One thing is true: we love speaking! At ESL Brains, we put a lot of emphasis on this skill when creating lesson plans. However, we acknowledge that writing can be equally important!
We’d like to share some quick and easy ways to introduce writing into your classroom without resorting to traditional essays and letters. We’ve come up with a few ideas to effortlessly adapt our usual activities to incorporate this skill… 
Check out a blog post we’ve published for more extensive advice! 
Video comment exchange
We know how much you love using thought-provoking videos in the lessons. Apart from comprehension, there’s always something to discuss! Use this opportunity to practise writing – have students write anonymous comments with their thoughts and opinions on the topic. Then, gather the comments, share them with all students and initiate a lively discussion.
Chat-based warm-up
You probably start many lesson by asking students how they’ve been or encouraging them to share how their week/weekend was. Why not convert this typical classroom warm-up activity into a chat-based format? You could message students in a chat and have everyone respond in the lesson or even before it. In the class, they would report what the person on their left did and/or ask follow-up questions.
Make it true for you
Almost every lesson involves working with sentences: filling the gaps, correcting mistakes or paraphrasing. Make such tasks more personal and combine them with a bit of writing! After you have finished the main task, ask students to choose a sentence and make it true for them. Collect the sentences they have written, mix them up, and challenge students to guess who wrote each one. If you work online, students can send their sentences to you personally via messengers.
Post-lesson reflection
In a similar fashion, you could add writing and guessing elements to a wrap-up activity. At the end of the lesson, ask students to jot down their plans or goals for after the class. Post these on a virtual whiteboard, and encourage students to guess who wrote each piece. For more discussion, students can ask follow-up questions or give advice to achieve written goals.
Remember that writing is as important as any other skill, and you don’t have to go to great lengths to make it an integral part of your lesson! 
However, if you’re eager to empower your students with substantial writing skills, like crafting emails, blog posts, book reviews, or CVs, don’t miss out on our specially tailored writing-oriented lessons.
Comments