Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 17

Tip of the Week - Using Flashback to Begin a Story


There are several ways to begin a story and any good primary school composition guidebook worth its salt would talk about them. Some of the techniques are:

1. Describing the setting

2. Direct speech aka dialogue

3. Climax

4. Characterisation

5. Unique action

6. Flashback


Today, we are going to talk a little about the last technique - the flashback. A story begun with a flashback starts off in the present (hence, the tense used in the beginning should be the present tense) and then travels back in time to the past (now the tense is changed to the past tense) where the main action takes place.

The thing to watch out for when using the flashback is that in the conclusion, the story needs to return to the present before ending off. We cannot leave the story dangling in the past.


So when using a flashback to start a story, remember to return to the present (and present tense) at the end.

~.      ~.      ~.

Advanced Composition

1. The beautiful scenery zoomed past in a blur.
2. apologetically
3. insufficient time
4. stubbornly refused to oblige
5. When it had gained sufficient momentum, its nose tilted upwards and it lifted into the air.
6. Debris hurtled in all directions as the burning wreckage crashed backed onto earth.
7. miasma
8. transfixed


Intermediate Composition

1. A delighted smile lit up her face.
2. A frown wrinkled her forehead.
3. anxiously
4. Without twitching an eyelid, Betty hid the wallet behind her back and denied having seen it.
5. spanking new
6. surprised
7. withdrew her privileges
8. dishonest

Book Review: NINETEEN MINUTES

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Nineteen Minutes is a book about the fine line between victim and aggressor. Set in Sterling, New Hampshire, it follows the life of two childhood friends, Peter Houghton and Josie Cormier. Over the years, the distance between the two begins to grow, and they go their separate ways. Whereas Josie becomes one of the most popular girls in school, and starts dating Matt Royston, a well-known jock, Peter becomes a “freak”, ostracized and bullied by the very same people Josie hangs out with, and this eventually leads to him bringing four guns to his high school and shooting ten students dead.

This book is written in an extremely realistic way, dealing with real-life problems such as bullying and its repercussions. Peter, who has had to deal with bullying from everyone, even his own brother, tries to seek help from teachers and family – and yet, none of them seems to pay any attention to his problems, and in one particular instance, he is even punished for fighting back. This leads us to consider all the other instances of bullying in the world, and how we can do more for the bullied, how we should do more to help them instead of just standing at one side, much like how Josie does – although she does not take part in the bullying, she does not stop it either, leading to Peter’s feeling of isolation, which eventually leads to him shooting and killing ten kids in his high school.

Another thing the book deals with well is how the world is not black and white – instead, it is in shades of grays. As mentioned above, much of this book is about the fine line between victim and aggressor. Peter turns up at his high school shooting ten students dead – in this instance, he is the aggressor. And yet we are then shown the many moments when he is bullied, shoved into a locker, even had his pants and underwear pulled down in front of the whole canteen, and we start sympathising with him, because at one point, he is the victim too, and he becomes the aggressor simply because there is no one around to listen to him. The blame cannot be put on Peter alone, because the bullies are the ones who pushed him to that point, and yet at the same time, he is at fault for actually killing ten students.

All in all, Nineteen Minutes is unlike many of the books for young adults out there nowadays – it’s not just about romance or teenage angst. It’s about showing people how not everything can be seen in black and white, how the line between right and wrong so often blurs, such that we no longer know who is at fault, and hence, it is definitely a book worth reading.

Rating: 4/5

For 15 and above

Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 16

Tip of the Week


I came across this sentence recently:


Although Jessica worked very hard, but she did not ace her examinations.


'Although' and 'but' are both conjunctions (words that link up sentences or phrases aka 'linking words') and they are conjunctions that show contrast.


Hence, they should not show up in the same sentence.


The above sentence could be re-written correctly in either of 2 ways:

1. Although Jessica worked very hard, she did not ace her examinations. OR

2. Jessica worked very hard but (she) did not ace her examinations.


Remember that 'although' and 'but' are 'enemies' so they cannot co-exist in the same sentence - it would lead to problems!

Water -
too little of it, you will die
but
too much of it will kill you.

~.      ~.      ~.

Book Review: THE NIGHT CIRCUS

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern

The Night Circus is essentially a story about love and magic. In one of the first scenes, we are introduced to the magic – a young girl, Celia, is sent to her father, Prospero the Enchanter, who finds out about her natural talent for magic (one of the things that she can do is to shatter things with her mind when she loses control of her temper). He then meets with a “man in a gray suit” (who is never named), presumably another magician, and enters a competition with him (from their conversations we can actually infer that this is only one in a series of competitions between them, with Prospero having lost the previous one). The man in the gray suit then goes searching for a pupil to compete with Celia, finding an orphan called Marco whom he deems suitable.

The story then follows the lives of Marco and Celia, who lead very different lives – Marco is kept private from the world, given an empty house to live in with only his studies to occupy him, while Celia is shown to the public, often performing her magic for others in order to earn money, with both aware of each other’s existence but not knowing exactly who their opponent is. Eventually they are given a venue for their competition: a “night circus” where both magicians create tents to showcase their magic; for example, Marco creates the Ice Garden while Celia performs as an impressive illusionist. Eventually the two discover the identities of their competitor and they find themselves drawn to each other, falling in love.

Rack Your Brain 1 - Results

We have a winner!


Before announcing the name of the winner, as a brief recap:  We posted our inaugural Rack Your Brain contest 10 days ago. You may click here if you want to see the original challenge.


Answer

The picture depicts a basin hole with some trapped lemon seeds. As Madam Teo is a squeamish and indifferent housekeeper, she has allowed the lemon seeds to languish there until one day, she spouted a vivid green strand of vegetation.

For a brief moment, she was puzzled. She has not been cooking (Madam Teo does not enjoy cooking too, at least not in the current kitchen that she has access to), so where did the vegetable come from?

After racking her brain for a moment, enlightenment dawned upon her - one of the lemon seeds has germinated! (Remember that germination only needs air, moisture - plenty of that in the kitchen sink basin hole - and warmth - plenty of that too as we are after all residing in tropical Singapore.)


Winner

Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 15

Tip of the Week


Should 'debris' be read as 'day-bris' or 'day-bri'?


'Debris' is read as 'day-bri', without pronouncing the final consonant 's'. It could also be read as 'de-bri' but again the last letter 's' is not pronounced (from The Concise Oxford Dictionary).


The reason for this seeming anomaly is that 'debris' is an imported word of French origin and the French generally do not pronounce 's' when it is the last letter in a word (except for cases of liaison but that is another story).


So just remember that the 's' in 'debris' is silent!

Other words with silent 's' at the end

• rendezvous
• chamois
• Illinois
• Arkansas

Book Review: THE GIRAFFE AND THE PELLY AND ME

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me by Roald Dahl

The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me is one of the shortest books by Roald Dahl, spanning a mere 79 pages (actually less because the story only starts on the seventh page and there are a great MANY illustrations by Quentin Blake, Roald Dahl’s long-term illustrator, far more than the usual Roald Dahl book).

However, despite its brevity, it still contains the essence of Roald Dahl’s children stories: a familiar scene is given an unusual turn (poor boy wins a ticket to tour the Chocolate Factory in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or orphan comes across witches on a holiday in The Witches), silly but funny rhymes (remember the Oompas Loompas from Charlie?) and bits of the stories that need suspense of belief (Oompas Loompas? Bubble gum that turns girls purple? An alarm clock as an ingredient in a spell?).

In The Giraffe and the Pelly and Me, the starting premise of the story is that the narrator, Billy, lives near an old abandoned shop which used to be a grubber (an old name for a sweet shop; this fascination with sweets is another common theme in Roald Dahl’s stories). One day, he notices that the shop has been sold and is occupied again. The strangest renovations take place in front of him – old furniture is thrown out of the house and sent crashing to the ground (adults know that no one does renovations like that but the mental image of bathtubs and toilet bowls being flung out of second-floor windows and shattering on the ground would tickle juvenile humour, I suspect). The next time he goes back to the shop, he sees that the old entrance has been removed and the tallest door ever stands in its place.

The reason behind the tall door is soon apparent for amongst the new tenants, there is a giraffe called…Giraffe. The other tenants are a monkey called Monkey and a pelican called…you got it! – Pelican or sometimes Pelly for short.

Anyway, these are no ordinary animals. Firstly, they can talk. Not only that, they even have entrepreneurial sense and have started a business, a window-cleaning business. Their business model is just the sort of half-ingenious half-mad plot that a weird mind like Roald Dahl’s would dream up. Giraffe has an extendible neck (suspense of belief) that acts as a ladder. Monkey is the cleaner and Pelly’s beak (the top half is retractable like the sort of metal ruler that contractors use – suspense of belief, remember?) is the pail that holds the water.

Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 14

Tip of the Week


I came across this sentence in a book that I am reading:


He froze, half-way down into his chair, eyeing me warily with pursed lips.


Can you spot the mistake in the sentence?



The mistake appears in the last part of the sentence. 'Eyeing me warily with pursed lips' means that 'he' (Humphrey Appleby) was using his pursed lips to eye 'me' (Jim Hacker).


It is hilarious because of course we don't use our lips to eye anyone, warily or not.


What Jim Hacker is trying to say is:

Humphrey froze, half-way down into his seat, his eyes warily on me and his lips pursed.


This is a common mistake. I've come across examples of such mistakes in pupils' work before:

- Father shouted at me with clenched fists.
- I crept to the room with my pounding heart.

And from this week's work:

- Auntie Lim marched to Mrs Wong's house and pounded on her door with flashing eyes.


So dear reader, when you are writing, be careful; make sure that you link the right action to the right subject (the noun that is doing the action).

[And because I can hear some pupils asking 'What are pursed lips?', see the picture below.]

Famous pursed lips.
Famous not referring to the lips, but the owner of the lips.

Advanced Composition

Rack Your Brain

Can anyone guess what this is?

1. The Centre will be giving away a $5 Popular voucher to the first person to guess the correct answer.


2. This Rack Your Brain contest is only open to the pupils of Learning Partners.


3. You can leave your answer by in the comments section.
     Please leave your FULL NAME and LEVEL.


4. The deadline is at 5pm on Sunday, 17 March.


5. The results will be announced by 5pm the following Tuesday, 19 March in this very same post. So please click back on this post to check the results. We will leave the prize at the counter where the winner can claim it.


6. Have fun racking your brains. Enjoy!

Book Review: DAUGHTER OF SMOKE AND BONE

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Daughter of Smoke and Bone is a story that straddles two worlds – our female protagonist, Karou, resides in Prague, while the male protagonist, Akiva, lives in an alternate world called Eretz, occupied by warring creatures known as Angels and Chimeras. From very early on, we are told that both protagonists are unique and special. In Akiva’s case this is obvious from the start – he is an Angel, albeit one of low rank, and he is eventually sent to Earth to find the chimeras living there. Kaoru, on the other hand, appears to be a normal human – she lives on Earth, goes to a normal school, has normal friends. Nevertheless she shares a connection with the Eretz, as she was raised by chimeras (the same ones that Akiva is searching for), and, as the story progresses, she begins to find out just who she is and what her connection to Eretz is.

This is what a chimera supposedly looks like,
if it exists. Hideous, eh?

A Composition A Week - Not A Ghost Story

Singaporeans have a love affair with ghost stories.

We love ghost stories of all types and that is why horror is  such a big genre amongst local books and films. The irony is that horror stories and films may sell well but compositions featuring ghosts, apparitions and spooks of any form are frowned upon in school. Many schools have an outright ban on horror stories. Write a ghost story in school and you risk failing your composition.

A second irony is that kids actually love ghost stories. Okay, not all kids. Ghost stories is a rather polarising topic for kids - kids either love them or hate 'em. But I've definitely come across more kids who love them than hate them and this is supported by the popularity of certain local fiction series (think Mr Midnight and Singapore Ghost Stories). So what is a kid who loves creepy stories but not allowed to write one to do?

Spelling Lists for Semester 1 Week 13

Tip of the Week


1. I was walking along the road when I heard the blare of the horn.

2. I was walking along the road when I heard the blare of a horn.

Which is the correct sentence?


It depends. If it is the first time the horn is being mentioned, then it should be (2). For most stories written in primary school (where road accidents is a common theme), it is likely to be (2).)


However, if earlier in the story, the horn has been mentioned before (for example, in the story, a character has bought a new car and the horn of the car has a distinctive blare), then (1) would be the correct answer. This is a more unusual storyline and unlikely to be the case.


It appears to be a nitty-gritty issue; what's the big deal, the difference between 'a' and 'the'? But for a grammar Nazi like me and many other English language teachers, it is the difference between an excellent composition and one that is merely good, all other things being equal.

~.      ~.      ~.

Book Review: THE STAND

The Stand by Stephen King

The Stand is set in an alternate America, and it details the events that happen in America after a deadly virus known as “Captain Trips” is released into the world. “Captain Trips” is a biological weapon created by the military – it has all the symptoms of a normal flu, but is absolutely fatal and kills an estimated 99.4% of the world’s population (with some people being, for some unidentified reason, immune to the disease) when the military loses control of it. The story then goes on to describe how the survivors band together, trying to adapt to this new world and form a new society. Their attempts are interrupted by the coming of a “dark man” called Randall Flagg who visits them in their sleep and gives them horrifying dreams; he is defined as “evil”, while another woman, Mother Abagail, who gives them comforting dreams and staunchly believes in God, is defined as “good”.