THE LIMITS OF TROOGHAFT

This story mainly talks about Troogs who are known to be more superior than humans. After they conquered plannet earth, they began to take humans, who were once dominant but now conquered species as slaves. At first, the senior Troogs disapproved the idea of ill-treating humans, however the due to the overwhelming response of the other Troogs, they had no choice but to give in to their demands. During the invasion of planet earth by the Troogs, humans were grouped into different classes such as slaves, pets and gladiators (A person, usually a professional combatant, a captive, or a slave, trained to entertain the public by engaging in mortal combat with another person or a wild animal in the ancient Roman arena). The story focussed on the ill treatments human beings face during the Troogs invasion. The story becomes more exciting as the write tells more about the activities of the Troogs. The story ends with the viewpoint of a Troog, Blake.

In all, I felt the story was rather confusing and after reading several times, I still could not get a clear picture of the story.

NAEMA DISPARUE (WHEREABOUT UNKNOWNS)

The is one of the most heart-wrenching story i had ever came across. It talks about life in the middle of a warfare, where many innocent lives were lost and the people were living of constant fear. This story is about a man who had to carry the burden of looking after his 3 children and at the same time, looking for his wife, who was thought to be dead by many of the neighbours. Executions were a common sight, lives were taken away abruptly as explosions filled the entire country. His life was spared countless times and he managed to survive death.

The use of descriptive words is what makes the story so exciting and capturing the attention of many readers. Even I wasn't spared. I like this story as it tells me the devastating effects of war and we should not use war as a method of resolving conflicts.

I have learnt that we should be more sensitive about others feelings. The little things that we say and the little things that we do could unknowingly cause conflicts. In addition, we should be more open and to accept life.

The Greatest Gift

This story talks about George Pratt who was pessimistic towards life. One day while he was standing on the iron bridge, he met a stranger who could read his thoughts and granted his wish when he mentioned that he wanted to disappear. Since then, George was horrified as the situation he was in changed drastically. He came across a series of unfortunate events such as robberies. He freaked out and wanted to go back to the real world. He pleaded the strange man to send him back to the real world and was lucky that the stranger agreed. After this incident, he was more optimistic towards life.

I found that this was the best story among the others I had read which includes Samphire, Naema Disparue (Whereabouts Unknown) and The limits of trooghaft. This story touches an important aspect of our life and many of us teenagers are just like George with no aim in life and better off dead.

I have learnt that we must always look on the bright side of life. Many of us will no doubt face ups and downs in life. However, we should never be discouraged when met with problems which are not in our favour. We should persevere till the end as the situation might change for the better.

Disaster

It's certainly our misfortune that you were absent from school and Mr asHo, the famous torturer, had to take us for english lessons. We were asked to write a speech and to hand in the piece of assignment at the end of the lesson. Unfortunately, many of us could not finish our speech on time. However, he insisted that we hand up our assignment today and even threatened to walk out of the class. Without completely our speech, many of us reluctantly handed in our work. Nonetheless, with Mr asHo being our relieve teacher, the classroom was filled with much laughter and giving me a chance to meet up with my long lost teacher. Haha.

Test results

Today was one of the best day of my life. After 3 weeks, Mr Sim finally gave us back our English Common Test Paper which I was looking forward to. I was quite contented with my marks . My summary made the most progress under the help of Mr Sim. We were then asked to highlight the main words/phrases in each comprehension question. Later, we were asked to do the error analysis to help us reflect on our mistakes. I hoped that this year, I can get at least an A2 for my GCE O-Level.

Reflection On English Lesson

We were asked to formed groups of 4 and each group was given a topic to discuss and present their speech to the class.
Unfortunately, our group could not finish it on time.
But luckily Mr Sim, being a understanding fellow, gave us till 2pm instead of 1.50pm to present to the class.
Just for Mr Sim info, we were really grateful to you.
The topic which inspired me most was 'speak good english'.
As you know, my english was my stumbling block.
But after that day, i was determined to improve my command in english.
Luckily, heaven happened to be on our side.
Therefore, we didn't present that very day.

How to Write a Speech

Today we learnt the style and structure of a speech.

How to Write a Speech

Introduction

• Thank the audience for the opportunity to speak to them about a particular topic.
• Attention-getting hook (e.g a short story)
• Main point
• Brief summary of sub-points

Body

• 3 sub-points
• Support-each point should be supported by evidence, examples, anecdotes
• If necessary, anticipate and rebut a counterargument

Conclusion

• Re-statement of your main point
• Summary of your 3 sub-points
• Challenge to the audience
• Memorable ending

To write a great speech you must:

Decide why the audience should listen to you in the first place. This is your introduction.

Prove this to the audience. This is the body of your speech.

Determine what you want the audience to do upon hearing your speech. This is your conclusion.

I wish

Today, I was utterly disappointed that Mr Sim did not tell us our English Common Test marks. I was looking forward to this day. Today, we were taught the different applications of writing a speech. A speech is made at weddings, formal event, funeral, dinner, eulogy and many more.......
What I found most interesting in today's lesson was the origin of the word eulogy
(eu: good, logy: good words). When i first heard of this word, i thought it was somehow related to the word ecology but i was wrong.

Reflection On English Lesson

Even though Mr Sim was absent from school today, he gave us a piece of assignment which required us to do Unit 12 Pg132 of 'Successful English' (A Motivational Speech). We were then dismissed after we handed up our assignment to the relieve teacher.

Attention!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For our lesson today, we went through the worksheet on the various types of comprehension questions which was given to us yesterday. There are basically 5 types of comprehension questions namely factual (who, what, when, where, how), inferential (what is the writer implying), language use (associations), use your own words (do a word at a time) and quoting a word/phrase/sentence/expression(give them exactly what they want).

Please be reminded that tomorrow is the English Common Test! Study hard!

Reflection On English Lesson

For today's lesson, we did a summary practice which was peer editing. We had to give our summary dealing with the changes in the life of the aborigines from the time they were discovered by the colonialists to the present day to three of our classmates. They were supposed to give a score based on the rubrics they had received. On average, I scored an average of 7.5/10 for the language component. The language component for summary writing was marked based on sections: OWN WORDS and USE OF ENGLISH. So if you want to score in your summary writing, remember to make a sustained attempt to re-phrase the text language and try to construct complex sentences by using linking words such as however, thus, in addition.

Reflection On English Lesson

Today's lesson was going through a comprehension passage on tribal groups. The passage was particularly interesting as it informs the reader on the lifestyle of these tribal groups in the eighteenth century and how western cultures affected their lives. What caught my attention was the harvesting process which was part of the lifestyle of these tribal groups. During those days, the people were particularly superstitious as they believed that their harvest depended on the spirits. However, in today's modern society, such beliefs hardly exists.

Reflection On English Lesson

Today was a tough day for me. Having lots of assignmet to do, I still had to cope with the upcoming tests. As for today, we went through the summary points on the comprehension passage on dolphins. I managed to score 11 out of 15 marks for my summary points which i thought was pretty good. Hope i could do even better for the comprehension exercise. After that we went through Unit 6 Pg43 of 'Successful English' which was the spelling section. Through the spelling exercise, we learnt to be precise in our words. For example, delectable(food) and luxurious(living condition). Next we went through Unit 2 Pg76 which was a comprehension on KENSINGTON. It was only going through the passage that i realise a place called Kensington exists on planet earth.

Reflection On English Lesson

Today, we learnt various summary skills.
(For more information, log in to www.summaryworksheet.com)
As a practice exercise, we were asked to identify the main points for the summary question on the comprehension passage on dolphins.
After identifying the main points, we were then asked to rephrase it with our own words.
This excercise has helped me to improve my summary drastically.
I look forward to having more of such exercises.

Reflection On English Lesson

We did a summary question during a single period english lesson to kickstart the day.

Reflection On English Lesson

Its the last day of January!
We had a early dismissal as our teacher had some things to see to.
Instead, we were given more homework =(
We went through the vocabulary worksheet that he gave us last week for homework.

Reflection On English Lesson

Main highlight of english lesson : Adverbial phrases and clauses
We were shown the difference between adverbial clauses and adverbial phrases.
There is a fine line between the two as a finite verb separates them.
We were then asked to do an activity involving the use of words such as even though, unless, wherever and others in sentence construction on a piece of mahjong to be shared with the class.
Many of us took this opportunity to make fun of Mr Sim and our classmates with silly sentences.

Reflection On English Lesson

The first period of the day of this new week is...ENGLISH.
I was one of the lucky fews to be selected to read out the comprehension passage on eagles.
Learnt the pronounciation for certain words which i had not came across before or was unfamiliar with.

Reflection On English Lesson

During todays lesson, we went through vocabulry exercises and an excerise of english paper two.
Again, we were given a stack of homework by Mr Sim.
Rahman, the class clown=)
Entertained the class with his weird antics and behaviour.
But nevertheless, his entertainment brought much laughter to the class and woke te sleepyheads up.

Reflection On English Lesson

After 3 weeks of blogging, here comes the moment that we're waiting for...the BLOG AWARDS.
Hahahaha...i knew that i would not get any awards as i haven't done much decorations to my blog.
But one day! one day! I will rise from the depths of hell to the heights of heaven! Wait and watch me rise!

Emotional words was the highlights of the day's lesson.
As a class work, we were given a chance to perform certain emotion in front of the class after getting into groups and creating a play.
Some of us had really funny actions which made laughter surround the walls of our class.
What great FUN we had!!

Reflection On English Lesson

We went through the worksheet on present/past perfect tense
for english today. In addition, Mr Sim bombarded us with
vocabulary and comprehension exercises for the benefits of us.
I believe that such exercises would be helping us in a way or another unknowingly.

Samphire

I like the story "Samphire" as the author uses a wide variety of descriptive words to make the reader feel as if the characters sprang to life in the story. I manage to visualise the story easily with the author's language. In addition, the author uses the literary device, repitition, in the story to emphasise main points in the story making the reader paying more attention to those parts.

I learnt that we should be sensitive towards other's feelings and should not drive a person to their limits as that might break them down resulting in unpleasant situations to occur.

10 difficult words:

tang - a strong taste or flavor.

pneumatic - of or pertaining to air, gases, or wind.

octave - a tone on the eighth degree from a given tone.

falsetto - an unnaturally or artificially high-pitched voice or register, esp. in a man.

fondle - to handle or touch lovingly, affectionately, or tenderly; caress: to fondle a precious
object; to fondle a child.

aplomb - imperturbable self-possession, poise, or assurance.

assaulted - a violent physical or verbal attack.

writhed - to twist the body about, or squirm, as in pain, violent effort, etc.

promenade - a stroll or walk, esp. in a public place, as for pleasure or display.

steeplejack - a person who climbs steeples, towers, or the like, to build or repair them.

coined - devised

Reflection On English Lesson

As you all know, grammar is part and parcel in our daily life.
We learnt about basic grammar concepts such as present perfect tense and past perfect tense and past participle tense.
Mr Sim taught us in such a way that everyone had an enjoyable time, including me.

Reflection On English Lesson

To start off the day, we had two periods of fun and enriching lecture from Mr Sim Joo Jin.
For today's lesson, we learnt the different text types dealing with situational response such as speech, formal letter, informal letter, reports, etc.
In addition, we learnt how to group ideas when given details in the stimulus materials.

Reflection On English Lesson

I had the first english lesson of the year today.
Today, we were told the importance of english in our GCE O-level.
He said this sentence 'If you SCREW your english, YOU'RE a GONER!'
For today's lesson, I learnt the different parts which constitute to a situational
response such as Opener, Context, Stimulus Material, Rubrics,
Parameters and Footnote.