Design a task step by step.
You want to write a paragraph, and this is just an example I want to give you.
Write a paragraph about your winter break.
Your prewriting would be build subskills.
What are some of the subskills that students would need?
>> Vocabulary. >> Vocabulary.
>> Grammar. >> Grammar points.
>> In this case, maybe past tense.
>> Past tense?
>> Maybe also adjectives to describe a winter break.
>> Adjectives, exactly.
Now this is where--and you have some little guidance here
and none of you read the one that focuses on writing as a main skill.
>> Topic? >> Exactly.
Yes, background knowledge.
And we listed what we are very comfortable with, vocabulary, grammar and language, right,
when in fact you really wanna focus on the topic
What exactly does that mean to build the subskill with the topic?
>> To get them to answer the question "what is your paragraph about",
what do you want to write about. And if you could write one sentence
to answer how was your spring break. >> My spring break was--
>> Yeah. We often--
>> So essentially, what is getting them to think about a topic sentence for their paragraph?
>> Exactly. What is the idea that you wanna write about?
What are some notions that you want to put in--on paper, right?
We always start backwards.
Vocabulary should be mapped onto a topic.
Grammar should be mapped up to the function of the language you want to use,
not necessarily write so that you can practice,
but what is it you wanna convey to your audience?
What is interesting about your winter break?
Was winter break at all interesting?
So we need to have the students think about that.
How can you do that? You can do that with associograms or brainstorming.
You can do prompts, and I will show you examples of these in a second.
You can do images, you can do music, and you can use realia, right?
Or you can have interviews, where the students just generate a lot of ideas, a lot of thoughts.
All of these are good both for thought, topic generation, ideas for writing.
They are also very good for building vocabulary which is something you really want to do
especially on topics where it can go in every direction and they really need some more guidance, a little focus,
and this helps them organize vocabulary that matches particular subtopics.