sky minecrafter:Hi, I feel that all enrichment centres are doing a great job trying to teach compo writing to young children & one can see that they are essentially the same. If the students produce different results it could well be (pure speculation) the efforts the child puts in privately.
Looking at TH & WLC. TH compo topics are fairly standard, nothing too out of the ordinary (which means you may not be writing about an encounter with a 没有公德心的遛狗老人) & a P3 topic may appear in P4 again. The language mastery is different so I suppose the child could try writing more vividly the 2nd time round, use more 成语俗语. TH classifies compo topics effectively by themes - great for exam revision. You'd get the feel that an ex-MOE teacher sits on the curriculum planning board (purely personal opinion). Occasionally there will be discussions of writing techniques as well. WLC topics are inclined towards writers who enjoy a good challenge - you could come across something like writing about 被宠坏的孩子. Students will get to write a variety of genres in upper primary - 看图 完成 情景 命题。So if the child is still unable to produce a standard compo (maybe 最快乐的一天), TH would be a good starting point.
TH lesson starts a compo topic with some question prompts, useful vocabulary... Tutor explains briefly the expectation of each paragraph, reads her own model compo aloud. She may ask the class for ideas but minimal class participation is required. For lower primary she may allow the class to copy out chunks of sentences she flashes on the board. WLC is pretty much the same, except that the tutor we have (tutor's modus operandi could well differ from person to person too, not so much a centre thingie) will make the children listen to her analysis first, then distribute the notes & run through the centre's analysis, plus read aloud her model compo. You are not encouraged to jot down notes (upper pri) as the tutor reads the model cos you have to internalise it all & churn out your own work. & you can't just hand in something, there is an expectation of length (upper pri, 4 pages).
TH tutors mark & the child just needs to do 字词 改正 along the borders; WLC tutors require draft 2.
Thanks minecrafter,
Seems like Tien hsia is good for foundation and \" New Writers\".
We parents are often impressed with the quality of the compo notes and model essay provided by Centers but in actual fact, kids don't write so well at their level .maybe that 1% only .even if it looks like a \"wow\" piece of model essay pasted on the walls of the Centers, the Teachers have actually marked and corrected before making them draft and look like a perfect essay.
So back to being realistic , kids need to take lessons seriously, parents need to work hand in hand with Teachers and kids .
