Enhancing the writing in children – September 29th, 2014
Mdm Rathinam Annamalai, a retired Primary school children
Writing about an experience
It is always advisable for the children to start writing small articles based on their experiences.
e.g.
Our Visit to the Zoo
My Birthday Celebration
How I Spent Last Sunday
The above examples are called recount writing. They need an additional skill of sequencing the events in the order they took place. Then their writing will becomes more narrative.
Strategies to help with narative writing
WWW, What=2, How=2 is the story writing mnemonics to remind students of the 7 essential parts of the story
W – Who are the main characters?
W- Where does the story take place?
W – When does the story take place?
What= 2- What do the main characters want to do? What happens next?
How=2-How does the story end? How do the main characters feel?
Story Map
1. Who are the characters?
2. when/where did the story take place?
3. How did the main characters feel?
4. What did the main characters do?
5. What happened next?
6. How did the story end?
Writing about an experience
A Visit to the Zoo
Paragraph One is the setting: It should answer the questions of who, where, when (WWW). For example,
On Tuesday , all the primary one classes in my school went to the zoo. We went there by the school bus. If the child answers to the above story map questions, then he/she would get the narrative writing.
Sentence Expansion
Here are some samples as to how to expand the sentences while writing.
I have a ball.
I have a big ball.
I have a big, brown, bouncy ball.
This is a vase.
This is a glass vase.
This is a beautiful glass vase.
A car
A smooth car
A smooth, shiny car
She talked.
She talked softly.
He walked hurriedly.
Informal Writing
Journal entries/ creative writing. There is plenty of ideas in this website about writing about
anything under the sun.
Poems that rhyme
I have a mouse
It lives in my house
It eats cheese
It can say please
Poems
My room is colourful
My bed is brown
My toys are red, green,
blue and yellow
The floor is white
The curtains are purple
What a nice room it is
Conclusion
Encourage your children to write for fun- just to express their ideas. Keep a book at home for journal cum creative writing. In that book, allow for any kind of free expression- their thoughts, feelings, experiences, a funny joke, a poem, words that rhyme, funny sentences.
Writing should be a fun activity for children. Don’t be too fussy about matters like spelling and grammar when you ask your child to write at home. Focus more on the content and thought processes. Always praise them and give positive feedback and acknowledge that your child is making an effort at writing.
Remember, the more your child reads, the better he will be able to write.