All About English Creative Writing

[The Alternative Story]

jedamum:

hi TAS,

is 'Written Expression' any different from 'Creative Writing'?
the school's requirements is min. 8 sentences; for a start, should i focus on min. 8 good grammer but boring sentences or just let the kid's imagination run wild?
my boy likes to write 'safe' but boring sentences (sometimes, with some goofy expressions in the middle).

Hi jedamum,

Actually, 'creative writing' is just a loose term that everyone uses.
True creative writing will cover a range of genres (poems, plays etc)
and the children can let their imagination run wild.

However as we are training the children for their examinations as well,
we also need to keep in mind the context of creative writing in the
examination context.

Hence creative writing in most Singaporean centres or assessment
books would mean writing that is more descriptive.

'Written expression' simply means composition here. But as your child
is in lower primary, they would only need to write a few sentences.

For lower primary students, the teachers look more for clear and simple
sentences. You can emphasize that with your child. I think it is not
so advisable to let his imagination go wild yet. But maybe you could
elaborate on what you mean by that?

However, if you could start him on writing more descriptively now,
that would add 'flavour' to his writing and help it to stand out.

You can remind him to 'show' and not 'tell' a scene.

Example (tell):

- I helped my mother to clean the house. I felt very happy. She told
me that I was very helpful.

Example (show):

- \"Come and help me to tidy the house!\" my mother called out.
Quickly keeping my toys, I went to help her. I took a broom and
began to sweep the floor in big sweeping movements. My mother
smiled at me fondly and we continued to sweep and dust the whole
house together.

Here when we 'show', we use varied sentence structures to make
the story less 'monotonous'. For example, we start some sentences
with \"ly\" or we have a speech in the writing. We also 'show' the
scene by using descriptive words like 'quickly', 'fondly', and
'big sweeping movements'. This helps to paint the picture of what
is happening in the reader's mind and pulls him into the story.

TAS

[isabella.026990zola]

Hi TAS,


How do you get a child to start writing if he is very resistent to do so?

[jedamum]

The Alternative Story:

Hi jedamum,

Actually, 'creative writing' is just a loose term that everyone uses.
True creative writing will cover a range of genres (poems, plays etc)
and the children can let their imagination run wild.

However as we are training the children for their examinations as well,
we also need to keep in mind the context of creative writing in the
examination context.

Hence creative writing in most Singaporean centres or assessment
books would mean writing that is more descriptive.

'Written expression' simply means composition here. But as your child
is in lower primary, they would only need to write a few sentences.

For lower primary students, the teachers look more for clear and simple
sentences. You can emphasize that with your child. I think it is not
so advisable to let his imagination go wild yet. But maybe you could
elaborate on what you mean by that?

However, if you could start him on writing more descriptively now,
that would add 'flavour' to his writing and help it to stand out.

You can remind him to 'show' and not 'tell' a scene.

Example (tell):

- I helped my mother to clean the house. I felt very happy. She told
me that I was very helpful.

Example (show):

- \"Come and help me to tidy the house!\" my mother called out.
Quickly keeping my toys, I went to help her. I took a broom and
began to sweep the floor in big sweeping movements. My mother
smiled at me fondly and we continued to sweep and dust the whole
house together.

Here when we 'show', we use varied sentence structures to make
the story less 'monotonous'. For example, we start some sentences
with \"ly\" or we have a speech in the writing. We also 'show' the
scene by using descriptive words like 'quickly', 'fondly', and
'big sweeping movements'. This helps to paint the picture of what
is happening in the reader's mind and pulls him into the story.

TAS

hi TAS,
thanks for sharing.

[littlewoman]

Hi TAS,


I noticed that for your book, some of the lower pri children can write very well, even as well as some of the pri 4s. Did they start learning these strategies from preschool? If a child is not naturally good in this area, what do you recommend that I can do at home as a parent to help? Thanks very much!

[The Alternative Story]

isabella.zola:

Hi TAS,


How do you get a child to start writing if he is very resistent to do so?

Hi isabella.zola,

You can make writing fun for him or her.

These are some suggestions to make writing fun:

1) Have a comic strip to tell your story

You can ask him to write a story but instead of pure writing, you can
get your child to draw cartoon characters and use speech bubbles to
show what the characters are saying in the story instead.

2) Combine plots from different stories

Show him different extracts from a story book and ask him to
take a storyline from one book and merge it with another and
come up with his own unique story.

Example:

Story of 3 Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf..stop at the part
where he enters the pig's house to blow it down and weave in this
story to 'Jack and the Beanstalk' where the Big Bad Wolf
huffs and puffs and finds himself in the land of giants and he
needs to depend on Jack to survive.

In the end, he realizes that he cannot go around blowing other
animals' houses down just to get what he wants as he realizes that
if Jack had not been unselfish, he would have been killed by the giant.

By doing so, your child does not have to write his own story but
instead he can choose to weave in one part of a story into another
and create something new altogether. This also helps him to be more
creative.

Basically, you can set writing tasks for him that are fun and which
also do not include lots of actual writing yet to get him started

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

jedamum:

hi TAS,
thanks for sharing.

No problem

[The Alternative Story]

littlewoman:

Hi TAS,


I noticed that for your book, some of the lower pri children can write very well, even as well as some of the pri 4s. Did they start learning these strategies from preschool? If a child is not naturally good in this area, what do you recommend that I can do at home as a parent to help? Thanks very much!

Hi littlewoman,

We do not have a preschool programme, although we do take in
higher ability K1/K2 kids who join our P1 programme. Many
of these children (lower primary) whose works are in the book
are of higher ability and hence they skip a level and join classes
that are not of their own age. We group the children by ability and
not age. We do this to so that the high ability students
can be stretched further and the lower ability students can follow the
lessons and learn the basics if their basics are not strong.

You can get your child to read at home. You can read with him
or her and pick out certain good vocabulary from the book and show
your child how to use the vocabulary in their writing.

You can also work on his basic grammar structure. You can buy
assessment books that focus on grammar and help him in this area.

Another area to watch out for is spelling. You can help you child
to conquer this area by teaching him how to spell using mnemonically.

Example:

- Cycled

Spelt as CY-C-LED. You tell your child that it is pronounced one way
but to remember the spelling, you can break it up in this way so it
is easier to remember the spelling.

TAS

[Leicestergal]

Hi TAS,


How do you explain the usage of abstract nouns, for eg, Due to his depression, he could not function properly as a person. I saw these examples in the synthesis assessment books that i have. And how do you explain the difference between 'depressed' and 'depression' and the different usage? :?

[jasmineong]

Speaking about synthesis, TAS, I noticed that some schools are even starting it at P3 :shock: Can you help me explain about 'unless' so I can explain to my kid next year? thank you!!

[The Alternative Story]

Leicestergal:

Hi TAS,


How do you explain the usage of abstract nouns, for eg, Due to his depression, he could not function properly as a person. I saw these examples in the synthesis assessment books that i have. And how do you explain the difference between 'depressed' and 'depression' and the different usage? :?

Hi Leicestergal,

a) Usually for abstract nouns, it would be good to recognise
the 'form' they come in.

Here are some of the more common ones:

They can end with 'ion'

Examples:

- Competition
- Depression
- Saturation
- Decision

They can also end with 'ness'

Examples:

- Happiness
- Rudeness
- Sadness

They can also end with 'ty/sy/ry'

Examples:

- Jealousy
- Cruelty
- Rivalry

There are some which end with 'th'

Examples:

- Warmth
- Truth

Some end with 'ment'

Examples:

- Merriment
- Judgement

There are some whose last few letters are changed

Examples:

- Belief (changed from Believe)
- Relief (changed from Relieved)


b) Usually abstract nouns like common nouns (tables, chairs etc)
have a particle before them like (a, an, the) or possessive
pronouns like 'his', 'her' to show that the noun belongs to
someone.

Examples:

- Due to his carelessness,...

- Despite her belief that...

- Much to the amazement of ...

'Depressed' is an adjective, a describing word

Example:

He is depressed

'Depression' is an abstract noun

Example:

She could not look after her children because of her depression

Hope this helps

TAS