The Alternative Story (TAS) - Discussion

[bumblebee35]

Hi TAS,


Can I find out where to get this book of yours? I heard a friend talking about it and also found good reviews here. My son is in P2 next yr but I would like to get him started in creative writing.

[clblinym]

The Alternative Story:

clblinym:

Hi, TAS,


When reading your book with DS, I have doubt with the following
phrase ( the remains of my father's precious vase on the ground)

The full sentence is on P.6

The sinking feeling in my stomach grew (main clause) as I sat on the floor (subordinate clause), the remains of my father's precious vase on the ground.

Can you explain the function of \"the remains of my father's precious vase on the ground'?

Thank you .

Regards,
Amy

Hi Amy,

The use of such a sentence is one that is use to imply that the
cause of the person having the sinking feeling in his stomach is
him breaking his father's precious vase.

In writing, you do not have to be explicit all the time because at times
it takes away from the writing, making it seem a little forced.

Example:

The sinking feeling in my stomach grew as I sat on the floor. I knew
I was going to be in trouble as I had broken my father's precious vase.

Here, the cause and effect relationship is clear, it is clear
that you have that sinking feeling because you broke the vase.
However, it seems a little stilted as compared to:

The sinking feeling in my stomach grew as I sat on the floor,
the remains of my father's precious vase on the ground.

In writing, there is no right or wrong at times
(both the sentences given above are grammatically right),
it is not so much of a science but more of an art.
Hence, certain sentence structures like this needs to be
felt as you read the story. When every sentence is uniformed and the
meaning is very obvious, at times it takes away from the writing
rather than add to it.

That is why writing can be more difficult to master, however if the
children are exposed to a lot of creative writing and read a fair bit,
they would be able to internalize the different styles of writing.

Hope this helps.

TAS

Hi, TAS,

Well-explained.
You are the best English teacher that I have seen so far.

Reagrds,
Amy

[Leicestergal]

Hi TAS,


Thanks for your patience in explaining the creative writing book to me when I came down to get it and your teachers explained it so well and it made me interested in writing too!

Anyway, just want to say that I sincerely wish you all the best for 2011 and can't wait for us to relocate back to singapore so my youngest can still benefit from TAS.

[HaleyCopterz]

Hi TAS,


When is your next community service programme? I missed the Christmas event and the Spelling Bee one and heard good reviews about it from a friend. I was thinking of letting my child join the next one.

[Chengg]

Hi clblinym,


Is your child at TAS? I agree with you that TAS teachers are one of the best! (strictly in my opinion as a parent). I am thankful that they helped my boy aced his psle. For both science and english that he took up at tas, he got an A star So very happy there but of course he was never very weak in these 2 subjects but also never getting A stars either before. All my kids look forward to every lesson and were upset with me when I took them out of TAS temporarily when we moved quite far away. Tried diff tutors and centres with them, did not work and in the end went back to TAS and am glad I did that.

Happy New Year in advance TAS!

[mariadcruz]

The Alternative Story:

vksmums:

Hi TAS,


I have pmed you regarding the Science Toy making christmas event.

Hi vksmums,

We have replied you

TAS

Just a question...

Shouldn't it be \"We have replied to YOUR enquiry\"rather than \"We have replied you\"?

[mariadcruz]

The Alternative Story:

Champion:

Hi TAS,
I have sent you an e-mail and waiting for your reply; thanks

Hi Champion,

I am not sure if we have replied you as we do not know which email
belongs to you but we should have replied you

TAS

The same question about the use of the word \"reply\"or \"replied\"here..
Also, I wouldn't say\"\"Which email belongs to you?\". Instead, \"Which is your email?\"
The first sentence sounds somewhat like a translation from Chinese?
No offence.

[The Alternative Story]

clblinym:

Hi, TAS,

Well-explained.
You are the best English teacher that I have seen so far.

Reagrds,
Amy

Hi Amy,

Thanks for your generous praise :lol: Hope the explanation can
help you and your child.

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

Leicestergal:

Hi TAS,


Thanks for your patience in explaining the creative writing book to me when I came down to get it and your teachers explained it so well and it made me interested in writing too!

Anyway, just want to say that I sincerely wish you all the best for 2011 and can't wait for us to relocate back to singapore so my youngest can still benefit from TAS.

Hi Leicestergal,

No problem :lol: We wish you all the best in UK as well!

TAS

[The Alternative Story]

HaleyCopterz:

Hi TAS,


When is your next community service programme? I missed the Christmas event and the Spelling Bee one and heard good reviews about it from a friend. I was thinking of letting my child join the next one.

Hi HaleyCopterz,

Our next community service programme starts this coming week.
We are having a programme 'Word Wizard' where we
teach the children how to learn new vocabulary using
mnemonics. We will assess the children at the end of about 1 or 2
months and for those who do well, they have a chance to join our
'Write a book' programme in which we will teach and guide
them to write their own storybook. If the books are well-written,
we might publish the storybooks at the end of the year.

Those who do not get into this programme will continue with the
second part of word wizard where we will focus on both vocabulary
and also some creative writing. There will be quizes from time to time
to test the children on the words learnt during Word Wizard and those
that do well in the quiz will get prizes to encourage them to continue
doing well.

TAS