Writing It Right
Teachers who begin with oral methods may become a bit less popular when the writing lessons begin. When the nice person with the toys, the movies, and the computer games produces a 100-word spelling/ vocabulary list each Monday, English class will not be quite as much fun for most of your students, but there will be exceptions. Some shy students and students who especially love the written word will begin to shine when they begin to write. The progression from speaking only to speaking and writing is necessary. If students are to learn to communicate in writing in one year and compete with native speakers in three, a lot of writing practice is necessary. The good news is that once your students see that they are becoming competent writers of English, your former popularity will be restored.
As with reading, there is a myth, perpetuated mostly by people who have studied languages without learning them particularly well, that one can learn to write a language without also learning to speak it. As with reading without listening, such an accomplishment might be possible, but I have yet to meet any truly competent writers of languages that they cannot speak. There are many people who write English well despite having accents that are difficult to understand. There are also nonspeakers who can expertly write form letters (i.e., Thank you for your order of . . . to be delivered to . . . on. . . .) but cannot write a coherent original composition. Do not expect to bypass speaking and go directly to writing. As with reading and listening, writing skills should follow or accompany speaking skills.
Some teachers prefer to introduce English reading and writing together. I like to begin spelling lessons about a month after students begin to read and composition about a month after that. Most of my students like this arrangement, although some students prefer to begin reading and writing together. Reading and writing practice do reinforce one another, but many students are more comfortable with writing after they have had exposure to the written word through reading lessons.
WRITING BEGINS WITH SPELLING
Do not take the teaching of spelling lightly. Spelling is especially important for English learners. It is not uncommon for students to master oral English yet experience failure in academic classes simply because they cannot spell well enough to do the work required of them. As all of us know, English spelling is quirky. Even though English spelling is mostly rule governed, the many conventions and the large number of exceptions mean that students must memorize a great many of the words they will write. Even phonetically regular words may follow any of several conventions. Remember that there are seven “regular” ways to spell the long a sound.
Students who lack at least a fair command of English should not be forced to spell words they have not used, so begin with spelling/vocabulary words from their lessons. Spelling words can come from their textbooks, audiotapes, movies, and themed pages of picture dictionaries. Once students are able to handle English reasonably well, they will be ready to study spelling with a spelling book or computer program that presents words grouped according to spelling conventions. Do, however, incorporate these words into your lessons in other ways. Be certain that your students have the opportunity to also hear and say the words they are learning to write.
Again, a basic vocabulary of about 1,000 words makes up 80% of all that young people say and write, so students who can spell the basic thousand are off to a good start. At that point they should be able to write simple intelligible compositions with the help of dictionaries, assuming of course that they have an equivalent command of oral language. Except for students who cannot write their native language or those who do not use the Roman alphabet, most upper elementary and secondary students should be able to learn to spell beyond the basic thousand in their first year of English study.
Assuming that students begin their spelling lessons in the fourth month of the school year and they study 70 words per week for 24 weeks, they will cover 1,680 spelling words. A mere 60% mastery would give your students their basic thousand. Students who fail to learn to spell the basic thousand in the first year would be good candidates for summer school.
A number of good computer programs exist for teaching spelling. Spelling is one area in which programs designed for younger native speakers work well with English learners as well. Try out different spelling programs with your students and note both student response and results. Many good computer spelling programs mix spelling with games. Some, unfortunately, are more game than anything else. If you allow your students to study spelling with computer games, pay attention to which games yield the best results. Spelling tests scores will tell you which games are the most effective.
THE VANISHING WORD TECHNIQUE
Except for students who have not yet mastered the Roman alphabet, copying words over and over again is not a particularly efficient use of time. When students merely copy text, their minds are not obliged to remember. If, however, the students see the word for only a second or two and then it disappears before they begin to write, the mind must go to work. There are many ways to apply the vanishing word technique. You may write words on the board and then quickly erase or cover them, or you may present them on a television or computer screen using presentation software like Microsoft PowerPoint. Some computer spelling programs include activities that briefly display words on the screen and then require students to type from memory what they have seen. If you or someone in your school can program, you can make a vanishing word program with Microsoft Visual Basic or authoring software.
The vanishing word technique also works well as a paired activity. You can ask your students to copy their spelling words on note cards and then pair up. Students then can take turns briefly exposing words to their partners who will write them down. When they become more advanced, one student can briefly display two or three words and then ask the other student to compose a short sentence that includes them.
PICTURE AND WORD CARDS
For the spelling of concrete vocabulary words, you can purchase or create cards with pictures on one side and words on the other. The Frank Shaffer Company offers several sets of cards of this sort. Or you can ask students to make their own picture/word cards by taking note cards and writing on one side and drawing a picture on the other. Students can then study the words on their own by looking at the picture, writing the word or a sentence that includes the word, and turning over the card to check their spelling. This activity also helps students build their vocabularies.
PUNCTUATION AND CAPITALIZATION
If your students can write a language that employs the Roman alphabet, chances are that most of their knowledge of language mechanics will transfer to English. There will be some differences, however. For example, in Spanish capital letters are used at the beginning of sentences and for proper nouns, but not for days of the week or months, and only the first word of a title is capitalized. Although periods and commas are used in the same way in both languages, question marks and explanation points appear at both the beginning and end of interrogative and explanatory sentences, and direct quotations are punctuated differently.
DICTATION
The French, whose language has spelling that is at least as quirky as English, are fanatical about dictation. There is even an international contest called The Great Dictation in which a complicated passage is dictated and contestants write what they hear. Many participate each year but only a tiny handful produce perfect scores. I avoided giving dictations during my first few years as an ESL teacher because I hated the ones that I had to write in high school French class. Experience has since shown me that this technique is effective.
You can begin by dictating single words, and eventually work up to sentences, paragraphs, and even complete stories and essays. It is best to not ask your students to memorize the dictated passages beforehand, although most of the vocabulary used should have been already studied. Do not count as errors misspelled words that your students have not studied. You might want designate a few hundred Dolch or other basic words as “words you must never misspell,” and count them as errors whenever you find them misspelled. This would be, of course, after students have had sufficient time to learn them. Some ESL computer programs have dictation features that allow students to hear a passage, type it, and then see errors displayed.
IN THEIR OWN WORDS
After the first semester or so, older students should be able to produce simple compositions and answer test questions with short sentences. At that point students can begin to practice independent writing in English by keeping journals, writing short narration, and communicating with pen pals, either by mail or over the Internet. Intermediate students can try their hands at creative writing. Few, if any, students will be able to write error-free in their first few years of English study.
Writing errors should be seen in the same light as errors in speech, an unavoidable part of learning a new language. Encourage your students to write in both your class and in their mainstream classes. Sometimes it is tempting to give English learners only true-false or multiple choice tests. Do not succumb to that temptation. Tests that require written answers oblige students to practice writing. As with speaking, correct the errors in vocabulary and structure that students have already studied. As they become independent writers, encourage them to use their dictionaries and word processors to correct spelling errors and enrich the vocabulary of their written work.
Of course, writing is more than talking on paper. Unlike informal speech, good writing is organized, terse, and efficient. Like many language skills, these writing skills will transfer from the native language. For those students who lack these skills, help build them. For those who have them, help hone them.
Working With Younger Students
With very young students, English writing will begin with the Roman alphabet. You can teach this skill to an English learner much as you would teach it to a native speaker. Some computer programs with spelling games are very effective with all young students. If you are working in a bilingual program, do not teach English and native language spelling at the same time until the students have become reasonably competent spellers in their native language. Young English learners can write original compositions in English, but do not demand that they write beyond their oral vocabularies.