1-3 YEARS
- Oracle. You say a sentence. They say a sentence. These stories can get proper crazy. It's fun.
- Acting out adverbs and getting them to guess them. This will build a foundation for the idea of 'choosing the most appropriate word' which shows up in SPAG tests later. They'll see clearly the concept of an adverbial phrase and have an intuitive understanding of how it is that adverbs improve on verbs.
- Silly voices and characterised make-believe. Encourage them to reflect on how their characters behave, how they talk, the kinds of things they say. This is contributing to their sense of what makes a character. Don't hammer this in too hard, though, guys, because PLAY IS SUPPOSED TO BE FREEFORM. You stand a chance of really messing with your kids' brains if you keep interrupting their play to improve the technicalities of their performance.
- Vocabulary-building activities, e.g. go to the zoo and point out the animals with the wackiest names, like the 'duiker'. This game works great at the supermarket, too. 'Spaghetti' can be a really weird word to a 2-year-old. That must be why we all like it so much.
4-8 YEARS
Now's the time to start thinking about narrative structure. The games from the last section can still be fun and useful, but now that this little human can hold a pencil and a whole story in their mind, the sky's the limit. I truly believe that any 8-year-old can write their own novel with the right support and hands-off guidance. Yes. I said hands-OFF! If you want to write a novel, Barbara, you do that. I'm not a fan of these parents who try to 'succeed' in life through their small people. However, a lot of kids this age are starting to idolise certain novelists (*ahem* JK Rowling *ahem*) and this is a fantastic fantasy to indulge. Here are some ways you can do that without destroying their independent spirit:
- Micro- stories. They'll know from school that a story has a beginning, middle and end. At home you have the opportunity to repeat repeat repeat that and get them telling structured stories in bulk.
The game starts with rules and they go like this: in the beginning there's a setting and some characters. In the middle they have a problem. In the end, the problem is resolved- one way or another.
I added that last part because I had one student who was just blown away by the idea that she could write a story with a sad ending. It got her telling micro-stories non-stop. Interestingly, before that hit her, she really struggled with the idea of 'a problem'. I could never get her to do anything negative to her characters.
"Hey, Anonymous, what if the roof blew off and aliens took Jessica to space?" *blank stare*
"What if she had a cute bunny in her pocket and it gave the whole class chocolate flavoured candyfloss."
Then she realised she could always FIX the problem ("what if Jessica was frightened but then she made friends with the aliens") and I was thinking, "woohoo! Breakthrough!" AND THEN she started getting excited about all these sad endings. ("And Jessica and the chocolate bunny rabbit were stolen away into space and the other children never saw them again.") It was a real rollercoaster. Kids are crazy.
- Label the picture. This is a great vocabulary-builder. You can let them use a thesaurus or, even better, get your hands on a copy of 'Descriptosaurus' by Alison Wilcox. It's basically a big, illustrated catalogue of descriptive phrases. This book is both a great way for kids to expand their fluency AND a fantastic first referencing tool. Descriptosaurus works best when you show them how to navigate it using the contents page and then just leave them to it with some kind of loose writing brief.
Anyway, the labelling game is a lovely bonding opportunity, and helps build their mastery of writing because they get to watch an adult making it work and (usually, hopefully) coming up with words that they never would have. It works like this:
you tear an A4 sheet in half and take a piece each. Draw a picture. Any picture. You have 1 minute. When the minute is up, you swap and reset the timer to 5 minutes. Now you have to label the other person's picture with as many adjectives, nouns and verbs as you can. The person who gets the most words is the winner. You have the option of discounting certain words, if they're not interesting enough or mis-spelt. You may also play this game just with one type of word; if you're looking to improve their SPAG in some kind of specific way. The other fun thing about being an adult in this game is you get the ego-trip of deciding whether or not to let them win. Either can be useful- and I suggest you navigate this using your own understanding of your child's self-esteem. I will say, however, that it's very rewarding to watch a kid win a game and know for sure that they did it fair and square.
9-12 YEARS
Now that they're comfortable with the basic rules of narrative structure, and have tools in place for continuously building their fluency and vocabulary, it's time to delve back into that bottomless bounty of free-association.
This is the time to follow their burgeoning interests. What are they reading? What TV shows are they watching, what video games are they playing? Where are their passions headed?
Set them up with a premise, or some kind of prompt. 'Write a letter to your favourite character.' 'Imagine you live on an oil rig and a giant squid won't leave you alone.' You can look for writing prompts online if you feel your own imagination is "limited".
It's a great idea just to sit with them and work on something of your own while they write freely like this. Kids want to feel that someone is with them, and writers of all ages want to feel that they have permission to write their story. Give them that permission enthusiastically.
13-14 YEARS
This is the time when kids need to start preparing for exams in earnest. However you feel about that, it's an unavoidable part of their reality. Writing now is about, 'how can I best get my point across?'
You want to start bringing in 'themes'.
Here's a good game for that:
Mindmapping.
I'm not joking.
Put a theme at the centre of a spider. 'Money', 'gratitude', 'exams', 'friendship', 'shopping'. Coming out from the centre should be an arm for each element of their story. An arm for each character. An arm for each setting. An arm for each important event. Off of those, you want 'language techniques'. They'll know about language techniques from school, they're things like metaphors, extended metaphors, similes, hyperbolic descriptive phrases, phrases that make use of the senses- stuff like that.
This activity prepares your child for English exams in a super direct way, and it also reveals to them the web of patterns used by grown writers to create important narratives. The more they do this, the more they'll understand what writing is, why we do it, and exactly how.
As with all the other activities, your presence is so important. The reason any of us do anything is because of the connections in our lives. Regardless of whether they show it or not, you are a vital part of their connection to the world. Knowing how you see the world, and what creative value that has, will undoubtedly be an inspiration for them to succeed. Be there. Work with them, work next to them. Show them what you've written, and remember that, if you're down on your own work, that teaches them to be down on theirs. And that attitude will not help them pass any exams.
16 YEARS
I really think if they're not into writing at this point, you have to let it go and support them in their true passions. If this makes you sad, I strongly suggest you write your own damned book and leave the kid alone, Mary.
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