HOW TO TEACH WRITING FOR YOUNG LEARNERS

By English For Young - Writing is one of the four main skills in language learning. Teaching writing for young learners certainly different  with older learners. As young learners they begin with “emergent writing”. This starts with pretend writing and then gradually they begin to write words and short texts but without knowing exactly how to spell. Emergent writing is often combined with drawings.
As a good teacher we should remember when we teach young learners that along with learning how to write in English, they refining their oral language skills, depending upon the age, begining to develop written language skills in their native language. If students do not have writing skills in their native language, they most likely won’t have them in their second language. So the teacher should never underestimate the value of native language literacy.

They are several classroom activities to teach writing for young learners.

1.    Writing models
Teacher use writing model for demonstration to show how experienced writers write and solve problems as they write. The purposes of writing models are:

• To demonstrate how to do a new type of writing activity before having children do the activity independently or in small group
• To demonstrate how to use writing strategies, such as proofreading, monitoring, sentence combining, and revising

To demonstrate how writing conventions and other skills work

2.    Group writing
Children can work collaboratively on a writing project, but it needs to be carefully organized on the part of teacher
Young learner can also work in small groups to create different pieces of written text.

3.    Talking and writing box
It is a small box that children cover with pictures that interest them.
Children create a Talking and Writing Box at the beginning  of the year and then use it throughout the years as a basis for speaking and writing activities.

4.    Conference writing
Conference writing is an activity where writers discuss and share their writing with an individual or group. It helps writers improve their own writing by

• developing their ideas
• correcting their own mistakes, and
• learning to communicate their ideas clearly.

Teachers do not correct spelling errors or general surface structure details during conferencing. Create a supportive environment, not a competitive one if you are working in a group. Resist directing changes that will take ownership away from the writer.
Respond first to the message and content before moving on to any teaching points.

5.    Words wall
Systematically organized collection of words displayed in large letters on a wall or other large display place in the classroom. It is a tool to use, not just display. Lists should be posted on the walls. And then Learners can refer to Word Wall during various stages of the writing process. The words can be arranged alphabetically and topically. It is better to color the words

Children learning to write in English need to develop knowledge and skills at different scales and level .The way of learning to write should be considered to the characteristic of young learners. It means that we have to consider about their physical and cognitive development  We should aware of the complexity of what has to be learnt to become a successful writer, we can offer children a wide variety of language tasks, games and activities focussing at different levels of skills and knowledge needed  for successfully laying the foundations of their growth in literacy.