Learning by Writing

Nasy Inthisone Pfanner, Austria

Nasy Inthisone Pfanner is a secondary school English teacher at B.O.RG Dornbirn-Schoren. She has published articles concerning education in journals and about Lao Americans for the Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife. She is interested in ESL, English, and teaching methods. She enjoys working with pupils of all ages. E-mail: nasypfanner@gmail.com

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Abstract
Learning writing
The purpose
The pupils
The assignment
The parents
Teamwork
The finished product
Conclusion

Abstract

Abstract: Although pupils get a lot of writing assignments, they don’t get enough writing activities that require them to do active research. On the whole, pupils do much research on the Internet and with books. However, they don’t get enough writing activities that spotlight their talents such as writing for a school newspaper in English. This paper presents an activity that requires pupils to research their environment by interviewing people and requires them to write together as a team.

Learning writing

Language is power. Good writing is powerful. Consequently, the million-dollar question for educators is: How can teachers best teach writing?

If there is any truth to the adage “practice makes perfect” or to the research findings that it takes about 10, 000 hours (10 years) to become an expert in anything; the answer must lie in time and practice. Of course, we don’t expect to produce writing experts, but pupils should be able to write well by the time they finish secondary school.

Good writing requires clarity, style and precision; it is the teacher’s duty to teach these skills. However, even for the most experienced teachers, the task is easier said than done. Pupils practice writing letters, essays, stories etc. In other words, pupils do get a varied amount of practices. Nonetheless, many pupils leave school without writing well. Trying to figure out who is at fault, the pupils or the teachers, is as problematic as trying to figure out which came first, the chicken or the egg?

The purpose

The purpose of this article is to offer recommendation on how to write for a school newspaper in any language using information gathered by pupils during fieldwork

The pupils

Seventeen pupils, ages 15-18, of an English class at a secondary school in Vorarlberg, Austria had to learn about the danger of drugs and how to write an article in autumn 2011. My goal was to have them collect firsthand information about the danger and drug laws in their surrounding. This can only be achieved by talking to the people in the area. While the Internet is a great source for a lot of information, it doesn’t provide information on a personal level i.e., what do my friends and neighbors think about a certain issue? I wanted to make a connection between drugs and pupils in order to drive home the point that drugs are not only in Mexico, Columbia or the Golden Triangle. In fact, drugs are in our backyard; parents and teachers cannot turn a blind eye against it.

The assignment

After we studied about halfway into the unit, I required that my pupils do fieldwork to gather information about drugs and then together write one article for the school newspaper. It was necessary to wait until they have been familiarized with the subject before the fieldwork because without background knowledge, they would not be able to fully understand the information that they gather. Simpler would be to pretend to write an article, their only audience would be only me, their teacher. Pupils are sometimes sloppy and quickly hand in their homework just to be done with. They are more likely to be serious about the article if they knew that it is going to be read by other 800-plus pupils and over 100 teachers. In other words, if they did not want to make a fool of themselves, they better do a good job. Fortunately, they were reasonable and ambitious enough to want to do a good job. They already had at least five years of English; knew enough grammar, and the needed vocabularies such as detoxification, therapist, different types of drugs etc., we were learning in the unit.

Beforehand, I spoke with the editor of the school newspaper, who welcomed the project. Furthermore, this would be the first English article; something unique. He promised me it would be front-paged.

Course books are a good starting point for learning, but it is the teacher who really makes or breaks education. Despite my good intention, the pupils were not enthusiastic. When I told them about this project, I was not even finished with the explanation when a wave of protest started. One person even told me that this was a useless project claiming that nothing can be learned by putting a few sentences together. On the one hand, I understood their fear; they had never published an article in English. On the other hand, I was determined to take them out of their comfort zone; I was not going to give in. In conclusion, I assured them that I would double check the article before it goes to print. The project was worth 15 percent of their mark and it was their decision whether to do or not to do the project.

I handed out a sheet of paper with clear instruction explaining the following:

1. the duration of the interview, approximately one hour,
2. questions must be prepared beforehand and shown to me by a certain date. This gave me a chance to double check whether the questions were appropriate and long enough; better to have more questions ready than less,
3. interviews could be conducted in German, since it would be very difficult to find experts who could speak English,
4. pupils were free to choose their interviewees for safety reasons; under no circumstances should pupils be forced to get together with an unknown person,
5. no one person could be interviewed twice, thus ensuring that there would be a wide perspectives from different people
6. two editors who would be exempted from doing interviews, but were responsible for putting the article together, were chosen; get the best people for writing since they have to correct their classmates’ mistakes
7. interview results with a certain word count had to be sent to editors by a given date; word count requirements made sure that everyone did a fair share. The last thing I wanted was for a few people to do most of the work, while others only wrote a few sentences. This was a team project.

The parents

Shortly after my proposal of the project, six parents came together to my office hour. They were rightfully concerned that their children would be put into a dangerous situation i.e., have contact with drug addicts while doing fieldwork. I had only started teaching at the school since the 2010 academic year; I may have come across suspicious. One parent suggested that a guest speaker be invited to class; a safer alternative to fieldwork. This suggestion was fine, but it was insufficient. It would have only provided one person’s perspective. The goal of the article was to gather as much information about drugs in the surroundings as possible and to get them working outside the classroom. I explained that pupils would not be in danger since they were choosing their interviewees. For example, one person would interview her mother who was a music therapist at a detoxification center, one person would interview an acquaintance who is an ex-addict, one person would interview a social worker; an acquaintance of her parents etc. The discussion lasted about three hours. I answered their questions confidently and showed that I had control of the project. In the end, I got their blessing.

Teamwork

We started the project in October 2011. As time progressed, all pupils did their interviews, sent them to the designated editors and worked together in class. I kept a list of all the pupils with their interview dates, interviewees’ names and the locations of the interviews. This gave me an overview of who was doing what and when. I repeatedly asked the pupils about their interviews to make sure that everything was on schedule. The editors typed the text on the computer and showed it as a power-point in class. We read the text together, discussed whether the information and grammar were correct, and whether the paragraphs were in logical order. For example, it started off with definition about drugs, the purpose of the article, case studies, etc. If a certain part was not clear, the person who wrote it had to clarify it. This gave everyone accountability.

Additionally, the editors and I met outside of class to go over the important points and gave it a finishing touch. I only corrected what was absolutely necessary; in most cases, I requested clarification using their own words. This was the pupils’ project, not mine. My job was to offer guidance, not to write it for them.

The finished article was emailed to all classmates for approval before it was sent to the editor of the school newspaper. This gave everyone a last opportunity to express their opinions. If anyone had opposed the article, we would have amended it. Getting their stamp of approval made sure that no one was going to be embarrassed, after all, our names and a picture were going to be printed with the article.

The finished product

The article was printed in the first week of February 2012. After all that had been said and written, the pupils were proud of their accomplishment. They admitted that they learned

1. more from fieldwork than they would have from downloading information or from listening to a speaker,
2. to be professional, preparing interview questions and be on time,
3. to actually write an article puts one’s reputation on the line and requires much more attention than simply handing in a homework, and finally
4. teamwork, everyone had to do his and her part to succeed as a team. The icing on the cake: parents were pleased with the end result.

Conclusion

To become good in anything takes time and practice; writing is no exception. Doing real writing using real information engage pupils physically and intellectually. This project can be duplicated and/or altered to suit any language and any level of learners. Pupils can interview anyone about anything and write about it. For example, food, hobbies, travel etc. The possibilities are endless. However, I encourage you to work on a subject that you are learning about in class. This project deepens the understanding of the subject. Article can be long or short, or simple or sophisticated. Demand more that what they normally do, but not too much that they get totally discouraged. Arrangements have to be made with the newspaper’s editor. He or she may have a word limit due to space availability.

Don’t be discouraged if pupils and parents are up in arms in the beginning. Anything that is new and challenging is going to harbor criticism. Have clear expectations, guidelines and stick to your guns. Take comfort in what Napolean Hill, a great American writer on success wrote, “The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, Just as a small amount of fire makes a small amount of heat.” In the end, both you and them will be amazed by their ability!

Please check the Methodology and Language for Secondary Teachers course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the How the Motivate your Students course at Pilgrims website.
Please check the Building Positive Group Dynamics course at Pilgrims website.