5 Summary

This unit has emphasised the importance of giving young students frequent opportunities to practise writing with a range of tools, in different places and for different purposes. Writing is a developmental process, starting from early mark-making to writing longer texts. It requires physical stamina as well as language knowledge.

A student’s early writing is to be enjoyed, valued and understood. It should not be an occasion for hunting and correction of errors. What young students write about, and their enthusiasm for writing, is more important than the mechanics of writing (spelling, handwriting, punctuation and spacing).

You may teach in a school where students have little or no exposure to writing in their homes or in their community. You may be the main source of writing for your students in English and Hindi. Therefore it is important to make your classroom a ‘print-rich environment’. There is a separate teacher development unit about this topic.

Other Elementary English teacher development units on this topic are:

• The learning environment.
• Developing and monitoring writing.