All About English Creative Writing

[mum2010]

awfullyKS:

Could your dd be in a new class? I heard from another friend whose ds joined a new class that in the beginning, the compo writing will not be one whole compo, it will be parts of the compo for the kids to memorise and write out. They usually memorise the important parts then write out. I think for my case after about 3-4 weeks, then they went on to write whole compos. I asked the teacher about the pacing and she said as they move on and can understand the techniques more, it will be one compo written almost every week or every 2 weeks.

It's fine with me to memorise descriptive words but the teacher should have at least taught the kids how to apply what they memorised. Memorising is one thing and application is totally another.

Know the ingredients and not knowing how or when to add ingredients is the same case.

My girl learnt chinese compo in this way and she is able to score.

So I was thinking maybe it could be done for english too.

Just sharing with parents.

[mum2010]

coolit:

For compo, they do a lot of class work, they will have to learn the different sentence structures and write on their own mini whiteboard and also

learn key phrases by memorisation. Initially, I was also not sure whether memorisation will help and I wanted to see actual work written but after
they were in TAS for about half a year, I realize that the memorisation helps
my kids to internalize the writing style and skills much faster and after that,
it is much less memory work and more application and then you will see a lot more writing of whole compos. This is from my experience. But I think it
is better that you ask the teacher and clarify any misgivings. How old is your child?

She sounds quite bright. Maybe she is not suitable for a class of her age
level. One of my friend's child is now in P3 but he is in the P5 class because
he is way ahead of his age and it helps stretch him more.

Sad to say, she is in class of higher level.
Even if she's in a class of her level, the tutor should also teach the techniques to the kids.

That's what i believe most parents are looking for. What makes me mad is that that I was told for the trial lesson she wont be asked to write but not the follwing lessons.

Worst, techniques, techniques, techniques..... where?

Just sharing with parents.

[mum2010]

Monster Mummy:

mum2010:

Hi,
I sent my gal for the trial lesson. After the lesson, she was very happy as she told me the teacher taught a lot of descriptive words and phrases. So we decided to signed up for the class. And guess what? Till now, THAT was the only lesson the teacher was so enuthiastic in teaching the class descriptive words for compo.

Also she's yet to write a compo, this really upset her as she loves writing. There was one 'writing', they were told to copy the descriptive paragraph from onto foolscape for the teacher to mark n till now I've not seen the pieace of copied 'compo'.

Hi,

It's compo and compre but now i would like to call it a compre and grammar class which is more appropriate.

Just sharing.

Hope to share what we are going thro'.

Hi,
May I understand whether that this is purely creative writing class. To my uderstanding the kid is writing a composition with the different situation quoted. Maybe it will wise to speak to the teacher to clear out your doubt.

Hi,
It's a compo and compre class.

[mum2010]

sleepy:

mum2010:

Hi,

I sent my gal for the trial lesson. After the lesson, she was very happy as she told me the teacher taught a lot of descriptive words and phrases. So we decided to signed up for the class. And guess what? Till now, THAT was the only lesson the teacher was so enuthiastic in teaching the class descriptive words for compo.

Also she's yet to write a compo, this really upset her as she loves writing. There was one 'writing', they were told to copy the descriptive paragraph from onto foolscape for the teacher to mark n till now I've not seen the pieace of copied 'compo'.

Hope to share what we are going thro'.

FYI another thread with more feedback on TAS
http://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=23547&start=20

Hi,

Read your post, a little to late to read it now but it's good to know that my girl is not an isolate case.

U put it across better than i do.

I am posting in order to share with parents out there. Usually very lazy to post n also i do not write so well like many of you.

Just sharing with parents.

[coolit]

mum2010:

coolit:

For compo, they do a lot of class work, they will have to learn the different sentence structures and write on their own mini whiteboard and also

learn key phrases by memorisation. Initially, I was also not sure whether memorisation will help and I wanted to see actual work written but after
they were in TAS for about half a year, I realize that the memorisation helps
my kids to internalize the writing style and skills much faster and after that,
it is much less memory work and more application and then you will see a lot more writing of whole compos. This is from my experience. But I think it
is better that you ask the teacher and clarify any misgivings. How old is your child?

She sounds quite bright. Maybe she is not suitable for a class of her age
level. One of my friend's child is now in P3 but he is in the P5 class because
he is way ahead of his age and it helps stretch him more.

Sad to say, she is in class of higher level.
Even if she's in a class of her level, the tutor should also teach the techniques to the kids.

That's what i believe most parents are looking for. What makes me mad is that that I was told for the trial lesson she wont be asked to write but not the follwing lessons.

Worst, techniques, techniques, techniques..... where?

Just sharing with parents.

Strange, which tutor is this? If you do not want to say, maybe can pm me so
I will take note also. So far my children's tutors are all good and my kids can write very well now after being with them. I have tried at least 2 other well known centres but they did not work. Maybe you could put your dd with the 2 tutors that my children are under?

[TTYL1]

Hi coolit,


Can you share who the tutors are that your children are under? I want to put my child in TAS but want to put under the good tutors.

[Monster Mummy]

Hi mum2010,


As far as I know for composition writing in comprehension and composition, they only cover minimal and maybe take few weeks to complete one writing. So if her standard is higher, it will be advisable for you to speak to teacher than the child is not happy and waste her time.

[ccgoh]

They usually take about 2 weeks to cover 1 piece of compo. In the past it was about 3-4 weeks, but now it is 2 weeks which I think it is quite fast as they also do 2 compres, grammar and synthesis in the lesson. Most centres do compo separately from the other

parts of the language. If your child is faster, usually the teacher would recommend to fast track her. It is best to speak to your child’s teacher or you could also bring it up to the founder by emailing them.

[coolit]

TTYL1:

Hi coolit,


Can you share who the tutors are that your children are under? I want to put my child in TAS but want to put under the good tutors.

Hi TTYL1,

The tutors that my kids are under are Teacher Joy and Teacher May Anne. Another few tutors that I know are good from my friends' experience
are Teacher Elaine and Teacher Fang Qi. However, it is important to see
if your child likes the teacher and also can work well with the teacher.
Constant monitoring is important and their teachers take our feedback
well. So you can feedback to the teacher on your child's learning.

[bumblebee35]

Teacher Joy is good. My kid enjoys going for her lessons. Ever since they restarted their library system, my children have been reading everyday, they can’t put the books down.


My children also picked up the way they teach spelling and use the same method in school and they now have no problem in spelling at all. The spelling booklet they have is rather useful.

Anyone knows if they will be starting new P1 classes at AMK? My neighbour wants to join a new class.