לומדים אנגלית / קוראים ספרי ילדים

Last week we dealt with General Writing Tips.

And what are we going to deal with today?

More Writing Tips and Practical Suggestions

As I keep saying all the time, all my tips and suggestions can be used in any class, provided we adapt the subjects of the writing tasks to the writing level of our students.

We can stimulate writing and help students overcome the writing barrier by starting an oral activity based on current events or any relevant subject related to the latest news or events and then move to a writing activity. Providing a detailed Vocabulary List might be very helpful.

Writing Activities based on Oral Activities

Suggestions

1. Recipe Contest

We can start an oral activity related to the holidays and discuss customs and traditional food. Then we should ask students to work in groups and write recipes for their favorite traditional dishes. The representative of every group will read out the recipe and students may be asked to guess what traditional food he is referring to. Then the teacher may wish to organize a contest.

Writing Activity based on the Oral Activity

Students will write a recipe and a special experience / memory related to that meal.

2. Joke Contest

Start a discussion on the importance of humor and its impact on health, education, culture, etc.

Ask students to work in groups. The members of each group will discuss jokes and write out the joke they have liked most. Each group chooses a representative who reads out the favorite joke chosen by the group. The class will discuss whether they think the joke is funny and why. The class will vote and choose the best joke. 

Writing Activity based on the Oral Activity

Students will be asked to write a short composition on Humor as a powerful weapon in different domains. A relevant joke may be included.

Advanced Activities

We should choose a certain subject that the students are familiar with, discuss it in class and assign different writing activities.

e.g.,

The Internet

• Discuss the risks of using Internet to excess. Concentrate on time and money.
• Are all the sites on the Internet worth surfing? Discuss problematic sites.
• Some people say Internet is the privilege of the rich only. Do you agree? How can this problem be solved? Discuss!

Computers

• What do you think computers will do tomorrow? Try to imagine future uses.
• How would you try to cure a computer addict? Think of a step by step plan that would help him quit the habit.
• Can Computers think? Do they make mistakes? Discuss!
• In these corona days many people work at home with computers connected to the companies they are employed by. Express your views on the subject. Will this trend continue when the corona days are finally over?
• In these corona days we often feel that schools are gradually disappearing and being replaced by computers at home. What do you think about it?
• How can computers beat people at their own games? Do they have a mind of their own? Discuss!

Cellular Phones

• Cellular phones have changed our lives. We can hardly imagine the world without them. Discuss!
• Should there be a law against the use of cellular phones in public places? Discuss!
• Write a note to a person talking aloud on the phone at a table near you in a restaurant. Complain about the annoying disturbance.

Road Accidents

• Too many youngsters are involved in road accidents. Should the minimum age for getting a driving license be raised? Should traffic law violators be more severely punished?
• Should a driving course – both theory and practice – be part of the official school syllabus? Explain!

And that's all for today.  We will deal with Stories and Descriptions in my next post.