Cursive handwriting instruction in France (advantages, teaching, skills, primary school)

[lhpartridge]

I saw this video that was linked to a comment on Diane Ravitch's blog regarding cursive writing. I can't stop thinking about their approach to teaching young children to write by beginning with dance instruction. It epitomizes the way the French approach child development.

I require my students to write in cursive to receive full credit on their daily notes because I want them to have a choice of how they write. I observe basic errors in things like grip and movement that the French system anticipates and corrects. Research is beginning to bear out the advantages in using cursive to help students with writing, in particular those with dyslexia.


Handwriting in France

[Coney]

Thanks for posting that video. I found it very interesting, even though I didn't watch the ending of it. Do they really still use chalkboards in France or is this an old video?

[lhpartridge]

I've seen a movie, Être et avoir, about a one-room school in rural France. They had whiteboards. I imagine that there are likely some schools that may have chalkboards, but I really don't know.

[Everdeen]

The French are very particular about teaching proper handwriting A few years ago, I saw my father's primary school handwriting workbooks from the 1930's. His teacher was lamenting over my father's poor writing skills, which I thought were actually quite good. As an adult, though, it devolved back to scrawl.

When I started teaching, I could not believe how many students came to middle school not holding a pencil properly. We were never allowed to hold it incorrectly.