Writing is essential, not just for your child but for all of us in our everyday lives. At school, your child will be expected to write countless essays across all their subjects (How Do English Skills Improve Grades in Other Subjects). Then when they leave school and move onto college or university, they have to deal with more complex academic papers, including coursework, term papers, or dissertations. As part of the workforce, they may need to write business plans, resumes, presentations, and all kinds of documentation.
Therefore, even if your child does not like writing at school, it is a crucial skill they cannot avoid for their future success! Also, from a personal standpoint, having good English writing skills often helps them express themselves better than speech and can be used as an effective communication tool to convey their thoughts to others.
If you want to help your child become a good writer, here are some tips that may help you to support them in developing strong writing skills:
1. Begin with simple sentences
Introducing even very young children to writing doesn't necessarily mean teaching them how to write complicated long paragraphs or essays right away. It's better to start with simple sentences and gradually increase the complexity of what they need to learn by adding one extra feature at a time (e.g., asking them to change the word order around). This approach allows them time for reflection and makes writing a more natural process, which eventually leads to better results.
2. Start with short sentences
Remember that when it comes to writing, the simpler something is, the easier it will be for you to teach your children what they need to become good writers in the future. For instance, if your child isn't able yet to write long paragraphs or essays without much help from you, don't push them into doing things when they are not ready just because you want them to "grow up faster" or "catch up with others". Instead, encourage them to focus on shorter sentences and then gradually increase their complexity once they have mastered this skill.
3. Focus on one thing at a time
Even though children are very good at multitasking, teaching them many things simultaneously is neither efficient nor helpful. They will often become confused about what they are supposed to do, and they won't learn anything quickly or adequately enough. That is why you should focus on one skill at a time when it comes to their education. Take time to teach your child each aspect of effective writing, so they fully grasp every component before moving on.
4. Encourage them not only to read but also write
By learning how to read, kids get exposed to more information than they can get from watching TV or surfing the Internet since books are more complex texts with longer sentences and more intricacies. However, even though reading is essential, developing writing skills is more critical because it gives them a chance to actually put what they have learned into practice. So, try to encourage your child to read everything they possibly can on a topic and write as much as possible themselves.
5. Teach Kids to work with drafts
A well-written text is the result of a process that involves different stages. Encourage them to think about their topic and then how best to structure it before they start writing. Creating a good piece may involve writing several drafts, editing, and changes. Teaching kids early on why creating comprehensive texts takes time can help them save precious energy later!
6. Encourage Free-writing
Writing is a fantastic way for children to exercise their imaginations and express themselves. Free-writing allows them to explore different worlds and construct stories on paper without any restrictions or shame; this helps kids get comfortable with writing while stimulating creativity! A great way to practice free-writing is by keeping a diary. The more kids write, the better their writing becomes, and you should always encourage your child's participation because any type or amount of work can help them train skills for future endeavours.
These are just a few tips on what you can do as a parent at home to help develop your child's English writing abilities. However, if you want some help improving your children's writing skills, contact us. As a leading tuition company in Singapore, we provide bespoke and personalised home and online tuition to children and adults. At Boutique Education, we offer one-on-one English tutoring sessions with expert tutors from pre-school and primary levels through to senior school students.
If you want to find out more about how our tuition services can help your child with their academic success, please contact us at https://boutiqueeducation.asia/contact/ to find out more.