Writing on the whole is a thorny issue -- even more so in a foreign
language. Writing is closely linked to your knowledge of the world directly
through your experience or as a result of your exposure to books, films or any
kind of creative work that develops your imagination or cultivates your mind.
I often wonder about the usefulness of writing models and/or writing
plans in most course books. Writing is a process of thinking, creating, organising
ideas or events in a meaningful coherent way, which is unique for anyone who
tries their hand at it. If a teacher is to help their students through this
laborious task, it must be done by following each student’s line of thought,
trying to guess or verify with the student the intention behind the wording and
proceeding to correct, rephrase or reorganise.
Quite often there is a dearth of ideas on the topic, in which case
writing should be preceded by a text – article, poem, literary extract – which
will stimulate interest and will serve as a springboard for students to provide
their own response to the input.
However, mostly the writing topics in course books are so narrow in
scope that many a resourceful and imaginative product slips through this
strictly delimited net. It seems to me that this adherence to highly formalised
and standardised writing topics is meant to prepare students for a formal exam
which will come much later and which is equally restrictive for candidates’
creativity and power of imagination. Indeed, sometimes it may even not have
been thought out by the creators or examiners themselves.
By way of illustration, let us look at a topic for the essay task in the
Cambridge First of Schools published by Cambridge University. In fact it is a
test that has been sat. Here it is:
In your English class you have been talking about free time. Now your
English teacher has asked you to write an essay for homework.
Write your essay using all the
notes and giving reasons for your point of view:
Having a
chat with friends in your free time can be as important as studying. Do you
agree?
Notes
Write about:
1. learning
to get on with people
2. wasting
valuable time
3. ………………………………………..
(your own idea)
I am citing here a question my students had about this topic: if they
are supposed to chat with friends in their free
time, how can it be a waste of time?
I find this a very sensible question to ask, and it came from children of 13
and 14 years old.
But quite apart from that, I have an objection of essence concerning the
compulsory writing task in First for Schools. Why provide some points for
inclusion rather than allow the candidate to write the answer from scratch? The
two ideas which must be included are
often representative of two opposing views on the subject. However, many
candidates would much prefer to give a one-sided answer -- for or against --
supporting their views with sound arguments. This actually sounds much more
reasonable and feasible considering the word limit that applies (150-190
words), which hardly permits a rounded development of both points of view.
One may wonder why this attitude persists in a world where imagination
and individuality appear to be sought-after and rewarded. I can only think of
establishing some criteria for the examiners to assess and grade the
composition. But then again shouldn’t examiners be knowledgeable and
experienced enough to judge a piece of writing on its own merit? Personally, I
have on occasion been stumped by how some learners can transcend teachers’ or
any adult’s imagination in the freshness of approach to various topics when given
space and freedom.
On the whole I find that by setting limitations to the development of a
subject, we deprive young people of the opportunity to reveal their way of
thinking and mindset, which may happen to differ from adults’ but which
are, nonetheless, complete and
systematic and should be judged in their own right.
By way of conclusion I will provide some examples of topics which could
lead to some excellent responses from young students and not only. These
examples are not suggestions for writing topics in exams but could be used and
recycled during a five- or six-year course. The list is random and by no means
complete. Each teacher can draw up their own list on the basis of their
students’ background, experience and preferences.
·
The sea
·
The wind
·
Mountains
·
Our neighbours
·
A day in the life of
·
The toys have come alive
·
I don’t have many friends but …
·
Are we free?
All in all, the sky is the limit.
No comments:
Post a Comment