Prime Time 8. Coursebook plus Semester Self-checks, Schulbuch

S For centuries, children have spent hours on special joined handwriting lessons – but do we really need them nowadays? Whereas the US state of Illinois has passed a law requiring school students to learn joined-up handwriting, it is no longer a requirement throughout the US, and some countries have even dropped the skill from the curriculum or made it optional. Why, then, do some – like the UK – still insist on it in a digital age? Shouldn’t children learn to type effectively instead? While Illinois senators claimed the skill was essential, the reality is that many adults no longer write much by hand. A 2012 survey of 2,000 adults by UK mailing firm Docmail found that two-thirds of us only write short notes like shopping lists. The clear, blocky “print” style that children are first taught is enough for that purpose. And for an increasing number of young children, that’s where their training ends. US states such as Indiana have dropped joined-up writing entirely; Finland phased out handwriting lessons; and Indian schools are reportedly abandoning it. The usual argument is that the time investment could be used to teach modern skills such as typing or coding instead. But is there a benefit to hours spent painstakingly copying the joined alphabet? Teaching children to write by hand seems to have some advantages that typing on a keyboard does not. Some evidence suggests that writing by hand helps the older children to recall letters better. A study in 2012 put five-year-old children who had yet to learn to read and write through tests like writing, typing or tracing letters. Then, they were shown images of the same letters and shapes while their brains were scanned. In the children who wrote – but not in those who typed – an area of the brain used in reading was activated. Researchers concluded that it’s possible – but not proven – that the physical act of writing might help children learn to read. One argument for the importance of joined-up writing is that it’s usually faster and more fluid for note-taking than printing letters. But a skilled typist can copy words down even faster – so after early childhood, is there any benefit? The evidence so far suggests that writing by hand retains its benefits for memorisation long beyond early childhood development. Essentially, researchers found out that students taking long-form notes on pen and paper tended to process the information on a deeper level. Typed notes, though faster, tended to be closer to lecture transcripts than personal notes. There is, however, also a practical aspect: Bad handwriting leads to poorer test scores, according to a study by the Carnegie Foundation. Meanwhile for students with dyslexia, typing may help significantly increase exam grades, according to the British Dyslexia Association. And those with physical impairments have long used technology to record their thoughts. (David Molloy, BBC News , 11 November 2017) Unit 10: Lifelong learning Listening–writing: Massive open online courses (B2) a) Listen to a talk by an education expert on new methods of teaching. Take notes of the most important issues he talks about. b) As you have always been interested in new and more effective teaching and learning methods you have decided to write an email to him. In your e-mail you should: explain why you think this new method is promising comment on the differences between traditional teaching and MOOCs explain what you expect from such methods Write around 250 words . Reading–speaking: Do we need to teach children joined-up handwriting? (B2) a) Read the text below, highlight the main aspects and make a list of these points. 1 16 2 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 142 Semester self-checks Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv