September 22, 2022
The market for writing story books for children, especially in English, has been growing rapidly lately. This opens up great opportunities for both novice and experienced writers who want to get involved in the English story books for children ecosystem. However, many writers quickly give up when they realize that their writing is not interesting enough, not suitable for their audience, or does not have the special qualities that were previously expected.
In the Magister of English Education Study Program, students study the basic concepts and theories of teaching English to children in the English for Young Learners course. However, they are still lacking in practical knowledge about writing English books for children, especially story books.
Through a workshop entitled “Tricks and Tips for Writing Story Books”, with an expert, the writer of English story books for children, Dagny Khazaeli from the Al-Kisa Foundation, California, USA, English Masters students gain the knowledge and skills needed to write interesting English story books. This workshop was held offline on Wednesday, September 22, 2022 at the Magister of English Education Study Program, University of Mataram.
This activity is intended to provide insight to students on how to develop writing skills in English story books for children, with the main goal of exploring the process and techniques for creating English stories that can inspire and entertain children. The form of activity of this workshop activity is an introduction and explanation of the process and techniques for creating English stories to English Language Education Masters Program Students. Meanwhile, the results of this workshop activity are information obtained from speakers from the Al-Kisa Foundation USA related to:
1. Understanding your potential audience
2. Finding and developing ideas
3. Creating believable characters
4. Developing plausible plots
5. Using dialogue effectively
6. Literary devices
7. The importance of editing
8. Advice on getting published
