Writing & Business Writing

Strategies for Improving Skills to Level 1

The following activities are designed to help learners develop basic writing skills. Be sure to choose materials that appeal to the age level and interests of the learners.

Help learners write a list of personal guidelines for proofreading the sentences they write. For example, does each sentence

have a subject and a verb?

begin with a capital letter?

end with a period or question mark?
Have learners keep a journal in which they write daily, using full sentences (fragments are sometimes used intentionally and effectively, but more often in advertising and creative writing than in workplace writing). Give them a prompt ("brainstorm ideas for your next project," "write about something you are reading," etc.) or let them choose their own topics. The important thing is for them to write for several minutes daily. Have them select several sentences to revise. Recognize learners for writing complete sentences.
Give learners a sentence to describe.

For example:

John Bixler tunes pianos.

subject/verb/object

or

The company will send you a refund.

subject/verb/indirect object/direct object

or

The nursery sells houseplants and perennials.

subject/verb/object/coordinating conjunction/object
Read phrases or sentence fragments to the class (advertisements are a good source). Have learners rewrite each phrase or fragment as a full sentence.
Discuss imperative sentences with learners and have them write a "how to" list for performing some activity (preparing a recipe, turning on a computer, building something, etc.). For instance, to greet customers in a restaurant:

—Don't keep anyone waiting for longer than one minute.

—Always smile when you greet customers.

—Make sure the table is clean before you seat customers.

—Give customers menus when you seat them.

—Tell the appropriate server that new customers have been seated.

To close a store for the night:

—Lock the front door.

—Take out the trash and lock the back door.

—Turn off display case lights.

—Turn down the thermostat.

—Vacuum the carpet.

—Turn off the overhead lights.

—Exit through the front door and activate the alarm.
Remove the punctuation but not the capitalization from short samples of workplace writing, such as memos or correspondence. Have learners insert appropriate punctuation and then compare their work to see if they have found more than one legitimate way to punctuate the same piece of writing.
Have learners write "round robin" paragraphs. Choose several topics of interest and write opening sentences as a class. Have each learner write one sentence per paragraph and pass it on to another learner for the next sentence. Read the resulting paragraphs aloud. Judge the paragraphs not on organization but on individual sentence structure. Revise any incomplete sentences as a class.
Read aloud a short article from a newspaper. Have learners note, in whatever form they choose, the people and events described. Have them write several sentences about the article, and then have them proofread their sentences to make sure they are complete.
Have learners keep a spelling list of words culled from newspapers, magazine articles, work-related texts, and words they use themselves. Have them add any word that they have to look up more than once or that they suspect will give them difficulty. Suggest frequently misspelled words for them to add to their lists.
Explain memory devices for remembering how to spell words (e.g., dessert contains two s's and children always want two pieces of dessert). Have learners invent their own memory tricks for the words they have trouble spelling. Have learners discuss which methods work best for them.
Encourage ideas by asking learners to list their thoughts about topics you present. Tell them to write whatever they think of in the language of their choice. Instruct them not to worry about grammar or mechanics at this time—they should just write their ideas as a list of words. Have them react to questions such as the following:

—What was the best job you ever had and why?

—Should employers pay for employees' transportation to and from work?

Why?

—What do you think your job will be like 10 years from now?

100 years from now?

—If you were the head of the company, what would you do differently?

Sometimes learners see what they have just written and want to edit it immediately, or they see the words and stop, unable to get beyond them to create more ideas. An exercise to work around this is shown below:

Instruct learners to start their wordprocessing program and dim the monitor's resolution. If using paper and pencil, learners can use another piece of paper to cover the first sheet as they write. Have them write down thoughts as words or phrases. Tell them to write quickly as you throw out general terms: music at work, work schedules, work space, lunch at work, downtime at work, and the like. Then ask them to brighten the screen or uncover the paper to see if they have generated any ideas that they are interested in writing about further.

Present groups of related words to learners. Have them separate the words into idea categories that focus on their relationships. (See the example of office furniture and office equipment shown below.)
desk, computer, copy machine, telephone, printer, chair, postage meter, file cabinet, fax machine, scanner, lamp
Ask learners to write a list of their favorite work tasks. Ask them to write one sentence explaining why they like each task. Repeat the exercise with their least-favorite work tasks.

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