ESL Writing
Welcome to the English writing class in the graduate program, spring 2017.
This week’s plan
- Understand the benefits and expected outcomes of this course by looking at the syllabus (e.g. book, grades, etc)
- Extra resources for motivated students who want more
- Answer the question: what is good writing?
- Homework
- Writing activities
Extra Resources
- free extensive listening resources
- read for free Project Gutenburg
What is good writing?
The answer might be found in this short presentation.
- Link to a Google doc
- What is good writing? – link to a pdf file
Homework
- pencil
- 1 notebook and 1 notepad
- dictionary
Next Week
- talk about the book report project
ESL Writing Activities
1. Improve Vocabulary
A test. Can you learn these words in a minute? New vocabulary.
2. Basic Writing Concepts
- Refresh your English writing knowledge by reviewing a few basic writing tools.
3. Before and After
Most students want to improve their writing skills. That’s the overall aim of this class.
This short writing activity provides students with evidence of their improvement (or lack of improvement) at the semester. The activity is called Before and After.
4. Error Correction
In order to become an independent writer, students need to be able to find and correct their own errors. During the semester, we will do a few error correction practice exercises. Foster your ability to notice details:
5. Timed Repeated Writing
A short simple activity, timed repeated writing helps students improve writing fluency.
6. Parts of Speech Review
This short reading and thinking activity provides students with a chance to quickly review the eight parts of speech.
7. Descriptive Writing: Cubing
- Introduction to cubing as a pre-writing strategy.
- Review framework and sample.
- Write a story based on a picture prompt.
8. Write a Summary
Watch a video and write a 1 to 2 page summary of the story and message. Get the ESL summary writing activity here.