Exploratory task 1.18

Choose a topic of your own writing appropriate for the following readers

Children	Friends	Parents	Colleagues	Officials

Input reading 2 Activities for teaching writing

Writing activities in the classroom fall on a continuum from copying to free writing:

ACCURACY
			FLUENCY
Copying	Doing exercises	Guided writing	Free writing

The learners can do the copying activities, guided writing by following the instructions and free writing such as poetic writing (from Scrivener, J.1994. Learning Teaching. Henemann. P. 157).

Activities of teaching to write are organized according to the task (an activity with a goal and a challenge for the learner). Labeling task means that the learners are to supply either names or captions to the pictures given, e.g. to a comic strip story.

Exploratory task 2.1

Write your own story on the comic strip

Slot technique means that the learners are co fill in the slots to produce a coherent text. Exploratory task: 2.2: complete the gaps in the notice given below

NOTICE Computer for … Has been in … for only 6 … All the modern … For … $699 The price is … Please … after 6 p.m.

Description can take for form of the parallel writing, i.e. using another text or data as a basis. Exploratory task 2.3: describe the person using the data from the table. Create your own table to describe a person in a more complex task.

Name	Age	Hair	Height	Clothes
Andrew Lucy Vera	17 16 17	Black Fair Blond	Very tall Medium Short	Blue sweater T-shirt and shorts Skirt and blouse

Exploratory task 2.4

You’ve written a letter of complaint to the tourist firm feeling very much disappointed with your holiday. Your original letter of complaint is given in the left box. The firm manager has sent you the answer, which is given in the middle box. You are not satisfied with the answer and want to write another letter making your case. Write your second letter in the right column

Original letter	Manager’s answer	Your second letter
Dear Sir, I am writing to tell you how disappointed I am with the room service at your hotel. My stay between 12 and 15 March this year can’t be called fortunate. The room was dirty. The bedding was never changed. There was no morning call and I missed my appointment. My newspapers were not delivered. To make the matters worse, there was loud music from the next room all nights and I did not have a proper rest. Hope you will consider my letter seriously and do everything in your powers to put the matter right. Yours faithfully, …	Dear Mr./Ms … Thank you for the letter dated … I fully understand that you had every reason to file this complaint concerning the service at our hotel. We are proud to have provided excellent accommodation to our clients for more than a century now. Of course occasional problems with room service to happen but we are always quick to react for the best satisfaction of our guests. Hope you will understand that your situation was most unfortunate exception to our generally very high standards. Yours sincerely, …

A writing assignment can be based on a given lay-out of a would-be text. Exploratory task 2.5: write a “bread-and-butter” letter thanking your host family for the hospitality. Follow the given format

Format Sender’s address Greeting Reason for writing Returning hospitality Kind pre-closing Closing

Language Apt. 78. Tulip Tree Building. Bloomington. Bl333222. 12 September 1999 Dear … Thank you again for the wonderful … We had such a good time … I hope that some day you will be able to … Please give my respects to … Sincerely …

Your letter

A writing task can take the form of a project. E.g. do a research into what has changed in the people’s houses during the last century of the second millennium. Complete a collage with pictures and descriptions. You can cut pictures from magazines or make your own drawings. Write captions to pictures that will catch your readers’ attention. Write your own description of the changes. Show your attitude.

Before 1999	In 2000
Cooking food Entertaining oneself Warming houses Doing the laundry Studying Protecting houses against the burglars

A useful task to teach the learners various styles of writing is role writing. Learners get the task to write on one and the same topic a couple of times, changing the roles. E.g. You have become a witness to a traffic accident (the photo of the accident is in front of you). Write an account of the accident as you were a “traffic warder” and a “passer-by”. How will your register change? How emotional will be your language? How attentive you will be to technical details?

Official report of the accident	Description in a letter to a friend

Story writing can teach the learners how to catch the readers' attention by making the beginning of your story dramatic and unusual, how to make the reader interested, invent something unexpected, and write a good ending that would reward the reader for the attention given to your piece of writing.

Exploratory task 2.6: write a story following the given format

Format	Story
Ordinary circumstances Strange thing Unusual feeling The decision New experience Challenging situation Happy ending Mystery to this day A little proof of experience

Poetry is a piece of creative writing that is not necessarily rhymed. “Blank verse” can be fun to write and a pleasure to read. Learners can write “shape poetry”, e.g. Easter poem can be written in the shape of an egg:

Poem writing can be more controlled. E.g.

Directions	Poem
Write a noun Write two adjectives Write a verb with adverb Begin with “I wish …”	The flower Tender and fragrant Fading slowly I wish I did not plant it…

Exploratory task 2.7

Try poem writing. Describe:

The sound of the wind___________________________________________

The frosted window_____________________________________________

The dance of the snow whirl______________________________________

The deep, deep snow drifts_______________________________________

A lonely man on the road________________________________________

Reflect on the work done and on the problems experienced.