Writing: tiresome and boring or enjoyable?
Learn as much by writing
as by reading.
(Lord (John Emerich Edward Dalberg) Acton)
Do your pupils enjoy writing? Is it easy for you to teach writing in an attractive way? Do you want to know more about the importance of developing writing with young learners? In this chapter we will discuss how to bring some excitement to the process of writing in the classroom and supply you with practical examples. As was mentioned in Chapter 1 psychological features of this age influence the choice of activities. Moreover, we have to think about ways in which we help our pupils to travel a long way from the first letter tracing exercise to creating a piece of independent writing.
What, why and how much?
When children learn Russian, first they are taught to shape letters, then to write separate words, and later on short sentences. After children have mastered handwriting, they are gradually taught guided and free writing in primary school. For example, by the time they are eight they can write short descriptions and summaries and by the time they are ten or eleven they are ready to write compositions about topics that are interesting to them. They are still in the process of developing writing skills in Russian; they can already cope with a range of writing activities at school. The process of learning to write will present children with many different challenges. Writing is not only putting the words down, it involves spelling, grammar, punctuation, choice of appropriate words, text construction. Older children also think about content, try to be self-critical and edit their own work.
If this skill is so difficult, why do we include writing in the primary English lessons? When children start English at the age of seven or eight, they are already writing in Russian, and their natural need to communicate in writing can transfer to English. They may want to be able to write notes, cards, e-mail or letters. However we cannot expect rapid development of writing skills in the foreign language. In the primary school writing mainly supports the development of other skills. For example, teachers often get the children to write down the list of words they learnt in class. Teachers may need to be patient and give children lots of time and opportunities for practice.
How do we develop writing?
As we have mentioned above, development of writing skills is time-consuming. We start from simple activities aiming at developing motor skills like tracing and copying and provide enough practice in guided activities in order to teach them free writing.
Preparing to write.
This stage of teaching writing cannot be ignored. The existing difference between Latin and Cyrillic scripts may cause lots of difficulties for young learners. That is why they might need a considerable amount of practice in order to acquire good handwriting.
There is a common practice in primary school to use tracing writing activities to develop fine motor skills.
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Children normally do these activities willingly like colouring and drawing, but teachers may want to be careful about not overdoing it as learners quickly get bored.
You may try to use unusual ways of developing initial writing skills. You can ask your pupils to “write” in the air, on the desk or even on each other’s back. Look at the activity suggested in “Millie 2”:
“Back writing” Suggested procedure:
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While children enjoy this activity they are also practising their motor skills and are safe even if they make mistakes. Besides this, the kinaesthetic learners have the opportunity to learn through moving and touching (see Chapter 1 about learning styles)
Here is another activity taken from Millie 2 AB:
This is a real challenge for children as it develops visual-spatial intelligence (see Chapter 1) and concentration of attention. It satisfies the child’s need to want to play and search.
Learning to write.
As soon as your pupils have acquired the necessary motor skills you may start involving them into controlled and guided activities. Controlled activities develop the ability to copy, which is often accompanied with practising or testing reading, grammar and vocabulary. According to the Russian ELT Educational Standard by the time pupils finish Primary school they should be able to write short texts neatly and legibly.