Parenting: Quick tips to prepare your child for composition exams.
One of the most commonly encountered queries recently was "Anyone knows how to prepare a child for the composition examination? "
Unfortunately, as the saying goes, "A rolling stone gathers no moss." It would be a tough challenge to expect a child to A's an examination with last minute preparatory effort. Nevertheless, with proper tactical planning, some quick tips could still be applied to ensure the child is sufficiently prepared to sit through the examination with decent results.
Prior to applying practice approach:
Commonly, many parents faces similar challenge of children refusing to corporate completing home composition practices. Part of the reason is that most children laments over having to brainstorm ideas, and they perceive this as time consuming and fruitless practices. My son, for one, used to drag for several hours just completing first, and if with some fortune, two paragraphs of the story.
However, with some step by step guide, he has improved tremendously. Well, at least he has overcome rejecting the idea of home practice and is able to complete a decent article within a short time frame.
How can this be accomplished?
Read on.
Key factors and approach:
1. Time management:
As all examinations needs to be completed within a time frame, it is critical that the child is first
able to build a good grasps of the time estimation to complete the exercise. For lower primary
composition, for example, children are usually provided 4 pictorial illustrations, and the child is
expected to formulate stories describing and linking up entire event. If the examination lasts 40
minutes, the parent should help the child break down the time period. For example, 5 minutes for
the opening, and 10 minutes each for the second and third paragraph, and 5 minutes for the last
paragraph closing. This should leave the last 10 minutes for the child to check through his work
quite comfortably.
To prepare for the examination, the child should repeat this time practise at home with at least 3 to
4 exercises to build a good time awareness.
2. Attaining the minimal number of words:
For some primary levels, children maybe required to complete the story with a minimal number
of words. Parents can help the child achieve this with a prior estimation by reading through the
child's past essays and forumlate at average number of words per sentence, then apply this to the
number of sentence count by paragraphs. For example, if the average words per sentence is about
7 words, the child could plan his story with 3 sentences for opening, 4 sentence for the second
and third paragraph, and 3 sentence for the closing. With this planning, the child should be able
to complete his story with more than 100 words without a worry, and he does not need to waste
any time counting his words.
3. Formulate the story:
Fortunately, for lower primary examination, helping words are usually provided. The child
should first scan through the helping words and link the words to each of the pictures or number
them by paragraph planning. This should also assist them to forumulate ideas and the story flow.
They should also quickly list down in point form other key words next to the picture to help
them complete the paragraphs quickly.
For initial stage of home practice, parents may want to just list a few questions for each of the
paragraph to guide the child with their flow of thoughts.
4. Build frequently used vocabulary:
This should fall under attempts to score for the story practices, whereby parents could help the
child build a ready vocabulary of commonly used phrases or words. These could be proverbs or
idioms or descriptive words of feelings, actions or scenery. This could also be achieved with the
help of some of the supplementary reviews I shared in my other posts, such as 作文常用惯用语, 小
学生作文常用好词语 for Chinese composition, or The New First Aid English for English composition.
Finally, of course, nothing beats regular exercises and a healthy reading habit as the
best way to help a child breeze through any story writing challenge.
I hope you find this step by step guide helpful, and that your child fairs well with good grades in the coming examination.
Prior to applying practice approach:
Commonly, many parents faces similar challenge of children refusing to corporate completing home composition practices. Part of the reason is that most children laments over having to brainstorm ideas, and they perceive this as time consuming and fruitless practices. My son, for one, used to drag for several hours just completing first, and if with some fortune, two paragraphs of the story.
However, with some step by step guide, he has improved tremendously. Well, at least he has overcome rejecting the idea of home practice and is able to complete a decent article within a short time frame.
How can this be accomplished?
Read on.
Key factors and approach:
1. Time management:
As all examinations needs to be completed within a time frame, it is critical that the child is first
able to build a good grasps of the time estimation to complete the exercise. For lower primary
composition, for example, children are usually provided 4 pictorial illustrations, and the child is
expected to formulate stories describing and linking up entire event. If the examination lasts 40
minutes, the parent should help the child break down the time period. For example, 5 minutes for
the opening, and 10 minutes each for the second and third paragraph, and 5 minutes for the last
paragraph closing. This should leave the last 10 minutes for the child to check through his work
quite comfortably.
To prepare for the examination, the child should repeat this time practise at home with at least 3 to
4 exercises to build a good time awareness.
2. Attaining the minimal number of words:
For some primary levels, children maybe required to complete the story with a minimal number
of words. Parents can help the child achieve this with a prior estimation by reading through the
child's past essays and forumlate at average number of words per sentence, then apply this to the
number of sentence count by paragraphs. For example, if the average words per sentence is about
7 words, the child could plan his story with 3 sentences for opening, 4 sentence for the second
and third paragraph, and 3 sentence for the closing. With this planning, the child should be able
to complete his story with more than 100 words without a worry, and he does not need to waste
any time counting his words.
3. Formulate the story:
Fortunately, for lower primary examination, helping words are usually provided. The child
should first scan through the helping words and link the words to each of the pictures or number
them by paragraph planning. This should also assist them to forumulate ideas and the story flow.
They should also quickly list down in point form other key words next to the picture to help
them complete the paragraphs quickly.
For initial stage of home practice, parents may want to just list a few questions for each of the
paragraph to guide the child with their flow of thoughts.
4. Build frequently used vocabulary:
This should fall under attempts to score for the story practices, whereby parents could help the
child build a ready vocabulary of commonly used phrases or words. These could be proverbs or
idioms or descriptive words of feelings, actions or scenery. This could also be achieved with the
help of some of the supplementary reviews I shared in my other posts, such as 作文常用惯用语, 小
学生作文常用好词语 for Chinese composition, or The New First Aid English for English composition.
Finally, of course, nothing beats regular exercises and a healthy reading habit as the
best way to help a child breeze through any story writing challenge.
I hope you find this step by step guide helpful, and that your child fairs well with good grades in the coming examination.
You are most welcome to leave a comment/feedback on any great tips or approach to share as well.
Thanks for reading!
Thanks for reading!
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