Is Your child in Lower Primary? What You Need to Know About Chinese Compositions

Is your child in lower primary? Do you know enough about writing Chinese compositions to help your child build a strong foundation and score as he or she moves up higher levels?

Fret not, we have a lot of useful information and tips for you!

School Writing Formats for Primary 1 and 2

At Primary 1:

Your child is often required to write a sentence based on a given picture 看图写句.

In order to prepare children for 看图写句, schools may expose them to the following types of practice:

1. rearranging words to form a sentence 组词成句
2. sentence expansion 扩展句子
3. completing a sentence 完成句子

At Primary 2:

Your child is required to write at least 5 sentences based on a given picture看图写话. Helping words are provided.

Marking Criteria

What do teachers look out for when marking and grading Chinese compositions?

At Primary 1:

• Sentences are grammatically correct and coherent
• Correct use of punctuation
• Words are written correctly (At Primary 1, pinyin is often acceptable if the child does not know how to write the word 汉字)

At Primary 2:

1. Content

• Ideas are relevant and well developed
• Ideas are linked and presented in a coherent manner

2. Language

• Sentences are grammatically correct and coherent
• Good and appropriate use of vocabulary
• Correct use of punctuation
• Words are written correctly
  (At Primary 2, your child risks losing marks if pinyin is used for words that he or she has already been taught)

How to Improve Your Child’s Chinese Writing Skills

Writing skills can be improved. The key is to start early!

• Read Chinese story books regularly. This helps children expand their knowledge, gain vocabulary and trains them to use correct sentence patterns.
• Acquire vocabulary through books that use a thematic, pictorial approach

• Practise common sentence patterns.
  Refer to Learn to Write Exciting Compositions 1 for sentence patterns children should learn.
• Talk about the details of pictures with your child. This trains them to interpret and analyse the picture for their composition topic. Ask your child what’s happening in the picture, what will happen next etc. 看图写话 pictures in Learn to Write Exciting Compositions 2 are accompanied by oral questions. These practices are also useful for Oral examinations.