One of the greatest gifts you can give is the ability to read and write.Many skills take time and practice to master, but they will open up many opportunities over the course of a lifetime.The opportunities can improve the lives of the next generation.Many people find joy in reading and writing.If you want to encourage literacy in the lives of people around you, here are some helpful ideas.
Step 1: Teaching letters.
If you want to teach literacy effectively, you should begin with the basics of letters.Literacy starts with an understanding of letters.If you are teaching a language with a non-roman alphabet, you should teach the characters first.Students should be taught how to identify the different shapes of the letters.They will need to be able to distinguish between the two letters.It's important to learn to write letters in different sizes.You can teach your students how to use capital and lowercase letters.This will not be a problem if you teach a non-roman alphabet.Directionality is an important skill.Your students will need to know how to place letters next to each other.This will be left and horizontal for roman lettering.It can be either left to right or vertical for other languages.Spacing is an important skill.Students will learn how to place space between words.
Step 2: It's important to teach how to read.
It's all about learning how to identify sound letters and work with them.Teaching your students to read and write is dependent on their understanding of the alphabet.Students should be taught to hear.They need to be able to recognize individual sounds in speech.They should be taught to identify the sounds once they grasp the concept.Students need to be able to hear a sound and know that it is written with an a.You will need to teach them how to manipulate sounds within words once they are comfortable with identifying sounds.They should be able to tell when a word begins or ends with a different sound than the others.They should be able to think of their own examples.The compound sounds can be taught as well.You will need to explain that certain letters change how they sound.In English, Spanish and German, the words "th", "sh" and "ll" are used.
Step 3: The forming of words is taught.
You can use the letters and sounds to form words once your students have a good grasp on them.Write lots of examples for them to look at and read to them frequently.They can see how words are formed.Teaching students the difference between vowels and consonants is an important part of word formation.Explain the necessity of vowels within a word to them by teaching them which letters are which.The principles of where vowels can go are taught.It is very rare for the only vowels in a word to go at the end of the word, but it is common to have the second letter be a vowels.
Step 4: Understand sentence structure.
Once students have mastered forming words, you need to teach them sentence structure.The order in which words or parts of speech go is known as the sentence structure.If they are to form written sentences which sound correct, they need to understand the sentence structure.Even if they speak right, people will have difficulty writing like this.You should teach your students how to identify things.Give them a definition of a word and where it usually goes in a sentence.The easiest way to explain is the person, place, thing or idea.Students will need to be able to identify verbs.Give them a lot of examples of action words.In order to solidify the concept in their mind, you can have them act out different verbs.Where are the verbs in the sentence?Your students will need to be able to identify certain words.Explain that the words are adjectives.They should be taught how these words attach to other words.
Step 5: Proper writing is taught.
It is essential for your students to learn to write sentences which can be understood and sound natural.It's important to use parts of speech together.Your students should be aware of how nouns, verbs and adjectives fit together.It's important to understand where these words go in a sentence and when they must be preceded or followed by another.Proper sentences can be formed by understanding the concept of tense.Students should learn to create sentences that take place in the past, present, and future.In order to indicate time, words must be changed.This is often not mastered until much later in life.The skills that are important are contortion and declension.The way verbs change depends on how they interact with the other words in the sentence.We say I jump but we also say she jumped.declension is a process that nouns can go through in English.Many other languages have case systems which your students will need to understand if they are learning one of them.In languages with a case system, the different functions that nouns and pronouns can serve in a sentence are shown in cases.
Step 6: Punctuation is important.
Proper punctuation is a difficult skill to master.Building your students' skills in this area will be very important for opening up opportunities for them in the future, as it is seen as a mark of intelligence and education later in life.
Step 7: The simplest skills are what you should focus on.
To teach literacy to children and pre-teens, it is important to focus on building the simplest skills first.Emphasize the fundamental building blocks discussed above, as having a thorough understanding of these concepts and skills will give your students a solid foundation on which to build future reading and writing skills.For elementary age children, literacy skills will place a stronger emphasis on things like spelling, whereas literacy education for pre-teens will spend more time with grammar.
Step 8: There are different types of writing.
Students will need to learn about different types of writing.Knowing how to recognize and reproduce different styles will be important later on in life.Students should be taught to recognize narrative writing.The form most often read for pleasure is writing which conveys a story.It can be used to increase literacy skills.Novels, biographies, history and newspaper articles are examples of narrative writing.It's easy to see in the format: This happened and then this happened, and so on.Students should be taught to recognize persuasive writing.There is a logical argument in this writing.In job applications, editorials, and academic papers, there are examples of persuasive writing.Students should be taught how to read writing.This is writing that explains something.An excellent example of expository writing is what you are reading now.Along with encyclopedias and reports, newspaper articles can also fall into this category.
Step 9: The elements of story telling should be taught.
Children in this age group will need to know how to tell a story.The tools they need later in life will be given by this.Beginning, middle and end, crisis or climax, and character are some of the elements of a story.The easiest way to teach these to children is by reading a book aloud over the course of a few weeks.They can see how these ideas work in practice if you discuss and analyze the text.They can strengthen their skills by writing their own stories.
Step 10: The Five Paragraph Essay should be introduced.
The Five Paragraph Essay has an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.This form of writing will be used throughout their lives and should be introduced as early as possible.Introductory assignments could include a review of their favorite toy or game, a persuasive essay about why they should be allowed to eat more candy, or a biography of a favorite family member.
Step 11: The use of voice is taught.
Voice means who is speaking in a text.Voice can be, but should not be mixed with a text.Being able to identify and manipulate voice will be important for your students to learn, as this will help them analyze the things they read.There are three common voices: first person, second person and third person.Tense can be applied to each voice to modify how it sounds and reads.The first person example is "I went for a walk today."Spike came with me.Spike likes to walk with me.Your dog came with you.Third person example: "Sarah went for a walk with Spike today."Spike went with her.Spike likes walking with her.
Step 12: Setting limits is not a good idea.
With elementary age children, try to leave as many doors open as possible.If creativity is not discouraged or downplayed, it will be better for children at this age who are very creative.Leaving assignments and exercises open-ended will help children learn better by forcing them to think for themselves.
Step 13: It should be fun as possible.
Make learning enjoyable.Children can be distracted easily if they find their work boring.You will ensure that your students are engaged and absorbing information if you combine learning and play.It is possible for middle-school children to create a game and then write rules for the game.This will make them think about writing a specific language which is easy to follow.Allow elementary children to write, edit and illustrate their own books.This will help develop their understanding of story and character, while also improving their ability to form correct sentences with proper spelling.
Step 14: Pre- and post-writing skills can be taught.
There is more to writing than just writing on a page.Pre- and post-writing skills will teach children to analyze writing and build their language skills.An example of a pre-writing skill is the outline.Explaining what they intend to write will help learners work through logical processes.They will be taught to think of elements of writing as a unified whole, rather than pieces placed next to each other.An example of a post-writing skill is editing.They can improve their language skills by editing their own work.Students will be more confident in their writing as a result of this.They will be less restrained by fear if they know how to look for mistakes and correct them.
Step 15: Don't stop with earlier skills.
The skills that your students should have learned when they were younger should not be neglected now.Continue to improve your writing skills, such as spelling, voice, tense and writing style.This will help students who may have fallen through the cracks, as well as keeping their skills sharp.
Step 16: Encouraging creativity is something that should be encouraged.
Many people will have a reduced capacity for creativity by this stage.Creative thinking skills can lead to better problem solving and innovation and should be fostered in any way possible.Students can bring creativity into their academics by writing.They should be encouraged to take new approaches to assignments and reading.
Step 17: Critical thinking should be emphasized.
Children should be honing their skills during this time in their lives to prepare them for higher learning.This will make sure that they get the most opportunities.Critical thinking is a vital life skill and an absolutely necessary skill for higher education.Encourage your students to think about the things they are writing about.They will be prepared for everything from analyzing news stories to fully participating in the political process.Students should ask questions about what they are reading.Who wrote this book?Why did they write it?Who wrote it?What impact did the environment have on the text?There are many questions that illuminate information hidden within the things they read.Have your students ask questions.I don't understand why I chose this voice.I don't know why I have an opinion.I don't know why I care about this.What would you rather be doing?These kinds of questions can lead your students to learn a lot about themselves but it will also help them make more conscious decisions about the things they write.
Step 18: Prepare for writing.
If you want your students to have a chance at getting a higher education, they will need to be able to do the more complex types of writing which are common in colleges, universities, and training programs.This means using logic, using proper formats, and expressing themselves clearly.They can practice these skills while pursuing topics that interest them.
Step 19: Encourage people to read.
Excellent examples of the craft can help us become better writers.You can get your teens to read classic literature.They can see differences in voice, description and word choice if they are given books in a variety of styles.In order to see why certain techniques are timeless, they should be given older works that remain classic.They should build their own models from the newer material they read.The added benefit will be to expand a student's vocabulary.Encourage them to look up what they don't know.This will give them the adult vocabulary which is a mark of a good education, which will help them in further academic and professional environments.
Step 20: Make sure to teach careful word choice.
Many inexperienced writers use more words than they need to.They need to be guided until they balance description, dialogue, detail and information.This is a very difficult skill to learn and will take time as well as a lot of practice.Get overly wordy writers to learn what is included.This will often be a lot of words.Get their sentences down to the basics by showing them how to weed out extras.A lot of writers don't get descriptive and specific enough.They should be taught to remove themselves and approach their writing with a list of requirements.Is this understood by someone new to the subject?Is it possible for someone to come to a specific page and follow along?To improve their skills, give them exercises such as having to write an entire page about an apple.
Step 21: You should develop handwriting skills.
Adult-level handwriting is an important skill for teens.Teens want to be taken seriously in future academic and professional endeavors if they have an adult appearance to their handwriting.Teens have a lot of time to practice their handwriting.Students don't have a chance to improve their handwriting because most assignments are typed.Require shorter assignments to be handwritten or find other ways to improve their skills.Clean lines and even lettering are encouraged.The writing needs to be precise in order to look professional and adult.Reward teens when they excel.Give them the chance to fix mistakes if they struggle.Handwriting exercises should be given extra credit.Repeated lines of the same letter will allow students to see improvements and become familiar with appropriate gestures.
Step 22: It's easier to simplify.
Adults should learn how to read the same way a child would.These are basic building blocks and should not be skipped.Give your students the most basic skills so that they will be prepared for the more complex ones.
Step 23: Trust is something to build.
You will have to develop trust with your students because of the social stigma attached to adult illiteracy.Do not criticize them or judge them, do not make them feel stupid, and be patient with them.Show them that you also make mistakes.Show them when you don't know anything.You can use a dictionary to find the meaning of a word.When you need help, let them see you ask for it.Modeling behavior in this way will show your students that not knowing something is not a sign of weakness in character.
Step 24: Improve self confidence.
They should build their self confidence.Adults who don't know how to read or write are often ashamed of themselves.Building confidence will encourage them to take risks.It's important to do that in the learning process.Inform your students when they do well.When a student makes a mistake, be sure to show them how to act logically and correctly.
Step 25: Don't let passion get in the way of it.
People who love something will always put more work into it and do it better than people who don't like it.Give your students a reason to like what they are doing.Women might enjoy reading about how to make their own clothes and accessories, while men might like to read about sports stories or game descriptions.
Step 26: Skills are needed to correct levels.
Slowly move them from the basics to the higher levels outlined in the teen section.They will reach a skill level appropriate for their age with time.This will improve their work prospects as well as their confidence.