Writing! Oh no, not again!
This is what I hear whenever I assign writing as a homework to my students. Some of them never do it, and some try to write a sentence or two and then say they were out of time, it seemed difficult or they didn’t understand what they really had to do. I have heard all the possible excuses so far!
But writing is an important skill in learning a language. It’s the art of putting into practice what you have learned so far, vocabulary, grammar, new expressions.
So what do I do to encourage my students to do the writing part?
First, I tell them that they can write what they want to related to the unit as long as they use up to five new words and the grammar explained.
Second, they have to underline the words and the grammar used so that they are aware of what they do.
Third, there is no skipping. They have to bring their homework even though they hand it in the next class.
Giving students independence to wander around the topics they want, you get to motivate them. After all, students can see for themselves how beneficial writing is.
You sure don’t expect that all the students will be motivated, not all of them get motivated by the same means, but it is a good start to involve some of them. Other ways have to be explored, though.
