Category: English Tuition

How to write an engaging story?

Pupils often struggle to write an interesting narrative.

  • They can’t develop a good plot.
  • Their plot is too simple.
  • They don’t adhere to the theme given.
  • They don’t produce an intriguing introduction.
  • They don’t provide enough details to engage the reader.
  • They don’t know how to create suspense and tension in their stories.
  • They don’t know how to describe the emotions felt by the characters in the story.
  • They don’t include vivid descriptive details or dialogues.

I equip my pupils with the various narrative skills to write well.

They will learn how to

  • write intriguing introductions
  • plan a pleasing plot
  • show don’t tell
  • create suspense in their stories
  • create a protagonist that the reader can relate to and empathise with.
  • use vivid vocabulary and a variety of sentence structures.
  • use dialogues to advance their stories and enliven their compositions.
  • edit their work with a checklist.

In addition, pupils are often exposed to good models of writing and interesting phrases to enliven their compositions.

Our Loyal Customers!

Here at Mckaylan, our pupils have benefitted immensely from our comprehensive English Programme. As such, many of them continue their lesssons with us year after year. Although we don’t have many classes (I teach most of the classes and thus there is a limit to the number of classes I can teach in a day), the pupils will plan their schedules around mine. We are very grateful for their strong support. Hence, we would be rewarding our loyal customers with Mckaylan vouchers.

Thank you for your unwavering support.
Chia Shi Juan (Pri 5 to Sec 4 2016)
Janel Teo (Pri 6 to Sec 4 2016)
Eunice Tan (Sec 1 to Sec 4 2016)
Leeroy Tay (Sec 1 to Sec 4 2016)
Keane Yeo (Sec 2 to Sec 4 2016)
Chong Waiteng Sec 4 since Pri 5
Breanna Koh Sec 3, since Pri 5
Seow Ding Xuan Sec 4, since Pri 5
Ryan Leow Sec 3 since Pri 4
Isabel Tay Sec 3 since Pri 4
Ryan Tay Sec 3 since Pri 5
Anisa Niareen, Sec 3 since Pri 6
Licia Tan Sec 2 since Pri 3
Phoedora Liew Pri 5 since Pri 3
Chloe Tan Pri 6 (2016) since Pri 4
Joshua Chua (Sec 3 to Sec 4 2016)
Yeo Bing Heng (Sec 3 to Sec 4 2016 )
Ong Kah Leong (Sec 3 to Sec 4 2016)
Jordan Ong (Sec 4 to Sec 5 2016)
Cassia Ng Sec 4 since Sec 1
Clement Ng Sec 4 since Sec 1
Isabel Lee Sec 4 since Sec 2
Darren Lee Sec 4 since Sec 2
Max Chan Sec 4 since Sec 1
Chloe Ong Sec 2 since Sec 1
Chen Hang Sec 3 since Sec 1
Ezenn Chong Sec 3 since Sec 1
Ace Chow Sec 3 since Sec 1
Vienna Loo Sec 1 since Pri 6

What we do in our English tuition Primary classes

This is what we cover in our lessons. Our curriculum spans 11 months to cover the teaching of vocabulary, grammar, comprehension, writing and oral skills.

-We begin all lessons with a vocabulary list of ten words. After 4 lists, the pupils will sit for a test. Before each written test, there is a short game that the pupils play to help them remember the words that they would be tested in the written test.
For the rest of the lesson, the pupils work on different things based on our curriculum.
– We may work on grammar. For example, we will teach the pupils the various tenses and their usage. We also teach the various subject verb agreement rules, use of prepositions, phrasal verbs and other commonly tested grammar items. We usually use Powerpoint slides or videos to teach the rules before pupils complete a worksheet to reinforce their learning.
– We may also teach the rules behind different synthesis topics like ‘unless’, ‘neither nor’ and interchangeable word classes etc.
– We may cover comprehension skills like how to answer factual, inferential, language use and referencing questions etc. More in-depth teaching of skills is covered in our June workshops.
– We may also work on writing skills like how to write an effective introduction, Show not Tell, use of imagery and figurative language, character descriptions, creating suspense and tension in stories etc.
– We also use theme-based model compositions to teach writing skills as we believe pupils benefit immensely from them.
– Sometimes, we play games to reinforce learning. These are good opportunities to review what they have learnt and expand their vocabulary.

Children thrive on repetition. We have to keep repeating and reinforcing what we have taught. Pupils have to complete homework like cloze passages, editing or synthesis exercises. They have a termly test to ascertain how much they know. Practice papers are also given to help pupils hone the skills they have learnt. Every pupil gets a Behaviour Log which charts how they perform in each lesson. Once a month, I will show their parents the behaviour logs.

An example of a Pri 6 lesson

  • Vocabulary list 6 (10min)
  • Go through worksheets +homework (20 min)
  • Comprehension skill: Referencing Selecting a phrase (30 min)
  • Synthesis: Indirect speech (30 min)
  • Homework: 2 cloze passages (turtles+kindness)