In the primary stage, children are not expected to write anything before listening and reading.
Steps You to Teach Writing to Primary Students
Here are the steps you must follow to teach writing to primary students:
- Students should first listen to sounds and then attempt to write letters that match these sounds.
- Next, students are expected to write words and short sentences to record their ideas on paper.
- Then, students should progress from writing isolated words and phrases to short paragraphs about themselves or about very familiar topics (family, home, hobbies, friends, food, etc.)
Thus, a writing program should always be preceded by rich, broad and meaningful programs in authentic listening and reading activities.
Since writing is less threatening than speaking in that students need not be afraid of mispronouncing an unfamiliar word in a second or foreign language learning, students can have their first experiences of producing written statements in English well before they start speaking in the language.
Experts in second and foreign language acquisition say that writing skills can be developed early before students in primary schools develop full proficiency in speaking skills
Since many primary students are not yet capable either linguistically or intellectually of creating a piece of written text from scratch, it is important for teachers to spend some time building up the language students will need and providing them with a model on which they can then base their own writing.
These writing activities should generally appear towards the end of a unit so that students have had plenty of exposure to the language and practice of the main structures and vocabulary they need.
Students’ Writing Correction
The writing of primary school students, whether done in class or at home, will invariably contain mistakes. In this case, the teacher should try to be sensitive in his/her correction and not necessarily insist on every error being highlighted.
A piece of written work covered in red pen is demotivating and generally counterproductive.
So, where possible, encourage students to correct their own mistakes as they work or if there is time, encourage students to exchange their written work for peer correction. In the end, you can collect common mistakes and deal with them with the entire class.
Celebrate Students’ Writing
Remember to encourage your students to celebrate their writing efforts by decorating the classroom with their written pieces and displaying them for other classmates to see.
Thanks for reading
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