Which of the following student and/or teacher activities do you regard as writing per se or belonging in a writing lesson?
1. a letter to a newspaper in response to a controversial article
2. a menu
3. about paragraph hooks
4. chat with friends (ICQ, Google, etc)
5. class dictation
6. comma splices (see Wikipedia, Uni of Bristol)
7. copying vocab lists from the blackboard
8. create headlines for a newspaper article
9. creating a radio news bulletin
10. describing your reaction to a piece of literature, news item, historical event
11. design posters
12. doing homework
13. filling in a form (e.g., at the post office, railway station, insurance office)
14. filling in gaps in a news article, short story
15. labeling a picture
16. learning discourse markers
17. learning to write the Roman alphabet
18. letter of congratulations or complaint
19. participating in online discussions
20. postcard
21. report of an experiment, an experience
22. sending emails
23. shopping list
24. summary of a text (read or heard)
25. teaching linking paragraphs
26. teaching topic sentences
27. the use of punctuation
28. thesis for a degree course
29. writing a note to your brother/flatmate/cleaning lady
30. writing out the lyrics of a song from listening
A poster developed in response to the Global Issues lesson, Being a Woman, is an example of students effectively exercising their creativity in pictures as well as words. This was created by a group of Italian primary school teachers.