All About English Creative Writing

[smilexy]

Hi All,

My gal is p3 and is weak in compo and comprehension. Im thinking to try out TWC for in jurong centre. Any other recommendations? Her paper 2 mcq almost always full marks, but comes to comprehension its zero. we started to do more reading together in the hopes to help improve her english.

I wanted to try The alternative story but the timing cannot match. She is very involved in activity and many days of training thus need to find something to fit into the schedule. But Im open to suggestions.

She was initially attending an online english enrichment class. we saw improvement, but she has requested for physical classes so to focus better

[ChiefKiasu]

smilexy\" post_id=\"2115213\" time=\"1690871920\" user_id=\"135913:

Hi All,
My gal is p3 and is weak in compo and comprehension. Im thinking to try out TWC for in jurong centre. Any other recommendations? Her paper 2 mcq almost always full marks, but comes to comprehension its zero. we started to do more reading together in the hopes to help improve her english.

I wanted to try The alternative story but the timing cannot match. She is very involved in activity and many days of training thus need to find something to fit into the schedule. But Im open to suggestions.

She was initially attending an online english enrichment class. we saw improvement, but she has requested for physical classes so to focus better

I was very fortunate to have an English teacher in P1 whom I loved. She would pick up a story book and start reading and all the class would sit cross-legged around her and listen enthralled. At the end of the year, I won an MPH $20 voucher for toping the class and went and bought some books. I still remember one of them... Secret Seven Fireworks (with Guy Fawkes as the character). I read, don't really understand, and then got it finally after many tries. I was ecstatic at my power and started wolfing down book after book in the next 5 years, from Enid Blyton, to Alfred Hitchcock, Asimov, Frank Herbert, etc.

I HATE English lessons especially comprehension where you have to read passages done by others and then answer questions. I love English compositions as it really allows me to do whatever I want (within the confines of the pictures :roll: )

The point is, your daughter is still young at P3. Find out her interest and then direct her at books related to that interest. Make it a point to read to her regularly, especially on topics of her interest. Get her a kindle or some ebook reader and teach her how to use it. Don't rely on enrichment centers. Reading is a lifelong skill that needs to be inculcated ASAP. Of course the bad thing is it might get so addictive that all she wants to do is to read storybooks. But she will be a master of the language.

[smilexy]

ChiefKiasu\" post_id=\"2115218\" time=\"1690877545\" user_id=\"3:

I was very fortunate to have an English teacher in P1 whom I loved. She would pick up a story book and start reading and all the class would sit cross-legged around her and listen enthralled. At the end of the year, I won an MPH $20 voucher for toping the class and went and bought some books. I still remember one of them... Secret Seven Fireworks (with Guy Fawkes as the character). I read, don't really understand, and then got it finally after many tries. I was ecstatic at my power and started wolfing down book after book in the next 5 years, from Enid Blyton, to Alfred Hitchcock, Asimov, Frank Herbert, etc.

I HATE English lessons especially comprehension where you have to read passages done by others and then answer questions. I love English compositions as it really allows me to do whatever I want (within the confines of the pictures :roll: )

The point is, your daughter is still young at P3. Find out her interest and then direct her at books related to that interest. Make it a point to read to her regularly, especially on topics of her interest. Get her a kindle or some ebook reader and teach her how to use it. Don't rely on enrichment centers. Reading is a lifelong skill that needs to be inculcated ASAP. Of course the bad thing is it might get so addictive that all she wants to do is to read storybooks. But she will be a master of the language.

Thank you for the post. recently she was very into this comic series. So i have bought it for her. and the deal is read 5 comic books after reading one story book. any story book. and i hope it will help her enjoy reading more. sigh i dont know when i should or should rely on enrichment centres. i really hated the idea of one sentence full of big words. there's no longer emotions in the compo. but its better than not having at all.

kiasu parent so thats why im here seeking help. the good news is, as im trying to encourage her to read, her younger sister has now started to pick up reading. my elder daughter is very involved in ballet, she's crazy over it but not interested in reading much on it. She prefers the physical activity more.

[ChiefKiasu]

smilexy\" post_id=\"2115234\" time=\"1690887921\" user_id=\"135913:

Thank you for the post. recently she was very into this comic series. So i have bought it for her. and the deal is read 5 comic books after reading one story book. any story book. and i hope it will help her enjoy reading more. sigh i dont know when i should or should rely on enrichment centres. i really hated the idea of one sentence full of big words. there's no longer emotions in the compo. but its better than not having at all.
...

Hmm... it sounds like a good idea, but be careful that it doesn't make her lose even more interest in reading. I'm reminded of the days when my sister forced me to make sentences out of 3 words in the dictionary every day which I hated. No reward some more
Actually, reading comics itself is already reading What you can do is to scan the comics yourself first to get the gist of the story, and then recommend to her some story books related to the story. That way, it doesn't seem like she is being forced to read.

smilexy\" post_id=\"2115234\" time=\"1690887921\" user_id=\"135913:

...
kiasu parent so thats why im here seeking help. the good news is, as im trying to encourage her to read, her younger sister has now started to pick up reading. my elder daughter is very involved in ballet, she's crazy over it but not interested in reading much on it. She prefers the physical activity more.

That's good! I find the younger child always seem more proactive than the elder.

[sharonkhoo]

smilexy\" post_id=\"2115234\" time=\"1690887921\" user_id=\"135913:

Thank you for the post. recently she was very into this comic series. So i have bought it for her. and the deal is read 5 comic books after reading one story book. any story book. and i hope it will help her enjoy reading more. sigh i dont know when i should or should rely on enrichment centres. i really hated the idea of one sentence full of big words. there's no longer emotions in the compo. but its better than not having at all.

kiasu parent so thats why im here seeking help. the good news is, as im trying to encourage her to read, her younger sister has now started to pick up reading. my elder daughter is very involved in ballet, she's crazy over it but not interested in reading much on it. She prefers the physical activity more.

Encouraging reading is best done by a multiprong approach tailored to the individual child. As CKS points out, reading comics is still reading! Perhaps help her find story books that contain the same themes or topics as the comics, which should make her more interested in the books. If she's interested in ballet, find books about girls dancing - even if she prefers physical movement, she has to sit down sometimes.

I haven't had experience with enrichment centres, but I find the \"model\" compos in books I see quite bad. Helping your daughter \"compose\" verbally may help since she seems to be an active person - talk about things, get her to describe events or activities, gently prompt her with questions if she's too brief, provide additional vocab... all this will help, even if not on paper.

[smilexy]

slmkhoo\" post_id=\"2115253\" time=\"1690937734\" user_id=\"28674:

Encouraging reading is best done by a multiprong approach tailored to the individual child. As CKS points out, reading comics is still reading! Perhaps help her find story books that contain the same themes or topics as the comics, which should make her more interested in the books. If she's interested in ballet, find books about girls dancing - even if she prefers physical movement, she has to sit down sometimes.

I haven't had experience with enrichment centres, but I find the \"model\" compos in books I see quite bad. Helping your daughter \"compose\" verbally may help since she seems to be an active person - talk about things, get her to describe events or activities, gently prompt her with questions if she's too brief, provide additional vocab... all this will help, even if not on paper.

thanks. i will try. my eng sucks, i read enough newspaper to pass my o'levels. my teacher told me the only way is to read. i find reading newspaper more interesting than storybooks. I did start to read more when i become an adult. i will try, so far she's very motivated to read as we set the \"challenge\" together.

is it just the kiasu part of me that think she needs enrichment classes? we didnt have any when she was p1/p2. But i find it very unsettling, and she has been asking me to give her lessons so that it can bring up her scores.

When she seated, she wanna watch youtube, its controlled. So im hoping that we can replace more youtube with reading. I will let her choose the type of books she likes, like charlotte web. After reading, we will talked about it.

trying my best, and its nice it has a positive influence on the little one.

[thebottomsupblog]

This is an old thread, so would like to refresh it and restart this discussion.

We’ve put together some recommendations for creative and composition writing classes here:

https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/article/20-creative-and-composition-writing-classes-for-kids-in-singapore-and-online

Would love to hear your thoughts too!

[ml1978acc]

Hi fellow parents, just wanted to share something I found out recently while prepping my kid for PSLE.

For those with kids taking PSLE in 2026 or later, MOE/SEAB has adjusted the Paper 1 weighting. It’s actually 50 marks now (used to be 55). The old “15/40” split for Situational/Continuous writing is now 14/36.

The tricky part is Situational Writing (14m). It seems they are getting stricter on the “Inference” point—meaning kids can’t just lift the answer from the poster anymore; they have to come up with their own idea based on the visual. If they miss that, they lose content marks instantly.

I’ve been testing a new AI tool that specifically marks based on this new 2026 rubric (checks for the inference point and tone). It’s quite useful to see if your kid is still writing the “old way.”

The developer is letting parents try it for free right now to test the system. You can just upload a photo of an old essay to check.

1 Link here if anyone wants to stress-test their kid’s writing: https://t.me/PSLE_Marker_Pro_Bot
2 Tap “Start” and click the consent button.
3 The bot will generate a Parent ID for you (e.g., 12345678).
4 Simply email [email protected] with that ID and try it once for free.

Hope this helps anyone else confused by the new format!