PSLE Situational Writing 1: The Code Club
One complete task, with a model at the end. It is an informal email, so you can sound like yourself, and you still have to cover every point.
The situation
Aisha and her classmate stop at the corridor noticeboard and read a flyer for a holiday club.
Visual source: every point you need is printed in the flyer. The pupils' words tell you how they feel about it.
Text version of the flyer
Holiday Code Club
Build your first game in five afternoons.
- Monday 24 to Friday 28 November, 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m.
- Computer Lab 2, Block C
- Free for all Primary 5 and 6 pupils
- Bring a notebook and a water bottle
- Sign up at the general office by Friday 14 November
Places are limited to 24 pupils. Pupils who miss two afternoons will lose their place.
The two pupils are saying:
- "Five afternoons of making a game? I want to do this one."
- "Then sign up by the fourteenth. Only twenty-four places."
Your task
Imagine you are Aisha. Write an email to your friend Wei Ming, who is in another class, telling him about the club and persuading him to sign up with you.
Your email must include:
- what the club is, and when and where it runs
- two reasons he would enjoy it
- what he needs to bring
- the date he must sign up by, and where
- a friendly close that asks him to reply
Check your plan
Wei Ming is your friend and your own age. Which opening suits him?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: (B) Hi Wei Ming! You have to hear about this holiday club.
The correct answer is (B). Wei Ming is a friend your own age, so the email is informal: a first name, a warm opening, and contractions are all fine. (A) and (C) are formal openings for a stranger or an official, and (D) sounds like a letter to an adult. A friend who reads that will think you are writing to a stranger.
Which detail from the flyer is the one Wei Ming most needs in order to act?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: (C) That he must sign up at the general office by Friday 14 November
The correct answer is (C). Every other detail is useful, but only the sign-up date and place let him actually join. The point of the email is that Wei Ming can act on it, so the deadline and the office have to be in there.
Write your email
✍️ Your turn
Write Aisha's email to Wei Ming. Cover all five points in the list above, and keep the tone friendly. Take the dates, the place and the deadline straight from the flyer, and put them in your own sentences.
The model
Open the model email
To: [email protected] Subject: Holiday Code Club, five afternoons in November
Hi Wei Ming!
I saw a flyer on the corridor noticeboard this morning and I thought of you straight away. There is a Holiday Code Club from Monday 24 to Friday 28 November, from 2 p.m. to 4.30 p.m., in Computer Lab 2 in Block C.
You should come. We would build our own game over the five afternoons, and you are already better at puzzles than anyone in my class. It is also free for Primary 5 and 6 pupils.
Bring a notebook and a water bottle. The important part is the sign-up: you have to put your name down at the general office by Friday 14 November, and there are only twenty-four places.
Let me know if you are in, and we can go to the office together.
From, Aisha
Why this scores
| What the model does | Why it works |
|---|---|
| Opens "Hi Wei Ming!" and uses "you should come" | The register matches a friend of the same age |
| Gives the dates, times and room exactly as the flyer does | The facts have to be exact |
| Gives reasons about Wei Ming himself, not about the club in general | A reason he recognises is the one that persuades him |
| Puts the deadline and the office near the end | The reader finishes knowing what to do |
| Ends by asking him to reply | The close does a job instead of just signing off |
The model is one way to do it, not the only way. Your own reasons and your own voice are fine, as long as all five points are there and the tone stays friendly.
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