Imparting Writing Habit In Children: Stop Mimicking Them - Educationist To Teachers

MyAfricaNewsArena Saturday, July 23, 2022

Mrs Eva Gyina Bediakoh

Basic school teachers have been advised to desist from humiliating and mimicking their pupils whenever they write or sketch something wrongly.

According to Mrs Eva Gyina Bediakoh, who made the call, teachers should instead, sort of, applaud them, correct them and encourage them to do more by improving it next time but mocking pupils for writing something wrongly kills their interests.

“That's why you're called a teacher, so you're there to teach so if the child you are teaching makes a mistake, your duty is to teach him or her the correct thing and not to mimic and make fun of that child”, she explained.

The Mfantseman Directorate's Director of Ghana Education Staff Development Institute (GESDI) made this in an interview with AfricaNewsArenaGh's Kojo Ata Kakrah Abrowah (KAKA) at the sidelines of the award ceremony for winners of the first edition of Adwowa Gyaaba Memorial Essay writing competition organized by an education initiative called Boys and Girls Club of Ghana (BGCG) for upper primary pupils in Anomabo and Yamoransa circuits in the Mfantseman municipality of the Central Region (C/R) on Friday, July 22, 2022.

She then urged teachers to, as part of efforts to develop creative writing skills in their wards, revisit the practice where simple essays on events were given to pupils to write on.

"At first pupils were asked to write or narrate how an event occurred; such as how you spent your holidays, how your hometown festival is celebrated, the day you went to the market with your mother etc, but now these things are no more in most of our schools; the teachers are not asking the kids to write anymore so it becomes difficult for the pupils to showcase their creativity skills, meanwhilee, every child has something special in him or her that if given the chance and direction, can bring it out”, she explained.

Speaking on the theme “Developing Creative Writing Skills in the pupils: The Role of the Teacher”, the main speaker of the ceremony, Dr Samuel Kwesi Nkansah, a lecturer with the English Department of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) said teachers would be able to impart creative writing skills into the pupils only when the teachers themselves first develop interest in writing and reading. According to him, attitude of some teachers nowadays does not motivate pupils to know the importance of a reading book because "they themselves don't read. The teacher is anyone with that passion to see someone grow in his or her talent. And that talent is the talent of being a creative writer.

“Nowadays, because of WhatsApp, books are not patronized but for you to be able to encourage your pupils to write, you must make use of writing yourself as a teacher. The teacher must be seen reading and sharing what you read with your pupils. So teachers ability to encourage pupils to be able to write, to be able to create is that, the teachers themselves must enjoy writing”, Dr. Nkansah asserted.

Dr Samuel Kwesi Nkansah

He therefore urged teachers to be interested in the progress of their pupils.

In attendance of the ceremony were officials from the municipal education directorate, headteachers, teachers, parents and pupils from the Anomabo and Yamoransa circuits.

At the end of the competition held for 18, out of the 25 schools in the circuits expected to participate, Miss Esther Gyesi of Good Shepherd Anglican Basic School in Eguase under Yamoransa Circuit, was adjudged the overall winner with Miss Elizabeth Coffie of Lower Town M/A Basic School "A", Anomabo Circuit "B" and Master Samuel Amissah of Buranamoa M/A Basic School in the Anomabo Circuit "A" emerged first runner and the second runner ups respectively.

The programme was sponsored by Adwowa Gyaaba Foundation.