Continuous Writing: Sample essay

Task: Write about an occasion when you discovered you could do something you had been afraid of doing before.

“Liz, it’s your turn.” Ms Aida announced. Gosh! It was a terrifyingly dreadful moment for me. Reluctantly, I stood in front of the class trying to tell them a story that I had been memorising for the last two weeks. As I was about to start, I choked uncontrollably. Ms Aida told me to sit down and rebuked the class for laughing at me. Despite that, Ms Aida was disappointed in me. I hated having to give presentations in front of a crowd.

I was by nature timid, introverted and a withdrawn person. Suffice to say, I do not have any friends. No one wanted to be in the same team with me. My ordeal started again when Ms Aida gave us a group assignment. We were supposed to do a presentation about “Food”. As soon as I heard it, I felt disheartened yet none of my group members seemed to be worried about it. My team leader, Salbiah allocated the tasks to us. I was happy to be in charge of preparing the powerpoint slides. Preaparing powerpoint slides was easy to me; a piece of pie. My team members admired my powerpoint. I was glad to be accepted by this group.

The day of the presentation brought in many unexpected problems. Salbiah was down with measles and could not come to school. Both Farizan and Kiah had to be at their stations. Farizan had to set up the powerpoint and Kiah had to distribute the handouts. All of a sudden, I was the only one available to take over Salbiah’s place. I had no intention of embarrassing myself again but after being persuaded and encouraged by my team members I accepted with mixed feelings.

I trudged in front and looked around the class. Everybody was sniggering at me. My heart missed a beat as the powerpoint slide was projected. Farizan and Kiah winked at me and gave me the thumbs-up sign. I was gaining confidence and started to speak with much clarity and fluency. I was too nervous to recall exactly what happened at that time. After my presentation, all my classmates clapped and I was elated. I couldn’t believe that I had actually did it.

After that day, I was a changed person. Friends surround me all the time. I have become a more confident person. Today I look forward to do presentations. My life motto reads: Nothing is impossible.