What just I read...........

4NUTS AND BOLTS
(written by Thomas J in How to Teach Writing; England,2004)

      The mechanic of writing

      The handwriting challenge

      Teaching handwriting

      The spelling challenge

      Teaching spelling

      Teaching punctuation

      Copying

      Sentence, paragraph, and text

A.  The mechanic of writing

       There are “mechanicals” components in writing:

·         Handwriting

·         Spelling

·         Punctuation

·         The construction of well-formed sentences

·         Paragraph

·         Text

Those are called the nuts and bolts of the writing skill. The greater the difference between the students’ L1 and English the bigger the challenge for student and teacher alike. To overcome the problems with handwriting and spelling by enabling exercises on the way to developing an overall writing ability or by copying and parallel writing  (imitating writing model). They will help the students a basic mechanical which they can put to use when they write more creatively.

B.  The handwriting challenge

            Handwriting is still important nowadays even though there is computer keyboard, to do the exam writing. To write postcards, to write application forms, etc. Handwriting is difficult for some students whose language is not Roman Cursive or “joined-up” lettering presents a number of problems.

            The area of difficulty can include producing the shape English letter, not only in upper case (capital) but also in lower case (non-capital) equivalents.

C.  Teaching handwriting

       There are two-stage approach that can be applied by the teacher in helping the students who have trouble with some or all aspects of English handwriting:

1.    Recognition

If students are to form English letters correctly, they have to recognize them first  (see P 45)

2.    Production

Getting students to produce letters involves them in learning which direction the writing stroke go, and where to position the letters on line (see P 45)

            After the students are confident about forming letters we can give them practice activities  (which will also include a spelling element):\

1.      The teacher dictates individual words.

2.      The students have 3 columns. In the left column there is a list of words. The students read the left column. Then they cover it and write the words in the middle column. Then they compare what they have written with the left column, and , if necessary, write the word correctly in the right column

3.      The students are given  an alphabetical list of animals, and ask them to write the words in one of three columns  (headed ‘pets, ‘farm animal’ and ‘wild animal’

4.      Asking some questions and ask the students to write down their answer.

D.  The spelling challenge

            Many people say that English spelling is irregular and therefore difficult.

·      The same sound can be spelt differently e.g threw and through

·       The same spelling can be pronounced differently as  threw and sew

            English spelling is complex but it is not completely random and is, in fact, fairly regular; there are usually clear rules about when certain spellings are and are not acceptable. English spelling rule do often have exceptions but these usually only apply to a small of individual words.

          English learners need to be aware about how we use different spelling to distinguish between homophones  (words that sound the same but are spelt differently), and pairs of words that sound identical.

          Spelling make English relatively easy to read. Word roots, for example, are always recognizable even when we add  affixes; prefixes or suffixes.

E.  Teaching Spelling

            The best way of helping students to learn how to spell is to have them read as much as possible. Extensive reading (reading longer text, such as simplified readers, for pleasure) helps students to remember English spelling rules and their exceptions, although many students may need some encouragement to do this kind of reading.

            However, as the teachers we can be more proactive , here some ideas to make the students familiarize themselves  with spelling patterns and also practice them, by asking the students:

1.      Hearing words

2.      Reading aloud

3.      Reading and  listening to a series of words.

4.       Working out a rule by looking at the spelling of pairs or groups of words.

5.      Using their dictionary to help them to notice and absorb English spelling.

6.      Trying to write the words they hear on a tape, teacher or they can dictate to each other.

7.      Making words from the cards given (some games: “noughts and crosses”’ “secret codes’ or ‘backward spelling’

F.   TEACHING PUNCTUATION

       Using punctuation correctly is an important skill. The quality of what is written not just on the content, the language , and the writer’s handwriting but also their use of punctuation. If capital letters, comma, full stops, sentence and paragraph boundaries etc, are not used correctly, this cannot  make a negative impression but can, of course, also make a text difficult to understand.

            The need for accurate punctuation (or spelling) does not seem to be so great in using e-mail communication. However, even e-mails can sometimes be more formal or official and then such careless use of the computer keyboard may make a poor impression.

            If we want our students to be good writers in English we need to teach them how to use punctuation convention correctly (see  P 50)

Here are some ideas for getting students to recognize aspects of punctuation and be able to use them:

1.      Students at elementary level can study a collection of words and identify which ones are written with capital letter.

2.      Students have had full stop, commas, and capital letters explained to them, they can asked to punctuate a short text.

3.      Students can be shown a passage and asked to identify what punctuation is used

And  why.

G.      COPYING

            Copying is an important skill in real life. It needs some practice to copy accurately. Here some  copying procedures designed both for learning spelling and for encouraging accurate copying itself:

1.    Disguised word copying

We may give students a list of words randomly organized which they then have to rewrite in alphabetical order.

2.    Copying them from the board

Teacher writes up on the board words or phrases with potentially difficult spellings. The students have exactly 30 seconds to look at the words before teacher rubs them of the board and then they have to try and write them correctly.

3.    Making notes

By using a pen and paper to collect as much as possible information as they can. The teacher can check the notes to see if students have copied down information correctly.

4.    Whisper writing

This is a kind of game that begins with a students at one end of the line being given a written sentence. The last student  writes the sentence on the board. Then the teacher writes up the original sentence.

H.  Sentence, Paragraph’ and Text

1.    Sentence Production (elementary)

Students are given one or two models sentences, then they have to write similar sentences  based on information they are given or an own thoughts. This is often used for grammar reinforcement.

2.    Paired sentence (intermediate)

Ask students to look at how pronouns are used in a text and then ask them to write pairs of sentences in which they use pronouns in the same way based on information they are given.

3.    Paragraph construction (elementary)

The example is a substitution drill that can encourage students to write a paragraph which is almost identical to  one they have just read.

4.    Controlled text construction (intermediate)

In this exercise the students focus  on the genre of ‘report writing’

5.    Free text construction (elementary)

This is a technique of parallel writing but it leaves the students free to decide how they follow the original closely