Ideas for writing activities with a

communicative focus

When proposing a writing activity, we must insert it in a real communication situation (what
and for whom I write) and connect with the interests of the students, with their daily life, their
context, their needs (what I write about). Students have to know that they are going to write a text
with an explicit communicative purpose.

Look at the two examples of slogans and the comparative table

1. Grammatical approach:
Write an essay on the following topic: Advantages and disadvantages of living in a town or
city
2. Communicative approach:
Your cousin, who lives in Pamplona, has a job offer in Lerín.
He doesn't know if he should accept it because he has always lived in a big city and
doesn't know the countryside. Write him a letter to tell him your opinion on the topic.

GRAMMATICAL APPROACH FUNCTIONAL APPROACH

Editorial: free structure, registration and Family letter: structure, registration and
TEXT
information conditional information

CONTEXT The written expression class. The real life

REASON My cousin is hesitant to accept a job offer in

The teacher proposes a topic to write a town

RECEIVER The teacher My cousin

Adaptation of Cassany, Daniel: “Didactic approaches for teaching written expression”, Communication, language and
education, p. 63-80, Madrid, 1990.

Write to communicate

Education deparment. Government of Navarra

 WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT? ANY IDEAS

In the following table you can find some examples of textual genres that you can use as an assignment for
the writing activity.

SCOPE OF
PERSONAL COMMUNICATION EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTE RELATIONS
USE LITERATURE
RELATIONSHIPS MEDIA TION FIELD FINALS AND WORK LIFE
KIND OF TEXT

Interview Definition
Exposure Business letter Report Literary review
Cultural program Essay Report

Letter Email Diary

Short Story
Joke Postcard News Report
Narration Resume Legend Biography
Invitation Travel Report of a job
Autobiography
stories Anecdotes

Description Description of people, Tourist guide Scientific

places, objects Catalogue description

Preventive
campaign Instance
Instruction
Rules of a game Claim
Prospectus
Kitchen Recipes
Instructions for using
a device Classroom
standards

Manifest
Argumentation
Opinion article Claim
Letters to the editor
Criticism
Advertisement

Write to communicate

Education deparment. Government of Navarra

 WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT? ANY IDEAS

Inquire about the students' interests, their context, their habits, to propose writing activities
related to their world (sports, music, reading, movies, personal relationships...).

Examples of writing tasks:

G Book of descriptions of the students in the class, accompanied by photographs, to get to

know each other during the first weeks of the course.
G Rules for the operation of the class.
G Interviews with characters from traditional stories, famous people, classmates.
G Versioned stories.
G Letters on Mother's Day, letter to the Three Wise Men, love letter on Valentine's Day.
G Email a friend to ask for help with a question.
G Collection of jokes.
G Thematic short stories with a maximum length of 140 characters to publish on Twitter.
G Information brochures about the center's cultural week, campaigns to keep the playground
clean, an exhibition in the school library.
G Letter to the director to show disagreement with some personal or social injustice.
G Instructions on how to use a toy/game (students can bring it to class to show it to others)
G Advertising posters.
G Newspaper with topics related to the subject or area studied.
G Illustrated collaborative dictionary of the terms of the subject.
G Postcards for students from another class or center.
G News about important events at the educational center, the town, and topics related to the
area or subject.
G Collective album with images or drawings accompanied by their description.
G Movie billboards.
G Mathematical gregueries.
Write to communicate

G Collective dream book.

G Recipe books (cooking recipe, recipe to be happy, recipe to be a good/bad student...).
G Fictionary (dictionary of terms invented by students).
G Instance to request school supplies.
G Cultural program of the local festivals.
G Curriculum of the student, of a famous person, of a historical figure, of a character from
traditional stories.

Education deparment. Government of Navarra

 WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT? ANY IDEAS

GG Tourist brochures.

How to write the slogan

It is always recommended that you give your students in writing the instructions for the
written production they must work on. In it, make the communicative situation (real or fictitious)
explicit: what are they going to write, for what and for whom, how. Along with the activities, it will
be necessary to focus on other aspects related to the communicative situation: register, channel,
textual genre.

Example of real situation:

Throughout the quarter we are going to make together an illustrated collaborative

dictionary with the vocabulary that we are learning about knowledge of the environment ( what ).
The dictionary will serve all of us ( for whom ) as a source of reference when we have doubts
about the meaning of the terms learned ( for what ). For our dictionary to be a success, we will
learn to write definitions with the activities that we are going to propose ( how ).
Example of a plausible situation:
The El Correcaminos travel agency wants to promote its trips ( for what ) for newlyweds (
for whom) . He's hired you to design an advertising brochure about Otabomba, a recently
discovered island paradise ( what ). Design your brochure describing the characteristics of the
trip and the island.

Write to communicate

An idea for written productions to acquire meaning beyond the academic field is to publish
them in a web space (blog, wiki) or in the center's magazine or newspaper.

Interesting links with suggestions and ideas for writing activities:

http://elmarescolorazul.blogspot.com.es
http://www.alquimistasdelapalabra.com
http://www.catedu.es/abrapalabra/

Education deparment. Government of Navarra

 WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT? ANY IDEAS

Write to communicate

Education deparment. Government of Navarra