Final Products
Newsletter
This is each class' newspaper. It is the heart of motivating the students to take more pride in their work.
It requires computer time.
It uses MS Publisher - which has several layout designs useful in making a class newspaper.
Each newsletter is focused on a Theme - which is the same as the Research Topic in the first phase of the process: So, the genre or type of text the students write is very flexible. It depends on the Theme.
For example, a whole newsletter can showcase class poetry. Or, some students can write poems as a product and another can write a brief biography of a famous poet.
An Eye On The Audience
Working on Publisher, after having typed another product into MS Word, gives the students a better sense of layout design with an eye to the audience.
They can also edit the texts once more to fit a less-formal newsletter style as opposed to a more formal academic text (if that was their product in Phase V).
Distribution is Key
This is one phase of the process that satisfies many of the "best practices" in teaching ESL students I ran across time and time again in the research noted on the Theory page.
Distribution of the newsletter beyond the class is very important - it connects the often isolated ESL student-body to the larger mass of students, facualty, and staff of the school, and it connects the students and class to parents and community members beyond the school.
Copies are offered at the school to students, teachers, and staff just like a regular school newspaper.
Copies are also sent home to connect with parents.
Copies can also be sent to local community and business leaders including leaders in the immigrant community.
The fact that the student work is going to be viewed by these important audience members motivates the students to take pride in their work.
When the texts they are writing focus on their native culture, the fact they are "teaching" it to such a wide audience also instills pride and motivation into their work.
The Blog
Another primary source of distributing the class' work to a much larger, global community is the class blog.
Blog entries can be written online using the default blogging tool at a blogging website - or - students can use a downloadable blogging program like MS Live Writer which offers more options in designing the text.
Students take pride in the blog entries, because they last forever - and - they know countless people have the opportunity to see their work over time.