Ask a Primary 5 child to describe the school canteen, a park or the beach and you often get a row of borrowed phrases: 「风景优美，鸟语花香，人山人海。」 Nothing in it is wrong, yet nothing in it is this place. The fix is a process, not a longer list of 好词. This post gives a three-step one for 写景 compositions that a parent can walk through with a child.
Step 1 — 定顺序: decide where you are standing and how you move
A scene read as a jumble of sights tires the reader. Ask your child: 「你站在哪里？先看哪里，再看哪里？」 Three simple orders work well: 由远到近 (far to near), 由上到下 (top to bottom), or 时间顺序 (morning → noon → evening). Tell the order in one short line before writing, for example 「先写远处的海，再写脚下的沙，最后写身边的人」.
Step 2 — 用五感: look, listen, smell, touch, taste
Most children only write what they SEE. Prompt them to add one more sense for every place they stop: what can you HEAR, SMELL, FEEL on your skin, even TASTE? A single non-visual detail makes a scene feel real.
| Flat (only names the scene) | With senses (视觉 / 听觉 / 嗅觉 / 触觉) |
|---|---|
| 公园很美丽。 | 清晨的公园里，草叶上挂着细细的露珠，远处传来太极音乐，空气里有淡淡的青草味。 |
| 雨后很凉爽。 | 雨停了，风带着湿泥土的气味吹过来，凉丝丝地贴在脸上，屋檐的水滴还在「嗒、嗒」地敲着窗台。 |
| 小食街很热闹。 | 炭火上的烤肉滋滋作响，香味一阵阵飘过来，摊主的叫卖声夹着小孩的笑声，震得人耳朵发痒。 |
These sentences are my own and only show the pattern. Your child should use what they truly noticed at a real place — a detail like 「椰子树的影子在地上晃来晃去」 beats a phrase borrowed from a book.
Step 3 — 抓变化，带感情: show what changes and how you feel
A good 写景 is rarely a still photograph. Ask two questions: 「这里一会儿前和一会儿后有什么不同？」 (light, weather, crowd, sound) and 「看到这些，我心里是什么感觉？」 One change plus one honest feeling turns a list of sights into a scene with a point of view: 「太阳慢慢沉下去，海面从金色变成了淡紫色，我忽然觉得，今天的烦恼也轻了一些。」
💡 Check the thread
After drafting, underline the order words (先、接着、最后) and the sense words. Is there at least one non-visual sense in each place? Does the ending feeling grow out of what was described, rather than being stuck on?
A worked example (short)
Place: the void deck after a storm. Order: look outward, then down, then at the people. Draft: 「雨刚停，组屋底层的空地上还积着一层水，映出灰蓝色的天。我踩过去，凉凉的水溅到脚背上。远处传来邻居收伞的哗啦声，空气里是湿湿的泥土味。过了一会儿，云缝里漏出一线阳光，小孩们笑着跑了出来，我的心情也跟着亮了起来。」 One order, three senses, one change and one feeling — and not one 「风景优美」.
A 10-minute practice routine
- Pick a place your child knows well (the playground, the bus stop, the hawker centre). Say the order in one line. (2 minutes)
- List one thing for each of: see, hear, smell, touch. (3 minutes)
- Write 3–4 sentences using at least two senses and one change. (4 minutes)
- Add one honest feeling in a single sentence. (1 minute)
Do this once a week at a different place. Combine it with the sentence-expansion questions in our earlier post to practise the same skill on single sentences.
Free: write a full composition and get feedback on your details, with questions that help you revise.
试试作文批改 — Try it free →Want to practise the detail step on single sentences first? Read next:
How to Expand Thin Sentences in Chinese Composition →Sources
- Composition requirements and marking criteria are set by SEAB and MOE; check the current syllabus and specimen materials at seab.gov.sg. This post does not state any marking scheme or mark allocation.
- The three-step method and routine are the author's own tutoring practice, offered as suggestions, not an MOE requirement and not a promise of any result.
- All example sentences are original and illustrative.
- No exam-frequency, prediction or ranking claims are made in this post.