These good writing habits concern shaping letters and organising words in space properly. They are based on National curriculum in England and consider modern difficulties of language acquisition. This article is devoted to requirements for primary school graduate pupils.
1️⃣ Introductory stage - year 0
Teaching handwriting starts with preliminary period when an early-year student learns to:
- sit correctly at a table,
- hold a pencil comfortably and correctly and do eye and hand gymnastics,
- trace by finger and coloured pencils different types of lines, geometrical figures and paths in the mazes,
- hatch geometrical figures and colour pictures,
- write basic elements of the letters.
While writing block (printed) letters in English we use several basic elements. They are the following:
- two kinds of sticks (tall "l" and short "ı"),
- a peg "ɩ",
- a semicircle "c",
- a curl "∾",
- a dot "•",
- a cross "+".
For educational purposes checkered copy-books are preferred.
⁕There is also such element as a loop "ɣ", but it's mostly used in joined handwriting.
2️⃣ Lower-case letter formation - year 0-1
The second step of teaching handwriting includes mastering the skills of forming lower-case letters in the correct direction, starting and finishing in the right place. We can divide all the letters into families.
Handwriting "families" are groups of letters that are formed in similar ways.
- Semicircle letters start with a hook at the top - a, c, d, g, o, q
- "Curly" letters start with a curl - e, f, s.
- Return letters start from the top, go down and then return to the middle line - b, h, k, m, n, r, p.
- Peg letters start with a hook - l, t, i, j, u, y.
- Zigzag letters have sharp angles - v, w, x, z.
At this step simple words can be written as well.
3️⃣ Proper names formation - year 1
Writing proper names is impossible without capital letters. All block capital letters are two squares high.
Some capital letters look at you face to face. They have got symmetrical body. Both sides are equal. These letters are A, H, I, M, T, V, W, X.
All the other letters can be viewed in profile only. There are two common ways to write them:
- starting from the semicircle moving backwards (C, E, G, O, Q, S);
- starting from the top, stopping and continuing again from the top (B, D, F, K, N, P, R);
- and without taking your hand off in one continual movement (J, L, U, Y, Z).
4️⃣ Writing sentences - year 2
Pupils of year 2 are supposed to:
- leave spaces between words,
- punctuate sentences using a capital letter and a full stop, question mark or exclamation mark,
- use capital letters for names of people, places, days of the week, and a personal pronoun "I",
- use apostrophe for contracted forms and the possessive (singular),
- write from memory simple sentences dictated by the teacher.
5️⃣ Year 3-4
Up to the end of the year 4 pupils can:
- use a dictionary to check the spelling,
- join letters,
- space the lines sufficiently so that the ascenders and descenders of letters do not touch,
- use comma for enumeration,
- punctuate direct speech.
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