course guide - USAID Teacher Education Project

.Week 3 Session 3: Constructing effective opening statement/topic sentencesin written texts. Writing an effective paragraphGuide for InstructorsThis session is aimed at developing the Student Teachers’ formal writing skill. In goingthrough the suggested materials, it is essential to take the Student Teachers through theprocess of how to write effective topic sentences at the beginning of each paragraph. It isimportant for Student Teachers to become aware of their purpose in writing and the intendedaudience.Explain that writing is not an easy thing to do in one’s own language, let alone in a foreignlanguage. This session is intended to help you Student Teachers get started in writingmeaningful, accurate and effective paragraphs.Brainstorming, listing, clustering and forming questions (30 minutes)Ask Student Teachers work in pairs.Ask them to think of an interesting topic and brainstorm ideas to include in a writtenparagraph about the topic. For example:The benefits of travelling by trainFollowing the latest fashions is a waste of time and moneyMobile phones have destroyed family communicationTaking regular exercise is over-rated and can be harmfulBrainstorms should be quick so after a few minutes, when Student Teachers have generatedenough ideas about their chosen topic, ask them to cluster or organize the ideas they listed inthe brainstorm. Encourage them to identify the big ideas and the sub-ideas.Demonstrate another way of generating ideas. Ask Students Teachers to keep the same topic.They should write a topic or subject at the top of the page and list the following questionsdown the left margin of the page, leaving room for responses.Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?Ask Students to think about their topic and respond to the five questions.Planning to write your first paragraph (30 minutes)Discuss these writing devices with Student Teachers.Topic sentenceSupporting sentencesConcluding sentenceGrammatical accuracyCohesion and clarityFor further detailed information about writing a paragraph, visit the following links.http://lrs.ed.uiuc.edu/students/fwalters/para.html#formalhttp://adultliteracytutor4.blogspot.sg/24