Методическая статья касается вопросов обучения учащихся письму на иностранном языке. Существует много видов письма и различны причины письма.
Чтобы научить учащихся хорошо писать, учителю требуется продумать задание так, чтобы ученикам было интересно писать, а значит следует выбирать такие темы, о которых им хотелось бы говорить. Письменные задания должны соответствовать возрасту и языковому уровню учащихся. Учитель должен помнить, что не только тема письма важна, но и читатель, тот для кого этот материал пишется. В статье предлагаются некоторые советы в обучении и развитии навыка письма.
Writing - it's an important form of communication and a key part of education. It helps pupils to assimilate letters and sounds of the English language, its vocabulary and grammar, and to develop habits and skills in pronunciation, speaking and reading.
Writing is a difficult skill for many learners. It`s not easy in their mother tongue too. There are some reasons for this. The first one is the problem of the absent audience. When we speak, we are interacting with someone and always have feedback. When we speak, we cannot consult with the reader.
Another difficulty is that writing must be learnt. Speaking is our everyday activity, but we write only rarely.
Then there are linguistic difficulties. We must know how to put sentences accurately, grammatically correctly and what appropriate language is for different types of writing.
Another difficulty we have in writing is how to organize our ideas in a logical way for the reader to follow it easily.
To teach writing we should show the learners how to write different text types, for example a thank you letter, a report, a poster or an article. We are helping the learners to see how the texts are structured and what language is suitable for the text type. This is called genre-based writing.
When we teach learners how to write a particular text type, we can give them writing exercises to practice accuracy, give them guidance in what to say and how to say it, or to write them freely.
Accuracy activities have a lot of writing exercises such as gap fill, reordering sentences, combining sentences with linking words, matching sentences and paragraphs or rewriting texts. These exercises can help students develop the skills of linking ideas between sentences, choosing suitable language, improving grammatical accuracy.
Guided writing.
It helps students with the questions: What have I got to say? How can I organize my ideas?
We can do this by:
- giving pictures that tell a story and asking the students to write the story
- giving key words
- giving a model text so that learners use it as a pattern for their own text.
Free writing.
Free writing is the most difficult task for students. There are some ways we can help them with free writing. Pictures and music can help learners` imagination. Listening or reading before the writing activity can give them some ideas and having a group discussion can help learners develop their ideas.
The writing activities we choose should be interesting and motivating; be appropriate to the learners` level; be appropriate for the kind of learners we are teaching.
Sample lesson.
Level: low
poster; reading texts, flashcards (lesson materials)
1.Lead-in.
When do you usually give presents?
When did you get a present last time?
What was it?
2. Pre-teach vocabulary.
Look at the picture flashcards (a flashcard of a book, a vase, rollerblades, socks and money). They are presents. Do you know all the words for the objects?
3. Reading activities.
Let`s look at the pictures and read the letters with their repliers to answer the questions: Who gave what to whom? (lesson materials: reading texts for each learner).
4. Pair work: check your answers in pairs.
5. Accuracy activity.
Let`s look at the letters and repliers again. Find the greetings in the letters: Happy birthday, Happy Christmas, Congratulations.
This is the structure of the letters:
| 1. Greeting |
Congratulations |
|
2. Why do you choose the present |
I hope it is useful for you |
|
3. Closing |
love from Uncle Peter |
Thank you letters.
| 1.Greeting |
Dear Aunt Polly |
|
2.Say thank you |
Thank you for the socks! |
|
3.Say something nice about the present. |
They are nice and warm |
|
4.Closing |
Love, Matt |
6.Writing task: accuracy.
You will have a writing practice poster. Fill the blanks with suitable words to put the sentences in the right order to make the letter. Check your answers in pairs. (Lesson materials: a writing practice poster).
7.Writing task: guided writing.
Write your name on a slip of paper. I`m going to collect them and give out randomly. Look at the name you have been given. Imagine you are giving a present to that person. Try to choose something suitable for the person and write a short message using a structure as a guide.
8. Interacting writing task.
Give your message out to the person they are addressed to. That person should write a thank you note to the giver.
9. Transfer activity.
Let`s put the messages and thank you notes around the class. Write the following columns:
|
Present
|
To |
From |
Reason for present |
Comment on the present |
|
Woolen scarf |
Mary |
Anna |
To feel warm and comfortable |
Mary says it`s nice |
Take your notes and pencils, walk around the class to find out who gave what to whom. Make notes. Let`s compare the answers in groups of four or five.
10. Collect in the notes and thank you letters and correct them.
Lesson materials.
1.
Dear Uncle Tom,
Thank you for the rollerblades- they are so cool.
Love
Laura
Dear Auntie Joan,
Thank you very much for the red socks. They are nice and warm, and they will make me feel cheerful.
Love from
Philip
Dear Sue
How nice of you!
What a lovely vase!
It will look lovely on the table in the living room. With love and thanks
Ally
2.
Writing practice poster.
Fill in the blanks. Then put the sentences in the right order.
____Sally
I___it___be useful.
I___you will be very ___in your new home!
Here is a little housewarming present
Love_____Uncle Joe
______Uncle Joe
We_____ enjoy using them!
_____so much for the lovely coffee cups.
_____from Sally