Unit 6.

WRITING.

 

Freeiconspng. (n.d.). Writing. Retrieved from https://images.app.goo.gl/z6WtDfaZK7geUSY78

     On this unit of the book “The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3” a productive skill called Writing is going to be described, as well as, the text types one may encounter and their subskills along with the stages of writing. Also, this blog will answer the questions: What can one learn from this unit? And, How can grammar be useful in a real-life classroom?

 

     To write, first, a need to communicate a message by using different kinds of writing is required. Also, the way one writes the information is known as text types. There are many written text types, and according to the National Literacy Trust (2012), one can find several examples of written text types like discussion texts, free verse, dilemma stories, etc, likewise, the “TKT” book (Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, 2011) describes text types as writing a shopping list, a postcard, a diary, etc. with all of them having different degrees of formality or register, layouts, ordering, complexity, etc.

     Second, to write, one needs to consider the writing subskills according to the text type to write. The “TKT” book describes two general writing subskills, some of them related to accuracy like joining letters together, spelling correctly, etc. And others to communicating ideas as in using appropriate style and register, join words and sentences clearly and using appropriate functions, etc. In addition to the writing subskills, one needs to consider the stages of writing which are getting ideas, organizing those ideas, drafting, editing, proofreading, and re-reading.

 

     To conclude, what one can know about this unit of writing? Several things like we need something to communicate and a way of doing it, also known as text types. Also, one needs to know the subskills of writing along with the stages of it to improve the quality of our writing. Now, how can teaching writing be useful in a real-life classroom? Here are some tips you might find useful.

1. Do not scare students right away by telling them to write. Start little by little, so then, students will be able to join words or sentences correctly, using one of the subskills of writing.
2. Give students more than one strategy to help them cope with writing. Keep in mind that not every strategy will work for every student, so, you need to have some backups. The journal HOW TO TEACH WRITING LIKE A PRO (BusyTeacher, 2016) offers thirteen strategies for students to improve their writing skills.
3. Practice makes the master! Do not worry if students take more than one hour in their writings. In fact, allow them to. There are plenty of writing books in the market, being one of them “ENGAGING WRITING 1” (Fitzpatrick, 2011)  which gives students lots of practice in writing and reading too.

For further reading

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3 (Second). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139062398.003

 

BusyTeacher. (2016). HOW TO TEACH WRITING LIKE A PRO, 63. Retrieved from http://www.pasco.k12.fl.us/library/esol/how-to-teach-writing-like-a-pro.pdf

Fitzpatrick, M. (2011). ENGAGING WRITING 1. (Pearson Education, Ed.). NY United States of America.

National Literacy Trust. (2012). A Guide to Text Types: Narrative, Non-fiction and poetry, 32. Retrieved from https://www.thomastallisschool.com/uploads/2/2/8/7/2287089/guide_to_text_types_final-1.pdf

Spratt, M., Pulverness, A., & Williams, M. (2011). The TKT Course Modules 1, 2 and 3 (Second). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139062398.003