ENGLISH VIBES: April 2020

‘Blogging’ and making Youtube videos have taken most of my time nowadays, these are the two mediums I use to get connected to teachers and students.

Schools are closed and lives have come to a standstill, but that does not mean that learning has to stop. Over the past few weeks, I noticed that teachers are working hard, trying to get connected to their students through online lessons.

As a teacher, I have been spending more hours I spend at school in front of my computer screen now to develop and assign online tasks. This can be overwhelming to some, especially to those who have families to tend to 24 – 7 and needing your attention.

While assigning online tasks, I feel that teachers can also take a break from the syllabus – based tasks to activities that would allow students to explore. One way of doing it would be through writing activities that would help to let their hair down.

The writing activities that I mean here are not the SPM or PT3 based writing tasks but something that would be more personal, which would help students to develop their creativity as well as writing skills. These activities would eventually help them to develop skills that are essential in the SPM and PT3 writing tasks.

I am suggesting writing because it can be a therapy in which students can express their fears, hopes and joys when there are no rigid conditions set. So, here I am sharing a few ideas that our students can attempt while being locked down at home.

Writing a Journal

We can assign our students a daily journal entry without limiting the number of words, expressing their thoughts and ideas or on what they feel about things that are happening around them throughout the MCO period. It need not necessarily be about COVID – 19. It depends on us, on what criteria we want to set for the activity. We can list down a set of prompts for them so that they can use the prompts to write their journals. Please click here and here if you are looking for journal writing prompts.

Poetry Writing

Students can also try their hands at poetry writing. Currently, I am working on this with my form 4 students. I have done some simple poetry writing activities with them before and now I have assigned them poems based on themes. I do not want them to delve too much into the COVID – 19 pandemic. So, I give them some general themes such as love, nature, war, butterfly as well as sadness. I have also given a picture prompt for them to explore it creatively. I do not limit the number of words and stanzas for their poems. Their poems are to be as short as four stanzas and as long as they want them to be. To those of you who would like to try our poetry writing activities, you may refer to my previous blog post here. You may also refer to some poetry teaching websites here and here.

Writing a Movie or Book Review

Most of our students are now spending their lockdown hours watching movies and reading books. Since these have become the most common ways to pass time, why don’t we create a writing task for them based on these? Asking students to write a review on a book or movie would be fun. There are plenty of resources available online where we can get ideas to write book and movie review. If students are not interested in a book or movie review, we can leave it to them to decide on what they would like to review – games, radio shows, songs, singers, actress or Netflix shows. Anything that they fancy. You may look for ideas to write reviews here and here.

Writing An Open Letter

The COVID-19 pandemic is not the only issue that the world is facing now, there are other moral related matters that are closely connected to the COVID – 19 that we are aware through the news sources. Using those issues we can ask our students to write open letters or letters to editors. We have NST and The Star newspaper where opinions from the public get published every day. We can actually ask our students to write such letters and if the letters are really good, they can even get them published. We are aware that The Star and NST are not the only sources where students can get their letters published. There are also many online portals that are publishing letters from the public. As much as this activity sounds fun, students should be reminded that they are not supposed to discuss sensitive issues such as religion and politics. You may refer here and here to get more ideas on how to write letters to editors.

Writing How – To Guide

Writing a how-to guide would be a possible fun activity that our students might love. I am sure that students are exploring many new things such as cooking, baking, making a video or even making handicrafts. We can probably ask our students to write a how-to guide to be shared with their classmates. For example, if they have successfully baked a chocolate cake they can write the recipe and share with their friends through their class Telegram/WhatsApp group. This can be one interactive activity as curious friends may ask for further explanations. Well, the how-to guide may not necessarily be on cooking alone there is a multitude of things that students might have explored, so let students decide what they want to write about. Don’t limit to writing a recipe, let them explore what they want to write about. You may click here and here to help students to develop their language skills to write a how-to guide.

Creating Comics

At a time like this, why don’t we take the opportunity to ask students to create interesting comics? I am sure students would be excited to read comics created by their friends. Students can sketch and colour their comics or use the online free comic making tools that are widely available online. Some students prefer to express their ideas via sketching with few words. This can also be a form of relaxation for students. If you would like to explore online comic making tools, please click here and here.

7. Writing a Photo Essay

A picture says a thousand words. Assigning students to write a photo essay is another interesting task that students may fancy. Assign a writing task based on a picture or ask students to communicate their feelings through an essay using a picture of their choice. This task can help students to think critically while exploring different facets of a photo/picture. Please refer here for a comprehensive guide to write a photo essay.

Creating Awareness through Posters

This Poster was done by one of my students as part
of her assignment

Students can also be asked to create an awareness poster on the COVID – 19 Pandemic using online tools. If students find it difficult to use online tools, they can use whatever they have to create their posters. I did this project last week and the outcome was excellent, I would say. I set the word limit so that students know how much information is relevant. Most of my students used canva.com to create their awareness posters. I am sharing some of their posters here.