Often, Primary 2 pupils find it challenging to start their stories. When given a picture composition topic, they either do not know how to start writing or they might start their stories awkwardly. There will also be pupils who use model introductions to start their stories.
Knowing how to write independently is a valuable skill that young writers should start acquiring as early as possible as this is the first step to being a confident writer.
Being young writers, Primary 2 pupils benefit from a structure to follow. This means giving them clear and simple steps to guide them in the right direction.
Using this Primary 2 picture composition topic, we will be introducing the WWW method that can be used to start the story and write a complete introduction.
Before starting to write, pupils should note that the introduction is always based on Picture 1 of the composition topic .
Step 1 – When did the story take place?
a) Look at Picture 1 and think of a realistic day and time that the scene could happen.
Writing tip : There is always more than one right answer for the day and time. As long as the pupil chooses a logical day and time, it will be acceptable.
Sample Introduction (1)
On a Sunday morning , …
b) Use an adjective to describe the day.
Sample Introduction (2)
On a balmy Sunday morning , …
Step 2 – Where did the story take place?
a) Look at Picture 1 and describe the place.
Out of the five senses, pupils should use the three more commonly-used senses to describe the place.
Writing tip : There is always more than one right answer for the day and time. As long as the pupil chooses a logical day and time, it will be acceptable.
What could one see, hear and feel in the park?
Primary 2 picture composition topics almost always includes settings which are familiar to pupils. Therefore, pupils should tap on their personal experiences and what they remember of a park so as to describe it.
Sample Introduction (3)
On a balmy Sunday morning , the park was filled with people strolling. The twittering of the birds could be heard and it was breezy.
Language tip : Always use specific verbs and adjectives to describe the place. For young writers who are learning to write descriptively, the vocabulary learning and usage should start with words, not phrases. At their academic level, learning of individual vocabulary words and how to correctly use in each word in a sentence should be the main language objective.
Step 3 – What was the main character doing at the start of the story?
The last step is to describe the character’s action in Picture 1.
Writing tip : Many young writers mistakenly think that writing the main character’s action is merely about describing what they can see from the picture. Story writing is more than just picture description. Pupils should imagine what the main character was doing just before Picture 1 and
Before Picture 1, the main character could be :
Action 1: Tucking her baby in the pram
Action 2: Pushed the pram to the park
In Picture 1, the main character could be :
Action 3: Enjoying the warm sunshine
Action 4: Ambling through the park
COMPLETE Introduction
On a balmy Sunday morning , the park was filled with people strolling. The twittering of the birds could be heard and it was breezy. Mrs Tan tucked her baby in the pram. Then she pushed the pram to the park. She enjoyed the warm sunshine as she ambled through the park.
Language tip : Young writers should learn to make use of sentence starters (adverbs) and sentence-middles (conjunctions) to improve the sentence fluency.
A young writer can use these 3 steps to write a complete introduction for any Primary 2 picture composition topic.
Join us as we cover the complete set of skills for writing a Primary 2 picture composition topic in our June holidays Learn-to-Write workshop.
