August 2018
Kinder!: tips on learning to write for school starters
With the support of Institute director Dr. Marianela Diaz Meyer, the magazine Kinder! explains in an article about starting school why handwriting is important and how to ensure a successful start in the world of letters.
Most school starters are happy to finally start learning to write. Some parents may now be wondering why. For adults, typing or swiping on keyboards or tablets now dominates their everyday lives. But even though it may be little used, writing by hand is still a very important skill.
Because writing by hand is an important measure of children’s cognitive development. Handwritten facts stay in your memory for longer, as the brain is used a lot more when forming letters or numbers on paper. So if you’re writing, you’re learning at the same time.
How children learn to write differs in each German state. There is the “reading through writing” method, where children quickly achieve writing success, though at the start correct orthography is completely ignored. They write the words exactly how they hear them. In contrast, with the spelling book method children learn letter by letter and at some point use these letters to create simple words.
There are also differences between the scripts used, and there is always a debate about which one is the most appropriate. However, having fun writing and good writing motor skills are much more important as this is vital for ensuring flowing, fatigue-free handwriting.