English Composition Writing Ecourse

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AJ did not go for tuition last year as I have my reservation on going to group mass-market tuition classes because the tutor will cover everything he or she needs to teach to the group. So if the child is not weak in a particular topic, he/she is going to feel bore. It is quite a waste of time, in my opinion. We should just teach the child the topic(s) he/she does not understand or is weak at. In this sense, I prefer a personal tutor, because a personal tutor can fully customise the lesson according to the child's abilities.

AJ is a logical person, he appreciates factual stuff like Maths and Science better, so there is little doubt he is stronger in these 2 subjects than languages. In fact, he hates to write (literal sense) since young. Holding a pen or pencil to write is a daunting thing to him, but give him a keyboard, he will turn into a keyboard warrior type right away. I have even sent him to typing courses before, up to intermediate level. So he is quite a pro with keyboard, really.

So now you know. It's a pain to get him to write, using pen or pencil. So, when it comes to composition writing, it is his greatest hate. It doesn't help when he did not receive strong foundation in lower primary because I can't coach him in this aspect and he had an EL teacher who was absent more than 50% of the time when he was in Primary 3.

Needless to say, I got very a little panic when he started Primary 4 in GEP. I tried buying some model composition books and composition guide books, but I am still very much like a headless chicken, clueless in coaching him.

You see, composition writing in Singapore's context is not creative writing. The child has to know the structure required and how marks are allocated, then you write accordingly to score well. To some extend, it restricted a child's wild imagination, but the child can still stay 'creative' within the defined boundary.

I don't know the structure (bad mom I am) and I don't know how marks are allocated. I need help. So I plugged the courage to seek help from my blogger friend Hui Ing, who also conducts Writing Workshops. She said AJ could try her Composition Writing Ecourse.  We are no strangers to e-courses. In fact, AJ has a few online courses. I actually like e-courses because the timing is flexible, we can access to it whenever we have pockets of time (or make time for it).

Long story short, that was how AJ started the 8-week Composition Writing E-course with Big Ideaz Education in Sep last year (just in time for Semestral Assessment 2, phew!).

If you are still not aware, the format for PSLE English Composition has changed. The new format started in 2015. In the old format, students were given 2 choices:

1. A scenario based question, and the students continue with the story. OR
2. A picture based question, where students were given 4 sequential pictures (or 3 sequential pictures with a question mark on the 4th) and asked to write a story according to the pictures. 

In the new format, there is no more such choices. Students are now given 1 topic, with 3 different (might not be sequential too) pictures for them to interpret and write their stories. They have the choice to use 1, 2 or all 3 of the pictures. They also have the freedom to write anything that this/these picture(s) fit.

The beauty of having such format is that children who can write well would not have to have their creativity restrained. However, the danger of having such format is that children who are weak in composition will no longer have the sequential pictures to guide them, thus they could be direction-less if they do not follow a structure.

Big Ideaz Education serves to fill in the gap here, helping the children who are weaker in writing to, firstly, learn a simple structure and then slowly add-on to enrich their content. I must say, each topic is well explained with sufficient examples. The entire programme went really well as Hui Ing's lessons are very well-planned and purposeful. They are divided into bite-sizes, which make them easy to digest and apply. I find that the same techniques can be applied to Chinese composition too!

The areas she has covered are:

• Ways to write an introduction
• How to create event(s), conflict(s) or challenge(s)
• Ways to expand the event(s), conflict(s) or challenge(s) to engage the readers
• How to write a great conclusion
• Story planning

This programme that AJ took is now revamped. Hui Ing has changed the eCourse format to a monthly subscription membership site. That means, instead of a one-time (8 lessons) eCourse, with a fixed deadline that everyone has to meet, students can now pay a monthly fee of $84 to access the eCourse videos, notes / assignments and take the course at their own pace, as long as they are subscribed. They can submit up to 4 pieces of writing assignments or full compositions for marking per month of subscription. Which means, they have a choice of either submitting the lesson assignments or if they think they do not need help in those areas, they can submit entire compositions. She will mark 2 drafts for each submitted assignment or composition. Students can also unsubscribe any time. Once unsubscribed, there will be no access to the webpage.

I welcome this change as there will be a continuation on composition learning to further improve the child's writing skill. I am most likely to continue the subscription.

Big Ideaz Education has kindly sponsored 2 students for this e-writing monthly course for 2 months (each worth $168). If you are keen to participate in this sponsorship, kindly enter your entry in the Rafflecopter below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations to Cara and Janine for winning the 2-months sponsorship from Big Ideaz Education.
I have given your email addresses to Big Ideaz.



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