What is his age? Reading definitely helps. The school will train the student
to handle different naratives and essays, one step at a time.
Personally, I do not think reciting articles will help improving a kid's
writing skills. Writing is a creative process, limited by one's imagination
and the ease of applying learned writing techniques. ONLY following a set
pattern from other articles would not produce a good WRITER.
In my child's case, the quantum jump in terms of writing skills did not
happen until the 4th grade, when an inpsiring and caring English teacher
TURNED on the "writing" genes of my child. The following is one of the
finished assignments of my child in 4th grade.
他是能掰活。一般写作文前,先闭目想五分钟,在脑子里打草稿。然后确定几个好看的
词要用上。接着在电脑上敲,一气呵成,而且一定要把选好的词想方设法地用上。最后
,重读一遍,改改错别字什么的,就齐活。我看他如此这般干过一次,然后我就再也不
管他的写作了
九岁上四年级的时候,他的英文老师教了他许多有用的写作知识和技巧。他的作文从此
成型了。下面是他的四年级作文。
Grade 4 Student Writing Prompt: Fictional Narrative “The Creature”
Writing Situation: Imagine you are walking down the hall at your school, and
you hear a strange noise coming from the classroom. When you go inside,
you discover that the strange noise is coming from an odd creature sitting
at your desk.
The Creature
“Oh darn, I’m going to be late!” I thought while I hurried up the stairs.
I put down my backpack and noticed something. The classroom seemed to be
streaming light out of the window! Just as quickly as it had started, the
light coming from the window subsided. I quietly opened the door.
Strangely, nobody was inside except for something that was on my desk . . .
I looked at the thing more closely. It was green and had small, little
horns and tiny wings like a bat. It had a short snout and a very long tail.
And it was so small it could fit in my hand. I thought it couldn’t get
any funnier, until it started walking and talking.
“Hello, I’m Ona. What’s your name?” It said.
“Oh, so it’s electronic,” I thought.
“What is your name?” Ona said, beginning to become impatient. “James,”
I replied absent-mindedly, still wondering if it had batteries or not.
“Come on. Follow me.” Ona said, zooming out of the classroom.
I followed her, yelling, “Wait up, Ona!”
She stopped at a meadow, with strange flowers that I’ve never seen before.
But their aroma smelled wonderful, though. Also, there was a cottage,
which looked like that it was made of wood. Ona went inside, and I followed
her footsteps as well, wondering what was inside.
Inside the cottage, an old lady wearing a faded purple dress was sitting by
a fireplace. Ona flew back to me and told me, “This is a person I know who
’ll take you back to your own world.”
“Would you come with me, Ona?” I asked.
“I will, but don’t expect me to be like this while your mom is there.”
Ona winked her left eye.
“Come.” Rasped the lady as she went into a small opening between two huge
bookshelves.
After I went through, I saw a pond as big as a stadium.
The lady started muttering some words. Then the lake shone red and I was
flying in a worm hole.
A moment later, I felt that my feet touched the ground. I realized that I
was back to my own room at home while Ona turned into a stuffed animal.
While I was hugging Ona, my mom came in.
“Did you have a fun time at school?” She asked.
I looked at Ona, now frozen but with a quirk smile on her face, and happily
replied “Yeah! Absolutely!” as I rushed down the stairs to get some food
for Ona.