The method of collecting with the students not only words, but also expanded language elements orally and in writing in preparation for certain writing assignments is a valuable contribution for the expansion of their expressive competence. The establishment of such a list is mainly known from speaking assignments (i. e. useful phrases for discussions) , but is equally useful in connection with writing tasks. The selection of language elements depends on the actual writing assignment, as seen in the following examples:
- Before reporting about an experience (vacation, trip, adventure, etc.): find various beginnings of sentences, in order to avoid the common overuse of “and then”…:
- Before writing the text, it is a good idea to orally practice concrete examples. In the writing assignments, students are then instructed to use at least three of the sentence beginnings from the list.
- Before beginning a descriptive task (describing a picture or a landscape), students should collect location identifiers, places, positions, with the appropriate prepositions (“in front of the hourse stands…”, “in the background I can see…”, “above the mountains…”, or possibilities to express one’s feelings (“I like particularly…”, “I think it is nice that…”, “I don’t quite understand why…”, “I could imagine that the artist…” etc.
- Before writing a text in which, for instance, the advantages and disadvantages of life as an immigrant are considered, a great variety of phrases should be collected to express one’s feelings in a more nuanced way than just “I think…”, such as: “I believe that…”, “In my experience …”, “In my view…”, “In my perspective…”, “I am convinced that…”, “I doubt that…” etc. Here as well, it is recommended that students first practice these expressions orally. In their subsequent writing assignments, they should then have to apply at least three of the phrases from the collected list.