Taking on the writing challenge

If you are working with a learner on their writing skills, this post provides some tips and resources to help you guide your learner through the writing process.

This introductory presentation was made during a Let’s Zoom Tutors and Tea mini-training for LU tutors. In the presentation, we think about the writing task. We look at the various skills that we need to be good writers. We think about the first steps for a tutor working with an adult learner as they seek to improve their writing skills.

The presentation highlights how important it is to break down the writing process into manageable steps.

As a first step, LU recommends talking with a learner about their fear of writing – what holds them back and why they find it so difficult.

As a second step, LU emphasizes the value of pre-writing activities. How setting the scene and building towards a writing activity can ease a reluctant or low level writer into the task. Pre-writing activities can also be used to reveal some of the skills a learner will need in the writing task.

To write well, we all need many different skills. As tutors, we recommend an approach that begins with identifying just one skill that your learner will work on during the initial stages of the writing task (e.g. vocabulary), and then building on this skill in subsequent sessions or stages in the writing process.

Click on a box below to read more about writing and to learn different strategies to help someone develop the skills they need to be a successful writer.

For a great writing project for LU members, check out the post: Write On 2021!