It’s no secret formula to great writing. In fact, it’s been around for exactly 2009 years. Which means, back in 1 B.C., someone came up with this wonderful simple rule. And how do I know of it? Why, Wikipedia of course!
This quintessential simple rule to rocking writing has been drilled into every journalist living or dead, me included. It’s what makes for great news stories, shocking yellow journalism, and even the racy Shobhaa De columns. But, why would this rule so journalistic be applicable in the ESL world?
Because it works! Every friggin’ time.. Try it teaching letter writing, or paragraph writing, or essay writing, or note writing, or email writing (for all those fancy, big-buck business ESL teachers).
It’s the 5 Ws and One H rule from hell. I love it. It worked brilliantly the first time I used it in a formal letter writing lesson back in the days of St. Giles and the CELTA. And now, I use it all the time, in every kind of writing.
No writing lesson is ever complete without referring to the baap of all writing rules.
The 5 Ws and One H
W – Who
W – What
W – Why
W – Where
W – When
H – How
Think about it. If students can answer those 6 questions every time you ask them to write a letter to their friend, won’t you be super-pleased (for some strange reason, I’m reading that sentence over in the Kentucky accent of a woman I know, and it sounds de-liiight-ful).
Explain to your students how important it is for them to give there readers a complete sense of the subject they are writing about. To do that, fully and completely, the reader needs to know the six most essential things about the subject/topic. Who, what, why, where, when, and how.
Let me know if anyone else has tried this in ESL classrooms, and does it work for you?
haha! the “baap” of all rules?? haha! hilarious!