vocabulary and know parts of speech. When we used this activity with younger students (5th Grade), it was a little bit difficult. For older students (7th Grade) it was real fun. (Samples of students Diamond poems are enclosed).

Activity. "Poems as Motivators to Write"

In this activity the teacher picks a poem that tells a story or that he/she knows would be of interest to the student population who are being taught. After reading the poem, the students are asked what the poem makes them think about. Teacher encourages different lines of thought and perspective by asking probing questions that are designed to help the children elaborate on their thoughts. Then he/she encourages the students to write some of their thoughts evoked by the poem. Teacher should explain to them that many poems expressive feelings and that poems can stimulate thoughts and emotions in others.

Activity. "Journal Writing"

A good way to reinforce writing is to require that students write in journals. We also did this with all students especially after lessons that require reflections on the topics we covered. It gets students to think about what we talked about and it gets them to unleash their ideas about the topic in a non-threatening way. We checked the journals because we wanted to know how students are approaching the topics we learn about in class. It also gives us insight into how much they have processed and to what extent. Journal writing is a good way to get students to write what they are truly thinking.

Another writing activity is giving students a certain situation where they can create their own ideas according to the given situation. Again, ready made templates are given to students in order to give them an idea to get started. Templates are enclosed. The topics can be changed in accordance with the themes in their textbooks.

This type of activity is good in the stage of proofreading. Peer checking gives more opportunity for students to check each other and learn from each other. At the end of each writing activity students can do proof reading activity and it can be done in the following way.

Description: This activity gives students an opportunity to move around as they proofread and edit their essays.

Goals: To help students learn the editing process.

Objectives: a) Students will learn the 5 steps of the editing process.

b) Students will learn how to peer edit.

Materials: Construction Paper (6 sheets,) one for each station, pens

Activities: 1. Use each sheet of paper to write the following words for each station. One should be labeled Punctuation Station, the 2nd should say Intro, the 3rd should say Organization, the 4th should be labeled details, and the 5th should be labeled details. The 6th should be labeled rough draft. This is where students who don't ring there rough draft with them will write their rough draft.

2. Give each student a set of five random numbers. Tell students these are the order of the stations they will visit.

3. Have students go to each station for 10-15 minutes examining each other's papers for each of the stations edits. Tell the students it is important to give explain why they have chosen to edit what they have edited.

Assessment: Examine each paper to make sure the complete editing process was understood.

Activity. “Creating Photo Essays”

Photo essays are a special type of writing; they tell stories with a group of photographs that are connected to a theme. One activity using photo essays as a type of writing includes having students pick a topic (in any content area) that they would like to "write" about. Tell them that they have to collect photographs or pictures that represent the topic. Once they have their collections and you gave them a chance to discuss the relevance of the photos to the topic, ask them to arrange the photos in such a way (sequentially, etc.) that tell a story or relay the message related to the topic they chose. Students love to express their thoughts about topics using this medium. If you have technology to complete this activity, you can have students cut and paste their story using photos or images that they find on the Internet. This is a great activity for group work. This type of activity can be applied in any unit but the topic should be combined with the unit topic.

This activity we applied for the units on the topic “Leisure” (Fly High,7. pp54-56); “Travelling” ( the same book, pp 62-74) and “Holidays, holidays” (pp.78-80)

Activity. Script Writing. (Integrating reading, writing and speaking skills)

This activity is very good for students as most of them like soap operas. In “Fly High” 7 there is a lesson about TV programs and this activity can be used to talk about students' favorite soap operas.

Main part. Brainstorming.

What is soap opera? Do you like soap operas? How often do you watch them?

How many soaps can you name? (Write down as many as you can)

There are 12 questions and 12 short texts for students to read and match. It's time to create their own soap opera now. In small groups they read five steps that explain how to create their soap.

Stepl. Location. Think of a name for the location of the soap you are going to write.

Step2. Characters. Imagine that you are a member of one of the families on the soap opera. Decided what type of character you have and what crisis you're presently living through.

Step3. Script. Look again at the ingredients of a successful soap and write a scene for an episode, making sure you include lots of drama, an educational message, and a cliffhanger.

Step 4. Catchphrase.

Your scene must use three of the catchphrases. A catchphrase is a phrase that a particular character often says. (How about a nice cup of black coffee? You fool! You stupid idiot! It's the truth, I promise. I've got one of my headaches. You never listen when I'm talking to you. I'm going to say this once and once only. Don't you ever talk to me like that again! What exactly are you trying to say? All I want is for you to be happy. Now, what were you saying?)