Drilling for writing

PMR exam is just around the corner. I couldn't help but feeling so worried with my students' competence in writing compositions. I have gathered some ideas from my friends, who are also teaching nglish in other schools, on how they go about drilling essay writing to their students as a preparation prior to PMR!"PM. #ere are some of the approaches that could be adopted!adapted based on the proficiency level of our students$ Idea #1: %. &et a good essay which is neither too long nor too short. '. &ive % copy to each student. (. )s* them to read and understand the essay. Maybe you could get students to find the meaning of difficult words or focus on a certain grammatical item +,h words ! verb ! noun ! tenses ! etc... /ext, tell students to put the essay out of their sight. 0. 1he teacher then carries out a dictation activity in which he!she reads aloud the essay with the correct pronunciation and enunciation. )t the same time, students need to listen and write down what they hear. 1his activity can be utili2ed not only to test your students' understanding on the essay but also in spelling and sentence structure. 3. 1eacher reads aloud twice. 4. )fter the dictation is over, students correct their friend's wor* in pairs. "tudents would be very excited to correct their friends' mista*es. Idea #2: %. )nalyse a model essay, how the parts of the essay is written. '. 5rill students li*e mad on the format and elaboration of ideas. (. "tudents write an essay based on the elaboration. Idea #3: %. Pic* a model essay that we would li*e to study with students. '. rase some of the words!phrases from the essay. 6et's say the essay is about recounting a flood incident. "o, teacher could remove words!phrases which are related to flood. 7or example$ flash flood, under water, inundated, rescue team, boats, relief centres, etc. (. &et students to brainstorm ideas on the topic. 1eacher may write the ideas on the board.

.. 1hen, give students a copy of the essay in which the words are erased. 0. "tudents, in pairs or in groups, fill in the blan*s in the essay with the words obtained from the brainstorming session. 7or wea* students, teacher could provide more words option in which students could choose to fill in the blan*s. 3. 7inally, have students re8write the whole essay. Idea #4 %. Pic* a model essay that we would li*e to study with students. '. 9ust li*e Idea :(, remove some words!phrases. In this activity, teacher could remove targeted grammar item such as prepositions, verbs, etc. (. "tudents write sentences based on the words!phrases given by using the missing prepositions. Idea #5 %. &ive students a model essay. 7or example, an article about ;) visit to an old fol*s home;. '. 7amiliari2e students with the format and the *eywords used in the article. (. 1hen, get students to write a similar essay. 7or example$ ,rite an article about ;) visit to an orphanage;. .. "tudents refer to the model essay to help them write.