11 teaching and responding to writing

ICELT DISTANCE UNIT
TEACHING AND RESPONDING TO
WRITING

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ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

Teaching Writing and Responding to Written work
Aims
In this module, we will explore the issues involved in teaching writing and will look at how to
teach writing at various levels. In addition, we examine how to mark written work.

Aims
By the end of this unit you should
•

Have developed awareness of what is involved in the skill of writing.

•

Have a better understanding of the purpose and value of writing in the English
language classroom

•

Be able to prepare effective and meaningful writing activities at the appropriate level
for your learners

•

have developed clearer understanding of how to give effective and appropriate
feedback to your learners about their written work.

Coursework in this unit:
Language Task 3: Focus on the Learners’ Written language (page 46)

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ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

Part 1: Developing writing skills in the EL classroom (teaching writing)
Reflection
It is very important to consider your own feelings about writing in English. This will effect how
you teach writing in the English language classroom.

1

Do you believe writing is a skill in its own right, which can be taught in the
classroom through a range of tasks and activities or is it just a way of
practising language structures?

2

Why do your students write in their English classes? Make a list of all the
reasons why you think that writing is important in English lessons.

3

Do your students have to pass examinations in English?
writing are required by these examinations?

4

What type of 'texts' do students write in their English classes? Make a list
of typical writing tasks. How much time do they spend on:
a) writing sentences?
b) writing whole 'texts' e.g. narratives and descriptions etc

5

Do you think that writing in English is a language problem or writing problem?

6

Do you work with your students when they are writing, encouraging them to
revise and edit their work as they go along?

7

Do your students ever collaborate on writing tasks?

8

Do your students ever mark their own or each other's work?

9

Does writing take place in separate 'writing' lessons or is it integrated with

other work?

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What types of


ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

The purpose of writing and teaching writing
What is writing?
Task 1
What is the purpose of writing?
Think about how you use writing in your everyday life in your first language.

Commentary
The purpose of most writing is to communicate with one or more readers (a friend, a relative,
a colleague, an institution, a teacher etc.) Of course, we sometimes write for ourselves but
even then, we read this material at a later date.
As the main purpose is to communicate, the writer needs to send a clear message. This
will depend on:
•

Knowledge of skills and strategies necessary to produce an effective piece of
writing, i.e. how to start, how to take notes, how to plan

•

Awareness of how to use language according to situation.

•

Knowledge of how to sequence and organise written language

•

Ability to use grammar correctly to convey precise meaning

•

Awareness of the importance of presentation

Task 2
a) Think about the last 48 hours. Make a list of the things you wrote in your own
language?
b) Look at the list and answer the following questions:
*
What was the aim? (i.e. to remind, to apologise, to inform)
*

What was the audience? (the person who reads the text)

*

What was the genre, or text type? (i.e, shopping list, a telephone message)

c) What implications does this list have for the English language classroom?

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ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

Commentary 2
Nowadays we do very little writing in our everyday life. Most of it is short, for example, taking
telephone messages, writing brief notes to friends or colleagues, writing emails etc. But in all
cases it is important to know the aim (a purpose), the audience and the text type. This
should be reflected as far as possible in the classroom.
However you may ask, as there is not such a great real-life need for formal written work, 'why
do we need to teach writing?' This leads us to our next point.

What is the purpose of teaching writing?
Task 3
Why do your students write in their English classes? Make a list of all the reasons why
you think that writing is important in English lessons.

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ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

Some teachers in South America were asked 'What is the purpose of asking students to
write? Here is what they said.
Which views are similar to yours?
Writing is a useful follow-up. It
helps to consolidate what has
been learned.
Guillermo, Venezuela
Isabel, Perú

I see writing as an end
in itself. Just as my
learners want to be able
to speak English, so they
need to write too.

Luz Stella, México
The main purpose of
writing is accurate use of
language - especially
grammatical structures.

I think one of the most
important reasons for
having students write is
to be able to assess
their formal knowledge

Maria, Ecuador
Miguel, Colombia
I use writing both to
practise language and
to encourage my
learners to be creative.

Writing is just another form of
communication. My learners
expect to be given writing practice
to improve their all-round English.
That's why I do it.

Eduardo, Chile
Juan José, Colombia
I make my students
write things down.
They need it as a
reference.
Blanca, Perú
Paola, Bolivia

Writing is more reflective
that speaking. I think it
gives learners more time and
they can be more accurate in
what they write. I think they
expect to do quite a lot of
writing.

The purpose of writing is
simply to practise writing.

Richard, Colombia

If you really think you know English,
then you really need to be able to
write fluently in English. I believe you
can only get that through constant
practice. My aim is to increase their
confidence when writing and to
improve their written fluency.

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Commentary 3
There are a number of very good reasons why it is useful to include work on writing in
English language classroom:
To consolidate and reinforce language work done in class: - most students find it useful
to see language written down and to practice a new structure at sentence level after they
have studied it. Writing is often used to help students remember new items of language.
To develop writing skills - like reading, speaking and listening, writing is a basic language
skill. Students need to know some of writing's special conventions (punctuation, paragraph
construction etc) just as they need to know how to pronounce spoken English appropriately.
To prepare them for exams - Many students have specific needs which require them to
develop their writing skills, for example examination preparation, expectation in schools of
essay writing, project writing, poems etc.
To assess - writing allows students to see how they are progressing and to get feedback
from the teacher. As teachers we often use writing as a way to monitor and diagnose
problems.
To develop accuracy - using writing to develop ability in producing grammatically correct
sentences as well as following writing conventions of different text types (for example writing
a formal letter compared to a postcard to a close friend), correct spelling, punctuation etc.
To encourage the development of fluency - developing the students' ability to
communicate ideas and experiences creatively and confidently in a written form.
For classroom management and to change the pace of the lesson - writing can give the
teacher a break. It can quieten down a noisy class. Although with collaborative writing it may
even liven up the class.
To encourage students to work together and share their ideas and experiences - writing

requires a different type of mental process - unlike speaking there is more time to think,
reflect, prepare, make mistakes, find alternative and better ways of expression an idea or
opinion. Writing in class allows students to work together in the process of writing, through a
process of generating and sharing ideas, making decisions on what to include in the writing,
how to express ideas and revising what has been written.
For enjoyment – there are many students who, with the proper support and guidance, can
grow to enjoy the process of writing.

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ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

Writing in the English language classroom
Attitudes to writing
Task 1
♦ How do you feel about teaching writing?
♦ How do your students feel about writing?

Commentary
Writing often receives less attention by teachers because it is at the bottom of the list of
teachers' priorities: classroom time is limited and writing is time-consuming. In addition, it is
one of the most difficult things to tackle on the syllabus and students often do not respond in
the way that teachers want them to. Some feel that writing 'takes care of itself', a less
important issue that is best taken care of in the form of an occasional homework task.
The situation is not helped by the negative feeling students often have about writing. Do your
recognise these:
Finished!
(When they have only written 2 lines.)

Oh no not
writing…can't we
just talk?

Why do we have
to do writing, it's
so boring!

I don't know
what to write
about….

Many see it as hard work, boring, unrewarding and, perhaps because writing is often
associated with homework and/or exams, not a lot of fun. Motivation can be a huge problem
for the teacher.
This is not helped by teacher over-reliance on writing in the classroom for ‘speaking’ practice
activities, which is generally not appropriate practise, and also connects writing to boring
activities.
Writing can be one of the most enjoyable and satisfying activities for teachers and students to
do together. But how can we encourage our learners to write and enjoy writing?

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First we need to consider a number of factors:
– to motivate our students to write we need to provide a reason, especially a fun
reason or a personally important reason. If I asked you to write about your holidays, the
probability is that you might give me a quick summary. If I asked you more specific

questions and gave you a reason for writing (for a wall display, for a short book
recommending different holiday activities), you would probably produce a much more
interesting piece of work. Having a clear sense of 'audience' (who is going to read this) is
also motivating. This doesn't have to be the teacher, it could be the rest of the class for
instance.
– students respond better if they are given guidance. Learners need more guidance
than just a title to write successfully. They may need help in how to approach their
writing, in generating ideas, how to make notes, how to organise ideas etc.
– allow your students to work together on writing. As a group they can generate lots of
ideas, select the content and organise their ideas. The teacher can move around from
group to group monitoring the work and helping with the process of writing. Encourage
your learners to ask you for advice. By giving them the right to choose when they want
your help, you are helping to develop their sense of responsibility in their own learning.
– The key to motivation is the choice and variety of activities. Give learners plenty of
opportunities to try out different kinds of writing (letters, reports, articles, posters, and
public notices for example) as well as 'the composition'. Remember that form can be
interesting as well as content. Similarly give them activities that you know they will find
fund
– As a teacher, be positive about writing, be supportive and flexible, and allow them
to be creative with their ideas.

Let's look at the types of writing activities done in the classroom.

2

Types of writing activities

Task 2
1 What types of writing do you ask your students to do?
2 How often to you do writing activities:

In the classroom?
As homework?

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Commentary 1
Q1 Most writing in the classroom falls on a continuum from copying to free writing:
Focus

A - types of writing

B - definitions and example activities

Controll
ed

Copying

Students copy from the board or from books.
They generally copy grammatical structures,
grammatical rules and items of vocabulary.
This provides the students with a written
record of the language presented and
practised in class.
These
exercises
practise

grammatical
structures. For example, writing sentences
from prompts following a particular structural
pattern, answering questions using a
particular structural pattern, completing
sentences, matching halves of sentences and
writing out a complete sentences, gap-filling
using the correct tense or word.
Students are involved in a process of writing
and the teacher gives help during this process
(thinking through ideas, ordering them, cooperatively preparing notes, writing draft
copies, editing and writing final versions)
Students come up with a topic and title for a
composition themselves and do not receive
any help from the teacher.

(accuracy
focus)

Written Exercises

Freer

Guided writing

(fluency
focus)

Free writing

Writing should be practised in the classroom everyday. Even very short pieces of writing, with
drawings to illustrate points should be encouraged and discussed. If your learners are only
writing at home, this means that they are always writing without support. Of course writing
tasks as homework are often essential because of pressures of time and curriculum, but
make sure you prepare for them in class. (See more discussion on guided writing)

What kinds of writing should students do?
Of course it will depend on the age, interests and level of the students but there are some
very important factors to consider:
Students need time in the classroom for writing. It is the teacher's task to select or design
activities which support them through the process of producing a piece of writing (guided
writing).
Students need to be given a context for writing. In order to know exactly what to write
they need to know why they are writing (THE AIM), who the reader is (THE AUDIENCE this needs to vary and should not just be the teacher). They also need to be aware of the

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ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

type of text (THE GENRE), for example a formal letter compared to an e-mail message
to a close friend (different type of language and different layouts).
It is important to think about what you (as the teacher) are going to do with the learners
writing. For example, use the wall space in the classroom to display letters, ideas, jokes,
poems, stories, recipes etc that have been written by learners. This public display of work
is highly motivating and encourages learners to take pride in their finished product.
Furthermore, the written work can be extended to other members of the school. For
example your classes can write to other classes at the same level. Projects can be
displayed in a public space for all in the school. This motivates learners to concentrate on
presentation. The learners should be encouraged to decide for themselves which work

should be displayed and how- as a hand-written text, retyped text, in book form or poster
form and with what kind of illustrations. Try to keep a collection of old magazine pictures
for learners to use to brighten up their work, or download images from the Internet.

4 Analysing writing activities
Task 1
Look at the six example of writing activities taken mainly from coursebooks. Identify
the following characteristics for each writing activity:
a)
b)
c)
d)

aim
audience
genre
level (elementary, pre-intermediate, etc)

For some there may be some missing elements. Here’s an example:
Write a one-page magazine advertisement for a new style of trainers (sneakers) that your
company produces.
a)
b)
c)
d)

aim: not specified (implied aim is to sell a pair of trainers to a prospective customer)
audience: a potential customer
genre: a one page advertisement
level: pre-intermediate to advance (suitable for a range of levels)

Writing activity A

You are a famous singer. Make a poster for your concert.
Commentary
Aim: to give information about a concert/to persuade
Audience: music fans
Genre: poster
Level: beginners/elementary

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Writing activity B
A friend is coming to stay with you. Write a letter a suggest some things to do
Dear….
I'm really glad that you are coming to stay at my house for a few days. I'm sure you will like it
here. I've got lots of ideas for things to do. First of all why don't we …..[Explain why this is
interesting] Then we could….And how about……? Or perhaps you'd…….
Anyway, we can decide all this later. I'll be at the airport at 11.30 to meet you.
See you soon
[Your name]
Commentary
Aim: to make some suggestions
Audience: a friend coming to stay
Genre: a letter to a friend
Level: pre intermediate
Writing activity C

Design and write an information leaflet about your town/city for tourists.

Commentary
Aim: to give information
Audience: tourists
Genre: leaflet/brochure
Level: low-intermediate
Writing activity D
Work in groups of three to five. As a group, you are going to write a story of a dream by
completing the text below. Before you begin, each student choose 2 pictures from a set of
pictures (they can be any small pictures, but one idea is to use Reward Pre-Intermediate
Resource Pack (31) ) in an envelope. You must include these pictures in your dream.
I was sitting in front of the television late one evening, when I fell asleep and had a strange
dream.
In the dream I was… (Where were you? What were you doing?)
Suddenly (What happened?)
To my surprise (What happened next?
Unfortunately (What happened?)
Finally (What happened in the end?)

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Commentary
Aim: to describe a dream (imaginary)
Audience: classmates
Genre: a story of a dream
Level: pre - intermediate and above

Writing activity E
Write a recipe for an interesting dish. First list the ingredients you need. Then
describe how to make the dish.
This recipe is for shepherd’s pie. For this dish you need minced beef or lamb, onions,……
First you chop up the onions, and then fry them lightly in oil…
Exchange recipes and read them. Is there a recipe you would like to try?
Commentary
Aim: to give instructions
Audience: classmates
Genre: a recipe
Level: pre intermediate

Lesson Planning
What do writing lessons look like?
Writing is a productive skill like speaking. Like speaking, writing activities do not occur in
isolation. It is important to think what comes before it - pre-writing, and what comes after it post-writing.
Task 1
Describe what might happen during the pre-, while- and post- stages of a writing
activity. What does the teacher do? What are the learners doing?

Commentary:
The Pre-writing stage prepares the learners to write. The students could be asked to
brainstorm ideas on a particular topic and share experiences. They may be shown models of
a text and be asked to identify the conventions (language, form etc) of the particular text type.
While-writing stage. Learners produce their texts, from the ideas generated in the previous
stage or by following a model text previously presented and analysed. The teacher helps
and guides learners in their writing style, organisation, content and presentation and
encourages them to help each other.

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ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

Post-writing - two things happen after writing:
Dealing with the product (displaying the poster, sending the letter, reading the poem to
classmates etc). This might lead to a role play or some other type of speaking activity, or
reading activity.
Responding to the writing (evaluating, rewriting, appraisal of the form and ideas by the
other learners or teacher). This will be looked at in detail in part 2.

The focus of a writing activity
Writing is a complicated skill and it is impossible to deal with all aspects of what makes good
writing at once. It is therefore important to have a particular TASK FOCUS for each writing
activity. Task focuses could be:
Imagination development and vocabulary expansion
Types of writing that need imagination and a great variety of vocabulary are the creative
types of writing such as:
• stories and fairy tales
• poems
• articles
• reviews
• personal communications
Form and organisation are also important, but a variety of vocabulary is crucial.
Register of language (formal and informal expressions)
Types of writing for which register is important include:
• typed letters
• business communications
As these often depend on a received communication, such as a letter from a business
partner, the need for vocabulary brainstorming will be less important.

The use of formulaic phrases
• beginning and endings of letters, (' Dear Sir/Madam', 'I look forward to hearing from
you', yours faithfully, bye for now)
• internet language, as formulaic phrases are especially popular in chat and e-mail
• formal invitations
Text organisation
• summary writing
• essays
• academic writing
• magazine articles
• lecture notes

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Presentation and layout
This is important for:
• letters
• applications and CVs (curriculum vitae)
• posters
• projects
• advertisements
You can also work with particular learners for whom presentation is a problem because of
handwriting.
Grammatical features of types of writing, joining sentences
It can be useful to have a grammar focus where there are useful patterns to look at, for
example:
• the use of the past simple and past perfect in stories

• present perfect and past simple in newspaper articles or letters of application
Any text that depends on contrast and comparison (essays, reports, even the text of an
advertisement) will benefit from work done on joining sentences logically- from 'and' vs. 'but'
for beginners to 'notwithstanding' vs. 'taking this into consideration' for advanced students!

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Task 2
Look at the following pre-writing activities (1-6) and decide:
What the task focus is?
What the product will be (the text)?
What you could do with the product (post writing task)?
Activity 1: Three words story
Put three words on the board: for example man, restaurant, ring.
Tell the students they are going to write a story containing a man, a restaurant and a ring.
On the board, draw a table:
Man
Restaurant
Ring

Ask the learners what the man looks like, what he is wearing, what he does etc. As they call
out ideas, put them on the board. Accept all of the ideas. Now do the same for 'restaurant'
and 'ring'
As the learners to put a story together using some of the ideas on the board.
Commentary
Task focus: This is a brainstorming activity for vocabulary expansion, especially adjectives.
Product: a story

Post writing task: could be a cartoon strip for a wall or a drama activity in groups acting out
the stories

Activity 2: Skeleton Thanks
Give the learners the following skeleton of a letter
Dear …………
Thank you for ……………………………………… It was wonderful.
I especially liked………………………………………… and
……………………………..
I hope……………………….. and I look forward to…………………….
Regards, Peter Smith
Discuss the tone of the letter and what might go into it. Students then complete the letter in
any way they wish (from experience or imagination)

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Commentary
Task Focus: Formulaic phrases (often idiomatic e.g. I look forward to hearing from you)
Product: relatively formal letter of thanks
Post writing task: the letters are displayed around the classroom and Ss vote on the most
imaginative gift and response; further writing - Ss have to email a friend and tell them about
their birthday/Christmas etc and say what gifts they received, why they liked them/didn't like
them; change the genre of writing..Thanking informally e.g. a letter to a close friend or an
email and analysis of the formal and informal genres.

Activity 3: Story gap-fill
This story outline can be put on the computer before a lesson or be as a paper copy. It could

also be done as a dictation (video clip)
Pedro was talking with his English teacher. She was getting more and more upset.
(Teacher to students: write the first few lines of the conversation)
When Pedro got home he went into the kitchen and said hello to his mother.
(Teacher: describe her and what she was doing)
Pedro's mother called the family to the table and they all sat down to eat. It didn't take
long for Pedro's mum and dad to start arguing.
(Teacher: write the first few lines of their argument)
Pedro left the table and went to his room, banging the door behind him….
(Teacher: what did he do next?)
Commentary:
Task focus: language expansion and development of imagination, 2 styles of writing,
description etc
Product: a story and 2 dialogues
Post-writing task: drama/role play (could be filmed or photographed used in picture story)

Activity 4 Chopped story
Cut up a text into 6 pieces, dividing at the end of paragraphs and label the pieces A-F in any
order. Divide the class into groups of 6. Give a set of six chopped pieces to each group.
Groups must decide on the order of the sections and make themselves into a line, with the
person at the front of the line holding the beginning of the text, and so on.
Task focus: awareness raising activity about text organisation and cohesion between
paragraphs.
Product: model text
Post activity: writing a similar text, writing a summary of the text

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ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

Activity 5 Getting a job
Show students a job advertisement (from the Internet, from a newspaper) and the following
letter of application.
Bogotá November 5th
Dear Sir,
I hope you don't mind me asking, but have to got any jobs?
I saw your advert and I think I'd like to work for you.
I'm really nice and clever as I passed all my exams at school and I've lots of friends.
I've done lots of jobs and I'll tell you about them when I come and see you in your office.
Can I come and see you on Tuesday? I'm busy on Wednesday coz I'm going out with some friends.
Bye for now
Susan
Tel: 624 3551

Learners discuss what is good and bad about the letter and whether the person would get an
interview. In groups, they plan and write a letter of application for the same or a similar job.
Commentary
Task focus: register
Products: Letters of application
Post writing: competition for the best letter, students could imagine they are employers
looking at letters and deciding who to interview, possibly writing a letter or reply or phoning to
make an appointment for an interview, they could role-play an interview; could also be used
as a text comparison 'look at the letter, which one is more effective?'; follow up by getting
students to write two letters on a similar theme but to very different people. For example,
they could be teenagers writing to a head teacher explaining why they were absent from
school and an e-mail to a friend saying what really happened.

Activity 6 - Write so it is true for you
Before class prepare a short text about yourself on any topic that you feel your students

would be interested in. For example:
Cats are my favourite animals
They are very intelligent and independent.
I especially like black cats.
When I am with cats I like talking to them and stroking them. I also like looking
after them.
Read out one line at a time and ask learners to change the sentences so that they are true
for them:
For example:
Teacher: Cats are my favourite animals.
Student: Dogs are my favourite animals.

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After reading out a line give the learners some time to write down their version. They will
need time to think about the topic and make a decision as to what they should write down.
Make sure that the level of language is about the level of your learners and that the topic is
one that your students can identify with.
An alternative version of this (and for a higher level) could be used to encourage students to
express their own opinions. It could be used as an activity that leads into a discussion and a
controversial reading. As an example the teacher reads this sentence:
Human beings do not treat animals well.
And tells the students to re-write the sentence to reflect their own feelings. Students may
write:
Human beings must treat animals better because they are living creature too.
I think human beings treat animals very well.
We should treat animals better and all become vegetarians.

Commentary
Task focus: imagination development and vocabulary expansion
Products: sentences expressing feeling about a given topic/issue
Post writing: Ss compare their answers in pairs/groups, perhaps nominating the best one to
read to the class. This could then lead into a reading or listening text about pets (low levels)
vegetarianism (higher levels) for example, or a discussion activity.

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A lesson plan
In this section you will see how writing activity F from Section 3 is incorporated into a
lesson.
Task 1
Read the plan and the attached materials carefully. Can you identify the three main
stages: pre-, while-, and post-, that we talked about at the beginning of this section?
Stage &
Procedure
Stage Aim
Timing
(approx)
1 Set
the Students are given a number of questions Lead in to topic
Context
about dreams for discussion (see OHT 1)
Create interest
Give context for writing:
10 minutes

The teacher introduces the activity: 'Today What
(genre)
/
Who
you are going to write a story about a (audience) / Why (aim)
dream for the other students to read'.
2 Provide
The teacher writes:
model text Who is Keri’s favourite TV star?
and reading
The teacher gives out a text (see HO1 task
model text for writing activity. This model
5 minutes
provides an example of the type of writing
and language the students will be expected
to produce in the writing stage) and gives
the students 45 seconds to find the answer
to the question (Pedro el Escamoso).
3 Language
analysis
5 minutes

Provide model text for Ss
which is to be used in the
writing activity that follows
Set a 'gist task' to give
students a purpose for
reading and to gain an
overall understanding of the
text.

Teacher asks students to underline all the Focus on narrative markers
phrases in text which help to organise
events in the story e.g. I was sitting in
front…, in the dream…, suddenly etc
They then compare their texts with OHT 2 the story skeleton (outline)

4 Setting up The students are divided into groups (3-5). Stimulate Sts to write
Writing task Each group is given an envelope Provide a purpose
containing a set of pictures (for example, writing
from Reward Pre-Intermediate resource
5 minutes
pack 31b).
Each student takes two pictures randomly
from the envelope. All of the selected
pictures are spread out in front of the
students.

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ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

The teachers explain that they are going to
include all of these pictures in a story of a
dream, using the story skeleton (OHT 2) as
an outline of their texts.
In their groups the students brainstorm Practice of important 1st

Brainstormi ideas for the story and make notes, using stage of successful writing
ng and note the skeleton story to help them plan the - generating ideas
making
content of each part (paragraph) of the
story.
7 minutes
5

1st In groups, the students write a first draft of Encourage
students
to
their story. The teacher encourages them express their ideas freely.
to pay attention to the content (their ideas)
10 minutes
rather than the form (grammatical
accuracy, spelling, punctuation etc).
Teacher reminds students that this is only
the FIRST draft.
6 Writing
draft

7 Editing
10 minutes

The groups pass their first drafts to another Practise critical reading of
group. Each group reads a text/story and texts
writes some questions about the content
eg what happens here?, what happens
next?, what colour is the woman's dress
etc?. To encourage the writers to expand

their ideas in their next draft.
Practise
self
correction
techniques
The texts are returned to their 'writers'.
With these comments and the questions
from HO2, the groups check their work and
make improvements.

8 Writing final In groups, the students write out a final Practise polishing skills
draft
draft of their stories. The teacher monitors
the groups and gives help where needed.
15 minutes
The students are encouraged to pay
attention to content and form in this draft. Provide an audience
Teacher explains to students that their final
drafts will be read by their classmates.
9 Reading
and
feedback
10 minutes

When the final drafts are complete, the
stories are put up around the classroom.
The students are encouraged to read the
texts, identifying which pictures appear in
the stories and then voting on the best/
most imaginative story.

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Practise reading for specific
information (scanning) and
for general understanding
encourage overall response
to stories


ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

Commentary:
Pre-writing: stages 1-4. These stages prepare the students to write.
While-writing: stages 5-8. Students produce their texts in these stages from notes - to final
draft.
Post-writing: stage 9. The product (the story) is displayed for the other groups to read and
respond to.

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ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

OHT # 1

Discuss these questions in small groups

Do you dream every night?
Do you remember your dreams?

Do you dream in colour?
Do you have recurring dreams?
Do dreams have any significance?
Do dreams ever come true?

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ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

A Dream
I was sitting in front of the television late one evening when I fell asleep and had
a strange dream.
In the dream I was walking along the street outside my home. I was carrying a
bag and I seemed to be in a hurry to get home in order to watch my favourite
programme, ‘Pedro el Escamoso’.
Suddenly, just before I reached the door of my apartment block, I saw Pedro.
He was walking towards me and smiling at me. He had a dog with him that was
sniffing around in the flowerbeds. Then, to my surprise, he said my name and
spoke to me. “Keri, hello. Dona Paula told me you are a very good teacher and
I was wondering if you…”
Unfortunately, just at that moment, a car pulled up and an angry-looking woman
shouted out the window. “Hurry up, Pedro. We’re late.”
He checked his watch and replied, “Oh! Sorry. I didn’t realise it was that time.”
Finally, he gave me the dog and ran to the car and jumped in. I was left holding
the dog’s lead as the car roared down the road.

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ICELT distance unit: teaching and responding to writing

OHT # 2

Story Skeleton

I was sitting in front of the television late one
evening when I fell asleep and had a strange dream.
In the dream ….

Suddenly, ….

Unfortunately, …

Finally…
OHT # 2

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