Trace the letter

For the last few weeks I have been researching and reading about how best to support beginner learners as they start to write in the new language.  You'll be able to hear about my findings at Language World in a couple of weeks!

One of the things that learners need to practise if they are to write confidently are the letters and characters that the new language has and which English does not have.  I have found a useful French website which has handwriting resources for primary children.  There is one worksheet for each letter.  The worksheets begin with a large version of the letter for children to trace with their finger in order to learn the shape of the letter before they have a go at writing it with their pencil:

from ecriture-cp.com

When I work with my students to support them as they start to write these new letters and characters, I give them a worksheet (for Spanish, and for French) where they copy the characters with their pencil straightaway.  Tracing the letters with their finger first seems a preferable way to start, as it will build confidence before they actually write.

To that end, I have created some cards (see the image at the top of this post) which children can use to trace the letters with their finger.  I have used a typical handwriting font as this is how the children will be writing the letters eventually.  I have added red arrows to the new and unfamiliar parts of the characters to help them to see how to form the shapes.

You can download the Spanish card from here, and the French one from here.