We just came from a family Staycation. That night at the hotel Zeeka took over my computer, and started writing an article in my blog. She was practicing to be an author, her dream. Of course, she had a lot of spelling mistakes (normal for a 6 year old), but I taught her to construct the article by starting with 3 different ideas about the topic she chose.
The next day, I thought about how parents can teach kids English and how to construct well thought of articles and stories. I found Unique English Classroom when I was looking for English programs available for kids.
Creative writing is often thought of as a “fancy” skill. But today’s trends in marketing shows just how important it is to explore imagination and creative writing.
The benefits of creative writing for kids
We all have an innate love for stories, especially children.
For the longest time, we’ve used stories to tell tales of valor and courage, of magic and mysteries. It’s been an easy way for us to share valuable lessons, to explain the unknown, and to pass on the knowledge we’ve learned.
Storytelling has many benefits for budding young writers. It helps them share their thoughts, increase their imagination, and improve their communication skills.
Children understand the world better through the stories we tell. And writing about their experiences can help them process the lessons they learn.
Research shows that writing tasks have physiological and behavioral benefits for children.
Writing for 15-20 minutes a day can help kids and adolescents relieve stress caused by external factors.
It also provides a safe space for them to explore their emotions and express their feelings.
Creative writing also improves children’s organizational and persuasion skills.
The process of writing involves creativity, planning, and choosing the right words to convey the right message.
It also forces the writer to create different personas, and look at things in different lenses. Because of this, writers become more sensitive and intuitive about other people.
Doing so broadens their horizons and makes them better people.
Unique English Classroom: building creative writing skills and communication for young writers
Children nowadays are always distracted. And with all the gadgets available, it can be a challenge to get our kids interested in picking up a book to read.
It’s no longer enough for kids to just learning how to read and write. The future belongs to those who can develop a keen understanding of the world around them.
To do that, our kids need a head-start. And Unique English Classroom provides our kids with that opportunity.
UEC Philippines is not your typical English program.
It is composed of four progressive programs: Kids Can Read, Alpha Learners, Alpha Authors, and Aspiring Writers & Illustrators Scheme.
The goal is for kids to develop a think-outside-the-box mindset through highly interactive activities such as drama presentations and games.
Kids Can Read!
This level nurtures the love for reading, making it perfect for toddlers and preschoolers.
Parents get to share the experience with their kids. Teachers will guide you on ways to effectively entice kids to learn to love books.
It also promotes imagination, creativity, language, and increases the kid’s vocabulary.
Alphabet Learners
The goal of this level is to increase your child’s comprehension and understanding of the English language.
Kids on this level get the better vocabulary and sentence construction. They also learn more about sequencing, idea coherence, and logical reasoning.
The activities your kids will do also helps them increase their social awareness through teamwork and drama lessons.
Alpha Authors
This level helps kids learn to visualize and create stories. They also learn to find new and better words that make their stories more effective.
Young writers learn to translate their daily activities and events into 150-200 word narratives. It also serves as the introduction and foundation of AWIS, a program developed by media and education specialists in Singapore.
The stories they create also gets a chance to be featured online.
AWIS
AWIS is focused on getting your kid ready for advanced writing levels.
Its core lesson introduces kids to a higher order of grammar, logical reasoning, and creativity. It also increases their vocabulary use and readies them to create and write their own stories and books.
So what makes Unique English Classroom different from other English tutorial programs? It’s created by writers for young writers.
UEC, the Unique English Classroom, on the other hand, focuses on the more important aspect of communication, which is reading comprehension and confidence in communication.
They believe that every child can create their own unique stories. They just need the right encouragement and guidance to bring out their potential.
Students of the program get to learn by doing. UEC Philippines gets the best teaching strategies from each learning approach and personalizes it for each child in the program.
But the true core of the UEC program is its creator, Catherine Khoo.
Catherine is an accomplished author, lecturer, publisher, movie maker, and a trailblazer in her own right.
She shattered the traditional Japanese male enclave when she became the only woman editor-in-chief of Asia 21 and Japan Close-Up Magazines. These Japan-based international magazines are published in Singapore and is owned by Japan Close-Up Magazines.
Katsuhiko Eguchi, executive vice-president of PHP Institute describes her as someone with an untrapped mind. Her creative approach to thinking outside the box has helped them break the boundaries of what a magazine should be.
Under her leadership, Asia 21 became essential reading for every Singaporean student. It is the only Asian publication chosen by Singapore’s Ministry of Education to be added to its Humanities syllabus.
Asia 21 also received recognition as the first magazine to map out brand stories and their development. Their cartoon-styled Every Product Tells a Story talks about how products like Sony Walkman, Yomeishu, Mikimoto Pearls, and Yakult came to be.
Catherine also published two best-selling books in Singapore. She is also the brain behind Savvy, the only magazine endorsed by the Ministry of Education.
With all her accolades as a writer, editor, and published author, you know your child is in good hands.
It’s great to know that kids in the program have grown to love reading and writing their stories in English.
Kids as young as 4 years old get to explore English as a language and learn how to express themselves and their experiences through stories.
Here’s what kids are saying about Unique English Classroom.
Parents are also happy with the way their kids are learning through UEC. Check out this feedback from a Unique English Classroom parent.
I’m excited to have Zeeka try the program itself. As a mom, I’ve always been so supportive of her dreams. And her becoming an author is one I’m really excited to see.
Have you tried Unique English Classroom? I’d love to hear your thoughts so please share them below.
For more information, visit their website here.
