Here are some ideas for teaching Writing which I've tried this month - by deconstructing the process of writing, rather than consulting empirical research.
FCE Writing (Part 1)
The issues which my students were facing included 1) the lack of a central idea and 2) the lack of development in each paragraph.
First, we established a template structure (as below):
Paragraph #1 (idea: ___)
- statement:
- supporting reason/example:
- consequence/result:
- summary (paraphrasing/mirroring the statement):
Paragraph #3 (idea: ___)
Conclusion
Then, the students brainstorm ideas collaboratively. (Each bullet point represents a single sentence.)
Once they have finished brainstorming, what the students need to do is turn each bullet point into a full sentence.
Formal and informal emails
As an extension, I asked my Business English students to come up with 'less formal' and 'more formal' equivalents of what they had written.
- Feel free to get in touch for more information.
- Please let me know if you need any further information. (semi-formal)
- Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further information. (formal)
This allowed my students to practise choosing vocabulary appropriate to the tenor (relationship between the sender and the recipient). They could also build up a bank of expressions in both styles.