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05-10 min.
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Brief Outline:
This regular activity will help your students express themselves better.
Materials Needed:
- Ideally, a small notebook for each student.
Detailed Explanation:
Give each student their own notebook and have them write 'My Journal' plus their name and class number.
One time a week, the student should write as much as they can on a given topic. Students should know that it's OK to make mistakes. Dictionaries OK but should be discouraged; instead, the students should use words they know and not have to look up more advanced words. They should learn how to write about a topic using easy English rather than their usual translating practice they do in class.
The first time will be the hardest, as they will struggle with expressing their own feelings from scratch rather than filling in a blank or re-arranging words. Tell them they have 10 minutes to quietly write whatever they'd like on the topic. The next time, should lbe easier and the time after that they will be used to the format and you will see their output dramatically increase. Set a strict, short time limit on this, from 5-10 minutes each class. This way they won't feel overwhelmed. Some topic ideas include: food, summer, spring, fall, winter, school festivals, local marathons, summer vacation, hobbies, sports, the perfect day, my average day favorite movie, music, animal, pet, etc.
You can also make the journal entry relevent to the grammar point currently being studied. For example, 'my average day' could emphasize the present tense and time: "I wake up at 9:30. I eat breakfast at 9:45."
The most important thing to remember is to keep the pressure off so they feel like writing isn't a chore.
Teaching Suggestions: Correcting/grading is up to you. I prefer not to correct small mistakes so they don't become discouraged. The point of this activity is for them to be able to think more in English, not worry about their spelling.
You can award prizes every few months. I gave prizes for the most creative, the most improvement, best spelling and grammar and the most writing. I felt that these different awards appealed to different students so even the slow learners would be encouraged to try.
Comments:
- Another English teacher I know puts stickers on the cover of her students' journals every time they hand them in if they do a good enough job. You can be choosy about what constitutes a "good enough" job, but I thought it was a good motivator, as it gives the students one set place to see how well they've done across a semester, rather than hoping to win a single prize. Of course, different things work for different people (and different motivators work for different students) but I've seen some students hand in their journals with "Sticker, please!!" written at the top.
- (Dec 3, 2010) Anonymous said: I started a similar exercise with my elective students (roughly 16 students between middle school 2nd year and 3rd years). Out of those 16, only one actively and earnestly writes. The others have essentially stopped handing their journals in, and or they hand them in late. Often, the entries of these late students are the bare minimum. I still think it is a great activity and really important for facilitating self expression via English. However, I cannot figure out a way to have them better enjoy the activity. Tips?