How to improve Chinese Composition?

[zac's mum]

Just to clarify, I’m not asking about the optional 命题 topics.

I’m asking about the 6-picture descriptive zuowen, what kind of themes usually come out?

Eg. Road safety (马路如虎口) and A kind act (乐于助人) are quite common I observe.

Any more?

[chenlaoshi]

Hello parents & tutors!

I’m so glad MOE has done away with full paper mid-year exam for P5. DS’ school has chosen to test only zuowen (weightage 15%) for the coming WA2 though.

While we have been practising various good phrases & also regularly writing full 6 picture zuowens to train stamina, there seem to be so many types of scenarios/topics that could come out (we have been using Zuowen assessment books).

Would any kind soul happen to know (from experience) what are the most common CL zuowen topics tested in P5? I’d appreciate some help “spotting” the possible topic for the exam. We are running out of time, can’t possibly memorize so many variations & if can save a bit of brain cells (work smart, not just work hard) - would be wonderful.

Thank u!!!

Hi zac's mum,

This is the current Pri level syllabus (w.e.f. 2015) scope of themes (for compre, compo and oral).



Below are the summary and translation (some examples provided in point form)

• Self Discipline, Self Awareness
- staying up late watching TV/playing electronic game and ended up being late for school the next day
- returning lost item to owner instead of keeping it for yourself
- showing off one's results/possession

• Respect for Self & Others, Being Considerate
- bullying cases (to others or to animals)
- cutting queue
- misbehaving in public places/transport

• Resilience/Determination
- in studies (initially faring badly for a subject, strive and work hard, showed improvement in results)
- in learning new skills (cycling/swimming/roller skating etc.)

• Responsibility
- in studies (project work/ group tasks such as volunteering - fooling around whereas others are seriously at work)
- entrusted by parents to look after sibling but he/she ended up getting injured

• Righteousness
- reporting shoplifting incident
- stand up against bully
- helping to nab thief/robber

• Benevolence/Inclusivity
- racial harmony
- relationship with neighbours
- forgiving other people's mistake

• Filial Piety/Kinship
- family activity (outing, picnic etc.)

• Compassion towards Others
- helping lost child
- helping elderly carrying heavy load

• Eco-friendly/Caring for the Environment
- littering
- food wastage
- not cleaning up pet's mess
- wasting resources (water, electricity etc.)
- not clearing tray after finishing meal


I would suggest focusing on memorizing descriptive phrases for
- weather
- feelings & expressions for different moods
- actions/happenings (e.g. running/chasing, reprimanding child, getting injured) & mental action (e.g. in a dilemma)
- proverbs related to the themes (e.g. 天网恢恢 疏而不漏 for stories involving criminal acts (where culprit was caught); 赠人玫瑰 手留余香 for stories involving kind acts)

[zac's mum]

Wow thank u very much, chenlaoshi!

This will help DS a lot. Memorizing aurally/orally is coming along very well. So is using the phrases in the correct context. Writing out the difficult characters is the problem, cos he’s not so good in recalling those. Next best thing I can do is train him to recognize the correct choice from the sound-alike words in e-dictionary.

Just to check, if he didn’t have time to use e-dictionary & just writes the hanyu pinyin version of the word, will minus marks? What is the maximum marks that will be deducted for wrong characters?

[chenlaoshi]

Wow thank u very much, chenlaoshi!

This will help DS a lot. Memorizing aurally/orally is coming along very well. So is using the phrases in the correct context. Writing out the difficult characters is the problem, cos he’s not so good in recalling those. Next best thing I can do is train him to recognize the correct choice from the sound-alike words in e-dictionary. Th

Just to check, if he didn’t have time to use e-dictionary & just writes the hanyu pinyin version of the word, will minus marks? What is the maximum marks that will be deducted for wrong characters?

zac's mum,

That's a very good start already. Application and writing will improve along with practice and increased frequency of use.

One "tip" while searching for chinese character in e-dictionary is to search for the entire phrase instead of just the character that you do not know how to write. e.g. if you do not know how to write the "貌" in 礼貌，you should still go ahead and key in "li mao", instead of just keying in "mao" and scrolling through the lists to identify the correct "mao" because there's a possibility that you might identify the wrong "mao".

Another "tip" is to search for idioms, you can just key in the abbreviation of the 汉语拼音. e.g. "yqws" for 鸦雀无声.

If the student does not have time to check for how to write the chinese character and write it's 汉语拼音 instead, marks will still be deducted for 错字/错别字 (-0.5 for every 2 mistakes, max. -4). However, the grading for the content component will at least not suffer as badly as leaving it completely blank (if it's just a handful of such cases: ~3-5)

[horisono]

I feel like writing top band Chinese compo (35 above) = 80% Content, 20% Good phrases

This means that content-wise, you have to write more on feelings, character thoughts, and no story plot gaps, meaning use an explanation for every action). Also, use a phrase at appropriate levels or the severity of action:

看到小明悄悄地在桌子低翻书，老师的眉毛向上挑着，嘴巴却向下例着。她气呼呼地走到小明的面前，压低嗓子说：”你竟敢在考试翻书？这是作弊的行为！你现在跟我到考场外面向我解释！”

(Reason, why I put ‘压低嗓子’ instead of ‘怒吼道’, is because there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that the teacher would scream in front of you in an exam.)

Then compare to this:

看到小明在走廊不小心跌倒，李明顿时不知所措，脸色苍白，冒出冷汗，十分紧张地喊：“救命啊，救命啊！”李明赶紧掏出手机打给救护车。

This sentence was utterly ridiculous. Imagine you see someone accidentally trip, then you go call for help say got people seizure liddat, then after that still got call ambulance? I would think that 李明 is a stupid boy if I ever saw that.

This example I shown is a BIG TIP on scoring well (both English and Chinese). This will help improve your logic gaps and increase your marks a lot as content is a very big thing in Compositions.

I really hope it helped lol

[chenlaoshi]

I feel like writing top band Chinese compo (35 above) = 80% Content, 20% Good phrases

This means that content-wise, you have to write more on feelings, character thoughts, and no story plot gaps, meaning use an explanation for every action). Also, use a phrase at appropriate levels or the severity of action:

看到小明悄悄地在桌子低翻书，老师的眉毛向上挑着，嘴巴却向下例着。她气呼呼地走到小明的面前，压低嗓子说：”你竟敢在考试翻书？这是作弊的行为！你现在跟我到考场外面向我解释！”

(Reason, why I put ‘压低嗓子’ instead of ‘怒吼道’, is because there is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that the teacher would scream in front of you in an exam.)

Then compare to this:

看到小明在走廊不小心跌倒，李明顿时不知所措，脸色苍白，冒出冷汗，十分紧张地喊：“救命啊，救命啊！”李明赶紧掏出手机打给救护车。

This sentence was utterly ridiculous. Imagine you see someone accidentally trip, then you go call for help say got people seizure liddat, then after that still got call ambulance? I would think that 李明 is a stupid boy if I ever saw that.

This example I shown is a BIG TIP on scoring well (both English and Chinese). This will help improve your logic gaps and increase your marks a lot as content is a very big thing in Compositions.

I really hope it helped lol

Good points regarding story plotting - just want to point out that ultimately, this will account for part of the content's mark allocation (which is after all 50% of the entire compo score).

Translated PSLE CL compo rubrics previously shared in this post:
https://www.kiasuparents.com/kiasu/foru ... 0#p1893302