MARCELA OLIVARES AZUARA
CERTIFICATE FOR ENGLISH TEACHERS
MODULE 5
LESSON PLAN ON WRITING INCLUDING THE
READING, SPEAKING AND LISTENING SKILLS
OCTOBER 29, 2010
This lesson plan pretends to explain how to give a Writing Class applying the skills
of summarizing, outlining, expressing opinion through the medium of writing. In
integrating Writing Lessons with reading, speaking and of course listening,
students are able to produce dynamic writing output.
I chose writing because is the skill I never practice, and since I´m a teacher I need
to check their writings or help them write, so this is the skill where I think I need to
have more practice with.
INTRODUCTION
Mexican students come from a mono-language environment, where Spanish is the
predominant language at home and in the community, notwithstanding the school.
English education in Mexico is spelled out in such a way that students start to learn
the language formally in Junior High School where heavy emphasis is placed on
translations and grammar studies in preparation for University Entrance
Examination. This being the case, university students are placed into three levels:
the Beginning, Intermediate and Advance in their Writing classes.
Mexican students who have advance level, usually are a good mixture of those
who have at least a year of overseas study and those who have not. Learners at
this stage, with influences from L1 Writing, are now said to be able to write in
paragraph forms, with a paragraph being defined as a coherent presentation of a
number of utterance tied together by an overall message or intent. What
distinguishes a paragraph from a set of sentences is primarily textual cohesion
which refers to elements that refer forward and backward among across sentence
boundaries that tie sentences together. By this time, students are able to narrate,
describe, and manipulate sentence structures to a certain extent that they express
what they really are eager to communicate. Consequently, they are also able to
use correctly discourse connectors, subordination and coordination. After having
mastered the structural elements and style of paragraph writing, they can and
should be allowed to write longer forms of writing.
The Teaching of Writing, Integrated with Other Skills
The most common problem that confronts teachers of a Writing Class does not lie
so much on what to ask students to write about; the difficulty is more on how to
motivate the students to write interesting and effective materials. Writing for writing
sake is a drag, and produces boring output. The lesson plan presented here, by
combining the teaching of writing with other skills, allows students freedom to
express themselves meaningfully.
The first phase of the lesson begins one class before with the giving of the
ASSIGNMENT. I read (or write on the board, or make copies of) a list of as many
topics which I think to be of interest to the group. For example
ANIMALS
Unusual Animal Facts
Jungle Animals
Madagascar Hissing Cockroaches
Dog Breeds
Hedgehogs as Pets
Strange Cat Behavior
African Animals List
Komodo: Earth's Last Dragon
Extinct Animals of last 100 years
Exotic Animals and Pets
The Psychology of Animals
THE WORLD
Nostradamus: Prophesies and Predictions
Nostradamus: Predictions About the World War 3
Is the World Going to End in 2012
RANDOM TOPICS
What do Aliens Look Like?
Real Alien Sightings
Is There Life on Other Planets
Extraterrestrial Beings and Humans
Near Death Experiences
Supernatural Orbs
What is Deja Vu?
Past Life Regression
Ghost Stories
Haunted Places
The Day When the Earth Stood Still
Are Vampires Real?
Psychic Abilities
Latest Bigfoot Sightings
Lost Civilizations of the World
Mysteries of the Crystal Skulls
Crop Circle Mystery
Facts About Trojan War
The Mystery of the Maya
Bermuda Triangle
Mankind's Most Ancient Mysteries: The Great Pyramids
and Their Mummies
Supernatural Mysteries in Bermuda Triangle
Unsolved Murder Mysteries
Mysteries of the Mind
Allow the students to choose any one topic that they are most interested in, and
something that they would like to know more about. Then tell them to look for a
short (the shortest is one paragraph, the longest is one page) magazine, internet,
or newspaper article, read thoroughly until they understood the content, and make
a copy to bring to class. No writing is done yet; students are required only to
completely comprehend the text they had chosen.
The second phase of the lesson is the INTERACTIVE PHASE which begins on the
day of the next class. Students who had chosen the same topic are called to sit
together and form a group . Then they are told to take turns in reading- or
reporting- each of their articles to the group members, while everybody else listens
and then ask questions to clarify points that are unclear, or make comments . Allow
as much time as the students are willing to talk, or half of the whole class time. At
this point, make sure that students within the same group recognize common or
diverse aspects relating to the same topic. For instance, on the topic on
Environmental Problems, they would have chosen articles on: Deforestration,
Garbage Problems, Noise Pollution, etc.
The third phase of the lesson is the WRITING stage. Ask the students to get back
to their seats and write about two things: (1) the topic they had chosen to read and
bring to class, and (2) the other related aspects of the same topic that they found
out from the group interaction.
The length of the written material required will depend on the skills to be tested, the
purpose of the lesson, and on the readiness of the class. The shortest can be a
one-paragraph writing of either a summary or reaction to the articles they chose.
The students are required to hand in the finished material at the end of the class.
EXTRA ACTIVITIES
To make them practice the skills on summarizing, ask students to find 3-5
sentences indicating the main points in the article, and re-write these in their own
3-5 sentences.
To make them practice the skills on outlining, ask them to identify 2-3 main ideas
in the article- or as many as they can find, re-write these main ideas in their own
words. At the same time they are told to include a sentence supporting each of
these main ideas.
To make them practice the skill of expressing personal opinions / beliefs, students
have to identify, again, 2-3 main ideas (or as many as they think there are) and
give their personal reaction to each of these ideas.
At the end , require them to do a summative writing which tests the application of
some or all these skills in a set of paragraphs forming a coherent set of ideas to
form an essay or a full composition. The final product would be an essay, for
example, which consists of: the 1st paragraph as a summary, the 2nd paragraph
as the outline (with main ideas and supporting ideas indicated), the third paragraph
containing their personal reaction to the article, and so on.
CONCLUSION
The only drawback is that this kind of lesson entails a lot of work on the teacher.
To be able to check students skill in summarizing or outlining, the teacher has to
read every student's article, thereby increasing work twice as much.
Teaching the set of skills of summarizing, outlining, reacting to a posted article
using writing as a medium helps students to organize ideas while allowing them to
express these ideas in complete sentences. They are trained to put ideas logically
and organize thought patterns and makes writing more interesting for both
themselves and the teacher.
