TECHNIQUES FOR TEACHING

WRITING IN ENGLISH

A. Developing a Written Vocabulary

Labelling Learn themerelated words

Make picture dictionaries

Copying

Simple Copying Activities

Words written in dotted outline

Write out the plural form of the word

Divide the words into categories

Write out pairs of rhyming words eg: cat, hat, eat, meat etc.

Spelling pattern eg cat, bat, hat etc.

B. Teaching Sentence Formulation

The student tells the teacher a story / anything about himself The teacher writes down what the student has told him

Show to the student written language actually represents oral language. Use the written story as a reading text
The student copy the text into his own book.

Story telling (oral language)

Writes down (written language)

Reading

Copy

1. Sentence Completion - The student copies from a model

Example : The dog is .. (big, blue) - The student uses vocabulary cards to complete a sentence Example : The dog is . - The student writes original sentences Example : The .

2. Short sentence Long sentence Longer sentence Example : I saw a dog I saw a brown dog I saw a little, brown dog I saw a little, old, brown dog

3.

Write down words that have been taught ( on separate index cards)

Take turns drawing cards.

Form sentences using the word.

Read each others card ( when all the cards have been used).

4. Plan activities that require writing only a few sentences.

Example : a) Greeting card messages b) Post card messages c) Description of pictures of things a and persons. d) Captions for pictures on bulleting boards e) Small books about a subject, like Birds f) Dialogue for comic strips g) Steps in an experiment

5. Sentence Combining - a sentence pattern is provided, and the student combines two given sentences following the modeled pattern. Example: The ball is big. It is on the table. The big ball is on the table.

6. Arranging the words to form a grammatical sentence. Example : cat, small, the, is the cat is small.

7. Expanding the sentence by adding descriptive words Example : many - boys - swimming - river. There are many boys swimming in the river.

C. Teaching Students to Write Texts

Rewrite the paragraph by arranging sentence which are out of sequence in a logical and meaningful order. Give individual pictures. Ask the student to put the pictures in sequence. And then write sentences about each picture sequential story. Cut out an interesting picture from a magazine. Paste the picture on a large piece of paper. Then ask the student to write a few sentences about the picture.

Daily dairy / personal journal.

Write connected text.

D. Principles of Teaching Writing

The English teacher should :
Provide opportunities for sustained writing. Establish a writing community. Allow students to choose their own topics. Model the writing process and strategic thinking. Develop reflective thinking and a sence of audience. Transfer ownership and control of the writing to the students. Capitalize on current student interests. Avoid punitive grading. Differentiate between personal and functional writing. Provide abundant input. Schedule frequent writing.

E. Remediating Problems in Writing

Auditory perception & Memory of letter sounds
Provide practice in auditory perception of letter sounds, strengthen knowledge of phonics and structural analysis.

Example : Cat vs Cats _s One / more than one

Visual perception & Memory of letters

Help the student strengthen visual perception and memory so that the visual image of a word can be retained

The Fernald Method

make a model of the word using crayon or marker say the word as you write. check the accuracy of the spelling. trace over by index finger while saying the word Repeat step 3 five times. Copy the word 3 times correctly Copy the word 3 times correctly from the memory.

Cover-and-write method
Look at the word : say it Write the word two times Cover and write it one time Check work Write the words three times Cover and write it one time Check work.