Discussion Groups / ESL Teaching / August 2005

Hmm.

One of the ways to get the interest of pre-and-early teens up when
working on the writing skill, I've found, is to do a lot of narrative,
especially at first. Stories, other people's biographies, that sort of
thing. One of the problems with material written for that age level is
that it's often impersonal in the extreme, because there seems to be a
prejudice among authors that young teens really have little to say
about themselves or do not feel comfortable talking about practically
anything personal in a group environment. Narrative allows them to
escape into imaginary space. I also feel that the material written
especially for 13 year olds is far too pop-culture based, which is
supposed to raise their interest but often makes students feel that
their old, decrepit teachers are intruding into their world in a
heavy-handed, paternalistic, and dismissive manner.

I can at least lead you to one of the head gurus in the field in this
sort of thing, that is, dealing with teenagers in an ESL environment:
an Austrian writer named Herbert Puchta. You might try doing a web
search on his name and seeing what turns up.