Gifted at English

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DD is in year 5. Her teacher recently told us that DD is G&T at English and creative writing. This was lovely to hear, and obviously I'm a dead proud mum, but it's also got me thinking about how I can support DD and if anyone else has a DC like this. DD has always been bright, but she's not a genius and she's just average at maths. She's incredibly bookish, loves to write, is fascinated by language and certainly has an unusual turn of phrase for a 10 year old. Mainly, I keep her supplied with books and we chat about them. Should I be doing more? Anyone else have a child with an aptitude for English/ creative writing & want to chat? You always hear about talented kids at maths, music and sport, but not with language arts; not sure why.

The BBC 500 words competition might be a good thing to do. It's closed for entries this year but maybe think about it for next year.

www.pobble365.com/

This site will give you lots of inspiration for creative writing.

Yes, similar DD of same age here (also with an unusual turn of phrase on occasion). And yes it does seem to be less common than with maths and I have no idea why either.

We've had a couple of great books for writing ideas, the best one is by Christopher Edge and is called something like How To Write Your Best Story ever, which she really enjoys.

We also discovered through school that our local music festival (the kind where all the young musicians compete) also had a creative writing section, and she got placed in one of the sections, which was a real boost for her (and she got to hear the entries of other children too which was interesting as well).

My daughter sounds very similar, she is 13 and according to her English tutor she is 4 years ahead in English, again her Maths is a good average.
My daughter has a passion for Shakespeare and speaking to her you would never think she was only 13, her language skills have always been years ago.
I would definitely encourage a wide range of reading books in different styles and authors.

Years ahead, was I meant to say!

Am-dram and youth theatre is another good way to stimulate interest in language. Some youth theatres encourage young writers as well.

Could also encourage her to take up a MFL or even to try to teach herself Latin or Greek.

I would look at getting her into poetry and also drama. If she likes writing and presenting her work as well as art then try a slightly different approach perhaps of caligraphy so she can present bits of work in a really artistic way. Maybe look for some books about the origins of the English language and where different words come from etc as that might appeal to her.

It is true you rarely hear about peoplg being gifted in writing etc but equally I think it has to be remembered that gifted and talented at school is only the top 10% in a school and I don't think it is as easy to measure ability in creative writing because it is very subjective whereas being very quick with numbers is obvious so teachers (and other children) are more likely to notice it quickly. Nice to have a school that notices creativity in writing. Ours doesn't. it seems to effectively stamp it out which is very frustrating. My daughters used to love writing, they did it all the time at home, one was writing poetry before starting reception. then school introduced a new approach to writing 18 months ago and now she refuses to write at all. says it has sucked all the joy out of writing, they aren't allowed to be creative any more, they just have to change bits of other stories. I haven't seen her write anything at home (other than homework when forced) since the school introduced it. such a shame as she has a great imagination and used to write lovely little stories. Nothing special I don't think but creative and fun and she has lost that pleasure now. It is lovely to hear a school encourage it and celebrate when the children do it well.

Agree drama is a great way of exploring texts in more detail or creating your own plays, monologues etc.
Story competitions like 500 words, there are others too.