Weaving It Together

To the Teacher
Organization of the
Student Book
Weaving It Together, Book 3, has eight
units. Each unit is divided into two chapters
related to the unit theme. Weaving It
Together, Book 4, has nine chapters. Each
chapter has two readings related to a single
chapter theme. The themes have been carefully
selected to appeal to a wide range of interests
and to promote discussion and comparison of
different cultures.
The sequence of activities in each chapter
follows this pattern:
• What Do You Think? activity
• Pre-reading and predicting activities
• Reading
• Vocabulary activities
• Comprehension activities
• Discussion and critical thinking questions
• Writing skills
• Writing practice activities
Each step in the sequence is important to
the fi nal goal of enabling students to produce
excellent written English. All skills of reading,
writing, generating ideas, and developing
vocabulary are integrated throughout each
chapter with the aim of achieving this goal.
Grading of Written Work
The criteria you choose for grading your
students’ written work will vary according to
the aims in your course description. In general,
your students can be expected to hand in at
least one preliminary draft of their work before
handing in their fi nal draft. The process of
re-writing and editing written work is
4 To the Teacher
consistently emphasized in this series. The
editing tips at the end of each section will help
students become effective editors of their own
and each other’s work. It is also important to
value original and thoughtful writing as well as
the amount of effort invested in the work.
Here are some suggestions for correcting
students’ written work:
• Use written correction symbols so that
students have to fi nd their own mistakes
(see page 13 for examples).
• Make clear your criteria for grading
written work. You may want to use the
same criteria each time, or you may
prefer to focus on specifi c points. You
might focus on paragraph formatting for
the fi rst assignment, for example, and
then gradually add other criteria such
as grammar, vocabulary, and content.
See page 12 for possible writing rubrics,
which may be adapted for your class.
• Have students work in pairs to check
their essays before handing them in. Peer
editing is a great way to help students
learn to become more independent.
Encourage students to use the editing
checklist at the end of each chapter in
the student book when correcting each
other’s work.
• Remember that a page covered
in corrections is going to be very
discouraging for your students. If one
mistake recurs frequently in an essay,
correct it just once and ask the student
to fi nd other examples of the mistake by
himself or herself.
• Remember to use a balance of both
praise and criticism in your comments!
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