As we approach the end of the academic year, I’m reflecting on the many wonderful students we’ve worked with since last September, and the astonishing number of literary projects we’ve completed together.
Creative writing has been a huge part of all our English tutoring programs. Students begin most sessions with a 15-minute free-write, and we teach a wealth of skills through creative writing: short story structure, character development, grammar, language conventions, editing skills and more.
This year, all our students have explored grade-appropriate skills related to expository writing. We used a veggie burger to teach the ‘Hamburger Method’ of essay construction (!!), and we’ve walked students slowly through the process of writing well-structured paragraphs and essays. Which is better: city life, or life in the country? Are zoos good or bad? Why did Macbeth kill Duncan? Is it a good idea to buy a puppy during the pandemic? Students planned essays, learning about thesis statements and topic sentences, and our high school students wrote two essays under timed conditions.
Many of our students completed a unit on flash fiction this year, writing short stories which ranged from 25 to 750 words. Some students even submitted their flash fiction for publication! We also explored memoir, travel writing, genre fiction, how to write newspaper articles, and the structure of screenplays.
Literature is a huge part of our English tutoring program. When students become keen readers and learn to articulate ideas about the material they read, they become more effective writers. We’ve looked at the impact Shakespeare had on the England language, and many of our students studied Macbeth. We’ve learned how to discuss poetry, and we read poetry spanning 900 years and three continents. We’ve explored short stories by writers such as Sylvia Plath and Ray Bradbury, and novel studies have included everything from Alice in Wonderland to The Marrow Thieves and Jane Eyre.
Over the past nine months we have seen enormous progress in the students we work with. Young people who knew little about structuring an essay back in the fall now plan, write and edit them with confidence. Students who dreaded tackling Shakespeare or reading a poem now do both with enthusiasm. Students who began classes with us because their parents wanted it remained with us for the entire year because they enjoyed the program, and because they could tell how much their skills were improving.
This has been a wonderful first year in the new Centauri English Enrichment program, and we look forward to building on these successes when we expand our in-person and virtual classes this coming September.
Check out our English Tutoring program here.
Julie
Centauri Arts.
