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Developing students’ Developing students’ communicative communicative

competence in writing competence in writing across the key stages across the key stages

Developing students’ Developing students’ communicative communicative

competence in writing competence in writing across the key stages across the key stages

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What are the problems?

Difficult to Difficult to sustainsustain

Lack of Lack of spacespace

Little Little flexibilityflexibilityTextbook-Textbook-

boundbound

Teacher Teacher trainingtraining

No clear No clear prioritiespriorities

Students'Students'strengths & strengths & weaknessesweaknesses

We need to do something.

? ? ?

The 1st year

The 1st year

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What are students’ worriesin writing ?

Oh! Don’t Oh! Don’t make make mistakes !!mistakes !!

Don’t know Don’t know words !!words !!

No ideas !!No ideas !!

Don’t know Don’t know how to say how to say

it !!it !!

What a What a difficult difficult topic !!topic !!

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The past practice in writing

• No specific targets on developing students’ communicative competence in writing

• Wrote infrequently within a narrow range of genres

• Writing without composing: mostly ‘fill in the blank’ or followed the instruction in the textbook

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Textbook(framework/

context/ language focus)

Knowledge scaffoldingKnowledge scaffolding

Activities / tasks

Games ……..

Other resources:

Supplementary /

Grammar / Phonics worksheets …..

Big Books

Small readers

Poems / Plays

Reading / Listening materials….

input input

input

reading aloud / reading interest / project/ guided writing / free writing / …….

output

intellectual

developmen

t

life experiences aesthetic

experiences

authentic and meaningful use of language

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Narrative writingModule: Connecting with the natural worldLevel: Primary 2

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Diary 1 On Monday I go to the Hong Kong Museum of Art. There are many things we can see. I can read some books and see many pictures.We feel very happy. On Thursday all schools in Tai Po have a swimming race. I get a third place. I’m very happy.

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Diary 2

On Sunday I go for a picnic with my mother. I ride a bicycle and play badminton. Then I play table-tennis. At three thirty, I go back home. I feel very happy because I play very well. On Wednesday I go to a clinic for a body check with my mother. I can see my classmates there, too. I finish the checking in an hour. I go back home. I feel very happy because I’m taller than I was last year.

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Diary 3On Wednesday, it is sunny. I clean the

classroom together with my classmates. First we tidy up the books. Then I clean the desks and the cabinets. I feel tired but I am very happy because the classroom is clean.

On Thursday, it is sunny and it is a school holiday. I go to buy some books with mother and sister. In the book shop, there are may books and people. I meet my friend, too. At twelve o’clock, I go to McDonald’s. I eat fries and drink orange juice. At three o’clock, I go home. I feel very happy.

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P.2 My Diary

Writing about activities in present tense

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P. 3 My Diary -- Simple Past Tense

Writing about activities in past tense

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Development of the writing curriculum

Vertical

Horizontal

Vertical

Horizontal

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Module: Me, My Family and FriendsLevel: Primary 1

Scaffolding of language learning

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P.2 Me and my friendsFocuses:name, ageappearance

likes & dislikes (food, activities)

activities at home & in class

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Focuses:name, ageappearance

likes & dislikes (food, activities)feelings

rules

P.3 Toys

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This is my family This is my family by GINA and MERCER MAYERby GINA and MERCER MAYER

Golden Books Publishng Company, Inc. Golden Books Publishng Company, Inc.

Evidence of learning

attitude, writing style, content,

feelings, presentation, skills

language ……

This is my family

By GINA & MERCER MAYER

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Follow-up task book

-develop reading &

writing skills

, vocabulary

repertoire

and application

of language learnt

-develop positive

attitudes & values &

appreciation for story

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Attitude/ v

alues

towards family

(copying + enrichment)

Strong personal

feelings

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Authentic / purposeful use of target language :

‘always, sometimes, never’

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Strong personal f

eelings with a se

nse of humour

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Catering for learner diversity

& promoting learner

independence ‘variation in

style and presentation’

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Using strategies of gathering, analyzing and organizing information for writing

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InterviewStep 1: Planning an interview: --Students form groups. --Identify interviewee --Arrange date, time and place for the interview --Design interview questions

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Step 2: Pre-interview practice --How to start and end the interview with formulaic expressions --How to do note-taking

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Step 3:

While-interview

--take interview notes

--complete the record

sheet

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Step 4:

Writing a report --write a first draft --revise and edit --write the final report

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Students’ short writing

Trees are very important to us. They give us food and other things we need. They give us shade. They make the air fresh and clean. They make the city more beautiful and green. They can hold the soil when there is heavy rain. They give the animals a place to live.

But trees are facing a

problem. People cut them down. There are fewer and fewer trees. We need to protect trees. We can use fewer things that are made of wood. We should have more parks in our city and we can plant more trees in them.

I like trees. It is because trees can make the air clean. They can give us shade too.

People always cut down

trees to make place for roads and houses. They also make desks and chairs. The trees will die.

Trees are important to

us. We should not cut them down. We should grow more trees. We should always water them and take care of them. If you love trees, please help to protect them.

35(Student work from Tai Po Old Market Public Pri Sch (PC))

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Narrative writingTypes• Retell stories• Write about events in one’s own

lives• Create original storiesWhat to includebeginning Introduce

characters, time & place

Who, when, where

middle Identify a problem What, how, why

end The problem is solved

How, what

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Once upon a time, in a big city, there was a mayor, Pied Piper, children, parents and

rats. The children liked to keep________ as their pets. The mayor wanted to have ______ for tea. All the parents in the city tried to cook the ______ in different ways to make them __________. But _____________ loved their pets very much. They were sad and they ran away with ___________. That’s why _______,

_________, __________ and __________ were missing.

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Story mapSetting Time: Long time ago/Once upon a

time Place: Hamelin, a beautifulCharacters: a mayor, children, parents the Pied Piper, cats, dogs and ratsEvents: What problems did they have? What did they do?

What was the result? How did they feel?Ending:

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The wicked Mayor of Hamelin

Long time ago, the people in Hamelin had a big problem. The Mayor was sick. The doctor told him to eat the children’s hair in order to get well. So the wicked Mayor cut the children’s hair. All the children became bald. There was an old saying in Hamelin that children’s hair could grow fast if they ate rats. The Mayor then ordered the people to catch all the rats. But the parents did not want to cook the rats and the children did not want to eat the rats. It was because the rats were very dirty. The Mayor was angry. The people got help from the Pied Piper. The rats liked the Pied Piper’s song and they followed him out of the city. The Mayor died because he had no hair to eat. The people were happy again. (student work)

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General practice: From modeled writing to

independent writing

General practice: From modeled writing to

independent writing

Modeled writing Shared writing Interactive writingGuided writingIndependent

writing

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Trying out different types of writing

Trying out different types of writing

Genre Activities

Descriptive writing Character sketches, comparisons

Journals and letters Courtesy letters, e-mail messages, postcards, personal journals

Narrative writing Original short stories, retellings of stories, personal narratives

Persuasive writing Advertisements, book and movie reviews, letter to the editor, persuasive letters

Expository writing Biographies, brochures, data charts, interviews, posters, reports, summaries

Poetry writing Colour poems, diamante poems, free verse, acrostic poems, haiku, riddles

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DOs for teachers• Agree on an entry point and involve collaboration in pl

anning and implementing a writing program• Provide supportive practice to address the needs of di

verse students• Get students attempt diverse writing tasks (for varied

purposes and audiences) to develop competence• Let students face ongoing challenges in learning to writ

e by analyzing rather than criticizing• Adopt multiple strategies for teaching writing i.e. strat

egies that address both process and produce, both form and content

• Build common expectations for students’ writing across all class levels

• Sort out common errors from students’ writing for open discussion and correction in class or give remedial exercises to the students for reinforcement

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DON’Ts for teachers• Don’t get students write infrequently within

a narrow range of genres for limited purposes

• Don’t let mechanical errors overshadowed the social and cognitive aspects of writing for communication and critical thinking

• Don’t emphasize just on content or just on skills

• Don’t just set short-term plans for improving writing

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We can no longer approach all writing with one set of criteria, assuming that one size fits all. It may be that, ultimately, we value some general qualities, such as “organization” or “quality of ideas”. But we now know that the strategies that make good organization in a personal experience narrative may differ from the strategies that make a good report of information or a good persuasive letter. And we need to help students understand what those differences are, both by the way we teach and the way we evaluate their writing.

Charles Cooper and Lee Odell Evaluating Writing, p. Xiii

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ReferencesNational Writing Project and Nagin, C. Because Writing Matters. San Francis

co: Jossey-Bass, 2003.Cooper, C.R., and Odell, L. (eds.). Evaluating Writing: The Role of Teachers’

Knowledge About Text, Learning, and Culture. Urbana, Ill.: National Council of Teachers of English, 1999.

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Thank you