All About English Creative Writing

[snowyqueen]

ChiefKiasu:

There is a difference between learning-to-write (which focuses on grammar and punctuation) and writing-to-learn (which focuses on using the written language for effective communication). During the first 3 years of Primary school, almost all teachers focus on learning-to-write. A child that has unbridled imagination will likely score poorly during these years if he/she does not already have a good foundation of standard English. If this is that case, a creative writing class is unlikely to help the child do better in composition tests.

Dear Chief,

I wish to express special thanks to you for enlightening me on my concern. Previously I am at loss of what kind of english course should I enrol my gal to and your input had certainly help me to think carefully of my objective.

My objective is to get my gal to start on writing decent english composition and creative writing is something not suitable for her yet.

Finally I chose to enrol her in Just Education and she had been there for two months now. I can say that I am very pleased with the results because they had english composition writing every alternate week though it is a English course and they covered other things like grammar, vocab and comprehension etc.

The mix and match sentences material provided by the centre help my gal to expose to the use of different way of writing a composition. Though she probably still needs to improve on the language especially on the grammars and sentences construction but she can write at least 120 words everytime I give her a new topic.

I feel that she must at least be able to come out with the basic body of the composition before she can be taught to be creative in her writing. At the moment, I only want her to be able to meet the schcool requirement of composition writing. The material provided by the tuition centre is adequate and good enough for her to meet the requirement.

One \"conventional\" method is still practice makes perfect :D.

[vyvlim]

There is a company that conducts Creative Writing in schools only. The students pay through Edusave. I have heard it is a fantastic programme and many students have benefited from it. My niece is from PLMGS and after attending this programme ( is a one year programme), her compo writing has improved tremendously. It is no longer boring and she is able to write exciting stories applying the skills she mastered from the programme.

[H2O]

Hi vyvlim,

which company is that?

My son is in P1 and he is weak in his grammar structure.
I’m chinese educated and can’t really help him…

There is so many English Enrichment class in the market from Lorna Whiston, Tony Buzan, British Council, I CAN READ advance writing etc.

Any recommendation?

[vyvlim]

H2O:

Hi vyvlim,

which company is that?

My son is in P1 and he is weak in his grammar structure.
I'm chinese educated and can't really help him...

There is so many English Enrichment class in the market from Lorna Whiston, Tony Buzan, British Council, I CAN READ advance writing etc.

Any recommendation?

Hi H2O,

I cant recall the name of company. I know that this company only conduct in schools. They do not have a centre or premises to conduct their programmes. If u are really keen, u may call Paya Lebar Methodist Primary School. I heard they are very popular. Last time I've heard, they too conduct at Yangzheng Primary and Rosyth. My niece started when she was in Primary One. She followed up till Primary Three. Each programme is a one full year programme. Heard the fees are cheap too.

[favianboy]

[Moderator's note: Topics merged.]


:?: My son reads alot but when comes to write composition, he has a problem of putting sentences together. Besides, he has no ideas of what to write for that topic. How to help him? Do we need to send him to
1)creative writing@ julia gabriel
2)creative writing with mind map @ tony buzan
3)creative writing @british council
4) creative writing @ lorna?

:idea: Pls advice or comment

[westmom]

favianboy- which part of spore do you reside & which level is he? If your boy is very weak, centres like British council etc may not work. You have to locate a centre which caters to the local school syllabus expectation if your intention is not to let him loose too many marks.

[KingRascal]

[Moderator's note: Topics merged.]


Hi
I have exposed my son to Tony Buzan's P1 english. I found the introduction of mindmapping for creative writing useful. I was told that MindChamps and Learning Lab also used mapping techniques for creative writing.

Could anyone share their thoughts and what you know? How about British Council?

Thanks.

[pranav]

[Moderator's note: Topics merged.]


Hi all,

Could any one tell me a standard place were they teach creative writing for Primary 1 children.

Prefer woodlands/ Admirality/ Sembawang/ Yishun side.


Thanks
Pranav

[jedamum]

pranav:

creative writing for Primary 1 children.


Prefer woodlands/ Admirality/ Sembawang/ Yishun side.

hi Pranav,
we have some CW discussion http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?t=35&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=75.

if i am staying at the above places (mainly woodlands), i would certainly give http://eastasia.britishcouncil.org/public/course-description.aspx?country=Singapore&coursename=Creative+Writing+1&Course_ID=5c4efc20-df96-4837-ab72-bee5ecdbf01f a try. You can check from their website what are the ongoing courses available.

[MMM]

Hi,


My kids are with BC since beginning of the year. I’ve seen improvement in my P2 girl’s writing but there are still alot of room for improvement and there’s so much BC can do. My P1 boy wasn’t reading well and had to start with reading development in BC but he is progressing well and based on the SA1 results that he rec’d so far, we think he should score around 94/100. This is something we never expect when he was in end K2. He was always a big challenge for us.

I intend to put them at Literacy circle holiday program during june hols. It’s 2 hours daily program and can choose to attend for a week or only couple of days (I think). The rate for entire week is $200. I’ve to send the kids for assessment but I am keen to give it a try.

I think they’ve a woodlands outlet 63486701.

I saw their materials before and found it useful and interesting. I feel it’s alot more academic than BC. BC does writing as well but their focus on compo is from P3 onwards. Also BC focuses alot more on enrichment rather than specific academic so the children enjoys themselves there. We know of someone who switch from BC to literacy circle and found it good. But I had signed up with BC so didn’t give it a try. Hope to take this opportunity to try out literacy circle.