Овладение письмом и письменной формой иноязычного общения в средней школе. Письменные упражнения творческого характера.

Mastering the letter and written foreign language communication in high school. Written exercises of creative nature.Writing skill is important because written communication is a basic life skill. Students may need to take notes, fill in forms, write letters, essay, reports and stories. Writing is a good way to practice grammar structures; it helps students to recycling and look up new vocabulary and to learn English punctuation rules. It encourages learner autonomy when students are asked to keep journals or turn in writing assignments that they carry out at home. The goal of learning writing is to train students to produce sequences of sentences which express their meaning most effectively. The act of writing differs from that of talking in that it is less spontaneous and more permanent, and the resources which are available for communication are fewer because we cannot as we do in conversation - interact with the listeners and adapt as we go along. Writing formats—purposes (academic, practical, and personal). Students should be encouraged to write for a variety of purposes and different purposes require different writing formats. Here is a list of three conventional writing formats appropriate for high school students.Academic writing formats include essay writing, research writing, etc. Essay writing is the most common writing format for high school students to use to practice writing in class. The point on how to write an essay will be discussed in more detail in a later section on the writing process. Practical writing formats include writing for a school newspaper, writing a thank-you note, composing an advertisement or announcement, creating a script for a school play, etc. All the practical writing formats are appropriate for high school students. In particular, many high schools in Taiwan give a playlet contest annually. Therefore, many high school students around Taiwan have chances to create a playlet script. In fact, many of their teachers are experts helping them to do so. Personal writing formats include composing a friendly letter, writing a diary, etc. These personal writing formats are especially appropriate for average students, who may think it much easier to write a friendly letter than to write an essay. We suggest students use these personal writing formats to practice writing as often as they can. Writing forms—techniques (descriptive, narrative, informative, and persuasive).

17.1)There are many different forms of writing and different writing forms require different writing techniques. To help students become better writers we need to help them internalize the writing techniques. It is believed that the more we have students write, the better they will write. In other words, if they want to learn to write, they must write. Below is a list of writing forms and these writing forms frequently interoperate with each other during writing. After each of the writing forms comes a list of titles given on the college entrance examination (CEE) papers during the past 20 years. All these titles could be reused for practicing writing in writing classes. In using the form of descriptive writing (describing an object), writers describe an object by observing it. In fact, there are only two college entrance exams, one in 1991 and the other in 2002, in which the test-takers are required to describe an object. The titles given on these two years' CEE papers are My Favorite O'clock and The Most Precious Thing in My Room respectively. Besides describing an object, we may also have students describe a person, a pet, or a place, like a classroom. （CEE 1991 My Favorite Clock; CEE 2002 The Most Precious Thing in My Room ）. In using the form of narrative writing (telling a story), writers tell a story or create a personal essay by using story elements (character, event, time, place, action, sequence, and conclusion), to which the eye-catching details of an experience are added. For example, we may have students practice using this narrative form to write about a picnic they had with their families.（CEE 1983 A Taxi Ride; CEE 1984 How I Spent Yesterday Evening; CEE 1986 A Shopping Experience; CEE 1989 On the Way to School; CEE 1998 Being Caught in the Rain; CEE 2000 The Difficulties I Have with Learning English; CEE 2003 The Most Unforgettable Exam ）. In using the form of informative writing (informing the reader), writers provide the reader with information, e.g. reporting on events or analyzing concepts. For example, we may have students report on something happening on their way to school and express their opinions on that event. This topic was selected for a two-paragraph composition test given on the 1989 CEE paper. （CEE 1988 The Importance of Trees; CEE 1989 On the Way to School; CEE 1990 Saving Wild Animals; CEE 1995 Making Decisions; CEE 2003 The Importance of Music ）. In using the form of persuasive writing (persuading the reader), writers seek to persuade the reader to take action or to bring about change. For example, we may have students put down several reasons to explain why smoking is harmful and list several ways to help quit smoking. This topic is discussed in a two-paragraph model composition in the book entitled Guided Composition for High School Students by Liu Yun-hsiang (2003). （CEE 1996 You Win Some, You Lose Some; CEE 1998 Saying “Thank You” and “I’m Sorry”; CEE 2002 If I Won Two Million Dollars in the Lottery ）

17,2)).It is also noteworthy that these writing forms are alternately used to test students' writing ability in the yearly CEE. Therefore, we suggest teachers coach their students on these writing forms alternately. Writing process—stages (associating, outlining, drafting, and revising). The writing process series contains an ordered sequence of four stages, associating, outlining, drafting, and revising. The four stages, seemingly coming one after another, virtually come together during the writing process. This is because the brain keeps working continuously during writing. After completing the four-stage writing process, writers get the work finished. Below is a writing process flowchart, on which some notes are given. Flowchart: associating→outlining→drafting→revising→finished work. Notes on the flowchart:1. During the associating stage, writers generate ideas and sort out the useless ones by means of background knowledge, i.e. personal prior knowledge and experience. Practically, a little bit imagination can actually help generate ideas.2. During the outlining stage, writers organize the ideas to draw up an outline in ordered arrangement.3. During the drafting stage, writers use grammatical items (e.g. grammatical rules and patterns) and lexical units (e.g. words, phrases and idioms) to make sentences and paragraphs.4. During the revising stage, writers proofread, correct and improve the draft. It is possible that the four-stage writing process may still keep working even after we get the work finished. This is because the brain always keeps working and, believe it or not, the brain seems more or less dissatisfied with what we got in our writings. Some further elaboration is needed on both the outlining stage and the drafting stage as follows. ■ Outlining－a sample outline. During the outlining stage, writers make an outline in ordered sequence. The purpose of making an outline is to formulate a tentative writing plan. This plan is designed to provide an efficient way to facilitate the production of a well-organized essay. Below is a sample outline, in which an ordered sequence of structural arrangements can be clearly seen. ■ Drafting－body paragraphs. The body of an essay should have a clear organized structure. During drafting, grammatical items (e.g. grammatical rules and patterns) and lexical units (e.g. words, phrases and idioms) are used to make sentences and form body paragraphs. Each main idea given in the outline will become one of the body paragraphs. The steps used for making a body paragraph are as follows: 1. Clearly state each main idea, in sentence form.2. Present sufficient supporting evidence to back up the main idea.3. Provide necessary elaboration of each supporting point.The drafting stage plays the most important part in essay writing. This is because the organization of the body paragraphs should be finished during this stage. Now we have got a clearer idea of how to write a well-organized essay.

17.3))Indeed, to write a well-organized essay, we need to know how to make good use of the four-stage writing process－associating, outlining, drafting, and revising. Conclusion－roles a teacher plays To say is one thing; to do is quite another. In a writing class, the roles that a teacher plays can be varied. A teacher should be an instructor with a good knowledge of teaching expertise, but what outweighs it is that a teacher should also be a writer. This makes the teaching more persuasive and the learning more efficient.

A sample outline－an ordered structure