Writing Class

Rob Whyte ESL writing activities, lessons and composition worksheets that increase vocabulary and teach English students how to write sentences and paragraphs.

Week 2 ESL Writing Class

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This week, the ESL writing class has several specific composition objectives.

  1. Learn the six parts of good writing. They are called Six Writing Traits.
  2. Practice rewriting a short passage with a better description and better voice.
  3. Write a short story with a great description and a strong voice.
  4. Write a story that shows us an emotion but does not tell us the emotion. 

SIX WRITING TRAITS

IDEA: a clear message. Good writing shows, it does not tell. Include bits of information often forgotten. Stimulating, interesting, surprising content.

ORGANISATION: The structure of the writing. Is it compare and contrast, point by point analysis, chronological? There is a beginning and an end.

VOICE: We can see there is a person writing to us, not a template. There is feeling, humor, personality.

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Teacher Training: Paraphrase Writing Class Outline

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Clear Writing with Paraphrased Sources

The purpose of this writing session is to improve your English writing skills by learning how to paraphrase authoritative sources that support an argument.

By the end of this session, students will be able to:

  1. Demonstrate an ability to use 6-8 paraphrasing techniques.
  2. Accurately paraphrase small passages.
  3. Seamlessly integrate sources into a short (say 1 to 3 paragraphs) piece of writing.

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Teach ESL Writing: Paraphrase Writing Lesson Plan

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PARAPHRASE BY CHANGING NOUNS TO VERBS

PART 1  NOMINALIZATION

Nominalization means changing a word into a noun. Nominalization usually involves changing verbs to nouns though adjectives (e.g. careless to carelessness) and adverbs (e.g. wordy to wordiness) can nominalized as well.

Nominalization is commonly used in academic textbooks, legal documents and professional or government reports. Its effect is to emphasize the action by adding punch to the end of the sentence (e.g. chemical fertilizers accelerate plant growth). It also creates a noun concept which can be operationalized and classified (e.g. fatal becomes fatalities).

Some critics don’t like nominalization because it creates wordy sentences. In other words, some writing critics harbor no fear regarding their expression of dislike of wordiness.

Here are some examples of nominalization:

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