Teaching Writing

Through my experience in teaching English as a foreign language ( TEFL ) for the beginners, I found that the most effective method in teaching writing is as the following steps for handwriting :-

First of all, we have to show the pupils that English is written from left to right, mainly for those mother tongue language is written from right to left.  We give them some exercises.  We draw four lines.

uuuuuu nnnnnnn mmmmmm wwwwwww cccccccc ooooooooo

Then we let them practice writing all the alphabets.

a  b  c  d  e  f  g  h   I   j  k  l  m  n  o  p   q   r  s  t  u  v   w   x  y   z

After that, we divide the letters into three groups : the first one contains the letters that are written between the second line and the third one.

a  c  e  I  m  n  o  r  s  u  v  w  x  z

The second one contains the letters that are written between the first line and the third one.

b   d   f  h  k  l  t

The third one contains the letters that are written between the second line and the fourth one.

g  j  p  q  y

We should show the pupils how to join every letter with the letters before it and after it, in this way :

aa   bb    cc   dd  ee

Now, we should show the pupils the letters that are alike, such as :

h n    a o    t  f     g q     r v u

After that, the teacher should introduce the capital letters and show the pupils that they are written between the first line and the third one.  Then he/she should introduce the numbers and show them that they are written between the first line and the third one, like the capital letters.

Now, after introducing the small and the capital letters, we come to the words.  The most interesting thing to the pupils is to teach them how to write their names.  The teacher can write the pupils’ full names and show the that we join the small letters but we do not join the capital letters.  The teacher should show the spaces between the words ( o , a letter space ), but for the beginners, I prefer to make it a bit longer.

The teacher can write some simple questions and answers, e.g. 1- What is your name ?

2-  How old are you ?

3- Where are you from ? etc,

The teacher should draw the attention of the pupils to the letter ( c ).  He should show them that the letter ( c )  is found in ten letters in different shapes.   He can use coloured pens when he writes them.

He can also show other similarities such as :

c i = a      l c =  b     c = c     c l  = d     c — =  e

c j = g     c c =o     l  c  =p     c  l =  q    l  n = h

But the teacher should put into consideration that the most important thing in writing is symmetry, either between the letters or between the words. The teacher should draw the pupils’ attention to the shape of the letters and to write them stand upright on the correct line, not above, below or through it.

It is advisable when teaching the cursive writing ( joined letters ) to show the pupils that some letters could be confused with others. e.g.

a or o    a or u    n or u     r or n     e or c     r or v       c or d

For   but     pen rot     car     rice      clear

n or h        n or m           v v or w

near       an fewer        etc.

As writing is the fourth skill, ( listening, speaking, reading and writing ).  The general rule says : we can not write anything before reading it, and we can not read anything before speaking it and we can not speak anything before hearing it.

We can not separate the four skills, but I will deal with one skill ( writing ) as possible as I can.

We can explain the order of the four skills to the students through a simple example.  We tell them that any baby at first he/she hears the language, then speaks them.   His first words are : mom and dad ( mama and baba ), which means mother and father.  When he/she grows up and goes to school, he hears the language the he/she speaks it, reads it and the last thing he/she does it is writing it.

So, we have to introduce some rule of the pronunciation.  The teacher can give some rules of writing.

Teaching writing depends mainly on the teacher’s ability to give a pure English pronunciation.  He must be an excellent example for his students and must be serious and well-trained.  He must know the problems of teaching and correcting the English writing.

The teacher must find the common problems and must try to find solutions for these problems.  He must concentrate on these problems that are found among his students.  In my opinion, the students must know what and where their errors are.  They can correct their work by themselves.  In this way, they can find their  errors and learn from them.

The teacher should draw the pupils’ attention to the common rules.  He should give them simple words in order to give them confidence.  He also should give advice and explain  when he/she finds any opportunity, e. g. students confuse p with b and v with f .

It is advisable to encourage the students to practice writing as possible as the can.  More practice plays a big role in building good writing habits.

Some words are mispronounced according to the spelling.  The teacher should find remedy and solution by finding similarities between the students’ language and the English language.

For the Arab learners, teachers can give these examples:

Arabic word spelling         pronunciation       English meaning

thlk                                                  thalek                      that

lken                                                  laken                        but

alssaf                                                assaf                      classroom

htha                                                  hatha                         this

the teacher can put his own lists which depend on his experience and observations which can help his students to build a certain ability to control writing.  But he should keep reminding students of the vowels and diphthongs.   Learners should be warned against writing anything without knowing it.

Through writing, the students practise spelling and good handwriting.  They develop their ability to listen carefully.  They also develop their ability to link the spoken sounds of English with its written shape.

Written by: Salem Mraheel Quraisha

للمزيد

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