ABSTRACT
Many of the children arriving in Chris Norris’s class have had some nursery experience where they would have been used to operating in a predominantly English-speaking setting. Chris says that from the beginning she bathes the children in English, both oral and written. Enabling children to focus on the content of their writing is important for all children, but important for young bilingual children who may be working in a language that does not yet flow comfortably and where a lot of concentration is needed. Chris encourages children to look, from beginning, at how words are spelt. This process starts with discussion about their names and includes naming and recognising sounds of initial letters. Chris monitors children’s progress throughout the year by talking to the children about their work and collecting and analysing samples. Children are relaxed and feel free to have a go at writing. They are confident to display their attempts and to work and share with others.
