[MUSIC] Welcome back to teach English now. We have asked you to join in the journey of two students who struggle with writing, Hansel and Gretel. And who are being asked by a teacher to complete a writing task. Now writing in any language can be difficult and even more so in a foreign language. I believe it is safe to say that all students at one time or another will likely feel overwhelmed when it comes to writing. So why do students feel overwhelmed? There are a variety of reasons. Some students fear that they have no ideas. Some students fear that they will not meet the teacher's expectations. And some students fear that their ideas are well terrible? Furthermore, less proficient writers tend to isolate themselves in the writing process, separating themselves from teacher and student feedback that might otherwise help them. So what do we do to help our overwhelmed students that have so many fears? One of the simplest answers according to and composition experts, rhetoricians and well, just about any writing theorist you might find, is that writing is best viewed as a process rather than a product. In other words, writing isn't something that is done in one step. It is a complex activity that can be aided by careful writing activities that a teacher places in the paths of the students. You may have noticed that our teacher introduces three basic stages into the writing process which we would like to align to pre-writing, writing and post writing activities. Pre-writing, did you notice how our teacher couldn't engage her learners to write. And so she was instructed to think of activities to help her students think. She was told to create lists, questions, and the general features of a dream home. In other words, she is stimulating background information. If you remember we discussed the importance of timing the pump. Meaning helping learners connect already understood concepts and schemata to new information. Pre-writing is definitely a prime the pump activity. A simple way to think about this is to say that pre-writing is reading, it's thinking, it's speaking. How do students know what to write if they don't read, if they don't speak with each other, if they don't think? A healthy amount of reading and speaking and thinking should proceed good writing. So your job as a teacher is to get students talking, reading and thinking about the topic that you wish for them to write about. Please do not commit the mistake of our witch who simply gave a writing assignment to students. You must first pique their interest, make them want to write about something. Help them realize that they do have thoughts about what they're going to write about. We'll discuss specific pre-writing techniques in our next module. Writing Assignments and Rubrics. Another reason students get overwhelmed, is because they are afraid that they can´t get into the teachers head. They don´t know what the teacher wants, or expects. For these students it is important to set very clear boundaries and rules, and in general it is wise to always have a clear writing assignment. A clear writing assignment should include specifics on the length of the paper, the due dates for portions or drafts some of the paper, and basic writing conventions. For example, is it double spaced, handwritten, typed? Is it in a particular font size? What are the size of the margins? For some students, this element of specificity creates a degree of comfort that the assignment will have a measure of objectivity. Furthermore, in a language classroom, you may be asking for the use of specific vocabulary words, transitional phrases, sentence structures or grammatical elements. Just remember, if you didn't write it down in your instructions, it's unfair to grade students on it. If you have a prepared rubric that demonstrates precisely what you will give a grade on, this can give added clarity for students as to what your expectations are. Finally, giving some students examples, some models, can greater alleviate the stress that learners have about what you expect. If you can give several models and even discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each model, then that will give students and idea of what you are looking for. Write and Discuss. Another problem among less proficient writers, such as Hansel and Gretel is that they simply sit by themselves and well, keep sitting. Asking students to share their writing is an important part of the collaborative process. Thus one of the most important things you can do, after students write, is to get students to talk about their writing. This often called peer review. While we don't have a lot of time to discuss the strength and weaknesses of peer review and I'll be honest, some teachers hate it. I recommend that you always give students a chance to give real feedback to other students. Why do I feel strongly about this? Well, because even professional writers need help. Did you know that writers get together? Throughout history there have been writers' groups, where writers would collaborate, ask questions, and revise their own thinking. Socrates had Plato and Xenophon. Virginia Wolfe had the E.M. Forester and John Maynard Keynes. J.R.R. Tolkien had C.S. Lewis. And even the rugged individualist, Ernest Hemingway, consulted James Joyce, Ezra Pound and F Scott Fitzgerald. Since writing is a process, it is okay to show your unfinished, less proficient work to others. This is, however, a huge challenge for students who seldom want to look foolish or appear ridiculous. If you remember all the way back in our first course, we stated that one of the fundamental principles of language learning is risk taking and looking foolish. Here you will have to encourage students to speak with each other. Not just so that they can say nice things, but give serious feedback and suggestions. I love to show students the feedback that I have received on my own work, so that they recognize a singular truth in writing. There's no such thing as good writing only good rewriting. And that is precisely the subject of our next video. Let's get into more specifics about rewriting and the importance of revision. [MUSIC]
