Great writing skills are an asset for anyone. Yet they are difficult to master for many, especially for English learners.
I have written about the basics of teaching writing to ESL students before, and I feel that the topic on how to teach writing to English language learners is literally inexhaustible.
In today’s blog post, I am going to share a simple process on how you can help your ESL students in middle and high school gain essential writing skills.
The writing basics
If you read the blog post on choice boards, you know that I have been utilizing this tool for teaching mixed-level classes quite successfully this year.
Here is how using choice boards has helped me:
- More streamlined and easier grading
- Less stress in lesson planning
- Clarity in what areas my students ACTUALLY need to work on and/or are strong in
After a month of assigning activities that cover all four language domains, I quickly realized that all students need help with writing.
- Some had no idea that a sentence needed capital letters and punctuation marks.
- Others were writing in run-on sentences for days.
- Still others were paralyzed by the fact that they don’t know how to spell.
The list could go on and on…
Writing skills bootcamp
Teaching writing is no easy feat on any day. While writing is a productive skill, it taps into the internal processes of a person.
For some, it is easy to present their ideas in a clear and logical way. For others, writing is a complicated process much like the thoughts in their head.
Writing also requires you to share a piece of you with the reader, which not everyone is comfortable with. Ever heard a student wonder out loud if they were answering the question correctly when in reality there really is no one correct answer to that particular question?
For many students, writing requirements – such as MLA format, citation, thesis statement, etc. – muddle the whole point of writing.
Moreover, there is an underlying assumption in middle and high school that the students will already have mastered writing a basic paragraph, will know how to express themselves in at least simple and compound sentences, as well as have sufficient vocabulary to perform the task.
ESL writing idea
Those who started school in the U.S. in middle or high school, may have missed the basics of writing instruction.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, that is why assigning choice boards has helped me hone into the particular writing skills that my students need to work on.
So to continue with my newly found process of helping all proficiency levels I created a writing choice board.
There are five activities that the students can complete.
Typically, I let them choose three out of the five for 15 points, and if they choose to do more, I give them bonus points.
Below is a screenshot of a choice board that I actually used in my class.
Even though this is a CHOICE board, I decided to go with a bit more direction.
All students were required to do the first activity (watch a short video about the run-on sentences and complete a worksheet to demonstrate understanding). Everyone was also asked to write a paragraph on a topic of their choice (the topics were provided).
They could then choose any one of the remaining activities to complete. And again, if they decided to do more, they would receive bonus points.
ESL differentiating
Now you may ask: how do you differentiate teaching writing skills for students who are at, say, emerging/beginning levels and those who are about to exit the ESL program?
The good thing about this particular choice board was that it touched on the areas that ALL students need to know.
If you have students at lower proficiency levels, you can make the capitalization and punctuation activity a MUST DO activity of the week. Then ask them to write several sentences on a given topic with the help of sentence frames.
Students at higher proficiency levels frequently struggle with run-on sentences and word choice. Providing them with an opportunity to revisit sentence structure solidifies what they already know, or actually helps them become aware of what they still need to improve.
In addition, they can work in pairs or groups to brainstorm more varied ways to express themselves for the writing assignment of the week.
Writing assessment
Writing assessment is a topic in and of itself. I recently read an excellent article by Kate Kinsella about the challenges of personal narrative instruction to multilingual learners.
In the article, she mentions rubrics that generally do not address the needs of English learners. Nor do they reflect what they already know and are able to do.
In addition, she shares some great differentiated activities for writing a narrative.
But getting back to our choice board, which is far simpler on week 1 than actually writing a narrative, I have decided to provide simple feedback as well.
The point of it all is to ensure that the students can see their progress and areas of improvement.
Enter color code!
The feedback is tailored to the week’s activities and writing skills the students were focused on.
I provided the color code inside their worksheets so they can reference it.
I have also printed off a paper copy and hung it right in front of the classroom so we don’t waste time looking for what each color means.
The color code draws their attention and taps into critical thinking and applying their newly gained knowledge.
And with time, I expect there will be fewer colors on their sentences, paragraphs and essays.
If you are interested in trying out the basic writing choice board with your ESL students, head on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store and grab your copy. It comes with ready- made worksheets to save you time.
You can find ALL choice boards along with the instructions and other guidance inside The ESL Teaching Roadmap – a membership for middle and high school ESL teachers who work primarily with newcomers and mixed level classes.
Do you have any tips for teaching writing to English learners? Share with us in the comments below!