Spanish Writing Activity : Modal Verbs and Infinitives

The topic of this writing assignment is a magazine article about the region where the student lives and focuses on modal verbs and infinitives (what visitors can, must, have to do, etc.). This approach to writing cuts down on the number of drafts that students need to write, particularly when the language issues are in the areas of spelling, accent placement, verb forms and adjective agreement. Students review language elements on their own before and while writing. Students receive the topic in advance of the in-class writing assignment along with the prep sheet (see thumbnail). The prep sheet is for student use and reference during the writing assignment in class. The left hand side has room for brainstorming and outlining, while right hand site has space for nouns, verbs and grammar topics that are relevant to the topic. Students then write in class and use this sheet as their reference. Also included are individual rubrics for the teacher to use when grading and a sheet for student writing, which has the section of the rubric with the best score explained.