Writing outside the box

Yes, write on that. Why? Because you can

While most of my posts are aimed at speaking and trying to get your students to open up as much as possible.
Today  I want to go down the writing road. I'm not going to try and pretend these ideas are mine, they're mostly from the weird wonderful mind the ELTgenius that is Chris Roland.http://chrisroland.net/ I've used them this year and they've really worked well on getting kids interested in writing and making sure teens actually give a damn about what comes from their pen.

Much like my recent potato post for speaking I've found writing on things that aren't there to be written on can really spark students' interest.

It's a fairly simple four step plan I implement each time I use something strange.
 I go through how to do said writing. Be it kids, exam students or adults.
 I do a quick plan and/or in class to make sure the students are all on the right track.
 Next I set the writing as homework and tell them in the next class, after correcting their work, they'll be writning their letter, essay, review on something a bit different, which is then put up around the room.

Some of the things I've used this year have been, tin foil/aluminium paper wrapped around an A4 sheet of paper, balloons, paper plates, napkins and latex gloves. Before I give any of the students their blank canvas I get the student to write me a letter of request to ask to use the object and to promise not to abuse it. They then in turn have to take great care and attention so as not to rip, burst or destroy their work. If they do, It's time to start again.

What this has done is made my students really focus on their work. They also end up having an almost perfect example of whatever piece of writing you have set and it sticks in their mind because it was somewhat out of the ordinary.

Making writing fun is the key to success and also giving students something fun to write on will really encourage them to do their homework. Can you imagine being in a class where all of your classmates are blowing up balloons and you'e stuck there doing the homework you "left at home."

Give it a shot. It realy livened up my writing session.