All About English Creative Writing

[Blobbi]

The Alternative Story:

For your child, if he or she is in primary 1 and is a reader and has no problem in his or her grammar and knows a wide range of vocabulary for his/her level, then you do not have to worry. Your child most probably would not need these classes now.:)

TAS

Tks TAS. I started thinking about writing classes because my son is a very reluctant writer. When he does write, it's quite good (to me :lol:). But he absolutely hates the physical act of writing. Anyway, one thing led to another, I started to consider other reasons for writing classes ... Still mulling, since he's a lot more amenable when someone else does the asking.

[corneyAmber]

Blobbi:

Compositions were done via osmosis

Yeah Blobbi, during our time I feel that both languages were produced via osmosis for exams. Times have changed dramatically because in the past acers were only a handfull.....now they are rampant.... Just RI(JC) alone, they have produced more than twice the number of straight \"A\"s now than during our time.

So the exam-smart kids are everywhere now with affluence for tuitions and enrichments.

[corneyAmber]

Blobbi:

The Alternative Story:

For your child, if he or she is in primary 1 and is a reader and has no problem in his or her grammar and knows a wide range of vocabulary for his/her level, then you do not have to worry. Your child most probably would not need these classes now.:)

TAS

Tks TAS. I started thinking about writing classes because my son is a very reluctant writer. When he does write, it's quite good (to me :lol:). But he absolutely hates the physical act of writing. Anyway, one thing led to another, I started to consider other reasons for writing classes ... Still mulling, since he's a lot more amenable when someone else does the asking.

If it is physical writing, then I suggest you send him for art class or calligraphy instead.

My child is also a reluctant writer....no problem, just plain lazy..any course to stop laziness? :lol:

[mrswongtuition]

Blobbi:

Michteach:

I found using phrases from storybooks very effective as I am feeding the kids continuously with good vocab and effective writing styles from a wide range of authors.

I could let you know what books are especially good for this if you are interested

Hi Michteach,

I'm rather confused about what makes good writing for top marks. Being of the old school, I just read my way to good marks in English. Compositions were done via osmosis, ie, I subconsciously absorbed whatever I read and probably reproduced snippets in my writing. So it was always extremely enjoyable - no need to study or work at it at all. I actually don't remember having to consciously learn what past perfect participles are :shock: (alright, I made the name up; something like that), but it wasn't a problem during exams either.

These days though, I'm stunned that there is such a thing as creative writing classes where kids copy \"model compositions\" and memorise key phrases.

Is it really necessary? My kid is only in P1, but going through kiasuparents, I'm getting a bit worried that I'm out of touch. :roll:

I also believe that good writing stems from vivid reading.

Problem: Many parents do not think so and feel that it's a waste of time to read a storybook that is not related to their exam syllabus (or rather, MOE's syllabus).

And I hope to correct you: Creative Writing classes are not all about copying model compositions.

I've never asked my students to copy model compositions. In fact, we do read them together in class and highlight the good phrases/words to use, but never copy the entire composition - word for word.

Teaching creative writing now is really different. In the young minds now, they learn differently from us. During our time, I remember my school teacher forcing us to copy down the model compositions from the OHP. Now, you need to teach them the skills to form their own phrases and descriptions. You need to draw out their imagination!

How do I encourage students to read?
I go book-hunting and purchase many books to place in my study.
It's a mixture of fiction & non-fiction with a range of difficulty levels to suit my students.
I encourage them to borrow a book a week and also speak to parents about the importance of reading books for leisure (and of course, they learn subconsciously).
I also have many different magazines with cool pictures to attract the unwilling readers.
I allow them to choose their books though sometimes I make recommendations to ensure that they are reading appropriately for their level.

Creative writing not only involves forming proper sentences that make sense. It's about putting sentences together to form paragraphs, putting ideas together to form a plot, putting actions/speech into words, and most importantly - putting the readers on the edge of their seats.

You can view my website (http://mrswongtuition.blogspot.com) to look at the books I've purchased for my students. I've spent at least $2000++ to build up my library of books and I'm still expanding it when I come across more books during my shopping trips.

Once they love writing and start writing frequently, you'll see the improvements. Journals are a fantastic start to writing frequently. You can try getting 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' for your child to start off reading (easy to read and interesting) and they have a 'Do-It-Yourself' version where kids are encouraged to write their own stories!

You need not read/mark their journal, it's just an outlet for them to express their feelings and thought in words. Give them a weekly them if they say that they can't think of what to write. I printed pictures and encouraged parents to pass me pictures as themes. E.g. A trip to the zoo with your family can be a theme!

Don't feel discouraged about the numerous creative writing classes that are popping up. There are good ones out there which allow busy parents to 'outsource' this aspect of developing a love for English.
If you feel that you can help your child make a difference without these classes, it'll be great.
However, if you feel that you need to outsource this job due to whatever reasons, you need not feel bad. Just look carefully for the right tutor/centre for you child.

[mrswongtuition]

The Alternative Story:

But Creative Writing is not memorizing phrases and just fitting them into compositions. It is learning the techniques behind good writing and applying them to writing.

I agree. It's not about forcing them to memorise long lists of phrases.

They need to know the structure, tenses used, appropriate punctuation, how to develop a plot, describing characters, adding atmostphere, etc etc.

It's really fun to teach them and watch them develop their own plots. Some of them will be 'lazy' during the planning phase of writing and in a group setting, they will slowly learn that good planning will lead to a good composition.

[Blobbi]

ksi:

My child is also a reluctant writer....no problem, just plain lazy..any course to stop laziness? :lol:

Don't have lor. If have we sign them both up together, OK?

Art - won't go cos \"Why should I draw what THEY want? I should draw what I want.\" Anyway, not drawing at home also leh. We're down to whisking eggs, making bubble solutions etc, but the words are not naturally springing forth from his hands yet. :roll:

Sorry - :offtopic: liao.

[Blobbi]

mrswongtuition:

The Alternative Story:

But Creative Writing is not memorizing phrases and just fitting them into compositions. It is learning the techniques behind good writing and applying them to writing.

I agree. It's not about forcing them to memorise long lists of phrases.

Tks for setting me straight, guys. And it's great to hear about the process that you two make the kids go through. It's very helpful for the parents here to understand the goal of the lessons.

[corneyAmber]

mrswongtuition:

The Alternative Story:

But Creative Writing is not memorizing phrases and just fitting them into compositions. It is learning the techniques behind good writing and applying them to writing.

I agree. It's not about forcing them to memorise long lists of phrases.

Yes, but I notice in that case creative writing is not for all children.
Writing is a flair.....in the absence of that, ALL children will learn it as model composition and regurgitate for exams. I have seen that for some kids, this is a painful process but they will do it for exam results sake. I can safely say that majority of the children will reproduce it as exam-smart technique.

A handful of kids really absorb such phrases and use it naturally in their writing as well as their speech.

I have nothing against learning creative writing for the mass market, not at all because in the end, we cannot help that ALL children have to sit for PSLE and do well.

[mrswongtuition]

ksi:

Yes, but I notice in that case creative writing is not for all children.

Writing is a flair.....in the absence of that, ALL children will learn it as model composition and regurgitate for exams. I have seen that for some kids, this is a painful process but they will do it for exam results sake. I can safely say that majority of the children will reproduce it as exam-smart technique.

A handful of kids really absorb such phrases and use it naturally in their writing as well as their speech.

I have nothing against learning creative writing for the mass market, not at all because in the end, we cannot help that ALL children have to sit for PSLE and do well.

I agree, some simply do not have a flair for writing (like my hubs).

However, given the right motivation and some prodding, they will start writing.

My hubs is in his mid-thirties and he has decided to start writing a book about private investigation & security measures for homes. This is his area of interest

Consistent repetition is key. If the parents learn it too, and converse with their kids in creative writing lingo, the impact will be greater!

[The Alternative Story]

Blobbi:

The Alternative Story:

For your child, if he or she is in primary 1 and is a reader and has no problem in his or her grammar and knows a wide range of vocabulary for his/her level, then you do not have to worry. Your child most probably would not need these classes now.:)

TAS

Tks TAS. I started thinking about writing classes because my son is a very reluctant writer. When he does write, it's quite good (to me :lol:). But he absolutely hates the physical act of writing. Anyway, one thing led to another, I started to consider other reasons for writing classes ... Still mulling, since he's a lot more amenable when someone else does the asking.

Hi Blobbi,

Since he is still young, I can understand why the physical part of writing will put him off:) Maybe these ideas can help:

1) You can have start a book with him. Ask him to put in his favourite characters, and think of an interesting plot- Primary 1 boy finds out that his sister is actually an alien, boy discovers a magic wand and turns his dog into a dinosaur?:)

Everyday he can write one or two sentences and perhaps you can write another one or two and sometimes what you write changes the plot a little and he has to flow with that. I think that might get him excited about writing so its not writing for compositions but writing for fun.

2) Pretend that your family are spies and you are supposed to communicate with each other only through writing for that one day. As there are the house is 'bugged' so you cannot let anyone hear what you are saying.

3) Cut out pictures from magazines (pictures of babies, an eye, a dress, a pram, a camera etc) and then paste them in a scrapbook and write a story linking the pictures together

4) Do a 'Father's Day Scrapbook' for your husband with him. He can cut out pictures from a magazine again and paste one picture on each page of the book and write about his dad with a link to the picture. For example, a picture of a feet- he could write something like 'You were there when I first started walking and cheered me on even when I fell, THANK YOU!' (He could at least be a hallmarks card writer in the future if all other plans fail :lol: )

I think the key is to get him to see the power of words and to enjoy writing. Hope this helps.

TAS