Hi my name's Jema Perry and welcome to Mooncake, ESL teaching made easy. For the past
eight years I've been working and living in China as a teacher manager and
recruiter so if you're teaching ESL abroad make sure you subscribe below and
hit that notification bell for weekly ESL teaching tips. So you've been asked
to teach your students how to write but you're feeling a little bit lost. Well,
fear not because by the end of this video you're going to know exactly how
to turn your little scribblers into writers. this video is part three in my
phonics tips teaching series so if you haven't yet be sure to check out parts 1
& 2 where I go over some phonics fundamentals and show you how to teach
the letter sounds. But right now let's get straight into it with today's tip
number 1, pencil grip. Pencil grip is important because it facilitates
legibility, letter formation, speed, and endurance. Poor pencil grip can be
painful and causes students hands and arms to fatigue quickly. Think about that
for a minute. If writing is a painful process then students are really not
going to want to do it. So pencil grips can have a really big impact on students
attitude towards writing. Now there are different stages that students go
through when developing their pencil grip, so let's take a little look at a
few of them. When students are around 12-15 months they might start by holding the pencil in a
palm grip like so. When they get around 2 to 3 years old you'll find that they start
to develop this upside-down finger grip. But it's when students get a little bit
older around 3 & 4 years old, that you'll find that they start to develop a quad grip
on the pencil. It's at this stage that we want to start correcting that pencil
grip to prevent any bad habits from forming. So a good pencil grip is called
the tripod grip this is because it uses three fingers to grip and control the
pencil. However, if you start talking to your students about a tripod grip you're
going to lose their attention quite quickly. So we need to introduce this
pencil grip in a fun way and we can do this by introducing the alligator
grip. Have students form an alligator mouth using their first two
fingers and their thumb. The rest of our fingers get tucked away. Grab the pencil
near the end of the tip but not too close, and then you're ready to go. If at
any point you see your students reverting back to a different pencil
grip you can just remind them, alligator grip, and they'll be able to correct
themselves. Tip number two, sitting position. If students are slouching with
their feet unable to touch the floor or with their head resting on a desk as
they're writing then they're going to get very uncomfortable, very quickly. This
again can make writing a painful experience. Make sure students are sat
with a straight extended back with their feet on the floor and their knees at a
90 degree angle. This is the most comfortable position for writing. One
hand should be flat on the table holding the paper in place while the other hand
is writing using the alligator grip. Tip number three learning to draw lines.
So depending on the students age and ability they shouldn't necessarily be
starting to write letters straight away. Writing letters is tough. There's all
sorts of lines of straight lines curved lines diagonal lines and they all come
together to create letters. So there's some things that you can do to help your
students get ready to write letters. First and foremost we can learn to write
straight lines. Now this might sound very easy but for students who haven't yet
mastered the control of the pencil, straight lines can be very tricky. Now
whenever we do anything in reading and writing we always go from top to bottom
left to right. I'm gonna say it again, it's important, top to bottom left to
right. So when we start teaching students how to draw a lines we always have them
start from the top and draw it down to the bottom. From the left and draw to the
right but after students have mastered those straight lines you can introduce
some curved lines. Once again from top to bottom left to right after which you can
introduce diagonal lines. Finally students are ready for letter writing. Tip number
four, stroke order. Each letter of the alphabet has a particular stroke order
and this is important because it helps students remember how to form the shape
of the letter, while writing in the quickest and easiest way. Make sure when
you're introducing the stroke order of each letter that you're saying the
stroke out loud so students can follow along. Top to bottom,
top to bottom, left to right. When first learning to write letters, students
should start with the uppercase letters as these have more straight lines and
are a little bit bigger than the lowercase letters. Tip number five, lesson
structure. Oh this is a lot of information how am I supposed to put all
of this into one class?! Following a simple structure for each class will
help you stay on track. Oh, Okay First introduce the letter and review
it's sound. Next, introduce the writing lines and show students where that
letter should start. Next show students the stroke order of that letter, top to
bottom top to bottom left to right and have them practice in the air with their
finger or on the back of a friend. Lastly, send students off with some tracing
practice to try by themselves. So there you have it, the top five tips to help
you teach your students how to write the letters of the alphabet. Remember,
practice makes perfect and your students are going to need lots of practice in
order to master each letter. If you like this video don't forget to give it a
thumbs up and to share with your fellow teachers. If you found it helpful, let me
know by commenting was the word 'helpful' in the comments below. That's it for this
video, thanks so much for watching. Don't forget to subscribe below and hit that
notification bell for more weekly ESL teaching tips from Mooncake.