Improving Students ’ Writing: Five Techniques for Success

1. Improving Students’ Writing: Five Techniques for Success Kelly Conroy, University of Texas at Austin Anne Cummings Hlas, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Beth Kozbial Ernst, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Jessica S. Miller, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire ACTFL 2011

2. Website http://www.promotelanguage.com/write • Detailed activity descriptions • Classroom handouts in multiple languages • Full bibliography • Pedagogy rationales based on research

3. Research-Based Principles • Set a purpose for writing in the classroom. • Encourage students to use strategies. • Focus on process approaches to writing. • Connect to what students think, feel, and experience.

6. Writing Freely • As a brainstorming activity, ask students to get together in pairs and write down necessary vocabulary words. • Next, the students should open the appropriate word processing program, turn off the monitor and free write, focusing only on thoughts and ideas. No grammar (at this point)! • Once 10-15 minutes have passed, ask the students to turn on the monitor and make appropriate changes and discuss their ideas with a partner.

7. Exercises of Style • Activity encourages learners to be creative while practicing target grammar • Based on French surrealist writer Raymond Queneau’s essays (1947) • Same short story written in 99 different styles • Teacher provides models and students write their own

8. Exercises of Style - Examples • Base sentence: “In the morning I wake up, drink my coffee, and go to school.” • Adverb variation: “Quietly in the morning, I quickly wake up, drink my coffee slowly, and happily go to school.” • Geometric variation: “In the round morning, I wake up a square, drink my oval coffee, and go to school walking straight.”

10. Figurative language is like sprinkles on a cupcake.  • In class, explain the difference between similes and metaphors. A. Simile or Metaphor B. Simile or Metaphor I feel like a monster. Life is a game of chess.

13. Destination Unknown • Before class, the teacher should write down travel destinations of the country, region, international site, etc. and place in a hat. • Each student draws a piece of paper out of the hat. • They write down three descriptive clues starting from hardest to easiest and fold the paper accordion style so that only one clue is showing. • Then the students pass the paper. The student should read the clue and write down a guess of the destination. • Next, they should pass again until it is finally returned to the original author who reveals the correct answer.

14. Destination Unknown-- Suggestion and Extension • Helpful phrases for writing the clues: • It is in the _____________ hemisphere. • It is __________ during January, February and March. (Mention: climate or temperature) • It is located in _____________________________ (Mention: country or continent) • There are many ____________there. (Mention: geographical feature or animals) • Extension: Write a paragraph about what they have learned about the destination. Use the vocabulary that you learned.

16. Taking a Trip • Explain to the students that they will be, in small groups, creating a promotional flyer for the Office of Tourism in the (target country/city). • They should begin by doing research on their country/city and think about why they would want to visit that destination. • As a group, they should then create an attractive promotional flyer with photos, links, copy, etc. to show to the class. • The class will vote on the best promotional flyer, which will then be sent to the Office of Tourism in the (target country/city).

17. Taking a Trip- Rubric

18. Text Me! • Appeal to students’ digital literacy by teaching them SMS language (i.e. texting abbreviations). • Using paper “cell phones” provide students with a task and have them “text” each other using SMS to complete the task. Enforce a writing only/no talking rule. • For greater discussion of texting in the classroom, see González-Bueno and Pérez-Sotelo (2009), Language Educator, 4 (5).

19. Can u txt n transl8? 1: do u want to c a movie? 2: idk, i’d rather go 2 museum tbh 1: k, np, wfm! u want to go l8r? 2: yes, i will check museum hrs jic. 1: k, tia! 2: np, sys!

21. Students first spend time viewing front page newspapers from the target region on http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/ • Students study the typical layout, organization, and format of the front page of a newspaper. Feature Yourself

23. Your Front Page Needs to include • Three related photos • At least five headlines (real or imaginary) • At least two personal stories (real or imaginary) • At least one advertisement related to a cultural product

24. Small plug for Spanish http://bestofpuntocom.net/

25. Reverse Fill In the Blank • Activity prepares students for vocabulary tests • Students select 4 or 5 words from a list • They write a paragraph about themselves leaving a blank where target words would be

26. Reverse Fill In the Blank • Teacher collects and redistributes the anonymous paragraphs • Students fill in the blanks to review vocabulary • They guess who those paragraphs describe • Paragraphs can be used later for quick review • They create a sense of community

27. Reverse Fill In the Blank - Examples “I love to go _____________ at the beach, but I hate _____________ at the lake because I don’t eat animals. Every weekend, I meet my friend and we play the _____________, which is my favorite string instrument. Finally, at night, I enjoy _____________ a good book.” “I love to go SWIMMING at the beach, but I hate FISHING at the lake because I don’t eat animals. Every weekend, I meet my friend and we play the GUITAR, which is my favorite string instrument. Finally, at night, I enjoy READING a good book.” This is a description of Sally.

30. Gallery Walk • Using a large sheet of paper, have pairs of students write and illustrate a mini-story with a cliffhanger ending. • Hang multiple stories around the classroom. • Have the students travel in a circle around the room in pairs to write a unique last sentence on each story, finally returning to see what endings were written for their own story. • It may be helpful to play music to prompt them to move on to the next station.

31. Calligrammes • Poem that is a visual representation of its subject • French poet Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918) created this word: “calligraphie” (handwriting) + “ideogramme” (picture) • Students use their imagination to create calligrammes • Display poems around the classroom

32. Calligrammes – Example 1http://www.guillaume-apollinaire.fr/calligrammes.htm

33. Calligrammes – Example 2http://www.guillaume-apollinaire.fr/calligrammes.htm

34. Songwriter • In pairs or small groups, students are asked to write a tune to a familiar song such as Frère Jacques or Blue Moon.

35. Let’s sing! Sung to tune of Frère Jacques. • WRITE at ACTFL • WRITE at ACTFL • Five strategies • Five strategies • We hope you found this useful • We hope you found this useful • Let's move on • Let's move on

37. Questions and comments Kelly Conroy knconroy@mail.utexas.edu Anne Cummings Hlas hlasac@uwec.edu Beth Kozbial Ernst ernstbk@uwec.edu Jessica S. Miller millerjs@uwec.edu