Job Discussion Forums

[Songbird]

Okay, I seriously need some help, and fast! I have tried to get help from other teacher forums, but everyone just looks away with a blind eye, probably because everyone teaches oral.....but I teach writing, I hate it, have looked high and low on the internet for ideas and inspiration and all I want to do is throw the damn computer out the window! I was told I'd be given only oral when hired (and I do have a couple of oral classes which are my only saving grace) but I got lumped with a load of writing!

Maybe I am just hormonal....

Okay, my classes generally suck. I admit it. I am not the fun foreigner my students expect me to be, heck, this is writing fer crying out loud! I have the green 'A Basic Course in Writing' book, if anyone else happens to be using it. I have the same classes I did last term (continuation), and we did planning a a couple of weeks, but I admit we jumped into extended writing too fast. Even though we did revise, marking each others work etc and rewriting, so they see the writing process. I am currently now spending time 'fine tuning'/ refining their writing and doing various paragraph structures, but they're all on another planet and just don't want to work anymore.

I don't know if it's a combination of the weather changing too quickly, end-of-year-approaching blues, or the current inspections the college is going through for the next couple of months, or the fact they're sick and tired of seeing my ugly mug .

I will be reviewing the course content during the summer holiday and rewriting, but PLEASE, I badly need some ideas on making writing more interesting, and perhaps ideas from the internet (so the students can't always look in the back for answers!!). They are considered to be low level students (this isn't a capital city uni or anything) but they're certainly not stupid. They ask me to do sentence structure, so I started doing that this term, they all whinged and said how boring it was.....they wanted to learn more grammar....a. they do a seperate grammar class, and b. I know bugger all about grammar (okay, so I've just started an MA AppLing but hey, this is only the beginning!).

Please help before I lose my sanity altogether !

Edit- Had to add 1 more thing- they have the text (can read outside of class), they can do writing....like for homework and I mark it for next lesson (so it goes on and on and on and I go mental having to mark week in week out for 150 students).....so what exactly IS the reason they come to class? Where can I find other resources to complement the book?

[kev7161]

I don't know if this is age appropriate or not, but this is what I'd do:

1. First, teach them about word webs - - you know, where you put a single word or topic in the middle of the chalkboard (or a piece of paper) and then think of words or short phrases that are related to that word. This is to start the wheels churning when it comes to ideas in relation to the main topic.

2. Teach them how to formulate an outline - - an outline format is about the same as your basic 5-paragraph paper. You have the Introduction with the 3 points they will cover, then of course the 3 main points with their own 3 supporting points below, then the Conclusion. If they can somewhat master an outline, then writing the follow-up paper may be a bit easier.

3. Have them write freestyle. For a minute or two have them write anything that comes in their head, words, partial sentences, emotions, whatever. No names on the papers, shuffle them up and have students read them outloud. This gets them used to using a bit of their creativity that most people generally have whether we want to believe it or not.

4. Don't start off with a research paper whatever you do. Brainstorm with the class and write topics on the board. One person per topic.

5. Pair them up - - let two students work on a paper together. Hopefully their knowledge and lack of knowledge will balance each other. Don't let them pick their own partners.

6. Do a group report/presentation. I know this is getting a bit into the "oral" aspect, but they have to research and write and (probably) read from their writings.

Of course, you are going to have to go through all the boring mechanical aspects of researching and writing and citing papers (BORING, but hopefully other posters will have ideas to make it less so!) - - but those are some ideas off the top of my head. Good luck!

[mike w]

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/esl/eslteacher.html

This is useful website for written English.


Lots of useful topics and links on this page also:

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html

[Sinobear]

If you PM me your e-mail address, I can send you a copy of "timesavers_writing ideas," it's 1000 writing ideas and a complete teacher's manual (1.8 MB, PDF).



Cheers!

[Songbird]

Thanks everyone for your help and for taking me seriously ....at least today I have a bunch of lovable students for my oral classes....

Some of those websites helped a lot, however, given the way these students are I feel I've now completely lost them and it's just going to be struggle after struggle for the rest of the semester. I promise I will try much harder next year! Also, the poor things will NOT get a May holiday due to inspections, so I'd say in 2 weeks or so it's going to be all-out war, knowing they were denied a holiday....

[Anda]

I have found that students always like small talk and not issues. I do stuff like below on the board with them. Try to make it contain local content too.

I�m married these days! By Anda
1. Ann: Oh hi Sue! I haven�t seen you around for a while. What have you been
doing?
2. Sue: I�ve been on night shift at the factory, where I work, so I�ve been sleeping
during the day. What�s new in your life?
3. Ann: Well for a start, I�m married these days!
4. Sue: What, I mean why? You have a good job; you didn�t need to tie yourself
down to married life. I would never, never marry my boyfriend; he�d want
to be the boss if I married him. He�d think that he owned me, if I let him
marry me.
5. Ann: Then why do you date him then?
6. Sue: He�s handsome plus he spends lots of money on me, and takes me out
heaps. So I have fun and don�t have to spend my own money, so I can
save.
7. Ann: Well my husband has a good party job in the local government. His
parents bought us a nice apartment, over looking the river.
8. Sue: Wow, you�re doing well. Is he handsome?
9. Ann: Nope.
10. Sue: Nope, you mean he isn�t handsome?
11. Ann: He�s short and somewhat fat but on the plus side he�s kind and funny!
Can�t have everything, so I�ve got most of what�s important to me.
12. Sue: He sounds like a teddy bear! At least he�s got a secure job. Have you
got his parents living with you?
13. Ann: No, but they live in the same building! They�re easy to get on with
however, so I don�t have a problem there.
14. Sue: Are they expecting you to get pregnant, I mean have a baby?
15. Ann: Yes, this is China, so that�s the norm, isn�t it, but I got things sorted out
before I married my husband. When I end up with a baby, his parents
will baby sit, while I continue to work. No way do I want to spend month
in, month out, stuck in an apartment day and night, with only my
baby to talk too.
16. Sue: Yep, I�m not in a hurry to get married and have a kid! I�ll hold off as long
as I can. I think when I�m about thirty five; I�ll start to hunt for a husband.
17. Ann: You�ll be too used to living by yourself, and having your freedom, to
marry then.
18. Sue: Oh, well in that case I�ll probably end up staying single then! I don�t think
marriage is that great anyway. My father works in the military and
hardly comes home. My mom has a pretty boring life. She just goes to
work, mainly for company, as my father is well paid, and sends plenty of
money home. He�s always been good that way.
19. Ann: Well I�m enjoying married life. My husband is interesting to talk too, plus
he even helps with cleaning the apartment. Seeing that we both work,
we can afford to eat out at good restaurants once or twice a week. I
don�t want to go back to being single, that�s for sure!
20. Sue: Um, are you going to show me your apartment?
21. Ann: Do you have some free time, as I can take you there now? We can
catch a taxi.
22. Sue: Great let�s go then.
23. Ann: Taxi! Ah, good it�s stopping!
24: Sue: Is this the apartment building that your apartment is in?
25. Ann: Yes, do you like it.
26. Sue: It looks good, what level are you on?
27. Ann: We�re on the 6th floor!
28. Sue: The sixth floor, Ouch, I pity you when you have to carry a baby up and
down six floors!
29. Ann: Actually you�re right! I never thought of that. Oh well, I suppose I�ll get
used to it.
30. Sue: Puff, puff I�m glad it�s you living here and not me. Those stairs are
killers!
31. Ann: Well we�re here now! Oh, my husband is home. Tom, this is�..
32. Tom: Sue what are you doing here?
33. Ann: You know each other?
34. Sue: Well let�s just say I taught your husband how to kiss. Your husband is
my ex-boyfriend, from my first two years at college. I only left him cause
he started to spend too much time studying, and not enough time with
me.
35. Tom: Well you could have studied with me instead of partying all the time!
If you had put more time into study, you would have got a better job!
36. Sue: Look at you, you�re a fat little teddy bear now, from sitting on your bum
studying instead of getting out and doing stuff like dancing. And I can
smell cigarettes, you haven�t started to smoke, have you? And with a
tummy like you�ve got, you must be drinking also. You call yourself
smart?
37. Ann: Sue�s right you know Tom, your health is the most important thing you
have. Without your health you can�t keep your job. Then all your study
will have been for nothing. He does kiss nicely Ann, I wondered where
he�d learnt, thanks!
38. Sue: You�re right too; he is kind and funny when he can drag himself away
from studying. He used to be quite handsome but, when I had him. I
wouldn�t want him back now that he�s such a fat little teddy bear.
39. Tom: Okay, okay I�ll start looking after myself! I can see that the pair of you
are not going to stop picking on me until I do. There are you happy
now?
40. Ann: I�ll have to invite you around more often Sue, by the sound of things!
41. Sue. My pleasure Ann, we need to stick together to keep our men in line.
Say, are we going to have a cup of coffee Ann?
42. Ann: No problem, Tom makes good coffee, don�t you Tom?
43. Tom: At least I do something right!
44. Sue: You know, I might want him back, if he gets back into condition Ann!
45. Ann: He�s mine now, and I�m not intending to loose him!
46. Sue: Pity, he seems to be well trained!

[Burl Ives]

First, I wouldn't mark papers each week. There's research out (somewhere) saying the obvious, that putting explicit grammar correction in written papers has zero effect on grammar learning. If you must correct grammar, do it as in class games. Ye Olde Grammar Auction works once, perhaps twice, a year. Students are put into groups of three or four, and given a sheet of 15-20 sentences, some of which are good grammar and some of which are bad. Each group gets "5000 dollars" and 5-10 minutes to work over the sentences together to choose which they think are good and which they think are bad. Then you auction the sentences. There should be a minimum bid, and you should go into overdrive in the bidding phase. Use you natural speaking voice and all the ridiculous idioms you can think of to get the energy going. Their goal is to buy as many good sentences as possible for the lowest price. Afterward you debrief on the grammar. The initial sentences can be things you choose knowing them to be standard errors Chinese make, or you can select sentences from actual student homework. Numbers of sentences will go by that the students know are good but which they don't bid on out of that usual silly Chinese student reticence to stand up and be counted. If you get over that hump, you can use the explicit lesson learned--that they lost an opportunity--as a point of motivation in later exercises.

Second, choosing topics is always awkward. Let them do it. That way setting the topic can become a warm up. If there's some discussion going on before writing on what the writing will be, that's a kind of brainstorming. One thing that seems to work is generating something on the board via student input. You as teacher give some outline, and then require content input from students, a kind of "What happens next?" thing. As you write up suggestions, leave blanks where you know there are errors in the students submission and elicit corrections. Later you can write up student submissions whole and elicit corrections without first having indicated where.

Third, they're not stupid but they can't do explicit critical thinking. They have to be taught how to create a coherent paragraph where terms are defined and connections between terms explained. (Otherwise they produce a list of non-sequiter topic sentences.) I do it on the board using only students suggestions. I indicate the need for something somewhere--like linking words, or logic sequence, or content improvement--and we build a paragraph together.

Fourth, they have to write something for themselves, and they need a purpose in writing. Any exercise has to have some payoff in immediate personal terms. Do they have fun? Do they laugh with each other? Do they get some correction? Do they see some progress against earlier effort? For all of that, the exercises need to be pitched just right, not too dumb for them, and absolutely not too smart. If you have disciplined students, it's easy. If you don't, then you, like me, are a little bit screwed.

Lastly, the idea of writing for pleasure does exist for them. They likely do it in Chinese. But they're kids and English is a second language. To get a buzz out of having written something good in English, they have to be taught how. Knowing that that particular bit of teaching is there to be done is what currently keeps me trying to write good lesson plans. Not that I have any particular insight into what works. All I know is it's a step by step thing with each step needing some kind of payoff.

If you've got any ideas for what will provide the initial motivation for a bunch of dumb--in the proper sense of the word--teenagers, let me know. Because I'm buggered if I know what works. Recently I've been thinking of playwriting. With the final goal of acting out a play, the students are set exercises that ultimately, somehow, have them generate a spoken, dramatic piece. Possibly it all starts with re-writing Shakespeare. Provided of course that you never, ever show them the original language because it would be massively demotivating. But they know the plays already so there's the start.

Shakespeare with a cast of 120? Perhaps actors rotate, each taking two minutes of a scene. Or you have competing productions. Or the whole point of the exercise is not what final production results, but what writing takes place along the way.

[Ona Nizm]

Songbird - some reflections on writing for you (no doubt stuff you already know.) If I'm coming across as a pompous academic in his little ivory tower (see my Learner Autonomy thread), then apologies! I do actually teach writing to secondary school students and have gotten results. Actually a bit of background to Chinese writing conventions can be helpful.

Approaches to Writing in the EAP Classroom

Objective: to teach salient features of Western academic writing conventions in terms of style, organisation and content; focusing on form at the sentence level; note-taking, summarising, synthesizing, citation analysis and issues of plagiarism.

TSA: Western academic writing conventions focus on presenting objective, well-balanced arguments supported by credible evidence, both primary and secondary, within clearly-structured, appropriately formalalised

PSA: Factual objectivity and persuasion have little value in Chinese rhetorical traditions. Notions of what constitutes credible evidence differ greatly with Confucian value systems which emphasise historical allusions, folk wisdoms and personal appeals etc., (Hinkel, 1999). Strevens (1997) asserts that the need for (Aristotelian) rhetorical objectivity and justification may present a �formidable obstacle� for L2 learners if they are �absent in the learner�s culture,� (quoted in Hinkel, 1999: 93).
Furthermore, differences in use of syntactic and referential markers i.e. over reliance on coordinating conjunctions and lack of embedded clauses; absence or misuse of hedging conventions and relative clauses; overuse of amplifiers and emphatics; frequent occurrence of second person pronouns etc.

Suggestions for implementing a writing skills programme:

� Integrating product and process approaches: focusing on both rhetorical functions and the recursive nature of composition i.e. revising and rewriting at each stage.
� Activities in co-authoring and other collaborative writing practices
� Awareness-raising by appropriate reading models which can help, �learners to assimilate the conventions of the genre and the register of their subject,� (Shaw, quoted in Jordan, 1997; 169).
� Feedback: writing conferences; peer evaluation; written comments; reformulation; plenary discussion sessions.
� Student self-evaluation/ -monitoring: �encourages students to look critically and analytically at their writing and to place themselves in the position of readers,� (Charles, quoted in Xiang, 2004: 238)
� Workshops
� Summarising, paraphrasing and synthesising skills work.

References:

Hinkel, E. 1999. Objectivity and credibility in L1 and L2 academic writing. In Hinkel, E. (ed.), Culture in Second Language Teaching and Learning, CUP, Cambridge.

Jordan, R.R. 1997. English for Academic Purposes. CUP, Cambridge.

Xiang, W. 2004. Encouraging self-monitoring in writing. ELT Journal 58/3: 238-246.