Instructional Design 763

Spring 2019
Writing and Composition for ESL

Activities – The activities included in this document are linked to the terminal
objective which represents Module 3.

Module 3 – Expository Writing – Compare and Contrast

Terminal objective
Students should be able to write an essay comparing and contrasting daily student
life in their own countries with that of international students with an 80% degree
of accuracy.

Enabling Objective 1
Given a video clip, students will be able to recall and outline the similarities and
differences between two video subjects speaking about university life with an 80%
degree of accuracy.
Activity 1 – “Connect” Activity
This activity requires that students in pairs venture into the field to conduct mini-interviews from
individuals in the community. Although the target age group is university students 30 and under,
the students are welcome to gather information from any demographic profile. More varied data
will facilitate how the interview responses are categorized. The goal is to gather responses which
best typify how native university students budget their time. The video clip in the enabling
objective will familiarize students with the types of questions one may ask.

What questions will the students ask of their interviewees?

To activate prior knowledge and help stimulate ‘provocative’ questions, the students will be
using a graphic organizer referred to as a KWL Chart. This chart is divided into three columns:
What you KNOW, what you WANT to know, and what you LEARNED.
The students begin by reflecting on what they presently know (prior knowledge) about native
students. This enables them to brainstorm information they are interested in gathering.
Information gaps can be discussed between class members.
Name _____________ Name _____________

KWL Chart

Interviewees K W L
Background Questions What was learned
Subject 1 Knowledge
(Brief subject profile)

Subject 2
(Brief subject profile)

Subject 3
(Brief subject profile)
Enabling Objective 2
Given three short essays, students should be able to identify and apply comparative
adjectives, adverbs of frequency, and sequence adverbs; organizing the words and
expressions respectively into a chart with an 80% degree of accuracy.
Activity 2 – “DO” Activity
This ‘jigsaw’ activity has the students collaborating on short readings and making comparisons.
The subjects of the articles are native-born American university students. The theme of each
article centers around daily life as a university student. They will be assigned to particular
language points such as comparative adjectives, adverbs of frequency, and sequence adverbs.
The article will serve as a model text in preparation for the culminating project.
The activity is loosely based on what is referred to as the “placemat activity.” Being a jigsaw
activity, it works best with at least three students – each covering a separate passage or
paragraph. The placemat is a large piece of paper, divided equally among three-four students.
The center is an open space where students will collaborate to complete a short summary of each
essay. The areas adjacent to the center chart is for each member to take notes and jot down the
parts of speech encountered. (This will be adapted for the online class.)
Upon completion, the students will share their thoughts in an online group discussion. The
students are encouraged to practice using comparative adjectives, frequency expressions, and
sequence adverbs.