teach writing

I am more and more dissatisfied with the focus and intent of so many ESL writing books.

They look the same and tend to focus on the same limited, mundane skills: thesis sentence and paragraph structure. I know those things are important but I also know that they diminish student interest in writing as a craft. As a mode of personal expression. Good ESL writing and teaching shouldn’t be an exercise in rote memorization.

On that theme, I am interested

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One of the challenges associated with the art of teaching writing is time management. I think managing pace is an acutely important skill that can kill or motivate a class of student writers. C’mon, not many people can put their head down for 50 minutes and crank out a nice readable piece of writing. So, why should expect ESL students to do that?

That’s why sponge activities are vital. They ask students to write a chunk of writing, with a definite start and finish, in shorter

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Here is a small collection of online resources that might be use to ESL teachers who help students learn how to write English well. Some are directly related to the art and science of teaching writing to ESL students. Others are food for thought.

1. A neat list of basic writing elements that ESL have learned but find difficult to put into practice.
2. Sticky Teaching. An interesting info graphic, not directly related to ESL writing, but the ideas are certainly applicable.
3. Ten Steps to Becoming a Better Writer. A neat graphic – ideal as a 5 minute sponge activity – that gets to the point of what is required to improve writing skills.
4. 40 Things to do with a text. Looks like a semester of sponge activities for the writing class.

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