Pobble.com- World Cup Creative Writing Workshop
On Monday, 21st November, the Year 6 Students joined a writing workshop organised by Pobble.com. Over 10,000 students joined the online lesson to develop their creative writing skills. The writing workshop was titled ‘Literacy through Sport – World Cup Writing lesson’.
The Year 6 students followed the online lesson and were shown techniques to help develop and upskill their writing content. There was a fantastic structure to the workshop as the students followed a step-by-step guide to developing their descriptive writing.
The global workshop was interactive with our students getting to share their example sentences with the other students involved online. We submitted many impressive sentences. Our school was selected for submitting stand-out examples of brilliant writing.
Throughout the workshop, the students reinforced elements of what we have developed and practised in class.
The main skill developed was the ‘Show Me, Don’t Tell Me’ approach to writing. This is a key descriptive writing technique we use in our year 6 English lessons. The technique aims to ‘paint a vivid picture’ in the reader’s mind. The students also incorporated the use of the 5 senses into their writing to uplevel their content.
The tasks of the workshop were broken down into 3 phases. By the end of the lesson, the students were tasked with creating a powerful paragraph packed with techniques to entertain and hold a reader’s interest.
Phase 1- Hook the Reader
Using short snappy and catchy sentences to grab the reader’s attention.
Phase -2 – Sentence Openers
Using fronted adverbials and 3 ‘ed words’ as openers. This technique can be used to highlight feelings and emotions.
Phase 3- Developing Suspense
The focus in this part of the workshop was how to end your story.
Should the students leave their writing as a cliffhanger or conclude with a positive outcome to the story?
The workshop had Danny Taylor, a famous UK sports journalist (currently in Qatar for World Cup coverage) and also Liam Cooper, a professional football player for Leeds Utd to give input. The guest speakers evoked ways to describe the scene, display emotions and use the 5 senses to help create an atmosphere when writing about sports.
Our Year 6 students were extremely motivated to write and show their outstanding writing skills to a global audience. By the end of the workshop, our students were applying the key writing techniques independently in their own writing. It was a joy to read the detailed paragraphs written by the year 6 classes.
“It was tricky to write about taking a penalty because I have never had to take one. But I tried to imagine what it would feel like!” exclaimed Chiara during the workshop.
Simon Blower, founder of Pobble.com complimented all the students throughout the workshop. He stated, “we are seeing some very creative and vivid examples of descriptive writing from students at Nadeen School in Bahrain.”
Here is a selection of stand-out writing pieces from Year 6 Pupils:
Laya Year 6
Nervously, I stared down at the pitch thinking about how important the next kick would be. In the stadium, I felt a rush of adrenaline as I heard the crowd chant my name.
Sofia Year 6
Worried, frightened, terrified, I allowed my mind to wonder how my team would feel about me if I missed. I had to take a penalty kick- the most important kick of my life. I couldn’t stop thinking, there were 1 million thoughts running through my head.
Minha Year 6
I grew hotter and stickier by the minute, as the pressure built up all around me. I could almost feel the tension of the crowd as their eyes gazed through me. It was time- I took a deep breath and hit the ball with a ferocious kick. The ball flew through the air like a ball of fire towards the goal.
Chiara Year 6
Horrified, stressed, terrified, I could hear the crowd roaring. With my hands shaking and butterflies in my stomach, it was time. This was it. There was only one option. Score and win. There was only one thing I could do. Time to make the crowd happy!
Alessandra Year 6
In the stadium, there was a smell of cotton candy. With the delicious taste of popcorn in the air, people were excited and screaming for their country. The cheering from the crowd had my heart racing. Looking at my family (with tears in my eyes), it was time to take the penalty kick.
Mia Year 6
The goalkeeper was vicious. He blocked every shot but it was my time to shine. The crowd went dead silent as I got ready to take the penalty kick. My heart was beating like somebody shaking a marble in an empty jar. Pale as a ghost, the feeling was overwhelming. Stressed, worried and anxious, it was finally time. 3, 2, 1, BOOM!
Well done to all the students involved. Having the opportunity to write for a global audience brought out the best in our students. We look forward to joining future workshops with Pobble.com.
