Children start their writing journey long before they write their first letter or word. As parents, it helps to have a basic understanding of how our children learn to write – especially if they are learning to write in English.
When we write words we are making our thinking visible. But children also express their thoughts in games, or by dancing and making music. Or they may use painting or drawing. When young children represent their experiences and ideas in these ways, they are developing abstract thinking, which is the ability to think about things that are not present. Eventually, abstract thinking also helps your child learn to write.
How your child moves from the concrete to the abstract
Language is a way we abstract thinking to represent experiences and ideas. For example, when we see a cat, we can describe it as a cat. We don’t have to say “fluffy animal with four legs.” We have learnt the word ‘cat’ represents this fluffy animal.
Language allows us to communicate ideas. We can talk about the cat when it isn’t there. We can write about what the cat did last week or read a book about a cat. Or we can listen to a friend talk about their pet cat.
When a young child sees a fluffy thing sitting on the fence, they might represent it by pretending to be a cat, or drawing a cat. The child may also say the word ‘cat’. These are all ways to use abstract thinking to represent something concrete.
Four steps of learning to write
When children learn to write, they use letters to represent the sounds that they hear in a word. This means children need a strong foundation in oral English before they start writing. They need to know how the English word sounds before writing it down. The process of learning to write looks something like this:
- Step 1. Seeing: Your child sees the fluffy thing on the fence. What is it?
- Step 2. Doing: Your child will try to represent the fluffy thing in different ways (dance, drawing, sculpture, mime, painting)
- Step 3. Listening: Your child hears people describe the fluffy thing using the spoken word /kæt/. They start to realise they can use the word ‘cat’ to describe the fluffy thing.
- Step 4. Reading and Writing: Your child starts to understand the letters c-a-t represent the sounds in the English word /kæt/.
We often push our children to start writing. But as you can see, writing is the last step in a process. Don’t cut out steps 2 and 3 when you are teaching your children to write. These steps are vital because they follow the way your child’s thinking develops.
Are your expectations reasonable?
When you know about the process of learning to write, it helps you keep your expectations in line with your children’s stage of development. If your child is very young, they are still developing abstract thinking. So, it doesn’t make sense to have them copy and write out letters to ‘teach’ them writing -- especially if they have only just started learning English. So don’t worry if your very young child hasn’t started writing in English at school yet. They are building the foundations they need to learn how to communicate well, in English.
Tips to help your child developing literacy in English
When very young children acquire a new language, they need time to soak it up. Children learn to write in English by being immersed in a language-rich environment of songs, rhymes, and stories. Through constant exposure to the language, children start using the new language to represent things by speaking, and writing. Here are ways to help your child develop an interest in English reading and writing:
- Read lots of English stories together. Children’s stories are full of meaningful child-friendly language and catchy rhyming words. Look here for a selection of books in English for primary age children
- Play English language games together. You can find lots of examples on LearnEnglish Kids.
- Sing English songs and rhymes for children. Immerse your child in the English language through songs and rhymes. British Council has a free website called Learn English Kids which has lots of songs to help you get started.
- Dance around the room together. You may be wondering what this has to do with writing English? The motor skills children develop through dance and movement include coordination and posture. These pave the way for the fine motor skills your child needs to hold a pencil and write in a straight line. Good posture also ensures your child will be able to sit comfortably at a desk in a classroom, when the time comes. Check out this song with dance moves for inspiration!
- Give your child time to play. Children begin to develop abstract thinking skills during pretend play, which is an important step in language learning.
- Do arts and crafts together. This is another useful way to develop future writing skills. Children develop abstract thinking by representing their ideas and experiences through arts and crafts. They also develop their fine motor skills as they cut, paste, draw and hold tools. This helps them develop the control they need to hold a pencil and write letters and words.
- Show your child how reading and writing have meaning and purpose in your daily lives. Try making a shopping list together in English. Don’t worry if your child is not able to write letters or words yet, they can dictate the items and you can write them down. This helps your child understand that writing things down and reading them has meaning. Show them how you read the shopping list in the market, and buy their favourite foods! Sound out simple words using a ball. Take turns at throwing and catching a ball. Call out the letters to simple English words as you go: d-o-g, p-i-g, d-u-ck, e-g-g, b-e-d, c-u-p, b-o-o-k, etc. If you’re not sure of all the sounds in the English language, download this free phonemic chart app from the British Council’s Learn English website.
- Make in fun to form letters and words in English.Take turns to write letters on each other’s back and guess the letter. Trace lines and draw letters and words in the sand at the beach, draw lines or letters on the bathroom wall with soap and bubbles, spray shaving cream into a tray and draw wavy lines, zig-zag lines or letters. Let your children draw pictures, lines, letters and words on foggy car windows, make letters out of pasta, rice, sticks or coloured fabric.