As your Champ heads to primary school, their curriculum will expand to include more subjects, with one of them being the English language. In the primary school English language syllabus, students are tested for their literacy and comprehension skills.
Because English is the primary medium of instruction for all other subjects, it’s important for Champs to work on their reading and writing skills early. From composition writing to answering comprehension questions, there are different formats that students are tested in.
Creative writing is one of the skills that students need to sharpen if they want to do well in their composition assignments. Transitioning to primary school from preschool is a big step. Here’s how you can help your Champ improve their English writing skills and ace their examinations.
1. Teach Them How to Plan Their Composition Stories
Firstly, it helps to know the basic structure of a composition story. Compositions are often categorised as narrative stories, so learning to narrate a sequence or series of events is important. There are mainly four parts to a good composition story, with different expectations for each section.
The introduction should be relevant to the story and be interesting enough to capture the reader’s attention. Instead of memorising model answers, encourage your Champ to tap into their imagination, borrowing ideas from cartoons and comics that they enjoy watching.
As the body of the composition is where the most action is, it is important to provide more details and elaboration that is central to the story. Many students tend to rush through this section due to time constraints. Your Champ should be using action words, the five senses and emotions to describe the problem.
In conclusion, your Champ must resolve the problem in a clear and logical way. This is also where creative writing can flourish, if your Champ chooses an ending that is out of the ordinary. That said, it should still fit within the scope of the story. To conclude, make sure the composition has a lesson for the readers to take away.
Practise planning for composition topics before writing. Use previous topics or come up with your own to encourage your Champ to get the imaginative gears running.
2. Work on Language Skills and Sentence Structure
The composition writing segment is marked based on content and language. Hence, a good storyline alone will not suffice. Your Champ also needs to have good language skills. This includes grammar, vocabulary, spelling, punctuation and sentence structure.
One way to help them remember is by recording past mistakes into a notebook and reviewing them every couple of days to refresh memory. Not only will they begin building confidence, but they will also remember not to make the same mistake twice.
Get your Champ to rewrite past composition examples in different ways, focusing on the sentence structure. Learn new connectors and use them more effectively.
3. Build a Word Bank to Refer To
Every good writer has a word bank. Start a word bank with your Champ. Begin by collecting phrases, vocabulary words, idioms and metaphors that they come across.
By nurturing a love for reading, your Champ will have greater exposure to different writing styles, words and phrases used. Reviewing the word bank from time to time and while writing their compositions will help them to use these new additions more effectively.
You can care for your Champ’s ability to adapt and succeed in primary school by offering them the support and guidance they need. By enrolling them in MindChamps’ Creative Writing Programme, you offer them a head start to developing their writing skills. Most importantly, your Champ will benefit from hearing you cheer them on!