3 Reading to inspire writing

The more students listen to English and read in English, the better will be their writing in English. When you teach students to speak and read in English, you are also teaching them to write in English. Once students start to read, they can begin to write. Once they write, they will want to read their own and others’ writing. In the final case study, the teacher tries out new ways to inspire this process.

Case Study 3: Mr Bhatt starts with reading to inspire writing

This is an extract adapted from an article written by Hemraj Bhatt, a government school teacher.

Our new textbook was going to break new ground to introduce students directly to English words and sentences, rather than beginning with the letters of the alphabet and making them ‘mug up’ the letters by writing them out. No special importance was to be given to writing. Instead, students were to be given opportunities to hear, read and speak English. Previously, the textbook would dedicate the initial six to eight pages to the English alphabet with related pictures. This tradition of beginning with writing the English alphabet was thus to be broken in the new book. As a conventional teacher, I found it hard to imagine how students would be able to read English words directly before writing the letters.

After attending the training provided, I decided to experiment. I distributed some old English newspapers and students' magazines among my students so that everyone could look at at least three pages. I wrote an English word on the board. For example, a particular student's name was Jaipal. I wrote his name on the board. Now, Jaipal would have to find the English letters ‘J’, ‘A’, ‘I’, ‘P’ and ‘L’ in the newspaper given to him and circle them. Similarly, all students would look for and circle all the letters that appeared in their names in the newspaper given to them.

The students had a lot of fun finding the letters that appeared in their names. They were particularly amused when they saw their entire name in English in the paper and could circle the entire word. This exercise was meant to take the students from words to letters and was successful in doing so. I was surprised to see that students who couldn't identify English letters a few months ago were able to find examples of letters and words in newspapers and magazines. I realised through the newspaper exercises that reading in English can be made fun for students. Most importantly for me as a teacher, I saw that once students began to read in English, they were eager to start writing in English too.

(Adapted from Bhatt, 2009)

Pause for thought

  • Do you agree with Hemraj Bhatt’s conclusion that listening, speaking and reading should precede writing in English? Why or why not?
  • In India, students in middle school have studied English since their lower primary classes – but a majority of them are unable to read simple words, let alone write sentences in English. How do you think Bhatt’s newspaper activity begins to address this problem?
  • Do you think you could try out the above newspaper activity with your students? If you do not have access to English newspapers, could you try this activity using a variety of English textbooks?

Activity 3: Reading to inspire writing – a planning activity

Read through the activities in Resource 2. In each of these activities there is a link between reading and writing.

  • Choose one activity you feel you could try out with your class.
  • How will you evaluate the writing students produce from the activity?
  • How much will you focus on composition, and how much on transcription?
  • Do you think it is important to link reading and writing?

2 Giving feedback

4 Summary