21st Century Approach to Writing - writing collaboratively and creatively

Bismillah...the lazy bug has hit me for a while so I was MIA. Well, am back!  😊

Here's a book I co-wrote with good friend and SISC + , Fuziana Ali. The underlying idea behind the book is simple. Writing is a challenge for our students. It is arguably the most difficult of the four skills in language learning. Therefore we need to break down writing into manageable chunks/steps. Gone are the days when you walk into a classroom and present students with a topic, briefly discuss it and ask them to write almost immediately (I was taught writing this way in secondary school in the 70's - teachers were not creative enough perhaps due to the lack of resources at that time)  

We need to employ pre-writing strategies for our students at the beginning so that they do not view writing as something frightening and overwhelming. Through pre-writing, students gain more confidence on the topic before they actually launch into the full writing at the end of the steps. Also, in keeping with PAK21, I thought it would be good to break away from the traditional way of teaching writing by having teachers integrate some collaborative strategies into the lesson. We would like students to be able to talk/discuss a topic before they start writing an essay. Hence, you will find some practical strategies incorporated in the units. Bear in mind that not all the cooperative/collaborative strategies are suitable for a writing lesson however, hence, my co-writer and I have selected those that are relevant.

In addition, I would also like to challenge teachers to reflect on how they have been teaching writing in the classroom through this book. The book is not meant to be prescriptive and teachers being adaptable creatures can adopt and adapt as necessary. Some of the units in this book have been tried and tested in my own classrooms with encouraging results. Student motivation increased when they were given the opportunity to "talk" about a topic before writing the final essay. They felt less intimidated. 

I certainly hope the book will help teachers and students make that much needed improvement in writing. Don't rush writing teachers! You have to let students go through the process and from then on learn some good writing skills. It may take 4-6 periods per lesson before they can produce a good piece of writing depending on your students' level. With better students you can go faster and with the poorer ones, you just need to pace it well and pitch it to your students' level. Do give it a try and of course, your feedback is much appreciated. You can email me at rahmahs@yahoo.com or leave a message here on my blog 😊



You can get the book by

• contacting Mr Tee at 012-3062853 (Nilam Publication). (The book is not available in local bookshops)
• MPH
• visiting NILAM publication

Happy teaching!






Those who can DO, Those who can do more TEACH