How to comment and write better: Techniques for Steemit and the classroom.

I was reading the following article from @jaynie and think it best to write something to complement the article. Being a second language teacher, I understand that if one's language is not English, it's not as easy to engage other authors or even to write something on Steemit.

Some may just resort to copying. While there are those who do copy because they are not willing to try, I choose to believe that people copy because they find it difficult to write. So for today's article, I want to go through a few essentials on how to do better on Steemit. Specifically, techniques on commenting and article writing.

To all my fellow English teachers on Steemit, these techniques can be used for the second language classroom. The techniques and examples on Steemit can be used for speaking activities and the article writing techniques can be used for short expository or even narrative writing. So, let us take a look:

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Techniques to comment

I have found many responses with the following statements:

• Nice
• Great
• Good
• Awesome

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I appreciate those comments but I think really, there is so much more one can say. I used to train students to speak in their English entrance exam and one consists of an oral component whereby the students have to respond orally is to a particular topic. In this case, one is not allowed to just respond with a word. Normally, two to three sentences is considered acceptable. As such, consider this when responding on Steemit. When you say that someone's article is good, what do you mean by 'good'. Here are three ways :

- Pick one point found in the article :

In this case, you can respond to an article by saying, 'Good, I especially love the point that you brought up on staying focused. I do the same too.'

See, is this not much better than merely just saying 'good'? You can go on to elaborate further on how you may have similar experiences in your life. This brings us to the next point.

- Talk about how the whole article made you feel:

For this, you can respond by saying, 'Good, this article made me feel like I am not alone in this. It is good knowing that someone else is facing the same problem as I.'

If you were to combine it to the point earlier, it will sound like this:
"Good, I like how you elaborated on staying focused. I do the same too. Reading your article made me feel as if I am not alone in this. It is good knowing that someone else is facing the same problem as I."

I hope you are seeing where I am going with this. If you put two of these ideas together, the comment becomes better. Now let us talk about the last way of how one can comment.

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Provide your own view or experience:

I am sure everyone of us have a different and unique experience to bring to any article. With the different people from different countries, I am sure we each would have a different way of seeing things. That is what makes your comment valuable and I for one would love to hear your experience. As such, you can respond to a comment by saying:

Good, I had the same experience not long ago after I have lost someone I love.

Now if you merge this statement with all the other statements mentioned above, it would sound like this:

*"Good, I like how you elaborated on staying focused. I do the same too. Reading your article made me feel as if I am not alone in this. It is good knowing that someone else is facing the same problem as I. I had the same experience not long ago when I lost someone I love."

There you have it a longer and much more elaborated response. If you are in the midst of preparing your students for certain oral tests where they will be required to respond to an examiner or their course mates. In other words, these techniques are useful in preparing your students for tests that assess speaking skills.

Easy articles to write

In the second language classroom, I would normally advice my students to write expository or narrative essays. Both of these are generally easier to score and as such would help ensure that they are less likely to do badly in their writing tests. However, if you are struggling with writing a proper article, perhaps you may want to try something that is more narrative.

Now, if you are writing on Steemit, a good way to 'hack' this is perhaps to write a story that is peppered with pictures. This can consist of a recent place that you have just visited or even a trip that you were on. A good article can just be how you went about the trip, supported with pictures to illustrate your experience.

An example of this can be found below:

Do take the time to write about what you do from start to the end and support how the entire trip made you feel. You can also support this with the methods you use in creating better comments.

However, if you are wondering how to write better, I have a few articles written on how to write quickly. Do feel free to check them out:

https://steemit.com/steemiteducation/@alvinauh/how-to-start-writing-articles-quickly-ideas-to-guide-steemians-and-students

https://steemit.com/sndbox/@alvinauh/a-technique-on-how-to-find-ideas-when-you-have-no-ideas-left

Conclusion

I do hope this has been helpful. A lot of these aspects covered are useful in the ESL(English as a second language) classroom. This is because it breaks English into something that is formula-like, making it easier for the students to take into account how to speak or write better.

In addition, if you find anyone whom you think that may need this, do send them a link about this. Also, if you think that I have missed something, do let me know so I can better improve on it. Let us make Steemit a more engaging place through the comments and articles produced. I understand that implementing all the techniques above does not make you a great writer and a person who is great at writing comments. At the very least, this is a step in the right direction.

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