Teaching Writing

Quality Over Quantity

Teaching writing in English Language Acquisition requires us to take into account the unique culture and context of KCIS. Our students need to be able to write in English in order to be successful in all their subjects, so the building blocks of English writing conventions must be aligned both vertically and horizontally across grade levels and phase levels.

Students do not need to produce long written pieces in order to show language proficiency. To show mastery of a Phase, they must be able to communicate effectively in written pieces the length prescribed above.

Just because written assessments need to be a certain length does not mean you aren't free to do several in order to assess mastery. In the past, students may have been assigned a 1,000 word essay. Instead, a Phase 4 student can produce five written tasks that are 200 words each. The goal is that each of those 200-word responses will be examples of strong written English.