Last week, we were given
a task, to look at students' essay with low proficiency of English. The title
of their essays was "A Scary Experience". Each of us was
given one essay to respond to, and I got mine.
At first, it was a little
bit hard for me to understand what the students are trying to say. What’s impressive
was that the development and the flows of the stories were there and can
actually be seen. Putting aside the grammar errors, the essay was quite well
written.
I would use the written
comment for this work to correct his/her common grammar mistakes and the usage
of correct vocabulary. This is because, if I were to see the student
personally, I may not afford time for the rest of the students. Thus, unfair for
the rest of the students. Written comment is another way to actually give a
motivation to the students. The comments do not have to be negative for example
using red pen to mark, which actually lowers the confidence of the students in
their next writing. Creating my own symbols to correct punctuation and word repetition,
are among the ways to avoid scribbling all over the students’ paper.
In my point of view, how
can I help the students to improve their writing is by introducing the “word of
the day”. Every lesson, I would bring to class and spend a few minutes of
idioms or phrases that can help them in their essays. The idioms or phrases
must be related to the topic of essay they are about to write in the lesson. This
can promote a better usage of vocabulary and use of famous idioms or phrases to
enhance the understanding of the flow in story.
