Course Description

Chinese Writing begins with learning to observe the people, places and events around us. Students develop the language to describe what they notice and express their own experiences, feelings and ideas, progressing from clear sentences to thoughtfully structured compositions.

The course explores narrative, expository, expressive and argumentative writing, with attention to rhetoric and precise word choice. Creative tasks, practical genres and guided planning help students find their own voice and build more engaging, purposeful writing.

Primary Writing (Putonghua / Cantonese)

Writing ability develops over time, but appropriate techniques and systematic training can also bring noticeable progress in a short period.

Our course combines both approaches. Students learn how to write in different genres and make their work more engaging. Brainstorming, collaborative storytelling, role-play, vocabulary building and model texts help them build a personal bank of ideas. Activities and pace are tailored to each child’s personality and interests, creating an enjoyable environment for writing.

Primary topics include:

• Sentence and paragraph exercises using personification, simile, metaphor and exaggeration
• Sensory and spatial description
• Narratives about people and events
• Expressing feelings directly and through descriptions of scenery
• Argumentative writing using examples, quotations, contrasting and parallel arguments
• Structures and techniques for expository writing
• Modern poetry
• Imaginative fairy tales
• Practical writing, including letters, invitations and advertisements

We also offer a summer Pre-P1 writing course for K3 students preparing for primary school. Everyday situations develop observation skills, while common vocabulary helps students describe what they see accurately. At this stage, students work towards writing correct, complete and specific sentences.

Secondary Writing (Putonghua / Cantonese)

Secondary students focus on planning and organising a complete piece of writing. They study word choice, rhetoric and expressive techniques, including plain description and contrast, to improve their style.

Students practise advanced narrative, expository and argumentative writing, practical genres, flash fiction, drama and short research essays.

Junior Secondary

Skills include:

• Precise and effective word choice
• Synesthesia, puns, irony, metonymy and hyperbole
• Plain description, symbolism, contrast and indirect emphasis
• Structures for different genres
• Effective openings, transitions and endings
• Writing through association
• Interpreting a writing prompt, developing a central idea and selecting material