ABSTRACT
There are many different sources of inspiration for writing – real life events, films and other multi-media texts, drama and educational visits or visitors to school, not to mention a child's own imagination. The books that children read, with patterns of language so different from those of spoken language, give children the building blocks of words, phrases, structural devices and ideas with which to be creative in their own writing. One of the great myths of primary English teaching, especially the teaching of writing, is that some words are somehow inherently 'better' than others. This can lead to multisyllabic or unusual words being shoehorned into writing to 'improve' it or words such as 'said' or 'good' being banned from classrooms. Some texts lend themselves to being the model for a specific type of writing. This could be narrative writing, with children reading and enjoying text before writing a story of their own which will draw on their reading and discussion.
