Keeping it real… Real life and motivating writing tasks

I wish to express my dissatisfaction with… I was very disappointed by… I would be very grateful if you would let me know… I would appreciate it if you could replace the missing part by next week. Please let me know as soon as possible what action you propose to take. I look forward to hearing from you within the next ten days.

What tasks to choose? What language to focus on? How to engage/motivate learners? How to provide meaningful feedback?

 Commenting on a travel blog  Voicing your opinion on discussion forum  Writing a tweet to promote your small business  Writing a letter on behalf of Amnesty International  Writing a report for your line manager  Writing a poem for a poetry competition

Writing a letter of complaint Passive voice Narrative tenses Set phrases Tone

Online review Online advertisement Writing a tweet Writing to your local councillor Writing a CV

How can we engage and motivate students?

Personalise existing material to suit your students Use a speaking activity to whet interest Use humour Provide a real life audience

You really don’t know anything about beggars. They also just a normal people like us, only they are not as lucky as us.  I am so sorry, but I have to say that your thought seems to be silly, it is punk... I think the beggars are someone who we really need to help; mostly for kids or handicapped people. However, this day we almost can’t tell which one really needs ours help.

Teaching Points Hedging Language Formal/informal language Taking into account both sides of the argument Polite disagreement

Further Reading Blogs activities/ writing-for-audience-rebecca-alber writing-tasks-real-hotel-reviews/ Books Hedge, T Writing Oxford University Press Raimes, A Techniques in Teaching Writing, Oxford University Press Tribble, C Writing Oxford University Press