Tag: writing

It would be great to get students working in teams to write up a dialogue for this cool google doodle video a la Charlie Chaplin.

Then play the video as students read out/perform their dialogue.

The teacher elicits some verbs from students (4 or 5 verbs) and writes them on the board. Ex: run-eat-see-fly.

Give students 2 or 3 minutes to write a sentence with all the verbs from the board in the same sequence … Read More ....

Students often have problems with coming up with enough details for their examples when writing descriptive or even persuasive essays. So I came up with this exercise to teach them how to write enough content that the reader understands their … Read More ....

Dictogloss is an activity that works with many short texts/passages. I’ve used it over the years and it seems to motivate and “work” because there is a built in task — the task of reconstructing the original text.

1.Let students … Read More ....

# 96 Running Dictation

This activity can be used with any level – just use an appropriate text. It is great for introducing a text that you will study in depth through intensive reading. Or it can also be used … Read More ....

This is a simple idea. Why not have your students make and write nice Christmas cards for each other?

Simply use these templates or have them draw their own.

First, review how to write a card by doing one as … Read More ....

Telling stories is great in the classroom. Add a little “imagination” and chance and you have a great recipe!

Story Dominoes is a great concept. Just get a lot of varying pictures. Cut them up and students in groups of … Read More ....

The Society for Technical Communication’s award-winning 

Technical Literacy Project adapts many

real-world science instructions and descriptions for use in

high-school science classes.  These cases gradually build

student writing skills by revising, correcting, or expanding

scaffolded, sequenced text … Read More ....

This is an excellent writing exercise, getting students to increase the length of their sentences and beginning to use clauses.

Write a simple sentence on the board. Students copy it.

Ex. The dog ran. 

Ask the students questions and the … Read More ....

  This is a very simple way to brainstorm and practice    vocabulary. Alphabet organizing!

Simply use this handy organizer and get the students to list all the vocab for a certain topic (at the beach, at the restaurant, animals, … Read More ....