Discussion task #2: I have a reasonably high-level adult class who I recently did a writing task in class with.

Discussion task #2: I have a reasonably high-level adult class who I recently did a writing task in class with. The whole 2.5 hour lesson up to that last half hour of writing was about the language of memories. We read a similar story (taken from a magazine) in the text book. They all read it individually to familiarise them with the style, format and length – short and full of rich description. And then I asked them how it made them feel. Then we took a break for them to reflect. After the break I asked them to close their books and listen and I read them the story aloud again. I turned off the AC and read expressively. (Here, I could/should have had them close their eyes and visualised...)

Then, in pairs they reflected on the discussion questions in the book. The one that caused the most confusion was, interestingly, the one that asked whether the article had been written in an appropriately 'chatty' style for a magazine audience. But we discussed who we expected to read it etc. Once I had elicited this, and that we need to tailor our style to fit our reader, we then had a little time to discuss writing descriptively. Here, is where, If I had to do the lesson again I would do things differently. As because they were pre-advanced level I had assumed they had some understanding of figurative language – this was a mistake! But we ran out of time...

So, I took them back to: Go back to the simple steps of writing. Think of a memory that has a strong meaning for you. Step 1: plan. Step 2: write. Step 3: check. Tell me a story. About a memory of yours. Describe how you felt. Describe your senses. Off you go.

And most of them produced some pretty interesting pieces of writing. :)

Comments

  1. Juan UribeMay 7, 2016 at 5:09 AM

    Yasmin,

    Writing about personal memories is certainly a very affective approach. You can certainly boost it with guided imaginary exercises or with pictures from that particular moment.

    I wonder if you students had a chance to read each other's memories and if they had a discussion afterwards finding similarities and differences in their memories. This was certainly a class to remember! Lucky students!

    Juan

    ReplyDelete

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