All About English Creative Writing

[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

[mrswongtuition]

Blobbi:

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:

Use opportunistic teaching.

When playing with bubbles, ask him to pretend he is the bubble and tell about his adventures flying up into the sky!

When whisking, ask him how would he feel if he was the egg. Would he be happy that he is going to be baked into a cake? Or is he sad because whisking is painful?

Make use of every opportunity to tap into their creative minds.

My 3yo boy often tells us stories based on things he sees around him.
He told us a story about a sad caterpillar because it is all alone on the plant, it's mummy & daddy flew away.
\"The caterpillar is so sad. He miss his mummy. Where's his mummy? She flew away. He miss his daddy. His daddy flew away with his mummy.\"

Just today, he told me about hardworking ants (we were staring at red ants near the playground).
\"The ants are very busy. They are busy looking for food. Watch out! A storm is coming! The ants are going to die! Oh no! Mummy, save them!\"

These stories used to be simple questions that we asked him.
\"Is the caterpillar happy?\"
\"Why is the caterpillar alone?\"
\"What are the ants doing?\"
\"Oh no! It's going to rain! What will you do when it rains?\"

I believe that every child has their stories which they want to tell.
Help them by giving them guiding questions. They'll soon learn to piece them up into stories.

[sleepy]

Does mind mapping help in creative writing?

[mrswongtuition]

sleepy:

Does mind mapping help in creative writing?

It does help to generate ideas and develop plots. However, students must know how to use the mindmap to their advantage. I have students who can draw excellent mindmaps with detailed plots, but they could not put it into proper paragraphs and their composition ended up as a 'haphazard piece'.

[Blobbi]

Tks TAS, these are wonderful ideas! The holidays are coming and it would be a fabulous time to start them out. I especially love the spy story - I used to love that myself when I was a kid :).


Mrs Wongtuition, tks for the ideas. So far, I liken DS to the tribes in Africa - all his stories are of the oral tradition :faint: . I've tried to get him to write them down (very numerous and long running stories of parallel worlds), but he says they're a secret. :roll:

Tks all for the wonderful ideas. It sounds like we'll be busy this hols!!