Teaching wriitten speech during the basic course

     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.