SFischer Misunderstood

A response to the Misunderstood Activity
created by Sarah Fischer (@sfischer)

Number of views: 299


An often misunderstood concept for the students I teach writing/business communication to is the importance of word choice. Improving word choice can significantly improve the professionalism and tone of a student’s writing and, by extension, their future success in the workplace. It is a trend for many to over-complicate their writing by choosing less common and/or more elaborate words. 

To help reinforce the concepts of keeping writing simple and succinct, I am going to use the analogy of ‘the mile high burger’. I will use this visual to help students connect to the concepts through their own eating experiences, asking if there is a specific dish/food that they do not enjoy because it is too messy or has too many flavours happening at once (this can also be a fun way to engage with learners and share different cultures by sharing different foods). I will also use prompts that ask students to consider if they would enjoy eating such an item (regardless of whether there is a cool or yummy ingredient between the bun!) or whether the over-complicated burger would distract from their ability to enjoy lunch/dinner. Is it making something more challenging than it needs to be?

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