Basic Lesson Plan Beginning with Section III

Owen Adams

P.O. Box 390760

Snellville, GA 30039 or e-mail: [e-mail]

(Please do not add this address to a list serve)

Sincerely,

Owen Adams

Peace Corps Volunteer

Kazakhstan (2005-2008)

Group 17

Writing

Syllabus

Owen Adams – Peace Corps Volunteer

Pavlodar State Pedagogical Institute

Fall 2007

Overview: The purpose of this course is to give students and teachers the basic writing skills necessary to communicate in English.

Goal: Upon completion of the course diligent students will have a firm grasp of how to write essays in accordance with American standards.

Format: The course will be a combination of lecture and student participation. Students will be required to actively write at least one essay per week. Actual TOEFL questions are used in order to provide practical training.

Text: Students will need to print off a copy of the materials available in electronic form. The worksheets should be put into a notebook and brought to each class.

Journal: Each student should purchase and bring to class a writing book with lined paper. This journal should be kept throughout the semester as a way to gauge progress. The teacher should collect the journals at the end of each class, carefully note mistakes, and then return the journal promptly.

Schedule: Section I The Formal Rules of Writing

Section II The Basic Structure of American essays

Section III The Introduction

Section IV Body Paragraphs

Section VI Conclusions

Section VII Identifying TOEFL Question Types

Grades: Performance in the class will be measured by the essays turned in each week. There is no final exam.

Recommendation: Attendance in this class is a must. Each lesson builds on the next and students who miss a class lose the value of having the teacher explain the common mistakes. The material covered in the lesson cannot be easily picked-up from a classmate.

Basic Lesson Plan Beginning with Section III

One of the most effective ways to teach this course is to spend the majority of each lesson focusing on in-class writing. Simply select a question from the TOEFL list and start with the introduction. Students should write the introduction while the teacher walks around the room checking the answers. When the majority of the group is finished, ask at random for answers. Write the sentences on the board for the class to see. Then, have the other students analyze what the teacher wrote on the board. By showing what is acceptable, unacceptable, or a better way to write the sentence, students gain firsthand practical experience in evaluating their work. The teacher should be very critical of students’ writing. This approach may seem harsh, but it really works.

Two weeks should be spent on each section, i.e., introductions, conclusions, and finally, body paragraphs. Nailing down the introduction gives students a foundation to build upon. Towards the end of the class, students should be timed and placed under the same conditions as the actual TOEFL exam.

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