Creative Writing Classes for Kids
Creative writing is a great tool for developing critical thinking.
Enrol today and give your child a headstart in English
Through creative writing, the teachers at Jan & Elly encourage students to think of and communicate their inspired ideas in a narrative way. Beyond being a great way to solidify the English language skills your child has learnt already, creative writing can also help them with:
- Creativity.
- Problem solving.
- Understanding different perspectives.
- Effective communication.
- Their ability to articulate thoughts and ideas.
At Jan & Elly, we offer Creative Writing courses for students aged 6-12. Our programmes are divided into two sections to ensure that your child receives the appropriate amount of support that they need to become proficient in English and better creative writers.
Curious? Book a phonics assessment or trial class today.
No matter which stage of learning your child is at, we have a programme suitable for their skill level that will foster an excitement for lifelong learning.
Parents testimonials
Both my boys (P5 and P3) have been with Jan and Elly since they were in preschool. They thoroughly enjoy learning English with their teacher who’s the most amazing and patient teacher and connects with children extremely well. They always look forward to their lessons every week with their class teacher as learning creative writing is a fun and fulfilling journey every week. Thanks to their teacher for his passion and always putting in your best to impart your knowledge.
Melanie, mum of Dwight and Dwayne Lim
Both my children started English lessons at Jan & Elly learning phonics and reading. It has been a joy for them. Each time round, they look forward to their lessons. The teachers have been very approachable, especially their class teacher. The teacher has been patiently guiding my child (and myself) in his work, and at the same time, tries to understand his personality and work along with it.
Jasmine Ho, mum of Adam and Adele
Jan & Elly offers a team of fun-loving, inspirational and dedicated educators. Thank you!
Lynn Chua, mum of Lavelle
My two girls joined Jan and Elly more than 7 and 5 years ago respectively. Until today, they still look forward to their weekly lesson as they learn through play and games. Thanks Jan and Elly and their teacher for maintaining the girls’ interest in English through fun learning.
Tsui Fen, mum of En Qi and Qi Xian
My boys, Mika’il and Zayn were taught phonics and English at Jan & Elly. Mika’il went through the program from K2 to P2 for 3 years from 2018 and Zayn from 2022. They look forward to lessons and speak highly of their teacher when asked about the lessons. Thank you, to their teacher and Jan & Elly for the great work you’ve been doing!
Jass Un Janir, mum of Mika’il and Zayn
Prior to joining Jan & Elly, Felise was learning Phonics from another centre for 6 months without much improvement in her reading abilities. With J&E, Felise had improved by leaps and bounds in her reading within 3 months! Credit definitely goes to the teacher who is very engaging and encouraging! Felise is now in her 5th year with J&E and she is still looking forward to her weekly classes. As a parent, it is a joy to see my child looking forward to attending lessons.
Pei Jia Luo, mum of Felise Law
I am so thankful to enroll my son at the Jan & Elly (Greenwich Branch). Jathan has been here for the past four years and all the four academic years were great for him. Jathan has excelled in his academic, special thanks to the teacher in creating an ideal atmosphere for Jathan to grow socially and academically. We as parents are very happy with our experience at Jan & Elly and would highly recommend this CPO program to anyone in the community looking for an English writing program for their child.Fong Yew, dad of Jathan
Creative writing for children ages 6 to 12
By splitting the course into two sections, children have the opportunity to master the basics of writing, such as sentence structure and paragraph formation before moving onto more advanced creative writing techniques. Once your child has the basics down, they’ll be able to put all that fundamental learning to the test through storytelling
Here’s how our Creative Writing programmes are divided:
Pre-Creative Writing (ages 6-7)
Transforming simple ideas into creative stories is the basis of our Pre-Creative Writing course. Our experienced teachers will supplement your child’s natural sense of wonder with important writing skills that will help them strengthen their English language capabilities. Some of the key aspects of writing that we focus on in this programme are:
- Simple grammar rules.
- Sentence building.
- Story scaffolding.
- Sight words recognition.
- Vocabulary and spelling.
- Reading fluency and comprehension
With the right tools and guidance, your child will build up a solid foundation for storytelling through engaging and fun creative writing exercises that teach them:
- How to come up with creative ideas.
- The basics of storytelling.
- How to bring an original idea to life.
All of this is done in an intimate and pragmatic class setting. Our teachers lead active brainstorming sessions that will help your child become more confident in their ability to write in English. Our goal is to foster an enjoyment for writing and storytelling that helps get kids excited about communicating and, at the same time, helps to improve their English reading and comprehension skills, too.
Creative Writing & Composition (ages 8-12)
Once students have a grasp on the fundamentals of creative writing taught in our Pre-Creative Writing course, it’s time to solidify what they have learnt by moving on to our Creative Writing and Comprehension programme.
In this course, students will learn about and practise narrative skills by completing writing activities that help strengthen their descriptive abilities and expository skills, such as:
- Defining.
- Describing.
- Explaining.
As students progress through this programme, our teachers will start to introduce more challenging activities that will help your child sharpen their writing skills in a fun and encouraging environment.
By engaging with teachers and taking part in lively activities, your child will continue to advance while practising important aspects of creative writing and composition. This helps them build up a strong sense of confidence in their abilities and, once they have completed the course, they will carry that with them beyond the classroom.
Upon completion of Creative Writing and Composition, we hope that students have developed their abilities in a way that helps them brainstorm, draft and edit their own creative work, and overall, come away with a better appreciation for the English language and a desire to continue exploring and learning.
Creative writing course information
At Jan & Elly, we keep our student-teacher ratios small, between 9 and 10 students per instructor, to ensure that your child will receive the guidance they need to be successful.
Each of our academic years include 44 lessons total. Pre-Creative Writing is 1 level taught over the course of 1 academic year. Creative Writing and Composition is 5 levels: Pri 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, with each level being taught over the course of 1 academic year. In level 6, there are only 34 lessons total.
By the time your child completes our creative writing programmes, they’ll be able to:
- Map and brainstorm ideas.
- Apply story scaffolding techniques.
- Show and not tell their writing.
- Apply a wider set of vocabulary and phrases in their writing.
To view our 2023 School Calendar, click here.
Phonics and reading
Our Phonics programme is broken up into three levels that support children as they develop and learn new decoding and reading techniques. Those three levels are:
- Phonics Readiness, age 4.
- Phonics Intermediate, ages 4-5.
- Phonics Advanced, ages 5-6.
Throughout this programme, children will learn the basics of reading while we foster a curiosity about English that helps them excel and progress through the course.
Using a pragmatic, tried-and-tested method of teaching phonics, our teachers will help your child build a strong foundation for reading by learning the English alphabet from A to Z, understanding letter sounds and decoding whole words. We use a variety of fun enrichment activities that keep children engaged and make learning enjoyable so that they come to school excited and ready to take on new challenges.
At the end of the programme, we aim to improve your child’s reading and comprehension skills at a level where they can confidently recognise, pronounce and read words independently.
Creative writing
Once your child can confidently sound out, read and comprehend words in English, it’s time to cultivate those skills with creative writing.
At Jan & Elly, we offer two levels of Creative Writing that will help your child transform their simple ideas into creative stories before continuing to expand their narrative range in the next level of our Creative Writing programme. The two programme levels are:
- Pre-Creative Writing, ages 6-7.
- Creative Writing & Composition, ages 8-12.
In Pre-Creative Writing, students will learn the basics of how to write, think of creative ideas and form the basics of a story by bringing those ideas to life. They will learn things such as:
- The basics of sentence structure,
- Paragraph formation, and
- Using effective vocabulary.
Once they have a grasp on the basics of writing, they can advance to Creative Writing & Composition, where their writing skills will continue to be fostered with engaging writing activities. In this programme level, students will be introduced to more advanced English writing techniques that will expand their narrative skills, descriptive capabilities and expository skills, such as explaining their ideas in writing.
Excelling
Lifelong learning is a valuable skill that helps children become better, more effective members of their communities. Split into two sections, our English Made Possible programmes encourage students’ natural curiosity and ambition to help make a lifelong learner of your child. The programme sections we offer for this course are:
- English Made Possible Foundation, ages 7-8.
- English Made Possible, ages 9-12.
Throughout these programmes, your child will be challenged with new grammar, comprehension and composition activities that will help prepare them for the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE).
Children will grasp fundamental English skills while developing an eagerness for learning that encourages a lifelong ambition for language and communication.
Develop the skills they need to read, write and speak English on their own.
Prepare for the PSLE
and excel at it.
Build confidence in their ability to understand the English language.
Developing your child’s English skills through creative writing
Throughout Pre-Creative Writing and Creative Writing and Composition, children are encouraged to use their imagination to develop ideas through guided brainstorming sessions before putting pen to paper to write a short story, for example.
Creative writing is the natural next step in developing your child’s English language capabilities after getting the hang of reading and phonics. It’s a way to bring all of that prior learning together where, after writing, students can read their work aloud to themselves and to each other.
Our modular curriculum is designed to engage and excite students with fun activities and small class sizes that allow a more intimate teaching style.
