Teaching Writing

[Rod G]

I am teaching a writing class of approx 30 students in China. They are studying for their PhD in other disciplines and taking English to help in the writing of their abstracts. However I have the class until Jan next year twice a week and looking for some other interesting topics and exercises that will keep the students interested. I have already gone over some basics such as sentence structure, paragraphs, essay types, cover letters, resumes and persuasive writing. They vary in English level - basic- intermediate. Some of the students are lecturers / senior lectures in my university and all students are obviously smart. How do I make this class fun for them?

I know they would welcome some more interactive activities.

I would be grateful for any suggestions or ideas

Thanks
Rod

[Roger]

As a fellow expat, my first observation is that teaching in China invariably invovles a multidisciplinary way of teaching - if you teach them writing, you have to teach them to write PROPERLY, i.e. they must learn to respect page margins, numeration, where to place the date and their names, things like that. And, it always takes a lot longer for them to break Chinese habits. Some of their habits are really bad - like the way they use up space with single letters followed by a hyphen and the rest of the word!
I think, how to write a paragraph and similar undertakings are not really necessary instructions as they have learnt that in their CHinese class. However, they still have to learn how to do things properly when using English! So, be both patient and insistent!

Second: Topics:

Don't expect them to write too well. They have not learnt to write their own proper opinions on anything! If you ask them to write up a travelogue or a report on their home place, they will copy a CHinese brochure, simple as that!

How about teaching them how to write JOB ADVERTISEMENTS, followed by JOB APPLICATIONS?
This is extremely useful for them, and you can plan your lessons for at least a month ahead as they will need practice in doing everything on their own. They have no clue as to how to apply for a job - they usually think it's a matter of talking on the phone!
I did this very successfully with college-age students just recently. I devoted 4 lessons to jobs - and they had to write as homework one job advert and one job application as well as a cover letter!
This way, they had to personalise the contents of their writing!