All About English Creative Writing
-
Phew ok. I hope I did not come off as being dismissive. I admire the writing very much and I am just wondering how much work it will take to reach that standard. Thank you ChiefKiasu and Writers League for sharing!
-
slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2045445\" time=\"1636370396\" user_id=\"28674:
What is the different meaning of \"mother tongue\"? I think I only know the Singaporean version, guilty!
That is true! Another example of how Singapore uses a common phrase but with a different meaning from normal usage. Another bugbear of mine is \"mother tongue\".[/quote]zac's mum\" post_id=\"2045409\" time=\"1636353143\" user_id=\"53606:[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2045409 time=1636353143 user_id=53606]To sum up, creative writing is not the same as Compo writing, not in my eyes.
-
tracychew\" post_id=\"2046847\" time=\"1637213204\" user_id=\"143434:
What is the different meaning of \"mother tongue\"? I think I only know the Singaporean version, guilty![/quote]The dictionary and linguistic definition of mother tongue: The language which a person has grown up speaking from early childhood.
That is true! Another example of how Singapore uses a common phrase but with a different meaning from normal usage. Another bugbear of mine is \"mother tongue\".slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2045445\" time=\"1636370396\" user_id=\"28674:
[quote=\"zac's mum\" post_id=2045409 time=1636353143 user_id=53606]To sum up, creative writing is not the same as Compo writing, not in my eyes.
Which means that for many Singaporeans of my generation (those 50 and above now), their mother tongue was mostly not one of the 4 official languages. In particular, Mandarin (a language of north China) is not the mother tongue of those who came from the southern provinces. Linguistically, Chinese dialects are considered as separate languages (mutually unintelligible), and some would argue that Singlish is also not mutually intelligible with standard English.
And for younger Singaporeans, 40 and under, most speak a mixture of languages, but no single language very well. -
slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2046869\" time=\"1637222806\" user_id=\"28674:
The dictionary and linguistic definition of mother tongue: The language which a person has grown up speaking from early childhood.
What is the different meaning of \"mother tongue\"? I think I only know the Singaporean version, guilty!tracychew\" post_id=\"2046847\" time=\"1637213204\" user_id=\"143434:
[quote=slmkhoo post_id=2045445 time=1636370396 user_id=28674]
That is true! Another example of how Singapore uses a common phrase but with a different meaning from normal usage. Another bugbear of mine is \"mother tongue\".
Which means that for many Singaporeans of my generation (those 50 and above now), their mother tongue was mostly not one of the 4 official languages. In particular, Mandarin (a language of north China) is not the mother tongue of those who came from the southern provinces. Linguistically, Chinese dialects are considered as separate languages (mutually unintelligible), and some would argue that Singlish is also not mutually intelligible with standard English.
And for younger Singaporeans, 40 and under, most speak a mixture of languages, but no single language very well.[/quote]Aha that is v true!! I never thought of dialect being our true mother tongue.. My kids think mother tongue is a subject in school.. For me it was literally what my mother spoke..
-
tracychew\" post_id=\"2046874\" time=\"1637224643\" user_id=\"143434:
Well, the language the mother speaks is almost always the first language the child learns to understand and speak.
Aha that is v true!! I never thought of dialect being our true mother tongue.. My kids think mother tongue is a subject in school.. For me it was literally what my mother spoke.. -
Just want to share feedback regarding the acorn class.
Material was simple, just a few pages of black white printed ws on construction paper
Lots of direct teaching by teacher talking non stop, good if you like very old school, teacher directed learning. Lots of writing, not really very guided so it's good if your child can already write well.
The T accused my child for asking me for help just because she did not believe that he came up with the answer himself as he wasn't able to explain how he got the answer. She didnt believe him even after he clarified that he did it himself, just because as he is not the strongest student. She went on to shame him in class, discredit his honest effort and brushed him aside. When my child explained his answer in a disorganised manner, she just keep repeating \"somebody helped you with this, that's why you can't explain\"
What would a good educator do instead?
They will guide him to organise his thought process and help to build confidence rather than fling accusations at the child.
My child loves all his teachers. However, he came to tell me he hates these lesson and kept asking me to stop the lessons. I feel guilty for putting him through many hours of endless droning that wasted so much of his time. His confidence is also thwarted by the teacher discrediting his honest attempt.
That being said if your child is strong she will treat you differently and the attention will be on you. Otherwise, she will see you child through coloured glasses and doubt his honest efforts.
Do note that the T always insists she is right. When I mention that online and live lessons are different in nature, she insisted that with no distractions they are the same. She said that children shld be able to stay focussed for 1.5hr of non-stop lessons, unless they have some learning disabilities like adhd. Clearly she does not have much knowledge regarding attention span by age.
I'm not sure where she gets her teaching qualifications from so it might be good to check, as she does not seem to understand child psychology and updated pedagogy. I've encountered many teachers before as an educator, and most of them are really nurturing and believes in positive education instead of shaming.
I'm just giving an alternative point of view here, since the fb page only allows glowing reviews. There are some other feedback here that I can resonate with:
https://singaporemotherhood.com/forum/threads/any-mummies-with-kids-taking-thinking-course.219/ -
san20sg\" post_id=\"2045363\" time=\"1636325794\" user_id=\"76391:
Personally I think being given a list of phrases is not real value adding because we can easily buy some phrases books for that. Some MOE trained tutors and school teachers also do that. Just feed with pages of phrases and teach the theory of story mountain, climax and what-not ... the same structure... and cliche opening and conclusion. When I used to try to help kids, I struggled to understand the story mountain structure myself. Kids can repeat the names of the different stages of story mountain but the writing quality did not improve. Too much spoonfeeding, how to have original ideas? No need to know a lot of phrases too. After trying so many so-called MOE teachers-turned private tutors and even famous centres, we got so disillusioned for a while. Eventually what we learnt from our fav teacher is kids must first be encouraged to express ideas freely and fluently, especially if very young so their creativity is not stifled. Then they can learn to organise the ideas and concurrently guide to replace and insert vocab to describe more. You didn't mention your child's age, but 4 pages essay so I guess upper Pri? For us, it was refreshing when we finally found a teacher who did not use the typical story mountain and just got kids to write their best piece and then showed them 2 or 3 things to focus on each week. Kids must write another draft but it was not copying. After a few weeks, the P5 kid's score finally reached 36/40, a ten-point jump! Without memorising a thing. The P2 who is weaker because of the fear of making mistakes became so confident of just expressing own ideas freely. The stories are now so original, never a cookie-cutter piece again. I see this as creativity unleashed.
It's really quite hard to find a center to teach creative writing. I have tried a few lessons at WOW, Write connection and is frustrated at how they all seem to make the child copy good phrases most of the time. WOW especially frustrates my child because they not only made him copy good phrases, but made him rewrite the whole model essay (which can run up to 4 pages long) after every lesson as hwk. He is always angry at having to copy and re-write the whole essay. Not sure if it is because the teacher is new or if the program is like that. I exited after 5 lessons. Not tried TAS but my friend told me it is the same as well - copying & memorising. TLL, Lilmighty and Thinking Factory does not have a pure writing class. Learning Point does have only one writing class at Thomson but it seems to be helmed by a junior teacher. Artistic Strategies seems to be quite fun but when I checked, the classes seem to be taught by very young teachers. Joyous Learning has a Thinking Writer programme but I have heard some people comment that it is quite dry. -
That sounds great manorway happy for you!
Wish I can find a great teacher like that just as you have! -
manorway\" post_id=\"2047421\" time=\"1637608627\" user_id=\"9303:
My kids are now in their 20s, and they were educated overseas up to 14 and 16. In their school, they didn't really do creative writing as they were taught 5-paragraph essays from Grade 5! Coming from Singapore, and knowing that \"creative writing\" was a core skill required in Pr, and even Sec school, I took it on myself to encourage that at home. Since my girls loved to read, I just got them to write - any style, any content, any length, any form - stories, journals, playscripts, jokes, whatever. I didn't \"correct\" them so much as point out some areas of improvement, spelling/grammar issues, etc. Very much a learn-as-you-go way. We \"self-published\" as well - in earlier years, I would type out their writing and share with grandparents, cousins, friends, etc. Later, they did it themselves by setting up their own blogs, or just wrote stuff for fun, etc.
...we finally found a teacher who did not use the typical story mountain and just got kids to write their best piece and then showed them 2 or 3 things to focus on each week. Kids must write another draft but it was not copying. After a few weeks, the P5 kid's score finally reached 36/40, a ten-point jump! Without memorising a thing. The P2 who is weaker because of the fear of making mistakes became so confident of just expressing own ideas freely. The stories are now so original, never a cookie-cutter piece again. I see this as creativity unleashed.
My younger girl returned to Sg for a few months to take PSLE before continuing her education overseas for another 1.5yrs. We both wept and wailed at the PSLE compo requirements, but found a reasonable compromise between what seemed to be the cookie-cutter way of dealing with PSLE compos and our personal inclinations! So yes, I am fairly horrified by what I hear about how \"creative\" writing is taught in schools and enrichment centres here. It's one way, I suppose, but not a way I like. -
slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2047436\" time=\"1637629518\" user_id=\"28674:
You know what you are getting into, the moment you sit for a \"creative\" writing class.
... So yes, I am fairly horrified by what I hear about how \"creative\" writing is taught in schools and enrichment centres here. It's one way, I suppose, but not a way I like.
If creativity can be taught, we would all be great writers by now.
The fact is, classes teach us how to think or what to do in a certain known way. We are at best good copywriters
Hello! It looks like you're interested in this conversation, but you don't have an account yet.
Getting fed up of having to scroll through the same posts each visit? When you register for an account, you'll always come back to exactly where you were before, and choose to be notified of new replies (either via email, or push notification). You'll also be able to save bookmarks and upvote posts to show your appreciation to other community members.
With your input, this post could be even better š
Register Login