Cross-cultural integration, business trips, tourism, educational projects, access to Internet – these are the reasons to study English. Writing is the means of communication. Students dislike writing being not proficient in it and lack motivation in learning writing, not seeing any practical use of it. For the task of writing is generally far from real life and the only reader is a teacher.
The only way to raise motivation is to make tasks more realistic. Fortunately, recent computerization of schools and wide spread of E-mail and Internet facilitates it. The students are eager to communicate in chat, by E-mail messages and letters correctly. This course promotes their requirements of communication.
According to the coming United National Exam students are expected to write a postcard and a letter. And they can pass it if they are aware of writing strategies; formats of different pieces of writing, appropriate style, and can spell words correctly and use accurate punctuation.
So the aim of our course is to familiarize students with different types of written English such as messages, personal and E-mail letters, to develop their ability to communicate by means of these forms and to teach them strategies (how to cope difficult spelling and punctuation, how to avoid difficulties while writing). Thus we are going to increase the students’ communicative writing potential in order to raise their motivation, their cross-cultural awareness.
This course is for students of intermediate or pre-intermediate level and is appropriate for students of 13-15 years old. By the end of this course the students will be able to communicate in the form of messages, personal letters and E-mail using the enabling writing strategies. We also hope that it influences the students’ progress in their native language. For example, the technique of learning spelling will also help them with difficult words in Russian. Learners internalize linguistic rules, which in tern will help them to use the language on their own. Students learn to function effectively in pairs and small groups sometimes teaching each other. Students have to use the skills developed on the early stages while working on letters and messages.
The course begins with the most difficult but very important part of writing – spelling. Within this unit students learn and practise different memorizing techniques and the ones to revise the forgotten words. Then they move through punctuation and correction procedures to note-taking techniques. And the last two units develop their ability to write letters and messages. Students have an opportunity to apply everything they learn in real life through communication with teenagers abroad by means of correspondence and Internet. Practical activities of each unit engage students in active language use. For this reason each unit provides a range of exercises, which are used as a lead-in to thoughtful communication. The students work in small groups comparing their answers with other members of the group finding similarities and differences, making self-correction. In such a way they are sure to create the most successful final product. This course is designed within the communicative approach. The whole range of techniques is used within the methodological framework:
Controlled writing – Guided writing – Productive free writing.
The course is offered as optional one once a week. So you need 30 hours for its implementation. The students who are interested in writing and have real need to improve the skill can attend it. But if you don’t have an opportunity to conduct the optional course it’s possible to combine the part of this course you are interested in with your everyday teaching practice. So each unit (or even the part of the unit) can be used autonomously and may be supplied by the vocabulary you need at your lessons. Some extra activities are offered to use as ‘Warming-up’ or simply ‘For Fun’. You can also decide how much time the task requires according to your teaching/learning situation.
The process of exploiting this course doesn’t need any special equipment or technical devices. The most that could be expected is the usage of photocopying machine. You can find a great many of material to copy in this pack but it doesn’t mean that you are not allowed to use your own one.
COURSE OUTLINE
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UNIT 5
Messages: 4h
Aim: by the end of the unit our students would be able to write short messages.
Objectives: By the end of the unit our students should be able to work out the main rules of writing messages.
Materials: Examples of different types of messages, situational pictures.
Procedure:
- Discuss with your students the occasions when you have written notes to, or received notes from any of the following people: friends, family, classmates….
- Read different types of messages or letters and discuss in groups:
- what’s the relationship between the writer and the receiver?
- what’s the main purpose of each?
- how is the note different from the letter ( think about the layout, content, the words and expressions used, the punctuation, etc…)?
- why are they different?
- Compare your fillings with those of other groups.
- When writing notes or messages;
- Write time or date if it’s important;
- Emphasize the important words by using: capital letters, underlining or other marking, punctuation
- Leave out unnecessary words if you wish
- Full sentences are not necessary in notes to friends and family members
- Use dashes(–) instead of full stops, commas and even Question mark if you wish. However Question marks are sometimes necessary to make your meaning clear.
- End in any way you like. Formal endings are not necessary. Usually your name is enough.
Activity 1.
Look at the messages below. For each one discuss the questions:
- When was it written? Is the time of writing important?
- Where might you find it? Why do you think that?
- What is the main purpose? How did the writer help to make this clear?
- What is the relationship between the writer and the reader? How do you know?
Activity 2.
Make the notes below clearer and more interesting by using:
- capital letters
- extra marking (underlining, circling, heavy printing)
- punctuation (exclamation marks, Question marks)
(Don’t change any words!)
e.g.
Activity 3.
In the messages below, there is no punctuation.
- Read it through first for understanding
- Then write it out and add dashes in pencil wherever you think they are needed.
- Go through it again and change some dashes into full stops, commas, questions or exclamation marks. (Don’t change any words!)
Activity 4.
In the messages below the writer leaves out many unnecessary words.
- Find examples of this and discuss what the full sentences is in each case.
- Discuss the sort of words left out.
Activity 5.
All the messages in this exercise are written to close friends or family members. Shorten them by leaving out unnecessary words. (Change some words if you want to, and remember to use punctuation and other methods to make your messages clear.) Compare your notes with those of other students.
e.g. I’ve gone to the beach and won’t be back until 5 o’clock. “Gone to beach – back at 5”
a) Jenny rang at about 11 o’clock. She said to ring her before going to her place. She said it was urgent.
b) I have left the tools behind the garage door. Be careful of that very big spider in the left-hand corner – we think it might be dangerous. What do you think?
Activity 6.
I. Look at these two notes. The reason for writing is the same in both, but the wording is different. Discuss:
- the way they are different
- what the relationship might be between the writer and the person written to
- the connection between a) and b)
II. Look at these two messages. In each case the writer and the reader know each other very well.
- Rewrite the first one for an older relative
- Rewrite the second one for a very new boyfriend
All samples are taken from Brown K. & Hood S. Writing Matters CUP, 1989.
Activity 9.
Think of some situations (at home, at school) when you might need to write a note. Write these notes now and exchange them with your friends.