Basic Structure of Online Writing Lessons
The student types some text on a computer in English. The student should not worry too much about making mistakes. Of course, they should try to write good English but the point of the lesson is to improve their writing skills by highlighting mistakes and showing better ways of writing and then seeing the corrected version.
The student should send the text to us as part of an email. If they write the text in a word processing package then they can copy and paste the text into the email.
The text is corrected and commented and then sent back to the student. Have a look at the writing example with teacher corrections to see what we do.
How Many Writing Lessons Can My Child Have?
We recommend one or two writing lessons a week. Of course, if your child wants to have a writing lesson every day then it should be possible providing your child writes enough text.
What Should the Student Write About?
This is not important.
• For students who can write well
If the student is able to write something by themselves on a subject that interests them then they can do so.
• For students who can write but don’t know what to write about
If the student cannot think of anything then we will give them a subject.
• Students who are just beginning to write
If a student has a problem to write enough on a subject then we will give them a subject together with a list of questions that they can write answers to.
How long should the students write for?
The students write by themselves at home. They can take as long as they like. However, it is not important to write perfect English. This is a process and it is better to write a lot of English than to write a little.
Can a student write a lot?
Of course, writing more is never a problem. The more the student writes the better. We will still correct it.
Helping your Child
Please do not help your child with writing. This is not the point of the lesson. If you both want to discuss the subject (even in Polish) then that is OK, but please do not help them write. Of course, students may try to use online dictionaries, translators, spell checkers, or grammar checkers. But this is not the point, please encourage your children to write on their own and make their own mistakes.
Subjects for Writing
Here are some sample subjects for students to write about. The subject is not important. What is important is that the student writes as much as possible and does not waste too much time thinking about the subject itself. Your teacher will correct the writing and the student will be able to study the corrected writing and learn from their mistakes.
Writing Example with Teacher Corrections
• Is air transport good for the world? Should people be encouraged to travel less often by plane? What are the advantages and disadvantages of air travel?
• The world is moving towards a cashless society. What are the advantages and disadvantages of a cashless society and who will suffer most if society stops using cash? (Hint: define cash)
• Should everybody have a pet? Is having a pet ethical and acceptable in modern society? Discuss the pros and cons of people having pets for an individual and for society as a whole.
• At what age should children be given a mobile telephone and why? What are the advantages and disadvantages of giving young children a mobile telephone? What kind of mobile telephone can you give to a young child, a simple mobile telephone or a smartphone?
• The working week should be four days and not five days. Discuss. (Hint: write about the number of working hours per week, 35 or 40 hours per week)
• Working from home is the future. With improvements in telecommunications and computers, more and more people can work from home. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of working from home.
• Learning a foreign language is no longer important. Discuss. With the development of automatic language translators, learning a foreign language is no longer necessary. Do you agree? Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of learning a foreign language.
• Football is the most popular sport in the world. Do you agree with this statement? Why is football the most popular sport in the world?
• Space travel is a waste of time and money. Do you agree with this? What are the pros and cons of space travel? Are there any benefits of space travel for humans?
• What do you eat during the day? Please list everything you eat on a normal day and when. Do you eat differently at the weekend? Do you eat differently during the holidays? Do you eat differently on special occasions, such as Christmas? Compare what you eat with your friends.
• What sports and physical activity do you do during the day? How much physical activity do you do? Where do you do it? When do you do it? How do you prepare for it? Compare what you do with your friends.
• What music do you listen to? How do you listen to music? Who are your favourite musicians? How much music do you listen to? When do you like to listen to music? Compare what you listen to with your friends.
• Do you have a dog? Tell me about your dog. Where do you walk your dog? What does your dog like to do? What does your dog like to eat?
• Do you like to cook? What do you like cooking? Describe the last meal you prepared. Who was it for? How did you prepare it?