Describing Inner Sensations for Creative Writing in Primary School

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How can your child show the character’s emotions appropriately in an essay after he has decided what emotion to express? I would recommend this simple method – the IDEA technique. While I am going to focus on the “I” part, I thought I better give a simple introduction to the IDEA technique. “I” stands for Inner Sensations, which is all about the body’s physical reaction to an emotion. “D” means Dialogue which is what the character(s) say in response to an emotion. “E” represents Emotional Expressions, which the thoughts of a character when he feels emotions. Finally, “A” is for Actions, which is what the character does to show his emotions. You can use just one technique or combine the technique to show the character’s emotions.

Let’s move on to the first technique, “I”, which stands for Inner Sensations. This technique includes visceral sensations (e.g. lungs, heart, stomach, throat) and the five senses (sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste). By showing appropriate bodily response of a character, your child can effectively convey the character’s emotions and response to the conflict, thus developing the story. At the same time, it also helps your child demonstrate apt and effective vocabulary.

inner sensations

Bad example

James was upset that the bully had ruined his project.

Good example

The sight of its broken wheels made James’ heart ache. Tears burned at the back of his eyes. Soon, his vision blurred. He felt so tired.

Practise this technique with your child by getting him to think of possible bodily response based on common emotions – happiness, sadness, fear, excitement and anger. You can list these expressions down and your child can use these expressions the next time he writes an essay.

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This is Part 5 of a 12 Part series. To go back to the index, please click here.