A Composition A Week - 'Your Money Or Your Life?'

I'm a rather stingy marker when it comes to compositions. Generally, a competent writer in my class would score 29-32 marks out of 40. Very rarely has any composition breached 32 marks. Maybe 4-6 pieces a year. To score 35-38 marks in my class, the pupil has to brainstorm, plan and write the composition from scratch. And of course the story must be interesting and the language excellent. The pupil is free to use the vocabulary that is supplied in the class but it does mean that (s)he should not be using the model that is used for discussion in class.


Anyway, my point is that the pupil below, Cherilyn, having managed to attain 32 marks for her effort in the Advanced Composition class of Semester 1 Week 11, has handed in one of the best pieces for a story that is based on the model discussed in class.


The strength of her essay lies in the vivid fight scene that she described. The plot flows and the language used is excellent - apt and practically error-free. The details inserted by Cherilyn are highlighted in blue. I've copied her work word-for-word and if there are any mistakes, I've corrected it in red.

Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 12

Tip of the week


Some pupils think that when a sentence is in the past tense, every verb in that sentence must be in the past tense.


There are many exceptions to that rule. Today, we'll talk about the Noun-Verb-Noun-Verb (NVNV) exception.


Example: He felt the blood drain from his face when he saw the dark and menacing shadow.

Note the word 'drain' is in the base form, aka root form or the infinitive form. This is because whenever we have a NVNV occurrence, regardless of whatever tense the sentence is in, the second verb has to be in the infinitive form.


To illustrate this point more clearly, look at the sentence again:

He (Noun 1) felt (Verb 1) the blood (Noun 2) drain (Verb 2) from his face when he saw the dark and menacing shadow.

The sentence is in the past tense form (we can tell that from the use of the words 'felt' and 'saw') but the verb 'drain' is in the base form because of the NVNV rule.

There are other complications like the addition of linking words and the use of the Present Participle but we'll keep the NVNV rule simple for this post.

Book Review: CITY OF BONES

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

City of Bones is the first book of the Mortal Instruments Series, which the Infernal Devices series is a prequel of (there was a review on Clockwork Angel, the first book of the Infernal Devices series, that was previously done). Both series exist in the same world of Downworlders and Shadowhunters, with the Downworlders being magical creatures like vampires and werewolves, and the Shadowhunters being the half-angel “police”, who guard humanity from the dangers posed by demons and Downworlders. Despite existing in the same universe, City of Bones is set more than a hundred years later, hence there is little more than surnames or minor characters (such as Magnus Bane) they seem to share.

THE PROBLEM WITH CHARACTERISATION

In the Centre, it is quite common to use the technique of characterisation to start a story.

We can use characterisation in one of two ways.

The first way, which is also the one that we use more commonly, is to start the story by describing a personality trait of a character. This trait has to be crucial to the story. For example, if we are writing a story about bullying in school, then obviously our characterisation would be that this particular character was a bully. Then further elaboration is needed by providing three examples (ideally) of bullying behaviour that the bully engaged in.

The second method of characterisation is to describe a relationship. Again, the relationship has to be central to the story but we’ll leave that for a post on another day.

The common mistake I want to touch on today cropped up in Semester 1 Week 9 Advanced Composition. We did a post on it last week for One Composition A Week. The compositions that were showcased in that post were chosen for their original ideas. But today, we are going to talk about the sample composition that was shared with the classes.

The main plot in the sample composition was that narrator needed to go to the toilet in the middle of the class but as the teacher in the classroom at that time was very fierce, (s)he decided to hold the urge. Unfortunately, the narrator over-estimated his/her ability to control himself/herself and a most embarrassing accident happened in class.

In this case, the fierceness of the teacher was central to the story and so many pupils started the story with characterisation – describing how fierce the teacher was.

The tricky bit about characterisation is that the first paragraph is describing the character in general. Then when we move to the second paragraph when the story starts, we move from the general to the specific, in this case, a specific incident. Many pupils were unable to handle this transition smoothly.

What do I mean? Let me give you an example of a clumsily handled transition:

Mrs Soh was the most notorious teacher in school. Pupils withered at a single look from her. Parents cowered in her presence and it was rumoured that even the principal had to give her face.

The classroom was quiet and tense. All the pupils’ heads were bent in intense concentration…

The example above shows how abrupt and confusing it is for the reader. In the first paragraph, the reader is introduced to Mrs Soh but suddenly, in the second paragraph, the reader is moved to the scene of a classroom.

We will show you how to transition from characterisation to the main event of the story with six examples culled from our pupils.

A Composition A Week - An Unfortunate Accident

The following composition is a modified composition by one of the pupils. The composition is based on the following picture:

Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 11

Tip of the Week


I've come across the following phrases quite a few times in pupils' work.


When they want to describe a character having an idea, they write 'An idea strucked him."

Or in Intermediate Composition Semester 1 Week 9, the narrator's mother was tied up by the intruder and some pupils wrote 'Mother was bounded in ropes.'


In these cases, the pupils have the mistaken idea that 'struck' and 'bound' are the root or base verbs and that 'strucked' and 'bounded' are their Simple Past Tense forms.


Actually, the root verb for the first mistake is 'strike' which means 'hit'. 'Struck' is already the Simple Past Tense form. Hence the sentence should read:

An idea struck him.

As for Mistake Number 2, same thing. The root verb is 'bind' which means 'tie' and 'bound' is the Simple Past Tense form of 'bind'. In this case, the correct sentence would be:

Mother was bound in ropes.

Note:

There is a root verb 'bound'. It means to:
1. jump
2. run in leaping strides
3. recoil from a wall or the ground.

Its Simple Past Tense form is 'bounded'. But there is no such English word as 'strucked'.

~. ~. ~.

Book Review - EON: RISE OF THE DRAGONEYE

Eon: Rise of the Dragoneye by Alison Goodman

Eon is set in the fictional world of the Empire of Celestial Dragons, based on the cultures of Ancient Japan and China. In this world, dragons exist: they number twelve, according to the Animal Cycle. The dragons are each bound to one person, a Dragoneye who can see his dragon and harness its power. The Dragoneye changes every twelve years; the old Dragoneye will be replaced by his apprentice and a new apprentice will be chosen by the dragons. The Year of the Rat approaches, and the Rat Dragon is preparing to find a new apprentice for the new Dragoneye; the protagonist, Eon, is one of the competitors for the apprenticeship.

A Composition A Week - The Call of Nature

For Semester 1 Week 9, the Advanced Composition class was asked to write a story based on the following beginning:


You were in class having a lesson. Then you suddenly felt like you had to go to the toilet...

Happy Chinese New Year

Learning Partners wishes all pupils and parents a happy Chinese New Year!

Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 10

Tip of the week: Proper Nouns


Nouns are names of people, animals, places and things.


They can be divided into 2 categories - common nouns and proper nouns.


Proper nouns are nouns that refer to specific people, animals, places and things.
They begin with capital letters.


So subjects in schools are proper nouns: English, Mother Tongue, Mathematics, Science, Physical Education, Music and Social Studies.


The General Office in school is also a proper noun.

Now that we've addressed a common mistake that appeared in the Advanced Composition for Week 9, let's move on to the Spelling Lists.

Book Review: A WIZARD OF EARTHSEA

A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula Le Guin

Ursula Le Guin may not be a familiar name to most parents and children but she is undoubtedly one of the most celebrated authors in America. She writes fiction for children and adults, mainly in the genres of science fiction and fantasy. She has also written poems and essays. Her achievements include five Hugo Awards, six Nebula Awards and nineteen Locus Awards. All these are awards for the best works in science fiction and fantasy written each year. Her book, The Furthest Shore, won the 1973 National Book Award in category Children’s Books. The National Book Award is one of the most prestigious literary awards in USA. I think it’s high time that Ursula Le Guin is introduced to Singaporean readers.

Amongst Le Guin’s most notable works is her Earthsea series (written for teenagers), the first book of which is A Wizard of Earthsea. The main character of the book is Ged, a boy who is immensely talented in magic. We are given hints throughout the book that he would go on to become one of the greatest wizards in Earthsea and A Wizard of Earthsea is about his journey to greatness. We meet our protagonist when he is still immature, shallow, proud of his talent and in a hurry to become somebody. Not a very likeable boy, in other words.

A Composition A Week - PSLE Question

The composition for this week is the Advanced Composition that we did for Semester 1 Week 7. We did a piece adapted from a past PSLE question.

The question is:

You were at the pool. All of a sudden, you saw something big flying towards the pool. Then you heard a loud splash.

Based on the situation above, write a composition of at least 150 words.

In your story, make use of the points below. You may reorder the points and may include other relevant points.

• ·         What the flying saucer was
• ·         What happened next
• ·         What happened in the end

Chinese New Year

Happy Chinese New Year! 

祝学生和家长们新年快乐，万事如意！

The Centre will be closed from 9 February (Sat) to 12 February (Tue).

Lessons will resume on 13 February (Wed).

As it's the Chinese New Year, we would like to share with you the story of Chinese New Year. Below is an excerpt of the myth (extracted from Wikipedia):

Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 9

Tip of the Week


In last week's Advanced Composition class, pupils were asked to write a letter to the residents of a certain estate. One of the points they were asked to give was the time certain upgrading works would take place.

Some pupils wrote this:

The upgrading works would take place between 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

There is something wrong with the sentence above.


When we use the word 'between', it should be partnered with 'and'.


Hence the sentence above should read:

The upgrading works would take place between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

When do we use 'to' then?


'To' should be used in conjunction with 'from'.


So we can say:

The upgrading works would take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Hence, what you should remember is that 'between' partners 'and' while 'from' partners 'to'. Or:

between...and...

from...to...

However, do take note that they are not interchangeable.

'The upgrading works would take place between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.' means that the upgrading works would be taking place sometime between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. and the duration is not specified.

Whereas 'The upgrading works would take place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.' means that the upgrading works would start at 10 a.m. and finish at 6 p.m., implying that the duration is 8 hours.

Advanced Composition

Book Review: THE DEMON KING

The Demon King by Cinda Williams Chima

Set in the fictional world of the Seven Realms, The Demon King follows the story of Han “Cuffs” Alister and Raisa ‘ana’ Marianna. The Demon King takes place in one of the Seven Realms, Fellsmarch, where Queen Marianna reigns. Fellsmarch is currently in a political war of sorts: both the Clans and the wizards, rival factions in Fellsmarch, are attempting to get control over the future Queen, Raisa. Hans, on the other hand, lives in the slums of Fellsmarch, and is a famous streetlord. He is part of the Clans as well, with his best friend Fire Dancer being from the Clans. Hans and Raisa are from two completely different worlds, and yet, when the political wrangling between the Clans and the Wizard Council begins, their paths begin to cross.