STORIES AND BOOKS
The writing process is one of the most difficult skills to learn, and for me, teaching as I need to take care of lots of details for them to learn without any pressure.
In the 3rd grade class we were learning about descriptions and the final task consisted on the creation of a giant (like the story we read on the unit) using the third person of HAVE GOT and some actions in PRESENT CONTINUOUS (although they do not know anything about it), but I was more interested on the physical descriptions.
I did not organise the final task in groups for COVID sanitary measures, but it was fun too as I told them to "create" new giant friends.
My principal learning objectives were:
- To work on the key vocabulary of the unit (with extension options for the advanced learners).
- To work on the structure of a description.
- To work on the communication function of a description.
- To write sentences using HAVE GOT in the third person (affirmative and negative).
- To write creatively and autonomously as much as they can.
The tool helped my students achieve those objectives with the motivation they felt when their works were projected on the board. As they were proud of their work and wanted to share it with the rest of the class.
As they are 3rd graders, the creativity was focused on the "vocabulary" the used or even the picture they drew because they are very limited in the writing because they are starting to write short texts. However, they showed me how much creativity there is in a simple task with only a picture and a couple of sentences. The communicative intention of their works was very powerful.
My students enjoyed the most the drawing part, obviously. They enjoy every task which involves drawing and painting. Also, the chance of writing on the computer was very popular.
I would change next time the option that every student could do their own book about their giant, but the digital devices of our school are not prepared for that. I hope I could carry this same lesson on other class and try with the improvements.
