alphabet for young Russians

[kdammers]

In teaching the Latin alphabet to young learners who do not (necessarily -- i.e., some might ) know their own script (say, Cyrillic or Greek), how should the issue of upper and lower case letters be handled: Should only one be taught first? (How is it done in the UK, US, NZ etc. for native speakers?) Or should the more complex real world usage be taught from the start?

What about kids(and adults) who already can read in their native language with a related alphabet (agian, Cyrillic or Greek)? How can the overlap be used to the students' advantage? How should upper vs. lower case be handled?

[Lola212]

Lots of questions. I need to think these out.

[Lola212]

I am in the U.S. We always posted the letters of the alphabet across the room. The younger kids had a picture with the letter. The picture started with the first letter of the alphabet. A is for apple...then a picture of an apple would be posted next to the letter A. Could you do the same with the characters you are teaching?

[lucas971]

Is there any book/guide which explains some of these questions?

[Awalls86]

I'd present lower case first if I was you. Get them to associate letters with words - a - apple, b- ball, c - cat, etc.
Don't do all the letters in one go
Simple games like putting the letters on the board and getting them to race to the front to slap the one you call out is pretty effective and fun
Don't force them to say the letters or words. Give them other ways to respond e.g. pointing, movement, choosing something, making the shape with their body/hands etc.
Songs are also good for YLs and plenty of alphabet songs exist