Writing a composition using around 100 words seems a bit more difficult for some students in Junior 3, who we are teaching now. A few of them feel frustrated when facing a topic but few ideas come into mind. They think their main problem in writing is poor grammar, or on the other hand, they are confused to make a proper outline. Actually from their homework or assignments in the exam, focusing less on the connection to topic results in the failure of their work.

To deal with the problem, I usually encourage these students to read the topic carefully and, thinking about what they would like readers to know first, and then collect details they hope to include in the writing. The details connects with questions who, what, where, when, how, and why. When starting the first draft, they should concentrate on the ideas instead of trying to write each sentence with perfect grammar. The writing is sure to have a beginning, a middle and an ending. After that, they can review the draft, checking for spelling or grammar errors etc. With the improvement of the draft, the final copy would be a more successful composition.

Written by Li Yan Hua