3 Writing Skills to Start Nurturing from Primary 2

Three writing skills to develop from Primary Two

Based on the pictures, students are expected to narrate a logical and coherent story that is vividly described. As such, planning out what will be written is important so that students have a plot in mind before they start writing. Similarly, literary techniques are essential so that students do not end up writing discrete and boring sentences that merely tell what they see in the pictures.

Hence, in this blog post, I will be talking about 3 writing skills—planning a story, crafting detailed sentences, and 5-senses description—that students can start developing from Primary Two. Mastering these skills from young will give students a head start in writing at the upper levels!

1. Effective planning skills

Before planning, students should know that a good story always has the following aspects:

When teaching a student to plan a story based on the given pictures, it is good to help them understand how the pictures form the story by using a plot rollercoaster (or a story mountain as some of you may know it as) :

In each part of the story, students have to know what they need to describe so that the story starts, develops and ends properly.

Beginning

When starting the story, it is important to orientate the reader to the story. This means that the basic details, such as the 5W1H, should be provided so that readers have a clear understanding as to what is happening. Students should make use of Picture 1 to help them describe:

• Who was in the story? Name of the main character?

• Where did it take place?

• What could be seen/heard/ felt/ smelled in the place?

• When did it take place?

• What was happening?

• Why was it happening?

• How did the characters feel?

Take note that for some pictures, you may even start your story before Picture 1! For example, if the first picture shows a group of children playing hopscotch in school, you may start with a paragraph like:

“Remember to complete your homework!” The long-awaited recess bell rang shrilly right after the teacher’s words, signalling a break for the pupils. Once their teacher had dismissed them, Alice and Brenda made a beeline to the fitness corner. A hopscotch competition was going to be held during their Physical Education class that week and they were determined to seize any opportunity to practise their skills. With a wide grin on her face, Alice announced, “Last one there is a tortoise!”. The two best friends had always been competitive with each other in all areas and neither of them liked to lose.

This helps to provide more details to your story although you should make sure that the details are relevant and push your story forward.

Middle

As for the middle part of the story, this is where the most exciting and important events take place. Typically, Pictures 2 and 3 would make up this part. Students should make use of the two pictures to help them describe:

• What happened next?

• Characters’ TAMED

  • Thoughts

  • Actions

  • Manner

  • Emotions

  • Dialogue

Find out more about Mrs Chew’s post on using TAMED (Thoughts, Action, Manner, Emotions) to describe your characters in writing.

Ending

As for the ending, if Picture 4 is provided, students should describe what is shown. If Picture 4 is not shown, then they have to craft their own conclusion. Some pointers to write a conclusion that is meaningful and yet relevant to the story are as follows:

• What happened in the end?

• Thoughts or feelings of characters?

• Link to topic?

• Lesson learnt?

Find out more about how to write a conclusion by reading our blog post on 4 Ways to End Your Story.

Look at the story mountain below for points that students should be thinking about when planning the beginning, middle and end of their story:

2. Adding detail to a sentence…and therefore to the story

Planning a story is the first step and writing it is the second. A good story may be written with a sound plot and accurate language, but a superb story may be crafted if students know how to add details to their narration.

One basic way to help a Primary Two student to add more detail into their stories is to work on their sentences. Oftentimes, students may not know how to do so. Here, I’ll be teaching how to lengthen a sentence with more details through the addition of adjectives and adverbs.

Example sentence:

The dog ran.

Boring sentences lead to boring stories. To lengthen a sentence meaningfully, use the following template to guide you: