TEACHING STUDENTS TO WRITE SHORT REPORTS

I arrived in Busu High School in Papua New Guinea in 1995 and was given grade 9 English. It took months to realize why this should be. That was the year before grade 10 and internal results were entered fo the Grade 10 internal assessment.

I took the 3 grade 9 English classes and was saddened that the students all sat in their desks like dodos. They knew very little about anything.

At that time, I had bought a portable TV with a cassette in the top. I decided that the way to have students write was to teach them about the world. Then they would write about it.

Each Sunday night, I taped the most exciting story on the TV program 60 Minutes. On Monday morning, I would bring the TV into the 3 classes and we would watch the program. Then we would talk about it. I would give the world picture. That would take up the lesson.

I also went to the video library and hired a range of movies that we wrote on. I recall the movie Zulu and the gruesome story of the suicides of the followers of Jim Jones in Guinea. We learned so much about the world in that year.

We talked about the programs and I would place 10 questions on the blackboard. The students would answer in a sentence. If there was time, we would watch the program again. Students started talking and abandoned their code of silence.

Next day, I asked the questions from the previous day. Then I would have them write a paragraph based on the answers to those questions.

Next day, I would have them take out the paragraph and circle any words repeated. They would then rewrite the paragraph. I would collect the answer sheets and correct each paragraph.  They would rewrite the paragraph with corrections.

A month later, I reminded them about the story of the Kangaroo Hunters and would give them 25 minutes to rewrite from memory. This was speed writing in preparation for the Written Expression exam. The task was repeated about 20 times in the year. Writing skill improved.

About 12 months later, I had left the school and the grade 9 students had gone on to grade 10. One day, I met the Principal down town. I asked how the students went in the exam. He said that most gained Distinctions and Credits.