writing

2.  Writing, has its ‘mechanical’ components.
 Include handwriting, spelling, punctuation, and the construction of
well-formed sentences, paragraphs, and texts.
 Some of the exercises are;
 Teaching handwriting
 Teaching spelling
 Teaching punctuation

3.  Using punctuation correctly is an important skill.
 If capital letters, commas, full stops, sentence and paragraph are not used
correctly, this can not only make a negative impression but of course, make a
text difficult to understand.
 Teach students how to use punctuation conventions correctly.

8.  Students need to learn & practice the art of putting words together in well-
formed sentences, paragraphs, and text.
 One way of doing this is parallel writing where students follow a written
model.

9.  The most basic form of parallel writing is the kind of sentence writing that is
often used for grammar reinforcement.
 Students are given one / two model sentences and then have to write similar
sentences based on information they are given / on their own thoughts.
 For example;

10.  The following example asks students to look at how pronouns are used in a text
and then gets them to write pairs of sentences in which they use pronouns in
the same way based on the information they are given.
 Students read the following story;

11.  They are then asked to say who / what the words he, his, it, we, she, him, and they
refer to in the text, and how they know.
 They discuss the role of pronouns and possessives in avoiding repetition and in
creating cohesion.
 They then complete the following exercise:

12.  This examples employs a ‘substitution-drill’ style of procedure to encourage students
to write a paragraph which is almost identical to one they have just read.
 This is like a substitution drill in that new vocabulary is used within a set pattern or
patterns.
 Students read the following paragraph;

13.  After the teacher has made sure they have understood the information about
Shakespeare, students are given the following table of information and asked to write a
similar paragraph about Jane Austen:

16.  This example uses the technique of parallel writing but it leaves the students
free to decide how closely they wish to follow original model.
 Students first read the following story about ‘Plants’.

17.  After reading the story, students complete the following exercise:
Use the story about Plants to help you to
write a magazine article about Plants. Use
your imagination or write a story.