Essay about the flying experience written the next day.
So, we went paragliding (it was a surprise gift to the little one, our 7-year-old girl, Kymaia) over the weekend. This is an account of the exciting first-time experience in her own words. She wrote it in collaboration with me, like all her essays.
How do we collaborate? Do I write stuff down for her to copy? Do I dictate to her as she writes? Do I tell her what to talk about? None of the above.
The way it goes is this:
- We first discuss and she decides what she is going to write about.
- We have a storytelling session in which she narrates it to me, sometimes with actions and dialogues (this is the best part).
- We pick out keywords and she writes them on the glass board with a marker pen. For complex spellings, she first tries to construct the word, and I help her (because English is indeed a funny language) if she needs me. So, at the end of this session, we have a structure and a glass wall with all the keywords and their spellings written.
- She then writes the first few sentences and we read them together. I tell her where I think the direction she is taking will end up, and she makes corrections in the next few sentences if she wants to change it. Else, she continues. Once in a while, she is stuck, and we have to go through an extensive question-answer session to get her mind unjammed and her thoughts flowing again.
- Once she finishes, she lets me read it, and makes minor corrections if I point out some obvious (mainly spelling and punctuation) errors.
- She puts the date on it, draws some stuff on the sidelines, and that is that.
