Help your children improve their situational writing skills
With the PSLE English and language papers coming up in 6 days, students will be busy brushing up on their language and writing skills. For most parts of the exam, there will be a known structure, and students will know what to expect from it. But in the case of the situational writing section, there will be multiple types of writing requirements coming up – each with a different format and level of complexity. There might be questions for you to write up in formal or informal letters, emails, or reports. It might even be to write speeches based on the information provided. It is crucial to learn how to answer the different types of situational writing questions. Let us see what you can do to improve your chances of making the best out of the examination.
Be clear about the format
Different writing tasks will require different formats and styles of writing. Familiarise yourself with the various forms and styles. You can look up examples online and even get help from the books in the library to see how the formatting of different writing assignments is. There will be strict structures to follow in case of formal writing and for informal situations, the rules will be a bit relaxed. Being aware of the difference and adapting accordingly is crucial.
Be clear about the purpose
When you are writing letters, essays, reports, or speeches, you have to be clear on what you’re writing about and why you’re writing it. The examiner or any person who is reading it should be able to see clearly what information you are trying to convey with your writing. So, make sure to be clear about the purpose of your writing and try to give an introduction to it in the beginning and make use of pointers while you are writing your essay. Make sure to steer your writing towards that end goal and don’t wander off – writing just to fill the word count.
Read the question
Make sure you read the question at least twice and make sure not to miss out on any points. Many students skimp over the paragraphs and just look at the bullet points to get an idea about the task they need to do. They forget to realise that the question itself will have a lot of pointers to help you answer and will be crucial in helping you score good marks. You will find keywords that are important to answering the question in these paragraphs. Make sure to take note of these keywords and make use of them in your writing. It will help your writing seem like it is close to the topic being discussed and will help the examiner see that you’ve understood the question.
Plan and structure your answer
Show your children how they can plan and structure their answers before starting to write them. It will help them make sure that they don’t miss out on important points and will keep them from drifting away from the topic. Get your children to try it out and find out the best approach that suits them.
Practice is key
Before the exams, you can try handing out mock questions for your children to try out situational writing. Try to give them different sorts of questions and encourage them to try out different styles of answering them. This way, they’ll find out styles and formats that they find easier to express their thoughts and will be able to get familiar with writing within the time limit. It will also help them improve their vocabulary and literary skills. After they write the answers, go through them and give pointers to your children on where they are lacking and what they can do to correct them.
Engage in discussions involving personal expressions
Try to engage in discussions that will prompt your children to express their opinions and thoughts. It will help them put their thoughts into words and will help them shape their thoughts better. Such activities should be more encouraged in the home atmosphere as they can improve your child’s language skills, thought processes as well as communication skills.
Teach your children to identify the requirements
When you are writing something, you must understand the audience for whom you are writing it. Teach your children to first identify who the piece of information they are passing in writing is meant for. Teach them to then match the tone and content of the writing to that. Identifying the goal of the question and context will help your children and will help them answer the question better. The best way to get them familiarised with that is to practice as much as they can. Ask them to read different examples of writings and identify the keywords, the key piece of information, and the language style used. You can make use of examples from the internet, newspaper articles, and magazines for that.
Include examples and different perspectives if needed
If you think that the answer requires more clarification, use examples. Use points from different perspectives if you think it will enhance your answer. All these will help the examiners see you have a better understanding of the task and also help you showcase your literary skills. Make sure to add your personal opinion or view to the answer so that it will make it unique and stand out.
We hope you try these tips out and will help you in scoring well for the upcoming exams.
All the best! 🙂
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