ESL Reading and Writing
By utilizing practical methods and engaging materials, ESL teachers can design reading and writing courses that will prove to be both fun and rewarding for their ESL students.
Jan 5, 2007
"I don't like to write" is one of the most common phrases we hear coming from English students, both native and non-native learners alike, but often we discover that student pessimism about completing ESL reading and writing assignments arises out of their concern that the product of their hard work may not prove practical in a significant way.
For some ESL students writing personal essays may be both a fun and practical way to build vocabulary or increase fluency, and others may enjoy and find useful writing professional articles about topics that are of particular interest to them. However, the aim of the ESL teacher should be to make clear the practical aims of the writing assignment.
No matter what ESL students may be interested in writing, ESL teachers can create useful reading and writing lessons that will make a difference both in how a student perceives the value of their writing and the ways in which their writing can "interract" in the world.
With regard to student perception of the value of writing, ESL teachers may want to try using an exercise called copying - see Copying Lesson in ESL Writing - which asks students to rewrite a sentence in a variety of different ways without changing the original meaning of the sentence. Not only does this writing exercise help students recognize the value of building a strong vocabulary and a clear understanding of English sentence structure, it can also be a lot of fun.
In addition to engaging their own thought in the second language they are learning, ESL students can also become convinced of the practical value of writing by seeing the product of their hard work "in the world." From writing a blog on the web to trying to publish a poem in a small press magazine, there are countless ways to help students interract in the world through writing, and ESL teachers may want to take a look at the following Letter Writing lesson for some classroom ideas.
In this section of my English as a Second Language site at Suite 101, I will try to add more and more ideas for the development of practical writing lessons. In the meantime, take a look at a recent blog and feel free to post a comment. You can also email me your thoughts; I'd be glad to hear from you.
