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Teaching Advanced
Writing
Catherine Morley
British Council Las Rozas, Madrid
www.britishcouncil.org 1

Strategies for improving students’ writing
• Brainstorming
• ‘Upping the language’
• Focus on introductions and conclusions
• Peer response
• Coherence and cohesion
• Text organisation
• Genre analysis
• Integrating writing with other skills to
generate ideas

Presentation tesol spain 2015 for blog

Brainstorming ideas for a ‘For and Against’
essay
“Tourism always brings a place more harm
than good.”
New English File Advanced

Brainstorming ideas for a ‘For and Against’
essay
1) Students ‘brainstorm’ individually, writing one idea on
each piece of scrap paper (3 minutes).
2) Students work with another student from the same group
(e.g. ‘for’ or ‘against’). They compare their ideas and
choose the best three.
3) Students then work with a student from the other group.
They now have six points, three ‘for’ and three ‘against’.
They decide in what order they would put these points in
the essay.

Focus on collocations

mass
sustainable
be dependent upon
the impact of
earnings from

mass
sustainable
be dependent upon
the impact of
earnings from
tourism

a huge influx of __________
_________ attraction
attract __________
drive / frighten away __________

a huge influx of tourists
tourist attraction
attract tourists
drive / frighten away tourists

damage the environment
harmful to the environment
have an impact on the environment
protect the environment
safeguard the environment

badly
severely
irreparably
permanently

badly
severely
irreparably
permanently
damage

a. In this essay, I’m going to explain why tourism brings a
place more harm than good.
d. Tourism is a really important part of the Spanish economy.
For example, my father’s village in Murcia earns a lot of
money from tourism and as a result, the local authority has
been able to build new facilities like sports centres and
hospitals.
c. Tourism can be cool but it can also be pretty bad. In this
essay, I’m gonna talk about the good and bad things about
tourism.
b. The arrival of large numbers of tourists inevitably has a big
impact on the destination country. The effects can be
economic, environmental and social. Some of these effects
are good and some are very bad. I will examine both the good
and bad consequences of tourism before reaching a
conclusion about its impact.

“Upping” the language: introductions
The arrival of large numbers of tourists
inevitably has a big impact on the
destination country. The effects can be
economic, environmental and social. Some
of these effects are good and some are
very bad. I will examine both the good and
bad consequences of tourism before
reaching a conclusion about its *impact.

“Upping” the language: introductions
The arrival of mass tourism inevitably has a
significant / huge / enormous / considerable
impact on the destination country. The
effects can be economic, environmental
and social. Some of these effects are
positive / beneficial and some are harmful
/devastating / catastrophic . I will examine
both the beneficial / positive and adverse /
harmful / negative consequences of tourism
before reaching a conclusion about its
overall / long-term / wider impact.

Peer response
Suggested comments for peer response
• Good point!
• I’m going to steal this!
• This is not very clear
• What do you mean by X?
• Do you think…..?
• Yes, but what about…….

Peer response
David Petrie’s guidelines for peer response:
Is it……
T – true?
H – helpful?
I – inspiring?
N – necessary?
K – kind?

Report: Focus on conclusions
To sum up, I would strongly recommend that
Latino Club introduce a discount for new
members, which should be widely advertised
locally, as well as some kind of loyalty scheme for
current members. In addition, the quality of tuition
must be improved as a matter of urgency, if
necessary by bringing in new instructors.

Report - Organisation
1 – Introduction: The reason for the report
2 – Finding 1 (drop in membership), and main
reasons given
3 – Finding 2 (facilities), with further details
4 – Finding 3 (the club’s profile), with further details
5 - Conclusions

Text cohesion
After a significant fall in membership last month, I
was asked to investigate and evaluate the current
state of the Latino Club, a Latin American dancing
club. This report looks at some of the problems
based on information provided by the club, and
on a questionnaire completed by its members.

Text cohesion
[After] a significant fall in membership last month,
I was asked to investigate and evaluate the
current state of the Latino Club, a Latin American
dancing club. This report looks at some of the
problems based on information provided by the
club, and on a questionnaire completed by its
members.

Text cohesion
Now do the same with the second paragraph:
• Use different colours (or different ways of
underlining) to highlight lexical cohesion, i.e.
synonyms or near-synonyms, lexical repetition,
lexical sets, related words
• Put square brackets around any explicit cohesive
devices, such as however, in contrast,
surprisingly
• Draw circles and arrows to show other forms of
text reference, e.g. pronoun reference, use of
relative pronouns, this, these etc.
Since last year, membership has dropped by 30%. There are several factors to blame for this: firstly, many people mentioned bad organisat

Since last year, membership has dropped by
30%. There are several factors to blame for this:
firstly, many people mentioned bad organisation
and the lack of publicity for social events.
Predictably, this lack of information has led to low
attendance, which means that members have
little opportunity to meet and mix with new people.

Text cohesion
Since last year, membership has dropped by 30%.
There are several factors to blame for this: firstly,
many people mentioned bad organisation and the
lack of publicity for social events. [Predictably], this
lack of information has led to low attendance,
which means that members have little opportunity
to meet and mix with new people.

Job application letter - Brainstorming ideas through
questions
I am writing in
response to your
advert on the Madrid
Teachers website for a
Teacher of Business
English to deliver in-
company classes at
locations throughout
Madrid.

questions
I am writing in
response to your
Teacher of Business
company classes at
Madrid.
Why are you writing?

questions
I am writing in
response to your
Teacher of Business
company classes at
Madrid.
Where did you see the
advert?

questions
I am writing in
response to your
Teacher of Business
company classes at
Madrid.
Where did you see the
advert?
What is the job?

questions
• How long have you been (teaching English)?
Where?
• What (levels / types of classes) have you
(taught)?
• Do you have any experience of ) teaching
business English,) or of (the business world)?
• What qualifications do you have?
• Why do you think you are suitable for this job?
• Why do you want this job?
• What do you want to happen next?
• How can I contact you?

questions
Students then look at a real job ad (or one from a
coursebook) and:
• Think about which questions from the list are relevant, or
could be changed slightly to make them relevant. Do they
need to answer any additional questions?
• Put the questions in the order that they would like to
answer them.
• Look at the original letter and underline any chunks of
language they could use in their own letter

Genre analysis
• Communicative purpose (What does the writer hope to
communicate / achieve?)
• Expected audience (Who will read it?)
• Layout (general format – e.g. does it have a title? What appears
where on the page?)
• Overall organisation (e.g. what type of information is included in
each paragraph?)
• Level of formality (formal / informal / semi-formal? Give
examples from the text)
• Sentence structure (e.g. complex or simple)
• Specific grammatical structures (e.g. do any specific tenses
predominate?)
• Specific vocabulary (Are there any words / expressions that
appear frequently in this type of text?)

Letter – integrating writing with other skills
Issues that might lead someone to complain
about:
• a hotel
• an airline

Firstly, the hotel room was far from satisfactory. Although I had paid
extra for a room with a (1) _______________, when I got to my room I
found that the (1) _______________ was so small that it would be
almost impossible to use. In addition, I had specifically requested a
room with a (2) _______________, but the (3) _______________ was
barely visible from the room I was given
Moreover, the room was too (4) _______________ and the (5)
________________ did not appear to work.
In spite of these problems with the room, I decided to remain in the
hotel, as I had gone to a great deal of trouble to make arrangements
for my trip. However, when I complained to the manager Mr. XXXXXX
and asked for a (6) ______________, he failed to take my complaints
seriously, and referred me to his wife Mrs. XXXXXX. When I spoke to
Mrs. XXXXXX after (7)_______________, she (8) _______________
to give me a (6) _______________, and was also extremely rude. I
feel that her attitude was totally unprofessional.

Now watch and check your answers:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcliR8kAbzc

Letter of complaint
1) bath
2) view
3) sea
4) cold
5) radio
6) reduction
7) lunch
8) refused

Sender’s address
Date
Receiver’s address
Formal greeting
Reference
Paragraph 1 - Introduction and reason for writing
Paragraph 2 – Main problems with hotel room
Paragraph 3 – Additional problems with hotel room
Paragraph 4 – The manager’s response to the problem
Paragraph 5 - Action required
Close
Formal ending
Sender’s signature
Sender’s name

Watch and correct the information about Dave’s
complaint:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

Dave flew with American United Airlines.
He was on his way to Denver Nebraska.
He left Atlanta Halifax and had a connection in Chicago O’Hare.
In Chicago, he saw baggage handlers throwing his suitcase guitar.
Before leaving Chicago, he told, an employee three employees, who.
was very concerned showed complete indifference.
Upon landing, he found that his suitcase had been slightly badly
damaged / destroyed.
The response from the company was fast and efficient slow and
unhelpful
Ms Irlweg was the person who finally helped him told him ‘no’ / refused
his claim.
Dave received didn’t receive compensation from the airline.
He would never fly with this airline again only fly with this airline again to
save the world (and he wouldn’t bring his luggage!)

To download full handout or contact me
https://thinkingenglishblog.wordpress.com/
catherine.morley@britishcouncil.es
Useful reading and resources
Hedge, Tricia, ‘Writing’, Oxford Resource Books for Teachers, 2005
Michael Lewis (editor), ‘Teaching Collocation: Further Development in
the Lexical Approach,’ Thompson, 2000
David Petrie, ‘Writing Skills for Exam Practice’, webinar on
www.teachingenglish.org.uk, November 2013
Ronald White and Valerie Arndt, ‘Process Writing’, Longman
Handbooks for Teachers, 1991
Online collocation dictionary http://www.ozdic.com/
UK job ads www.monster.co.uk

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