Ice Breaking

           Generally, students suffer in silence from some kind of phobia towards writing. All that they need is simple remedies which can cast their fears away. Teachers are to provide them with those remedies by encouraging them to try it taking risks not caring about their illusions that mistakes are crimes. They should know that writing is the only skill that has never been learned but only through long periods of regularly intensive practice.

           In their text-book "Gateway To English (1)"(Unit One, page 11), 1^ère Bac students are asked to discuss some questions, and then share their ideas with the whole class. This type of exercise can be exploited to lead into writing on previously prepared data. The teacher can seize the opportunity at the end of the activity to launch a writing assignment on that basis, and the result will be the beam of light at the end of the dark tunnel which most of the learners were in need to recover and start engaging into writing fearlessly.

The questions are:

• Do you use the internet?
  • Where and what for?
• What do you think young people do at the cybercafé?
• Many of them go to the cybercafé to chat.
  • Who do they chat with?
  • What do they chat about?
  • What language do they use?
• Do you / they use English to chat with foreigners?

           I'm not here to talk about the quality and appropriateness of the questions. I'll take them as they are because they serve a great purpose vis-à-vis the writing skill. They are generally motivating for the learners to take a large step on the one-thousand miles road of writing. These questions can activate brain storming which allows the students to obtain enough material to use in their talks. Their talks subsequently turn to become paragraphs which could be elegantly built for public speaking the same as for a written task.

           This activity can be more interesting if the teacher engages the learners to deliver the answers to those questions in a short global abrupt talk to the whole class. In this case, they have to organize their answers in one paragraph speech.

           The students read the questions and try to answer them on a separate sheet of paper. After that, the teacher asks the students to write their answers on the Board.

The answers would roughly look something like this:

• Yes, I use the internet. (This is the only answer possible)
  • I use it at home or at the cybercafé.
• I use it for studying / for doing some research / etc
• I think many young people generally go to the cybercafé to chat.
  • They chat with their friends.
  • They chat about football, games etc
  • They use their mother tongue.
• Yes, I use English to chat with foreigners.

           Because these answers are not true for everyone, they at least pave the way to learn how to transfer information to write a paragraph. To my astonishment, some students don't use the internet.

           The above answers on the board can be exploited to make a paragraph out of already existing information; the teacher can help the students later to make it personal for every single student.

First draft

• Yes, I use the internet.
  • I use it at home or at the cybercafé.
• I use it for studying or for doing some research.
• I think many young people generally go to the cybercafé to chat.
  • They chat with their friends.
  • They chat about football, games etc
  • They use their mother tongue.
• Yes, I use English to chat with foreigners.

           The students read the answers without interruption; then the teacher incites the students to find words they have learnt during the Common Core level to boost and ameliorate their paragraph,

Second draft

I usually use the internet at home or at the cybercafé for studying or for doing some research. I think many young people generally go to the cybercafé to chat with their friends about (football or other games) unimportant or stupid subjects. They use their mother tongue, but I use English to chat with foreigners.

           This is far enough for them at this stage, but the teacher can provide them with more easy expressions to make the paragraph stronger and enjoyable for their audience.

Final draft

I usually use the internet at home or at the cybercafé for studying or doing some research. I think many young people generally go to the cybercafé to chat with their friends about unimportant or stupid things. They use their mother tongue, but the problem is that they write it in letters and numbers. As for me, I prefer to use English to chat with foreigners.

           When the time comes for them to share it with their class-mates, there is surely some confidence and a lot of audacity. I reckon this is the kind of activity that can spark learning writing, speaking and - even one day - negotiating meaning.

Taming the shrew

           It is with such activities that teachers need to be supportive and more tolerant. They need to make the students look at the ogre-like writing skill as a usual practice that needs only some extra-reading and lots of practice to master it. Once motivated and encouraged, I bet the learners will make more efforts to surpass their persistent fear and deploy their force into writing though poorly at the beginning. Soon after, many of them will get familiar with the skill, and can start writing their own thoughts about different issues without any complex of inferiority.

"If you're not prepared to be wrong,
you'll never come up with anything original"
~ Sir Ken Robinson ~