Continuous Writing: Homework form 4 & 5

Write a composition of about 350 words on one of the following topics using the given guidelines:


1. Dreams
2. The hand phone is useful. Do you agree?
3. My Idol
4. Describe an unforgettable holiday
5. Write a short story with the ending as “That’s me”.

1.  Dreams
      - Discuss the topic as a narrative composition unless you have enough
       information to treat it like a factual essay
     
      Introduction

• Do your dreams come true?
• Poor boy but ambitious
• worked very hard at workshop
• Repaired bicycles, motorcycles, cars

      Body

• grew up
• enough savings-opened own workshop
• persevered
• expand business
• imported spare parts for vehicles
• supplied to other workshops

     Conclusion

• became a wealthy man despite being uneducated
• willing to persevere and sacrifice
• dreams do come true

2. The hand phone is useful. Do you agree?
     This is an argumentative essay and it requires you to make a stand.
   
     Introduction
     - example; Your stand : Agree

     Body
     Give reasons i.e the benefits of the hand phone

• convenient
• can contact parents when necessary
• public phones unreliable-vandalised
• during an emergency
• to impart news quickly

      Conclusion
      - state your stand again


3. My Idol
    This is a descriptive essay.
    
    Introduction

• state who your idol is
• describe the physical features of this person
• describe the person’s character which is peculiar to him/her
• give reasons why you idolise this person
• give amusing anecdotes to make this essay interesting

     Conclusion
     Emphasize the fact that he/she is your idol

4. Describe an unforgettable holiday
    This is a descriptive essay

     Introduction
     - state the place and the time


     Body

• Describe the physical features of this person
• describe an unexpected incident that happened during the holiday, it could be either a tragic or a happy one

          e.g a tragic incident  – drowned/lost in a jungle
                a happy one - a surprise birthday party/get to meet someone you admire

      Conclusion
      Emphasize that it was an unforgettable holiday, one you can never forget for the rest of
      your life

5. Write a short story with the ending as “That’s me”.
 
    Introduction
    Introduce yourself and describe yourself.

    Body 
    State one of your negative traits e.g selfishness

• Relate one or two incidents to demonstrate your selfishness
• Then, describe one major incident that happened due to your selfishness

          e.g had to look after two-year old brother
                - watched T.V, called friend to come over
                - forgot about brother
                - brother in kitchen
                - heard scream
                - went to kitchen to find brother scalded


     Conclusion

• regretted
• gets emotional every time sees brother’s scar
• end essay with ‘That’s me.’

The Pearl: More Practice

1. Write about a personal sacrifice made by a certain character in "The Pearl". Give details of the sacrifice and also the reason or reasons why the sacrifice was made. Answer with close reference to the text.

2. In the novel, The Pearl, Kino’s finding the pearl was the catalyst that started a chain reaction of the other events. Write about it in some detail and also write about the other events which subsequently took place because of it. Answer with close reference to the text.

3. Did the women play important roles in the novel The Pearl ? Give a fairly detailed account of an event in the novel that has shown you this. Answer with close reference to the text.

The Pearl: Practice

1. Describe an event that shows value of loyalty by the main character in "The Pearl". Explain why loyalty is important to him/her.

2. What is the main plot of "The Pearl"? Did the main character or characters achieve his or their goals? Give reasons for their success or failure with close reference to the text.

3. Write about the importance of family devotion as found in "The Pearl". Give a few examples with close reference to the text.

Directed Writing: Speech/Talk (SPM) - Notes & Exercise

A Read the following text which is the introductory paragraph of a talk on the importance of a balanced diet for a healthy life. Then fill in the blanks.

I will start by telling you briefly what different members of the family need. First, I will talk about pregnant women. Next, I will look at what babies need. After that, I will deal with what young people need. In the second part of my talk, I will tell you about one case that I know of. In the last 30 minutes of my talk, I shall give some guidelines on how to prepare a balanced diet.

B The following outline of the introductory paragraph shows exactly what the speaker is going to talk about.

1. Needs of the different members of the family:

a) pregnant women

b) __________________________________

c) __________________________________

2. One case

3. ____________________________________

Tips

Here are some expressions to use when giving a talk.

• Today I will begin by telling ... • Then, I would like to

• In today’s talk, I will start ... • After that, …………

• First I am going to talk about

Exercise 1:

Write an introductory paragraph for your talk, based on the following outline. Remember to use the expressions above.

Television

1 Why television is popular

2 Functions of television: to inform, educate and entertain

3 Most important function of television: to entertain

Entertainment programmes:

• Situation comedies like the Cosby Show

• Dramas about doctors, lawyers and detectives like L.A. Law

• Variety shows

• Movies

4 In homes which have televisions:

• People watch at least 6 hours a day

• Important influence on how people spend their leisure time and what they see and learn

Exercise 2:

You are the chairperson of the school Welfare Club. You have decided to help the Melia Children’s Home where abused and underprivileged children live. You have to give a talk to the students in your school to get their co-operation and support to help these children. Based on these notes that you have made, write out your speech.

Children - need books, clothes.

Many children - can barely speak English.

Place – not clean, grass overgrown

Facilities - no television, no games, etc.

Action Plan:

Organize a project to collect money, clothes, books.

Get senior students to volunteer services, to help children learn languages.

Have weekly plan to clean Home, cut grass, teach children to help.

Hold a funfair to raise money to buy a television, some games equipment.

In your speech, you must elaborate on the notes given.

Looking For A Rain God: Exercise

Read the extract from the short story Looking for a Rain God below and answer the questions that follow.

The adults paid no attention to this: they did not even hear the funny chatter; they sat waiting for the rain; their nerves were stretched to breaking-point willing the rain to fall out of the sky. Nothing was important, beyond that. All their animals had been sold during the bad years to purchase food, and of all their herd only two goats were left. It was the women of the family who finally broke down under the strain of waiting for rain. It was really the two women who caused the death of the little girls.

(a) Whose funny chatter was it?

_______________________________________________________ (1 mark)

(b) What did the family do in order to survive the drought?

________________________________________________________ (1 mark)

(c) Who killed the little girls?

________________________________________________________ (1 mark)

(d) Do you think it is right for the girls to be killed? Give a reason.

________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________ (2 marks)

The Necklace: Exercise

Read the extract from the short story The Necklace and answer the questions that follow.

But one evening her husband had came home with a triumphant air and holding a large envelope in his hand.
“There,” said he, “there is something for you.”
She tore the paper quickly and drew out a printed card which bore these words:

The Minister of Public Instruction and Madame Georges Ramponneau request the honour of M. and Madamme Loisel’s company at the place of the Ministry on Monday evening, January 18th.


(a) i) When was the ball held ?

____________________________________________[1 mark]
ii) Who invited the Loisels?

____________________________________________[1 mark]
(b) Based on the extract above, what can you say about Mathilde when she tore the paper quickly?

_____________________________________________[1 mark]

(c) If you were Mathilde, what would your intention be by attending the ball?

_____________________________________________

_____________________________________________[2 marks ]

Directed Writing Exercise: Report (SPM)

Book Review:

Your English teacher has asked the class to read an English novel – fiction or non-fiction. You are to write a book review of the novel.

Based on the notes below, write a review of the novel.

• title, author, publisher, number of pages
• the synopsis
• the main theme[s]
• the main character[s]
• the language and quality of the writing
• personal opinion of novel and comments

When writing the book review, you should remember

• to lay out the review correctly
• to add relevant additional information
• to write in paragraphs

Newspaper Report:

Your neighbour who owns a pedigree cat informed you that his cat went missing and he had a difficult time getting his cat back. As a stringer for a local newspaper, you jotted down some notes as he related to you about the catnapping incident.

Based on the notes below, write a report for the newspaper.

• lost valuable cat – a cat lover found it and sent it to SPCA
• another cat lover saw advertisement – contacted owner
• owner phoned SPCA – officials denied all knowledge of cat
• owner received phone call at night – offering to return dog for reward
• owner contacted finder of cat – finder insisted sent to SPCA
• owner suspicious – contacted police – police planned to trap phone caller
• a trap set – police in hiding – stranger arrived – asked for money
• another arrived with dog – both nabbed – went to address supplied by men
• found SPCA official – cleared many animal-napping cases

When writing the report, you should remember

• to lay out the newspaper report format correctly – headline, by-line, place, day
• to elaborate on information given
• to use paragraphs
• that your report is for a newspaper

Police Report

You returned home after a long weekend away from home with your parents to find that your house had been broken into. You reported the matter to the police who asked you to make a written report.

Based on all the notes below and adding any other relevant information, write your report for the police.

• Date and time you discovered the break-in
• What you saw
• Loss of property
• Damage to house
• Any witnesses?
• Any suspicions?

When you write the report, you must remember

• to write clearly and precisely
• to be brief
• it is a police report

The Necklace: More exercises

Exercise 1

1. Why didn’t Jeanne recognize Mathilde at first?
2. What was the life Mathilde lived in the past ten years like?
3. Why did Mathilde borrow a necklace from her friend?
4. Where was Pierre Loisel working?
5. Why had she been working very hard?

Exercise 2

1. How did Mathilde feel when her husband told her the good news?
2. Why was Mathilde worried?
3. How much did her dress cost her?
4. What else did she want to wear?
5. What did Pierre suggest?
6. What did they decide to do? Why?
7. When did Mathilde decide to see her friend?

Exercise 3

1. What kind of necklace did she get?
2. How did they enjoy the ball at the palace？
3. What happened on their way home after the ball?
4. What did they do for Jeanne?
5. How much did the diamond necklace cost?
6. What did they do in order to pay back the debt?

The Drover's Wife: Exercises

Exploring the text

1. Make a list of the personal qualities of this woman as they are presented to the reader in the extract (for example, courage, cunning).

2. Divide into small groups. Complete the table below in your group and place each of the qualities from individual lists into the most appropriate column.

Positive qualities	Negative qualities

As a class, share your responses – appoint a recorder to draw up the same table on the board. Record the responses of each group – place a tick next to each word when it is repeated.

As a whole class, discuss:

• Are there more positive than negative qualities?
• Has there been disagreement about the category in which a particular quality belongs? Which one/s? Why do you think this is the case?
• What is the quality that you, as a class, think is the dominant one in this woman's personal make-up?
• As a class, discuss and develop a definition of ‘personal qualities’.

3. Draw a symbol map of the five qualities that you think are the most significant in this woman's character. Choose a visual symbol to represent each of the qualities. For example:

4. Write out two copies of the following questions on slips of paper:

• What are the elements of our lives which help to shape our ‘character’ and personal qualities?
• Do you think that we, as Australians, share certain character qualities? What do you think these are?
• What is Henry Lawson saying about the way the environment (that is, the bush) has shaped the character of the woman in this story?

Divide into six groups. Each group discusses a particular question. As groups, prepare answers to share with the rest of the class. All members of the group should be involved in the reporting back process.

5. Write your own short story set in present times about an incident that highlights a character's special personal qualities. The character is you.

Monsoon History: Exercises

Read the stanza below and answer the questions that follow.

The air is wet,
……soaks
Into mattresses,
….curls
In apparitions of smoke.
Like fat white slugs furled
Among the timber, ,
Or silver fish tunnelling
The damp linen covers
Of schoolbooks,
….or walking
Quietly like centipedes,
The air walking everywhere
On its hundred feet
Is filled with glare
Of tropical water.

1. What is the above stanza about?

2. What kind of imagery is used to depict the dampness?

3. What kind of climate is depicted in the above stanza?

Poetic Devices used in” Monsoon History”.

Simile - “The air is wet….. Like fat white slugs furled
- “The air still silent
Like sleepers rocked in the pantun”,

Metaphor - watch mother uncoil
Her snake hair

Onomatopoeia - silver fish tunnelling
- rolling darkness
- down pouring rain
- the air ticks with gnats……

Contrast - “Clashing their timid horns”

Read and understand the devices above.

Looking For A Rain God: Exercises

Character Review

Write a short description of the characters below:-
1. Mokgobja

2. Ramadi

3.Tiro and Nesta

4. Neo & Boseyong

Answer the following questions.

5. How did the villagers react to the sudden disappearance of the two girls?

6. The family tried to cover the truth of the girls’ deaths from the villagers. What gave the family away?

7.What was the reaction of the men to the women’s hysterics?

8.What did Mokgobja witness when he was young?

9. How did the police uncover the truth?

10. Who is the main character?

The Sound Machine: Exercises

1)Complete the story with the words from the box

The Sound Machine tells the story of Klausner’s ………………………………with sound. He makes a …………………that he thinks can hear flowers …………………when they are picked. He discovers this

when he claims he can listen to flowers screaming when his ………………………cuts them off. In order to confirm his idea, he tests the machine by cutting a tree with an axe and ………………………. the doctor to put ………………… on the cut. …………………….., he …………………………… his doctor to put iodine on the cut to ………………………….. the tree.

stitches-neighbour -persuades-cure-screaming-finally-machine-wants-obsession

2) Are these sentences true or false? Correct the false ones

a. Klausner has bought a machine to hear sounds that we cannot normally hear. …..

b. Klausner is a tall, strong man. …..

c. Klausner hears the flowers scream when they are cut. …..

d. He asks Mrs Saunders to cut another flower. …..

e. Klausner phones the doctor very late at night. …..

3) Write the questions for the following answers.

a. Because Klausner phones him.

b. Plants cry.

c. Because she is afraid of Klausner. She thinks he is acting crazy.

d. Because Klausner phones him again.

e. The branch makes a horrifying sound, as if it were crying.

f. Because he thinks Klausner is mad so agrees to use iodine.

4) ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS

In the garden…

a) What does Klausner hear??

b) In his opinion, what is making the noise?

c) How does Klausner prove his idea?

In the park…

a) What does the doctor hear?

b) What does the doctor think?

Your opinion…

a)Do you think that plants can feel??

b)What would you do if you were the doctor?

Continuous writing exercise

Continuous Writing (50 marks)

Question: A place you would like to visit most.

Suggested Approach
1. Type of Place

• Seaside
• Mountain
• City
• Village

2. A Brief History of Place

• How it started
• The first settlement
• What it was well-known for

3. Main Attractions

• Food
• People
• Place of interest
• Activities

4. Weather Conditions

• Nice, breezy
• Cool, fresh
• Hot, dusty

5. Why you like it

• Special things about the place

6. Description of a Recent Visit

• What happen
• An enjoyable time
• Happy memories

7. Conclusion

Continuous writing exercise

Continuous Writing (50 marks)

Question: The advantages of computer literacy

Suggested Approach
1. Define literacy

• computer literacy
• knowing how to use the computer

2. Advantages to students

3. Advantages in business sector

• banks
• marketings and sales
• manufacturing

4. Computer for information

5. Computer for entertainment

6. Computer for correspondence

7. Conclusion

• more advantages than disadvantages

Continuous writing exercise

Continuous Writing (50 marks)

Question: Describe an occasion when you did something foolish and regretted latter

Suggested Approach
1. Introduction

• words of regret about the foolish action

2. How it started

• background

3. What you did

4. What went wrong

• direct speech: a new paragraph for each piece of direct speech

5. What happened later

6. Conclusion

• refer to action, promise not to repeat action

Directed Writing: Report

Directed Writing (35 marks)

You are advised to spend about 45 minutes on this section.

Your friend was driving the car you were travelling in along a busy main road in the centre of town near the market. Suddenly, a van appeared from a junction and rammed into your friend's car. When you and your friend went to the police station to report the accident, the police asked one of you to write a report stating as clearly as possible what had happenend. As your friend cannot write reports well, he asked you to write the police report. You should include the following details and elaborate on them.

• the exact time and place
• description of the vehicles, including your friend's car
• how the accident happened
• whose fault you think it was

When writng the report, you should address it to the Traffic Police.

The Pearl: Character

Write about a personal sacrifice made by a certain character in the novel. Give reasons why the sacrifice is made.

Add more details to the given answer below.

In the novel, The Pearl by John Steinbeck, Kino has to make a very big sacrifice. Although the pearl he finds is very valuable, he throws it back the sea.

He throws the very valuable pearl back into the sea because it brings him a lot of bad luck. The worst is the killing of his beloved son, Coyotito. Actually, Kino and his wife, Juana, live mainly for their son, Coyotito. The pearl that Kino has found is actually for saving their son when he is stung by a scorpion and the doctor refuses to treat him unless Kino can pay him. It will later be used for Coyotito’s education and to give him a more comfortable life. Now that their son is dead, the pearl is quite valueless to them. The pearl has also been the cause of their child’s death. Keeping the pearl will only remind them of their dead son. So, Kino has to get rid of the accursed pearl by throwing it back where it comes from.

The Pearl : Questions

Answer the given questions...

1. What role does family play in The Pearl?
2. How does the loyalty of Kino's family members (especially Juana and Juan Tomás) affect his actions?
3. Was Juan Tomás correct to shield Kino from the law after he had committed murder?
4. Is Juana correct to be so submissive to him? Does either character have a choice?

Looking For A Rain God

Answer the questions based on the short story.

1. How was the landscape before 1958? How was it after 1958, with the seven-year
drought?
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2. What did the people do to cope with the drought?
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3. Who was Mokgobja?
________________________________________________________________
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4. Why did the Mokgobja and his family move off to the lands?
________________________________________________________________
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5. Why did Ramadi and his family face difficulty in planting crops?
________________________________________________________________
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6. Why did the earth appear to be alive at night?
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7. What did the people do to get food?
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8. How did the two girls spend their leisure hours?
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9. What did the people get from the incanters, charlatans and witch-doctors?
________________________________________________________________
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10. Why did the two women use the thorn-bush to fix hedges to their vast ploughing area?
________________________________________________________________
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11. Why were the adults not interested in what the children were doing?
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12. What did the two women do every night? Why did they behave in such a way?
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13. Why did the two men remain silent and controlled their emotions?
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14. What did the old man remember?
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15. What did the old man do to solve the family’s misery which was caused by the
drought? Who were sacrificed to the rain-god?
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16. What did they do to the bodies?
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17. Why did people become very suspicious?
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18 Why did the mother of the two children break down?
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19. Why did the court sentence the two men to death?
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20. What lessons can we learn from the story?
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The Road Not Taken

Which Is the Road Not Taken?

You may have noticed that the title of the poem can refer to either road. Here's why: The speaker takes the road "less traveled" (line 19). In other words, he chooses the road not taken by most other travelers. However, when he chooses this less-traveled road, the other road then becomes the road not taken.

Themes

Individualism: The speaker chooses to go his own way, taking the “road less traveled” (line 19).
Caution: Before deciding to take the "road less traveled" (line 19), the speaker takes time to consider the other road: "long I stood / And looked down one as far as I could" (lines 3-4).
Commitment: The speaker does not have second thoughts after making his decision.
Accepting a Challenge: It may be that the road the speaker chooses is less traveled because it presents trials or perils. Such challenges seem to appeal to the speaker.

Study Questions and Essay Topics

1. Do you think Frost intended the y in yellow (line 1) to suggest the diverging roads?
2. What is undergrowth (line 5)?
3. Does curiosity motivate the speaker when he makes his choice?
4. Write an essay about a time when you took a less-traveled road.
5. Write an essay that interprets the last line of the poem.