I shared this with my students a few weeks ago. What’s wrong with this introduction? “Jason! You forgot to get the drinks and the crackers for tomorrow’s party!” my mum exclaimed. Realisation struck me like a lightning. “I will go and get it now, mum.” I replied. My mum answered, “Be careful, when you go[…]
Logic is very important in compositions. When we are planning the story, we must constantly ask ourselves, “Is this logical?” Two weeks ago, my students wrote about an accident. General plot: A dog saw an ice-cream cone that’s dropped on the ground, rushed across the road to get it and got hit by a bus.[…]
My advice to my students- always plan your compositions! It just takes five minutes but it organises your thoughts. There’s also a lower risk of going out of point if you have written an outline. I want my students to start this good habit from young. As seen here, my Primary 3 students from the[…]
I brought the P1-2 students out today to talk to people near our centre so that the children can write about them in their compositions. It was a very rewarding session! We met a man practising tennis and he was kind enough to explain the techniques to us. We also chatted with a man at[…]
I received this question from a parent a few days ago. Question: Must primary school kids write compositions weekly? Answer: Writing is like swimming. Swimming exercises all parts of our body and we can head to the gym after that to focus on the different body parts. I believe the only way to improve is[…]
Brought the P1-2 students to the Singapore Art Museum yesterday for the Singapore Biennale. I was actually impressed by some of the students’ interpretation of the art pieces. For instance, when I asked them about the art piece on the top right of this photo, they alerted me to the scales on the drawing and described how it morphs[…]
How does this kid look? Yes, the head is not proportional to the rest of the body. I bet he’s more endearing if the size of the head is reduced. It’s the same for composition-writing. Sometimes, we may get excited and write a super long introduction. By the time we realize it, there’s only 10[…]
The new PSLE format for 2015 requires students to write a composition based on a theme. The student can use one to three pictures that are provided. This is great news as the student can use a lot more of his/her creativity to craft his essay. However, as this is open-ended, be careful not to[…]
Remember the teacher is marking zillions of papers for the examinations. He/she may not be able to read in detail what you have written; in fact, he/she may need to look through quickly before giving you a grade.So, impression counts. 1. Make sure there are no glaring grammar mistakes. When the teacher doesn’t have time[…]
Vigorous writing is concise. A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short, or that he avoid all detail and treat his subjects[…]