On teaching reading & writing

So what goes wrong at school when learning to write? Where does the effortless learning ability go which enables children to learn to talk so easily? Could it be we interrupt their efficient learning flow through rigid methods and exercises because we have forgotten that writing and reading are also language? The essence of all language for children is the real stuff of being human – communicating and expressing what is important to us. But how can young children learn this if they experience writing at school as the production of arduous rows of squiggles and shapes, without doing anything...