My+L1+and+L2+writing+experience

=Feedback from the teacher:= Hi, everyone. Thank you all for completing Task 1 of Week 1. Since it would have been impossible to listen to all the discussions in class, it was essential for me to read about your experiences with L1 and L2 writing. I particularly appreciated the way you referred to each others' comments as you filled out the table, demonstrating that you were also interested in what your friends had to say. As I was reading it, it felt like I was reading a conversation among you. You really exceeded my expectations.

I was surprised by how many of you enjoy creative writing. Maybe it's because I'm not much of a creative writer; my writing is mostly practical. Thus, I admire people who can create characters and stories. A few of you are like me, though, and prefer to stick to the objective, real-world side.

I identified a pattern in most of your comments: though you have to do more practical writing, you do it more intuitively than based on explicit knowledge about writing. This is also what makes most of you insecure about teaching writing. This is exactly what this course purports to do, namely, to develop your metacognitive awareness about writing. By way of an experiential approach, in which you actually follow the steps involved in effective writing, the course will enhance your knowledge of the stages of the writing process and how they should be worked on in class.

All of you mentioned that you will need to write essays and reports in English. Yes, we will write essays and also a report. Process analysis wasn't part of the Writing curriculum, but I included it so that we can develop expertise in writing reports. This way, we hope to work with the genres that are authentic to you and that you will need to develop the most.

In sum, thank you for our insights! = = =Reflections on writing in L1 and L2=

You will fill out the table below with a short summary of what you discussed with your peers regarding your L1 and L2 day-to-day and also school-related writing experience. The rows present each of your names, and the columns present the topics to post about. The last column asks you to write down the genres you need to write in English, both for personal purposes and for professional purposes.

**Text genres** fulfill a communicative goal. Examples of genres are essays, letters, reports, biographical statements, recipes, news reports, diary entries, etc. **Text types** are narrative, descriptive, process-analysis, etc.

but now I only write for practical purposes. ||= I've never felt confident doing it. ||= I'd say I write better in English than in my own language because I've studied and practiced it a lot more. (e.g., taking prep classes for CPE and translating scientific papers) ||= Totally insecure. And, in addition, I think it's boring. (there, I said it, sorry.) [That's it Ju... thanks for verbalizing it ("not offering all they could have"), I couldn't quite put my finger on it but that's it] ||= Reports. Papers. || Articles, essays, tests and others had to be done in English, which kept me in contact with the writing process. ||= I share a bit of Dharana's feelings towards teaching writing. I sometimes feel I am not offering all that my students need ( writing techniques). ||= Essays, reports. Papers. || reports and news reports. ||
 * = Name ||= Creative writing or practical writing? ||= You as an L1 writing student in high school and in university ||= Writing development in English ||= Feelings about teaching writing ||= Genres you have or will have to produce in English ||
 * = Aline ||= I enjoy creative writing, but I feel comfortable with practical writing as well. ||= I used to enjoy written assignments, but I didn't fully understand the structure of the genres I was using. ||= I don't feel very confident yet. I'm aware of some techniques for writing, but still afraid of making some language mistakes. ||= Well, I used to teach writing as a L1 teacher, I enjoyed it. I would like to develop my skills and maybe someday teach writing in English. ||= Essays, reports, papers. ||
 * = Âmara ||= Creative writing without pressure. ||= I used to feel confident since my mom was a Portuguese teacher and always encouraged me to read and write. ||= I'm trying to relax at the same time I'm excited to learn. I don't write well in English. ||= Not confident at all. I really need to learn a lot before I start teaching it. ||= Essays and reports. ||
 * = Carolina ||= I prefer creative writing - I really need to hone my practical writing skills. ||= I had fun writing fiction, but never experienced too much trouble with other genres. ||= I'm not confident. Essays make me feel uneasy. ||= I never do anything too creative... ||= Essays, reports, papers. ||
 * = Dharana ||= I used to write stories when I was younger,
 * = Gabriel ||= Copying Âmara's answer, I feel good with both (creative would be the winner, but not by much), but the less pressure there is, the better. I always feel a bit awkward knowing there is a time limit or deadline involved. ||= I usually did okay, especially in creative writing, but I must say I always wrote based more on instinct than on any formal study. As a student, I felt my writing came out decent, but I couldn't really explain why. This is one of my personal goals, to leave the "instinct zone" and look at writing a bit more... "scientifically", maybe? ||= Though I haven't written in a while, I believe I fare pretty much the same in both languages. I've always been better at the receptive skills than the productive ones. I often feel my writing in English lacks the vocabulary necessary to make it "flow". ||= This is probably the side of me as a teacher that needs the most work. I feel I can often spot where a text can improve after it's been made, but I'm not sure I'm good at teaching how to prevent the need for those improvements beforehand. ||= I didn't understand this part - as a teacher, as a tdc student, or personally speaking? Though I believe it would be interesting to work with all genres. ||
 * = Gustavo ||= Creative writing is always great, but there's something comfortable about practical writing. ||= I used to write when I had to, really, but I did not have much trouble when I had the rules in my head. If I know how far I can go, I feel in control of what I am writing and that is half the way to creating something decent, I think. ||= The amount of writing has been decreasing lately. I'm afraid I forgot a lot of things. ||= If I had to do it today, I would list my experiences from the past and hope for the best. ||= I'm not sure. ||
 * = Heloisa ||= I enjoy creative writing. ||= When I was a teenager I used to write stories because I had a good habit of reading and this helped me very much. In university I had to start writing techincal reports and I stopped writing stories and reading novels as well. ||= I need to learn a lot. ||= I think a good way to teach is to give to my students small paragraphs and ask them to develop a new paragraph from the first one. However it will be a big chalenger. ||= Essays, reports. Papers. ||
 * = Juliana S ||= I'm used to creative writing and I prefer it. It allows us more freedom while practical writing demands that we follow certain rules, and I'm really bad at that. Following rules cramps my style. ||= Writing has always been the easiest skill for me. I guess it is because I prefer writing to talking. (I got prizes in writing competitions and had articles in Spanish, as well as in Portuguese, published at the university newsletter. But my dad says my writing is crap. So, let's learn how to write properly!) ||= Dharana's words echo my own experience, although I haven't written at all lately. ||= I really don't like doing that, since writing for me comes more from inspiration than perspiration. I cannot teach what I have never been taught. ||= Reports, papers and maybe essays. ||
 * = Juliana M ||= I feel much more comfortable with practical writing ||= I used to be a very active writer in L1 in College than in High school,due to the types of evaluation professors used to use. ||= Being in college have helped me develop my writing abilities.
 * = Louise ||= I like practical writing better, but with some effort I can produce some creative writing. ||= I've always liked writing in Portuguese, and was a pretty good writer in High School. ||= My last experiences with writing in college were a bit shocking. My writing expression 2 professor says he doesn't think it's important to teach us how to write (and I strongly disagree with him). I've lost some of my passion for writing after that. ||= I don't have any experience in this area, but I hope I learn how to make it interesting for my students and fot me. ||= Essays, reports, papers, letters, diary entries... ||
 * = Sarah ||=  ||=   ||=   ||=   ||=   ||
 * = Wilsimara ||= I like practical writing. I am not creative at all. ||= I always was good writer in L1, specially when in High School because I had to train a lot for vestibular. ||= I improved my writing skills in L2 after living abroad and after taking TDC1 as well. I want to improve it more until I have no mistakes. ||= As Louise, I have never taught how to write well in English. If I had to give a lesson about it, I would use the techniques I learned in TDC 1. ||= Essays,

When I was a teenager I used to write a lot because I used to read also a lot and the habit of reading helped very much. I liked to write creative stories.