Here’s a practical guide showing you how to teach writing from letter writing to composition writing using simple activities.
When we write, we use graphic symbols: the letters or combination of letters which relate to the sounds we make when speaking. Writing can be said to be the act of forming these symbols.
But, writing is much more than the production of graphic symbols. The symbols have to be arranged according to certain conventions, to form words, and words have to be put in the right way to form grammatically correct sentences. Then, sentences have to be connected to build a coherent composition.
Continue reading as I’m going to show you how to help your students do so.
Why Learners Try to Avoid Writing
Many learners try to avoid writing activities for various reasons. Some of these reasons can be:
- Lack of motivation.
- Fear of committing mistakes.
- Lack of sufficient practice.
- Spelling difficulties.
- Structural mistakes.
- Punctuation\capitalization difficulties.
- Vocabulary (Word choice\using words in context).
- The flow of ideas\sequencing of ideas.
- Mother tongue interference.
Four Levels of Writing
There are four main levels of writing and each level require children to develop certain knowledge and skills.
1. Letter Level
To master this level, children need to develop the following knowledge and skills:
- Knowledge of the English alphabet.
- An understanding of the relationship between sounds and written symbols.
- Knowledge of the mechanics of writing which are:
- Left-to-right orientation.
- Correct hand movement.Pencil control.Line as an anchor point.
- Upper/lower case letters.
2. Word Level:
To master this level, children need to develop the following knowledge and skills:
- Spacing of letters within words.
- Ligature/cursive handwriting.
- Spelling.
3. Sentence Level:
To master this level, children need to develop the following knowledge and skills:
- Spacing between words.
- Punctuation.
- Capitalization.
- Vocabulary.
- Structure.
4. Connected Text:
To master this level, children need to develop the following knowledge and skills:
- Choosing topics to write about.
- Sequencing of ideas.
- Organization\form.
Teaching Writing From Letter Writing to Composition Writing
Let’s start with the stages of teaching letters, then mention some word writing activities and sentence writing activities, and finish with how to teach composition writing using Process Writing.
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