21 writing tools

#6 Teach English Writing – Inquiry Approach to Thinking and Writing

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Teach English Writing – Inquiry Approach to Thinking and Writing

Main Idea

This English lesson helps ESL students learn specific critical thinking and logical writing skills. The lesson objective asks students to begin with a question, look for relevant evidence, make inferences and draw conclusions.

It’s an inquiry approach to learning and writing because students start with a question and then present evidence and conclusions. This approach is unlike the traditional five paragraph essay format which requires students to begin with a thesis (i.e. the conclusion) before the supporting evidence has been presented.

This lesson produces two benefits for ESL students: 1) it helps them communicate more logically, and 2) it develops thinking and writing skills that are far more meaningful in terms of the way problems are presented and solved in everyday life, both academically and professionally.

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#7 Teach English Writing – Basic Paragraph Organization

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Teach English Writing – Basic Paragraph Organization

Main Idea

Ideal for high beginner (and above) students, this writing lesson teaches English students paragraph organization. In order to present the lesson in a meaningful way, students will choose two things that will be compared in a paragraph with a topic sentence, proof and a conclusion.

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#8 Teach English Writing – Commas, Three Essential Rules

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Teach English Writing – Commas, Three Essential Rules

Main Idea

Learning English rules governing the use of commas is tough. My writer’s grammar guide has 20 pages about commas, half of which includes exceptions to the rules. This lesson helps ESL students become better writers by showing three common uses for commas and some exceptions. It’s not comprehensive. Instead, it builds knowledge, slowly and progressively. Too much grammar at one time is like drinking water from a fire hydrant: it can be overwhelming.

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#9 Teach English Writing – Sentence Fluency

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Teach English Writing – Sentence Fluency

Main Idea

Here’s an ESL writing activity that might become part of your weekly lesson plan. It helps students improve English writing fluency by targeting specific sentence patterns in timed writing exercises.

This lesson asks students to write targeted sentence patterns based on pictures prompts in conjunction with their own imagination and experience.

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