KURSUS ORIENTASI JURULATIH UTAMA

BAHASA INGGERIS TAHUN 6

2004

ENCOURAGING
PUPILS TO WRITE

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Objectives of this Writing module for Year Six are to help teachers:
1. Recognise text structures and language features of descriptions and
recounts.
2. Have an idea of pupils writing by analysing some sample writings.
3. Be aware of grammatical errors made by students.
4. Be familiar with different strategies for improving vocabulary and
grammar.
5. Assist pupils write effectively using different techniques for writing.
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WRITING TASKS FOR YEAR 6

Descriptions
Recounts
Stories

OUR FOCUS FOR WRITING-

PREPARING FOR UPSR
Descriptions
Recounts
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THE THREE STAGES OF THE WRITING PROCESS

Pre Writing

Composing

Revising

FINAL
DRAFT

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 Techniques for Writing

MODELLING
• Exploring sample texts to study textual and linguistic features

TEACHER INITIATED CONSTRUCTION

• Shared writings
• Using Columns, Flowcharts, Mind maps, Drawings, etc.

STUDENT INITIATED CONSTRUCTION

• Students write individually/groups
• Students consult the teacher and discuss with peers
• Students write paragraphs with a clear focus
- revising and editing the draft until it is clear and flows well by:
reordering sentences , rephrasing sentences, substituting words.
• Students proof-read the draft to eliminate mistakes
- spelling
- punctuating correctly
- correcting grammar at a level appropriate to students
- writing the final draft of the text. 5
 Can you can answer these questions

1. Explain the purpose of prewriting?

____________________________
2. What do you do during the composing stage?
____________________________________
3. In the revising stage of writing, how do you
improve children’s writing?
___________________________________

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 Pre-Writing Strategies

DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK OR OUTLINE

(SCAFFOLDING)

Mind Map Sketching Forming and

Modelling
Ideas Asking
Questions

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RECOUNTS
A recount is the retelling or recounting of past
experience.
Types of Recount
Personal recounts recounting an experience in
which the writer has been directly involved.
E.g. What I did during the last holidays.
Factual recounts retelling an event or incident
e.g. newspaper report, an accident report.
Imaginative recounts taking on a fictitious role and
relating imaginary events,
e.g. A day in the life of a new puppy

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WRITING RECOUNTS
Recounts basically tell about events in the past in
sequence Language
Setting Features
A Trip to the Seaside
Last Sunday, my father took When, Who,
us to the seaside. We were What, Where
excited. We got up early.
Mother packed some food. Time, Place,
By 10 o’clock we were at People
the seaside.
First we swam in the sea. past tense
Then we played ball. Later pronouns
we made a sandcastle. . Event
Father helped us build it. verbs
It was huge.
nouns
Soon we were hungry. We
ate our food quickly. In the Event linking
afternoon, we played snakes words
and ladders. It was hot.
At 5 o’clock we went Concluding statement
home. We were tired but Ending 9
happy.
Task: Complete the Recount plan below
A Trip to the Seaside

Topic:
1. Setting: Who? Where? When? What? Why?
___________________________________
2. Events in Time Order
Event 1 ____________________________
Event 2 ____________________________
Event 3 ____________________________
3. Concluding Statement/Ending
___________________________________
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Get pupils to write a composition using the notes given

2. Children excited-Mrs
Ramu packed food and
drinks
3. 9 o’clock reached zoo.
First saw monkeys-
1. Last Sunday-Ramu- different types
took family- zoo

4. Next - saw lions

and tigers
7. Evening-went
home

6. After that-went for 5. From there-went-

lunch see birds- many types
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 Technique 1
The pictures below show how Faiz and his friends met with an accident. Match
each sentence half in list A with the correct half in list B. Then write out the story

A
One afternoon Faiz and his friends
They were cycling three abreast and talking
They were so busy talking that
The bus came round the bend and
The boys were knocked
They fell down unconscious
A crowd gathered and several people
Someone telephoned
The ambulance
They were taken

B
on to the road.
crashed into the boys.
were cycling home from school.
soon arrived.
about what to do after lunch.
for an ambulance.
to the hospital in the ambulance.
gave them first aid.
they did not see a bus coming up in front of them.
off the bicycles

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 Do the following:
Add a second or third sentence(s) for each of the
sentences matched

Task: Complete the Recount plan below

Topic:
1. Setting: Who? Where? When? What? Why?
___________________________________
2. Events in Time Order
Event 1 ____________________________
Event 2 ____________________________
Event 3 ____________________________
3. Concluding Statement/Ending
___________________________________

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 Next, answer the questions using the pictures given

Whendid the accident happen?

What happened to Kim Huat?
Who helped him?
Where was Kim Huat going?
Who knocked him down?
Who did the man call?
How did Kim Huat go to the hospital?
Who examined Kim Huat?
What did the doctor say?
What happened to Kim Huat’s leg?
How did Kim Huat feel?
Who told Kim Huat’s parents about the
accident?
What did his father say?
How did his mother feel?
Where did his parents go?
What did his mother tell him at the
hospital?
How long did Kim Huat stay in hospital?

Now write the composition on the title An Accident

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Task: Complete the Recount plan below

Topic:
1. Setting: Who? Where? When? What? Why?
___________________________________
2. Events in Time Order
Event 1 ____________________________
Event 2 ____________________________
Event 3 ____________________________
3. Concluding Statement/Ending
___________________________________
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 Technique 2
Arrange these sentences in the correct sequence
N. Jeganathan’s body was found by his wife at 12.30 a.m. 

The victim left home at about 11pm on a motorcycle.  

The victim’s wife called her relatives to help search for him.  

A 47-year-old rubber tapper was found dead. He was found about 50m
from his house.

They found him in a pool of blood and called the police. Three suspects
were detained.  

verbs
Next Pronouns
Identify the Specific participants
following Use of Simple past Tense
Use of linking items
Passive voice (optional)

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Teachnique 3
Girl dies after insect sting
BANTING: A 10-year-old girl died 15
minutes after being stung by an insect. 
She was preparing noodles at her house
in Tanjung Sepat. Kuek Yi Ting, a
student of SRK (C) Tanjung Sepat, was
in the kitchen alone. Her 15-year-old
brother Kuek Chui Feng was in the living
room. The incident happened on Identify the following:
Saturday.  At about 5.30pm, Chui Feng A. the structure of the text
heard his sister’s screams He went to B. Nouns
check on her. He was shocked to see Verbs
her leg swollen. Her face was turning Pronouns
white. Yi Ting told that a bee had stung Specific participants
her right leg. He immediately informed Use of Simple past Tense
his father. His father was at a Use of linking items to do
neighbour’s house. The father and son with time
Passive voice (optional)
rushed the girl to a nearby clinic. The
doctor asked him to send Chui Feng to
the hospital.However, she died in the
hospital.     17
 Descriptions
Read the Description and note the scaffolding below

Identifying
The Land Below the Wind subjects/topic
Sabah is called ‘the land below the wind’. It is the
second largest state in Malaysia.

Kota Kinabalu is the capital of Sabah. It is 1900 Details

kilometres from Kuala Lumpur.

There are many interesting places to see in Kota Details

Kinabalu, for example, the Sabah State Mosque
and also the Sabah State Museum.

Mount Kinabalu lies east of Kota Kinabalu. It is the

Details
highest mountain in South-East Asia.
Comment
Sabah is the most beautiful state in Malaysia.

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 Description Language Features
•Who – My
Read and observe the language features •What – dream house
•Where – near the sea
My Dream House
Specific things – dream
My dream house is a big house near house
the sea. It is made of stone. There is a Linking verbs – is, are,
large garden around my house and has
there are many kinds of trees. My ‘Timeless’ present tense
dream house has many large windows – love, want
because I love the sun and want a Descriptive language
bright house. What they have – large
garden trees, windows
What they look like – big
The use of first person
pronouns – I, We
Adjectives – big, large,
bright
Prepositions – near, of,
around
Task: Using the above as a model, get pupils to write about their dream house
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 USING CHILDREN’S WRITING

Reflects level of
A source
children’s language as
of ideas
opposed to adults writing
for children

WHY USE
CHILDREN’S
WRITING?

They reflect cognitive

They reflect the way the child
- uses words
- uses grammar
- constructs sentences
development of child:
- the way children think
-the way children look at
the world
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TASK:
In the following samples of children’s
writing (taken from the Sunday Star):
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1. Analyse the structure of the writing
( the ‘scaffolding’ ).
2. Improve on the paragraph or the
sentences for use with your pupils.
3. Identify the sentence patterns used.
4. Write a parallel essay.

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 3

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 5

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 IMPROVING VOCABULARY

Strategies
memorising
using a dictionary
learning words in context
use of prefixes and suffixes
Activities
word games(scrabble,
crossword puzzle)
word cards
word association
spelling and dictation

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WE USE THE DICTIONARY FOR:
finding words quickly

checking pronunciation

understanding definitions

finding parts of speech

checking multiple meanings

finding antonyms and synonyms

checking abbreviations
finding affixes and suffixes
understanding grammar

finding compound words

checking spelling 25
 Helping Pupils to Remember

Putting all related Relate/Link to Think the idea

ideas in one sketch something I know in picture form
- visualize

Make sketches
How can I remember more

Mnemonics Classify-
putting into
Say it to classes or
Use numbers yourself groups

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Task
Choose one of the activities/strategies
for improving vocabulary and devise
an exercise for your pupils.

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ROLE OF GRAMMAR IN WRITING
1. AT TEXT LEVEL
Teachers need to check on:
• Paragraphing
- how sentences are linked
within the paragraph
- whether there is a main idea
sentence and supporting
sentences
- whether paragraphs are
linked to each other
2. AT SENTENCE LEVEL
Teachers need to check on:
• word order
i.e. the position of nouns,
adjectives, verbs, adverbs,
pronouns, conjunctions,
prepositions
• punctuation
• tense

3. AT WORD LEVEL
• spelling
• singular / plural
• prefix
• suffix
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 Grammatical Items- The Problem Areas

Nouns
Articles
Abstract nouns
Adjectives
Countable Nouns
Pronouns
Uncountable Nouns
possessive pronouns
Collective Nouns
Verbs
Irregular plurals
regular and Irregular verbs
Subject-verb Agreement
Gender

Tenses Prepositions
Simple Present Tense Connectors
Simple Past Tense Punctuation
Present Continuous Tense

Grammatical items ought to be taught in the context of topics. If extra

practice is required for better understanding, items can be taught in
isolation 29
Grammar items taught in isolation
Tenses
1. A statement about an action that is happening now is in the Present Tense
2. A statement about an action that has already happened is in the Past Tense
3. A statement about an action that is going to happen is in the Future Tense

Here are some examples

Simple Present tense Rizal plays badminton (every day).
Simple past tense Rizal played badminton (yesterday).
Present Continuous Tense Rizal is playing badminton (now)

Let’s try these

1. Bad luck always (come, comes) to her.
2. Last Friday he (fight, fought) with his friend.
3. He (threw, throw, thrown) the stone at me.
3. They (spent, spend) a lot of money every day.
4. Siew Mei ( watching, is watching, watched) television now. 30
Subject-Verb Agreement
If the subject is in the Singular form, the verb must
be in the singular too. If the subject is in the plural
form, the verb must also be in the plural.

Let’s try these examples

1.The dog (is, are) a friend to man.
2. Trees ( gives, give) shade
3. We (walks, walk) to school.
4. That boy (cry, cries) every day.
5. Those girls (is, are) playing netball.
6. His friends (like, likes) him very much.
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 PREPOSITIONS
There’s a mouse…..

• behind the
cupboard

• in the drawer

• under the chair

4
• on top of the
cupboard
2

• on the plate
1 7
6
• on top of the 8
cheese
5
3
• behind the door

• in the cup
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SIMPLE PAST TENSE

ANSWERS

• went

• flew / saw

• found / ate

• saw / caught /
brought

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Task
Choose one grammar item and devise an
exercise for your pupils.

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Engage in Writing through the Learning How To learn Way

THE
STEPS

1. Goal setting and Planning

2. Discuss with teacher whether the goal is feasible
3. Make a contract
4. Put Plan into Action
5. Report Progress
6. Conference with teacher and peers
7. Self and Peer Evaluation
8. Presentation

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 This is another approach for your writing skills

The LEARNING HOW TO LEARN way

Student decides on a proposal and writes it up.

Student clears proposal through a support group (two peers).
Student presents proposal to the teacher (perhaps a parent, too) in
conference.
Proposal is negotiated and when agreement is reached, it is signed
Student puts proposal into action; conducts the proposed project.
Some students may change their proposals by renegotiating with the
teacher or committee.
Student meets teacher in conference regularly to discuss progress
Student demonstrates contract completion to teacher and others.
Student and teachers evaluate the success of the project.
Project proofs and evaluations are filed in the portfolio.
Student looks ahead to next activity.

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Exercise
Analyse the essays done by Primary six
pupils and do the following:
1. Choose one essay and identify the
language errors made by pupils. Use
the correction code to identify the
problems. What exercises will you set
to improve the spelling and grammar
of pupils?
2. How will you teach writing to help
these students. Apply the different
techniques for teaching writing. 37
THE CORRECTION CODE
SYMBOL ERROR EXAMPLE CORRECTED EXAMPLE
cap capitalization anwar Anwar
a red Hous a red house
P punctuation Who is it. Who is it?
sp spelling helo hello
^ one or more words He’s dentist. He’s a dentist.
are missing
/ you need to take I went to home. I went home.
something out
R unnecessary I know the boy and I know and like the boy.
repetition I like the boy I know the boy and like him.
voc word choice Ravi is a dental Ravi is a dentist.
wo word order How you are? How are you?
gr Grammar He are here. He is here.
I goed there. I went there.
vt verb tense I see him yesterday. I saw him yesterday.
Sv subject-verb They plays football They play football.
agreement
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Pupil’s Answer Script 1

Karim and his friend went to jungle.

They are wants a butterflys. The
boys is used nets and them catchs a
colourful butterfly and them are kept
in contaners.
One of them broke leg. Both of them
carried him out to the jungle.
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Pupil’s Answer Script 2
Last week, Karim and friend to went
go to jungle for kept butterflies in
evening. Three boys kept butterflies
used nets. Butterflies is beatiful kept
to containers. Karim fell to kept a
butterflies and his leg are carried.
Karim and her friends out in the
jungle.
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42
Pupil’s Answer Script 3 (Question 21b)
Which type of transport above would you choose to go to Johore Bharu? Write
your answer in the space below. You can use the information in the poster above.

Answer

I would like is train because it is very

cheap and the time is very fast 6
hours. The in train is a cafe,
bedroom, telivision and I can radio. I
stops the Seremban, Gemas,
Kluang, J.b. The price is very-very
cheap just is RM20. 43
All the Best for Your State-Level Training

Bibliography
Burns,B (1999). Balanced reading and Writing.
USA: Skylight Training and Publishing Inc.

Derewianka, B. (1996) Introducing Genre.

Sydney: Penguin

Derewianka,B. (1997) Exploring How Texts

Work. Sydney: Primary English Teaching
Association

Gibbons,M (1993). The Self-Directed Learning

Sourcebook. Australia: Hawker Brownlow
Education.
Gruber,D and Dunn,V. (1990) Writing
Elementary. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Kely,W.J and Lawton,D.L.( 2001) Discovery.

An Introduction to Writing. Boston: Allyn and
Bacon

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