TEACHING WRITING TO

YOUNG LEARNERS

Writing is not always easy

Writing is a good thing (1)

Writing is a good thing (2)

Writing activities
with younger children

Writing for Older Children

The steps of Dictogloss

WRITING ACTIVITIES
Controlled and guided activities are being done to practice
the language.
Free activities should allow for self expression at however
low a level, and content is what matters most.
The activities move from controlled to being free

Writing activities

Controlled writing activities (1)

Copying

Disguised word copying

Copying from the board
Making notes
Whisper writing

Controlled writing activities (2)

Guided writing activities

Fill in exercises
Dictation
Letters/cards/invitations

Free writing activities

The language is the pupils own language

Teacher should be initiator and helper
The more language the pupils have, the easier it is to work.
The correcting should be done ehile they are working on it.
Teacher does not always have to correct all the mistake
The aim is to produce a piece of writing which is as correct
as you can expect from them
Older pupils beyong beginner should be encouraged to
rewrite their work.
Ideally each pupil should have a folder or ring binder

Pre-writing activities

Talking about the subject

Words stars
Vocabulary charts
Topic vocabulary

Writing activities

free writing
Covers wider range of activities
Pupils can take writing home
Their writing can be displayed and look
back too see the progress
Take time to make writing as good as
possible.

Dos on free writing

Concentrate first on content
Spend a lot of time on pre-writing work
Make sure that it springs naturally from
other language work
Try to make sense of whatever the pupuils
have written and say something positive
about it
Encourage but dont insist on rewriting
Display the material whenever possible

Donts on free writing

Announce the subject out of the blue and
expect the pupils to be able write about it
Set an exercise as homework without any
preparation
Correct all the mistakes you can find
Set work which is beyond the pupils
language capability

TEACHING STUDENTS
TO WRITE

Teaching handwriting
Teachers can follow a two-stage approach:
a. Recognition
Recognize specific letters within a sequence of
letters. The teacher can draw letters or words in
the air which SS have to identify.
b. Production
Teacher can give dictation of individual words and
asks SS to write down, gives an alphabetical list of
animals and SS have to write the words in one of
three columns, gives questions and SS have to
write one-word answer.

Teaching Punctuation
SS at elementary level can study a
collection of words and identify + rewrite
which ones are written in capital letters or
not
SS are asked to give punctuations such as
full stops and commas
SS can be shown a sentence and ask to
identify what punctuation is used and why

Sentence Paragraph and Text

Sentence production (elementary level): SS are
given one or two model sentences and then have to
write similar sentences based on information given
or on their own thoughts
Paragraph construction (elementary level): it
employs a substitution drill style of procedure to
encourage SS to write a paragraph which is almost
identical to one they have just read.
Free text construction (elementary level): it uses the
technique of parallel writing but it leaves the SS free
to decide how closely they wish to follow the original
model or based on their imagination.

Teaching writing to children