Productive skill - Writing

One of the productive skills that students are supposed to learn while acquiring the new language is writing.  Of course this skill has different levels - from writing simple letters to e.g. creating essays.

During my practices I had the opportunity to observe writing in first and third grade. In first grade students are still learning how to write, that is why  their abilities in this area are limited. They are able to write simple words but most of them still need the pattern on the whiteboard before they write anything in their notebooks or worksheets. They are on the level of practicing names and shapes of the letters so that is the reason why they should be given proper model. During the phonetics I could have seen the situation where the teacher asked children to rewrite a few words from the coursebook to their notebooks as well as write one sentence about their hobby. Students did not have problems with the first task but with the second one..... Almost all of them had at least several questions how to write this or that and as a result the teacher had to write students' ideas on the whiteboard which took a lot of time. On the other hand, what I could have observed in the third grade, is that 9-10 year olds are able to write without the pattern and they are really good at it - I had a chance to see that when children were doing exercises connected with winter and Christmas. Of course some of them made some minor spelling mistakes but generally they did not need teacher's help.

I think that writing is the skill which is often forgotten and neglected by teachers. In my opinion it should not be like that. Students have to have a lot of opportunities when they can practice receptive as well as productive skills. Without this they will have no opportunity to improve their abilities what can cause a lot of problems in the future. Moreover, each teacher should have in mind what his/her pupils are able to do - I mean what can be required from them regarding the level of writing activities. Too difficult but also too easy ones may demotivate and discourage students. I will do my best to remember about implementing these rules in my job.