Primary school students' creative writing highly commended
Fifty-five Primary 4 to 6 students outshone their 400 some counterparts with their creativity and English language skills in a writing activity.
They are all winners of English Tree: A Symbol of Creative Writing organised by the Standing Committee on Language Education and Research (SCOLAR) and their winning articles will be displayed on "English Tree" for public appreciation.
Attending the launching of "English Tree" and prize presentation ceremony today (24 May), SCOLAR Member and Chairperson of the English Festival 2007 Organising Committee, Ms Junia Ho, highly commended the winning students' creativity.
She said, "The originality of the stories and the use of language skills by the winners to describe the various characters and scenes are very impressive."
"In one of the articles, the student wrote that a young penguin lied and made use of having been infected with avian flu as an excuse to avoid falling prey to an eagle. This is a really good example showing students' creativity. I wish all other students would be inspired to create more English works after viewing these articles."
Ms Ho also thanked teachers' active participation in the activity by bringing creative writing into inside and outside classroom activities to arouse the students' interest in writing.
English Tree: A Symbol of Creative Writing is one of the activities organised by SCOLAR for its English Festival 2007. Participating students were provided with four unfinished stories about the strange experience of an ordinary old man, the reaction of a bad bat when facing a sticky pie, the adventure of three little penguins, and the first encounter between a boy and a talking toy robot respectively.
The best 55 entries were selected by a judging panel comprising educators and consultants for public display on "English Trees". The trees will be exhibited between tomorrow (25 May) and 3 June at the Olympian Hall of Olympian City 1.
Other guests attending today's ceremony include members of the English Festival 2007 Organising Committee Mr Stephen S. K. Chan, Mr Tony Choi, Dr Evelyn Man and Ms Ng Kit-chee; as well as representatives of the co-organisers of the activity English Tree: A Symbol of Creative Writing, namely Executive Member of the Subsidised Primary Schools Council Mrs Mak Wai-ching; Academic Officer of the Union of Heads of Aided Primary Schools of Hong Kong Mr Lau Ming-ki; and Vice Chairman of the Union of Government Primary School Headmasters and Headmistresses Mrs Chan Ngai Yuk-ying.
The English Festival 2007 is organised by SCOLAR to raise public interest in the learning and use of English. Eight school-based activities were launched this year.
Established in 1996, SCOLAR advises the Government on language education issues and the use of the Language Fund.