Discovery Creative Rumour

[JeffChiang]

I know of a rumour that creative short stories on cultural backgrounds and of other nationalities work extremely well and tend to get high marks (or the high scoring students tend to do this).
Is this in any way true?
What are the benefits of doing such a story?

[mjorfian]

I know of a rumour that creative short stories on cultural backgrounds and of other nationalities work extremely well and tend to get high marks (or the high scoring students tend to do this).
Is this in any way true?
What are the benefits of doing such a story?

errr I know I'm like, a whole month late but one of my teachers said that to me as well. I'm thinking it's because it makes the story more authentic and personal to the student I guess. They're just tired of reading the same cliched plots/styles of writing and so producing something that's culturally linked automatically stands out because it's most likely they haven't read anything too similar just before

[angelahchan]

I know of a rumour that creative short stories on cultural backgrounds and of other nationalities work extremely well and tend to get high marks (or the high scoring students tend to do this).
Is this in any way true?
What are the benefits of doing such a story?

this is  really late, but I thought I'd reply because my teachers said something different- they said an increasing number of students are doing refugee stories and when done well that's fine, but the topic is becoming cliched. there's obviously other cultural based stories besides those on refugees, if you're using your own cultural background on the story because you're writing about what you know the story can be more "authentic", but I guess the problem is when students write about experiences of refugees when they haven't done enough research/whatever

[elysepopplewell]

I know of a rumour that creative short stories on cultural backgrounds and of other nationalities work extremely well and tend to get high marks (or the high scoring students tend to do this).
Is this in any way true?
What are the benefits of doing such a story?

It's definitely not the only way to get a Band 6. I know you're not implying that, but I thought I'd throw that out there for clarity.

The benefit of writing a story of a foreign culture, in my mind, is the way that students are more acutely aware of imagery. When I went overseas, I was taking photos of everything, coffees, buildings, streets, etc. Where I live isn't any less beautiful, but I don't pay attention to the imagery as much because I'm used to it. I think in this same way, when students are writing about Australian settings they know well, that attention to expressing the detail isn't in the forefront of their mind because it is the assumption that the marker understands it, instead of the marker needing to be transported there. So I don't think the benefit is the fact that the setting is foreign, it's just that students tend to pay more attention to writing about it because they need to bridge the environment of the story and the marker.

[JeffChiang]

Thank you very much everyone! Great points raised here 

[elysepopplewell]

Thank you very much everyone! Great points raised here 

Thanks for raising it Jeff!