What's the point of them learning cursive writing at primary? | ExpatWoman.com
 

What's the point of them learning cursive writing at primary?

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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 18 October 2012 - 14:39
It'll be like reverting to using thumb prints!:)
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 18 October 2012 - 14:35
there is printing and there is writing. It is all penmanship. Yes it has to be readable and that is why people learn to form letters properly whether they print or write. I can just see the next generation signing forms with a X like they did before people could write lol They probably won't even bother with a X, it'll be a :)
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 18 October 2012 - 14:30
I did all my formal exams with my lucky calligraphy fountain pen, the same pen I used across a 14 years span. Thinking about it I must have chosen that trusted old fountain pen because I subconsciously knew that i could write the fastest with it.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 18 October 2012 - 14:25
just a note here when us old people with the fountain pens learned to write it was pretty exciting. We were the little kids with fat pencils learning to print big letters, finally got that so it was somewhat readable then...we moved up a grade or 2 and WOW...we were going to learn to write with a pen!!! We were big kids and so proud of the fact. It was celebrated at home as well lol...big girls with the PENS and we were learning to write like the big kids and not print anymore like the babies :).....I can usually tell the age of a person by their writing. A very old person, ie my grandmother and mother had beautiful writing, grandmother more so with curlie q's, lovely flow. Alot of the writing I see from a young person is small and cramped because they have not been taught the proper way to write so it becomes a chore for them. Anyway, my 3 cents.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 18 October 2012 - 14:18
By the time this new generation take exams everything will be by keyboard anyway, so for a leftie as long as what they write is readable I can't see it matters much whether cursive or not. there is printing and there is writing. It is all penmanship. Yes it has to be readable and that is why people learn to form letters properly whether they print or write. I can just see the next generation signing forms with a X like they did before people could write lol
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EW MASTER
Latest post on 18 October 2012 - 13:24
My six year old is currently learning cursive. I too was wondering what the point was but on further reflection (and after studying my own appalling handwriting) I think beautiful hand writing is a great skill to learn. I don't think it really matters if the majority of work is typed, I'm always full of admiration when I get a beautifully written card or note from someone.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 18 October 2012 - 12:19
I have heard good things about Handwriting Without Tears http://www.hwtears.com/hwt <em>edited by LinaS on 18/10/2012</em>
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 18 October 2012 - 11:24
Dyslexic people are always encouraged to join up their letters because the movement of forming the complete word, helps the memory with spelling patterns. Its a bit like typing your own name on a computer; your fingers remember where the keys are without you having to think about the position of individual letters.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 18 October 2012 - 11:06
By the time this new generation take exams everything will be by keyboard anyway, so for a leftie as long as what they write is readable I can't see it matters much whether cursive or not.
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EW GURU
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 22:21
I think it helps when you are older and need to write essays. I learned in primary school - grade 3 (so about 8). I think its because we're still developing motor skills and so its easier. i know when I was in law school, if I didn't write cursive, there's no way I would have ever finished an exam! Same with uni.
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EW GURU
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 22:21
I think it helps when you are older and need to write essays. I learned in primary school - grade 3 (so about 8). I think its because we're still developing motor skills and so its easier. i know when I was in law school, if I didn't write cursive, there's no way I would have ever finished an exam! Same with uni.
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 19:20
I am left handed and learnt cursive writing in school. Don't remember how we were taught but it certainly helped when taking University exams when we had to write long essays. One of the sons is left handed but right now I am working on him forming his words properly and being neat. In their Canadian school here, cursive writing is introduced in grade 3.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 19:19
In the dark ages when I was in primary school we learn't cursive at age 8. We used an ink fountain pen, a Parker 4421. It was a big leap to becoming more 'grown up'. I will forever be grateful as it seems these skills are going by the wayside together with the printed word. As SueB says what if the option of computors were not available,there would be a large no of folk who couldn't write a word. I went on to do Calligraphy later on in life and also went for Shodo lessons in Japan. It taught me to appreciate the beauty of the art of writing. I think it is up to this generation to make sure that their children take the art of writing into the future or we will eventually lose it. Dh is left handed and I know he always found cursive difficult, so he adapted his printing to look cursive as he always said I think faster than I can write. The result looks odd but then as he says so long as it is legible and tidy it's fine. <em>edited by Nomad on 17/10/2012</em>
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 19:14
she will get there sugarbeach, slow and steady is the day :)...once she gets her perfect O, it is uphill lol....just remember, relaxed arm and fingers and take it from the shoulder :)
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 17:14
We need a Miss Iveson like sueB's in each primary school! Thanks Tabby cat - I think you've pin pointed the problem! I didn't know she was supposed to form her letters the same way as a right hander....no wonder it looks so awkward and difficult and it's so slow when she writes. <em>edited by Sugarbeach on 17/10/2012</em>
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 15:51
It teaches them how to control the pen and take notes quickly!
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 15:31
It does make a difference to my dd because she's not forming the letters the way you should as a right hander....she tries to make it look the same, but when I watch her she's looping in opposite directions and the flows are different, and I think this actually slows her down and it is definitely not correct if she's supposed to write the same as everyone. edited by Sugarbeach on 17/10/2012 Bless her! I can remember doing exactly this at primary school as a fellow left hander! Somehow my teachers managed to get me to correct it and I write completely like a right hander but with my left hand now ...which is a good job too as I am now a primary teacher myself! If she is forming her letters incorrectly, she will find joining in a cursive script really difficult. Best to focus on getting the individual letters formed the correct way first (as others have said, this should be the same for left and right handers) before spending too much time on a cursive joined style IMO. Then you can practise letter strings of 2 or 3 letters, while still forming correctly, then whole words. Best of luck to you both, I know how frustrating it can be.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 15:30
I am not sure if this will help your childs position but..put her arm on the desk with the elbow off and nothing under to stop her arm moving smoothly. She holds the pen in her hand in the usual way, between thumb and index with it resting on the 2nd finger. hand slightly tilted naturally to the left, pen on the paper. Her arm must be relaxed and no death grip on her pen :). Start with a circle going to her left, use the arm so the movement comes from the shoulder really and hand relaxed, sort of like a piston :). It will not take long for her to feel comfortable with this but does take practise. You can draw big circles on a page for her to trace until she can do it on her own, then make them smaller between 2 lines. Move on from there to the C letter and so on, :)...anyway, the movements will naturally get smaller over time until she does not realize her arm is moving and the letters are forming. I know this is the computer age where everyone types but...writing is like learning arithmetic...you must know the basics so when it gets harder, you have the basics. In dance you must have strong basics in order to preform the harder movements. We always fall back on the basics and if we miss those then we miss alot more later on. I hope our grandchildren will still be learning how to write and use the writing, and hopefully they will learn how to do math in their heads instead of relying on the computer, I hope they still learn how to form a sentence instead of having an app do it for them. It is up to us to make sure these things are still around. How sad it would be if all the computers and calculaters stopped working and no one knew how to write or do math in their heads , or tell time on a wind up clock when the electricity went out :(.....something to think about.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 15:28
DS went to a very old fashioned school back home where they insisted on a very elaborate cursive script which was actually quite hard to read. He loved it and has beautiful hand writing (but the sort you'd see a century ago!). Not sure how outside examiners went reading it-even I had trouble at times. However he never really mastered printing as it wasn't taught so even at 25 filling in forms with boxes is a headache for him. However neat cursive handwriting is a must -especially when students sit external exams as studies show clearly written papers with the same content are marked higher than those with poor script. By the way my two were both left handed-one held the pen 'correctly'-the other who was a perfectionist devised a really odd way to hold her pen so she could see what she had written immediately before. Both wrote quickly and neatly. Your ds's learnt to write cursive left handed! How? Did you have to teach them differently? DD and DS both did-as I said DD held the pen oddly to save her smudging her work-DS seemed to not have the same problem except in art when using graphite pencils!
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 15:02
Thanks all! :) Not too inane I hope.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 14:20
It does make a difference to my dd because she's not forming the letters the way you should as a right hander....she tries to make it look the same, but when I watch her she's looping in opposite directions and the flows are different, and I think this actually slows her down and it is definitely not correct if she's supposed to write the same as everyone. edited by Sugarbeach on 17/10/2012 Btw, many left handers curl their hand around to write. I don't write pen pointing at paper, I write with my left hand curled to be able to write as though I'm a right hander. It just comes naturally. I've seen that. I just write exactly like a right hander but with my left hand - maybe that makes me a weird left hander!
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 14:13
Thanks Duck, do you have a link please? Duck!! http://www.abcteach.com/directory/subjects-handwriting-left-handed-friendly-handwriting-practice-1853-2-1 Here you go. Oooh fab!
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 14:13
Do you have the sheets that have the arrows that show which way to go to form the letter? It makes no difference if your left handed or right handed you just have to form the letter following the arrows. She will just need to practice sheets of the letters and get her speed up but this is true of a left handed person or right handed person it's just learning a new technique. I can't get over how many things you can get now for left handed people. I found it really easy to show my kids how to write cursive as we could write next to each other and they could see me forming the letter easily me with my pen in my left hand and them with their pens in their right hands.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 14:07
it seems I did this in school, it was just called penmanship though :). Our penmanship teacher was the Principle and she was tough on us. Our round letters had to be round and perfect, tails in the right spot, straight lines straight. We learned to write with our arms rather than just our fingers.. All her students ended up writing beautifully and above all, it was readable!!! Sounds to me that is what is now called cursive writing :) it is not a bad thing, it is a good thing and does no harm in the least. It teaches the children to form proper letters that they will always remember. so, I hope all children have a Miss Iveson to teach them how to write and link properly so it is readable :) now reading below responses it seems cursive is more detailed than plain penmanship. Could someone put a cursive sentence up here? A learning morning for me. Cursive is penmanship. I learned English cursive at school. Apparently though, now a good majority of teachers do no know how to teach cursive properly. I would imagine that would be a problem. What I find amazing is that there seems to be so much discussion of this. There is printing in block letter when a child first starts, then they learn to link the letters to make it writing. The letters in writing are a bit different though than block printing. Both forms take practise. Being an old person, I learned to write with an ink nib pen and an inkwell lol...and let me tell you, Miss Iveson was a stickler that no messes were made. Anyway, just my input. edited by SueB on 17/10/2012 edited by SueB on 17/10/2012 I wish I had had your teacher at school. My handwriting is dreadful and a source of great embarrassment. Didn't stop me academically and I did very well at school but I wish I had better handwriting. It looks so slovenly and messy. I think it is important to try and get kids to write beautifully. Not all will manage it, although if they had Miss Iveson teaching them; they probably would all be fine.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 14:00
It does make a difference to my dd because she's not forming the letters the way you should as a right hander....she tries to make it look the same, but when I watch her she's looping in opposite directions and the flows are different, and I think this actually slows her down and it is definitely not correct if she's supposed to write the same as everyone. <em>edited by Sugarbeach on 17/10/2012</em>
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:57
Thanks Duck, do you have a link please? Duck!! http://www.abcteach.com/directory/subjects-handwriting-left-handed-friendly-handwriting-practice-1853-2-1 Here you go.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:57
Why being left handed does it make any difference? I'm left handed and learnt cursive handwriting in exactly the same way as everyone else in my class. Both my children are right handed and I show them how to write but I obviously use my left hand! My writing doesnt look any different just because its been done with my left hand! In those dark distant days when I was at school you just learnt how to write with whichever hand you were most comfortable with.
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:55
DS went to a very old fashioned school back home where they insisted on a very elaborate cursive script which was actually quite hard to read. He loved it and has beautiful hand writing (but the sort you'd see a century ago!). Not sure how outside examiners went reading it-even I had trouble at times. However he never really mastered printing as it wasn't taught so even at 25 filling in forms with boxes is a headache for him. However neat cursive handwriting is a must -especially when students sit external exams as studies show clearly written papers with the same content are marked higher than those with poor script. By the way my two were both left handed-one held the pen 'correctly'-the other who was a perfectionist devised a really odd way to hold her pen so she could see what she had written immediately before. Both wrote quickly and neatly. Your ds's learnt to write cursive left handed! How? Did you have to teach them differently?
1996
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:49
DS went to a very old fashioned school back home where they insisted on a very elaborate cursive script which was actually quite hard to read. He loved it and has beautiful hand writing (but the sort you'd see a century ago!). Not sure how outside examiners went reading it-even I had trouble at times. However he never really mastered printing as it wasn't taught so even at 25 filling in forms with boxes is a headache for him. However neat cursive handwriting is a must -especially when students sit external exams as studies show clearly written papers with the same content are marked higher than those with poor script. By the way my two were both left handed-one held the pen 'correctly'-the other who was a perfectionist devised a really odd way to hold her pen so she could see what she had written immediately before. Both wrote quickly and neatly.
1566
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EW EXPERT
Latest post on 17 October 2012 - 13:49
Thanks Duck, do you have a link please?
 
 

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