<p>Those are excellent suggestions, Marite.</p>
<p>I also had a friend who encouraged writing by basically making the kids put every request that required persuasion into writing. You know, “why I need a cell phone.” “Why I should be allowed to attend X’s party past my curfew”…that kind of thing. It didn’t have to be a five-page paper, but it had to be persuasive and have a beginning, middle, conclusion structure and correct spelling and grammar. When my son was in seventh and eighth grade, I made a deal with him that if he wrote a review of the movie for me, I would pay for the ticket and popcorn when he went with friends rather than have it come out of his own savings. He is a miser so that appealed to him. The elementary and middle schools they attended did not assign enough writing, IMO, so any extra practice was helpful. By high school, though, the workload increased and he was earning his own money at a part-time job so no more movie reviews. It was fun while it lasted though.</p>