My Secondary 1 Language Arts Life

Looking back, the past one year in secondary one life happened in all a blur. In a blink of an eye, the fruitful year is already coming to a close. During the course of taking the language arts and blogging, I have improved my writing skills.
When we first came into school, we were all strangers to one another, as well as the new subjects taught. Gradually, we got to know each other and adapted to the new teaching methods of secondary school.
The first term was the introduction to language arts, whereby we learnt how to write formal letters. The format of how a letter should be written was taught and we learnt how to write letters of complaint. This was different from the type of situational writing we were taught in primary school, whereby we had to write letters to friends.
In the second term, we were introduced to narrative writing and some short stories, for example: Village by the Sea, Zebra, Nothing but the Truth. Practices were given to improve our narrative writing skills and detailed analyses on the short stories were provided. This was a relatively new thing to me as it was a little more complicated than the compositions we were taught during primary school. In narrative writing, we had to write essays with tighter plots and they had to be more realistic.
Then came the third term. Poetry was taught. It was a little difficult at first but we eventually got the hang of it. Poetry could be complicated, but it enhanced our critical and analytical skills. Some poems taught were: Last lesson of the Afternoon by D.H. Lawrence, The Lesson by Roger McGough.
The last term was a hectic one. We were given revision exercises and notes to revise for the End-of-Year examinations. After the examinations, I was relieved that I had studied hard for it and thus received grades that were not bad.
Thus, it concludes my secondary one Language Arts life. It sure was a colourful and fruitful year.

Expectations

We typical Singaporeans, are very competitive and are really, really afraid of losing. Another word to describe ourselves is "kiasu", which means 'fear of losing' in Hokkien.
I am sure that you have heard your parents nagging at you do study hard and do well in your exams. One other common scenario is that your parents will worry about your health, like complaining that you did not eat enough, did not take enough vitamins etc.
My parents' expectations are typical: do well in studies, get a good job next time, stay healthy.
Now I shall discuss my expectations for my children in the future.
Firstly, I wish for my children to lead happy lives.
Secondly, I wish that my children will put in their best efforts in everything they do.
Lastly, I wish that they would have accomplished something in their lives.
I think that studies and money (what most Singaporeans compete for) are not the most important thing in our lives. It is what we accomplish and what happiness is gained at the end of the day. To conclude this discussion, I hope that the future Singaporeans will change their "kiasu" behaviours.

Windtalkers - Book Review

Based on a true World War 2 operation, the Navajo Indian Codetalkers, this book is written by Max Allan Collins.
Joe Enders, a Marine, was a soldier fighting in World War 2. During one of the battles at Tarawa Atoll, he was the only one who survived. All his companions died because he had caused their deaths by sending them straight into the Japanese enemies' firepower. Enders was racked with guilt and was haunted by the deaths of the men he had caused.
By chance, two men with different backgrounds met when Enders and his men were on a mission to protect the Navajo "codetalkers" from falling into Japanese hands. The Navajo code was a secret code used by the Allies, which baffled even the best Japanese codebreakers. If the secret of the code were divulged to the Japanese, they would have the upper hand in the world war.
Enders, a marine who is fighting his past guilt and Ben Yahzee, a Navajo codetalker battling prejudice and inner fears, join in the hell of the war-torn Pacific. Through the battles they fight together, Sergeant and Private eventually become close friends.
Finally, Enders met his match in a battle with the Japanese. He dies, but with the satisfaction that he had fought bravely in the war and that he was going to join his dead companions in the afterlife.
All I can say is that it is a great story about courage and how terrible a war is like.

Book Review - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor

Max Allan Collin's novel, based on the movie by Rob Cohen in the Mummy series, may as well be the best movie novelization I have read.

The novel tells the story of a young adventurer Alex O' Connell, who discovers the tomb of the Dragon Emperor Han, who built the Great Wall of China. He succeeds in getting the mummy into a museum in Shanghai, but only after being attacked by a mysterious assassin. Meanwhile, Alex's parents, Rick and Evelyn O' Connell, who starred in the previous adventures, are entrusted the job to take precious gem, the Eye of Shambhala, or rather the Eye of Shangri-La, to Shanghai. Coincidentally, son and parents meet in Evelyn's brother Jonathan's nightclub in Shanghai. They went to meet an old friend, Wilson, in the museum where the mummy was stored but it turned out that Wilson had betrayed them to a nationalist paramilitary group, who want to resurrect the emperor. The emperor is revived using an elixir stored in the Eye of Shangri-La. It was then that the assassin who tried to stop Alex from retrieving the mummy revealed herself and tried to kill the revived Emperor, but failed.
The assassin's name was Lin and she agreed to help the O' Connells (with Jonathan) to stop the mummy once and for all. So they traveled to the Himalayas, to seek the help of Lin's immortal mother, Zi Yuan, and to stop the Emperor from regaining his human form. It turned out that Zi Yuan had cursed the Emperor many years ago to turn into terracotta. However, the mummy and his servants from the nationalist paramilitary group managed to fully resurrect the mummy using the enchanted waters of Shangri-La.
The group then chases the Emperor to the Great Wall of China, where the Emperor unleashes his army. Zi Yuan calls upon the dead buried under the Wall to take revenge on the hated Emperor. A final battle takes place, where by Zi Yuan sacrifices herself to get the only weapon which can kill the Emperor - a cursed dagger. The epic battle finally ends when Alex slays the Dragon Emperor with the dagger. At last, the dead buried under the Wall could rest in peace and all was well for the O ' Connells, Lin and Jonathan.

Like the summary? Read the book!

Earth

Imagine an earth robbed and pillaged by inconsiderable acts by humans. What would it be like?
Here is a poem created by me on this topic:

Earth

I am sick and tired
of those inconsiderate
humans who pillaged
and robbed me with
their destructive acts.

I feel the great pain
every time they slash and
burn for their own gain
chopping trees and burning
fuel, excluding much more

I am confused
why are they doing these
if they had just refused
to do all these acts
their earth would be new.

I think that
I would eventually die
if they continue that
only if humans realise
their mistakes

Should their beloved earth
be healthy again.

- End -

What are your thoughts on these topic? Share it with me.

Beauty

"Beauty is only skin deep". It means that physical beauty is superficial; existing on the surface. An interpretation of the phrase is that a person may look good on the outside appearance, but actually he/she is maybe an unpleasant or cruel person at heart.

Now let me explain the phrase and its meaning:

• Beauty is only skin deep. Because you can only tell whether a person is beautiful or not on the outside (which refers to the skin) thus the phrase's meaning.



• Like I mentioned in the above point, you can only tell whether a person is beautiful or not on the outside. Therefore, you cannot tell whether a person is beautiful on the inside (basically means the person's character; whether it is good or not).

The phrase "Beauty is only skin deep" has a meaning somewhat like the phrase "Do not judge a book by its cover. Be sure to "not judge a book by its cover" because "Beauty is only skin deep"!

F1 Race

I'm sure you know what is an F1 Race. It is just many cars speeding at like, 200km/h around a track, right? Personally, I feel that there is more than meets the eye about these car races. To share with you more about that, below is a story about a fictitious F1 racer:

Jack was an F1 racer. He spent his days entering races and competitions, sometimes for charity. But how did he begin his journey of F1 racing?
Since young, Jack had always been fascinated with cars. His first toys were miniature racing cars and car models. Then, as he grew older, he began to watch car races on television. By the age of 12, he had entered a go-kart competition for kids and achieved second place. Motivated by this, he set a goal: to become a F1 racer.
After completing university, he applied for a car racing academy and continued his dream there. Through hard work, he finally graduated as a fully-fledged F1 racer.
Jack won quite a few races because of his sheer determination to win and of course, his dedication to F1 racing. He is proud of his capabilities, despite not being very well-known.
Now, he was at the starting point of a racetrack. Memories flooded his mind as he thought back to the past. Jack had applied for a race, in order to win a much coveted cup.
The race was about to start. Jack tightened his grip on the steering wheel and his foot trembled above the accelerator. This was to be his greatest race in his whole career, thus it was no surprise he was nervous.
Before he knew it, the race started. All the race cars accelerated in a huge cloud of dust and the frenzied cheers from the supporters could be heard. Jack forced himself to focus. He could not afford to let his mind wander, or else it would all be over.
Jack slipped past two race cars easily through the bend in the track, as he was an expert in turning round a corner. Now he was in fourth place, quickly gaining on the third-placed racer. He stamped even harder on the accelerator, forcing his car to give all it had.
Many laps passed. The cars continued to circle the track. Finally, the last lap emerged for the racers together, as it was a close competition.
Then came the dilemma for Jack. He lost concentration for a second, and suddenly his car slid onto the side of the track and grazed the borders. Sparks flashed and bits of metal tore away. Jack thought frantically,"Oh no! This is bad. The crash in the wall has momentarily thrown the car off track and now all the racers have gone past! What am I going to do?"
He struggled to keep the car on track again and tried to get past the last few racers. However, they were smart in blocking every space there was, disallowing Jack to get past. Jack started to panic when the last quarter of the race track came into sight. Suddenly, he saw a gap in the race cars ahead. He grabbed that opportunity and swerved past the sixth racer. Now he was fifth!
Jack dashed past the fourth and third racer with ease. There were only two more racers ahead of him. And there was only 300 metres more before they reached the finishing line! In desperation, Jack pushed his car further and miraculously, gained second place! The only obstacle left in this race was the first car, just barely a metre in front of him.
There had to be a way to beat him! Now the driver of the leading car was using tactics by anticipating Jack's swerves and blocking his advance. Jack tried every move he knew to breach the leader's defence, but to no avail. The last 100 metres closed in and there was still no luck for Jack. I cannot just lose like this, after all I've been through, Jack thought. He gave a last burst of speed to try and overtake the racer in front of him.
In the drama and tension of the moment, Jack's car flew past the other race car and was now in first place! The rest of the race was over. Jack covered the last few metres with ease and won the race.
......................................................................................................................................................

Now have you better insights on F1 racing? It really requires lots of determination and a calm mind during racing.