Write Back

I started back to work this week. I'm teaching a double-block writing course and also taking over a entry-level Listening/Speaking class. Although the L/S class is mostly about learning English language survival phrases and vocabulary, I am actually enjoying the Level 4 writing course.

I say "actually enjoying" because I had always avoided Level 4 writing. Some Level 4 students can get fairly jaded about learning English (especially if they have already been here for a few semesters) and writing is the class that they dislike the most. However, last semester I had to take on a W4 class in order to help train a new teacher, and it went... not awful. But this semester, the group I am teaching is much more motivated, hard-working, and friendly.

I'm also doing my best to make the class more enjoyable AND more learnable (for example, starting off the semester with a survey and interview writing project). In addition, I'm reading about writing and trying to apply the guidelines and principles to my own class. I have begun reading Academic Writing for Graduate Students by Swales and Feak (for a course that I am teaching this fall), and although the concepts of this text are too complex for the students that I am currently teaching, there are a few methodological ideas that will hopefully help me to make this summer's writing course more valuable for my students.