Directed Writing : Article

In conjunction with the English Week in your school, students have been requested to contribute writings for the English Society bulletin. As the President of English Society in your school, you have decided to write an article on learning a language.



LEARN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN NO TIME

By : Fion Jauw (President of English Society)

Learning a language especially the English language is not an easy task. Hard work and perseverance is needed along the whole process. When facing any sort of problems, difficulties or obstacles, do not give up so easily. Instead, try harder until success is achieved.

Actually, there are several ways to master the English language. Firstly, you will need a teacher. Teachers have been trained professionally and have gained ceaseless experiences along the way, thus able to guide you. You can seek help from teachers by attending tuition or by seeking help from your class English teacher. When in doubt, feel free to go meet them either in class or after your lessons. Do not be afraid to ask them anything as they will be more than happy to guide and teach you. Being afraid will only get you nowhere. Besides that, you can always self-study. Paying more attention in class and take some short notes can also be useful when self-studying. When at home, revise what the teacher has taught and try to understand them better. It is not difficult if you put in extra effort.

Other than that, you can also seek for more guidance from your classmates who are better at English. Do not feel ashamed or shy to ask your classmates. Your classmates are of the same age and are learning the same things as you, so they can understand your problems better. Besides, your classmates will be easier to approach, for help. Also, you need to devise strategies in order for you to improve your knowledge on English. No one else can help you but yourself, so, start devising strategies on how to improve your English. Think of ways that can enable you to understand or remember English words better. For instance, try to think of what do you like most and something fun like the game of Scrabbles. Scrabbles can help you to improve your thinking skill and also your vocabulary. Something fun and interesting will make you more interested in learning something new. Another effective strategy is by practicing the habit of speaking English at home. People who speak English more often tend to be better in English.

In addition, watching television programmes can also aid you a lot. While watching English programmes, try to listen carefully how the characters speak and pronounce English words. Pronunciation of English words can sometimes be very tricky, so try to listen closely to how they say the words. Also, you can enable subtitles as they can aid you better. Being able to see the words that the characters say can be easier for you to learn new words as well. When stumble upon words that seem foreign to you, never hesitate to look for it in dictionaries. Understanding more English words can help improve your English in more ways.

Not only that, self-help books can also help you improve your English by a lot. Self-help books can boost your confidence to speak English more often. I have found that a lot of people refuse to speak English in front of their friends because they are afraid of making mistakes. However, no matter what we do, people can always learn better and faster from their mistakes. By speaking English, and making mistakes, you will be able to learn from it when corrected by your friends. Therefore, you will remember to never repeat the same mistakes again. Thus, reading self-help books can boost your confidence to speak it in front of everyone more frequently. When you speak English frequently, it is only a matter of time before you improve. As the saying goes, “practice makes perfect”.

Furthermore, some regular listening practice is also required. Being a teenager myself, I know that all of us enjoy listening to music. New words can easily be learnt, and your English vocabulary can be widened merely by paying more attention to the lyrics whenever you listen to some of your favourite songs. Hence, learning English can be faster and more efficient when you are relating it to something that you like and be able to have fun at the same time. Last but not least, living in the country of the target language can also improve your English. For instance, when trying to improve your English, you can choose to live in either United States of America or England, depending on the English of your choice. No matter what you choose, whether it is American English or British English, this way has been proven to be very effective. In long term, your English will improve because being in country where English is the way of communication, you will be forced to speak more, thus learning English faster. Not only that, being surrounded by people who can mostly understand only English, can also be the ultimate motivation for you to better yourself. That way, the process of learning English can be catalysed.


In a nutshell, you can improve your English by following the few steps. Even though it is a difficult task to learn a language, do not give up so easily. Nothing is impossible when you try hard enough.



By : Fion Jauw

Ujian Setara 2009

What moral values did you learn after reading the novel 'The Pearl' by John Steinbeck? Support your answer with close reference to the text.

The novel that I have studied is 'The Pearl', written by John Steinbeck. After reading this novel, I have learnt several moral values that are applicable in our daily lives.

Firstly, I have learnt to become a person with ceaseless determination. In this novel, determination is greatly shown through the actions of Kino. Kino and Juana lead a very simple but happy life with their first born, Coyotito. However, everything starts to go wrong after poor little Coyotito is bitten by a detrimental scorpion. Juana gives a suggestion that they shall go seek treatment from the local doctor and so, Kino, together with Juana, brings Coyotito to go meet the doctor. To their dismay, they are rejected by the greedy and heartless doctor as they have only "eight small misshapen seed pearls" (page 11) to offer. Kino does not give up easily and thus, he goes pearl diving in hopes of finding a superb pearl that will be enough for them to pay for the treatment. Luckily, he stumbles upon a pearl of the size of a seagull's egg. This goes to show that Kino is so determined to acquire treatment for poor little Coyotito that he is willing to meet the doctor who humiliates him in front of everyone and is also willing to dive into the deep sea in search of the marvellous pearl. I truly admire that quality of his and will try to be as determined as he is in my daily life as great determination brings about endless results.

Besides that, I have learnt to be protective over my family. Kino shows his protective side when he and his family are being tracked by the trackers. When they are heading north in order to sell the stunning pearl, they realise that they are being tracked. To protect his beloved wife and son from danger, he decides to ambush the trackers in order to kill them as they are a threat to his family. Firstly, he ambushes the tracker who owns a rifle as he possesses the biggest threat while the other two trackers are soundly asleep. After much action, Kino successfully kills the three trackers. This goes to show that Kino is willing to take away lives of others in order to protect and restore peace for his family. In life, I should be like Kino and always protect my family under any circumstances.

Other than that, I have learnt to be brave in everything I do. When Kino sees that the scorpion is about to sting Coyotito, he acts quickly by crushing the scorpion into paste, using only his bare hands. Kino does not even bother to stop for a minute to think of the what will happen to himself. Not only that, Kino is brave enough to face the attackers that are trying to steal the pearl away from him. For instance, on his way back to his house, he hears someone coming at him and instinctively, he uses his knife to strike that person. In my opinion, Kino is a very brave person as he dares to do things people normally will not do. I shall be like Kino by facing all the challenges in life bravely and not by running away.

In a nutshell, there are a lot of moral values from this novel that are applicable in our daily lives. I have learnt to become a more determined person, to protect my family from any danger and also be brave when facing all sorts of challenges.

By : Fion Jauw

Question 8

In the story 'The Pearl', what is the main underlying human weakness that is portrayed? Relate the events in the story which bring out that weakness.



The novel that I have studied is 'The Pearl' written by John Steinbeck. In the novel, the main underlying human weakness portrayed is greed.


Firstly, greed can be seen through the doings of the doctor. When poor little Coyotito is stung by the detrimental scorpion, Juana commands Kino to get the doctor. When everyone including Kino say that the doctor will not come to them, Juana decides that they will go to the doctor in order to get treatment. Being the greedy person that he is, the doctor refuses to treat Coyotito as Kino has only "eight small misshapen seed pearls" (page 11) to offer. However, as soon as the news that Kino finds a magnificent pearl which is as "perfect as the moon" (page 19), reaches the ears of the doctor, he quickly pays them a visit and offers to treat Coyotito. The doctor poisons little Coyotito by giving him a capsule containing white powder in order to worsen his condition. By doing that, he will be able to charge at a higher price, to treat Coyotito, the next time he promises to be back for a review. This goes to show how far the doctor is willing to go just to obtain more money. I think it is very unethical for the doctor to do so because putting an innocent life in danger for his own benefit, is not right.


Besides that, when the news about Kino finding the stunning pearl spreads, several pearl buyers quickly set their eyes on the pearl. In order to be able to obtain the pearl at a lower price, a group of them work together to plot a scheme just so they will be able to manipulate Kino into selling the pearl to them at a much lower price than what it is worth. Fortunately, Kino is aware of their conspiracy and refuses to sell the pearl to any of them no matter what they say unless he is offered at least fifty thousand pesos. In my opinion, their actions are very merciless and selfish as they are willing to neglect the welfare of others just so they can get the pearl at a lower price. They know very well that the luminous pearl is one of great value but they still insist to do so.


Also, the priest shows his true colours when he finds out about Kino owning the amazing pearl. The priest pays Kino and his family an unexpected visit and then tells Kino that he is named after a great man and makes it sound like a benediction. Later, he asks Kino about the great pearl just so he can have a glimpse of it. Seeing the infamous beauty of the pearl, the priest hints to Kino and his family that they should not forget to thank "Him" for the fortune. This shows that even the priest has his greedy side too.


Other than that, a gang of attackers shows their greedy side through their unmerciful actions. The ruthless attackers attack defenseless Kino and his family for a total of three times. The first attack takes place inside his house when he is sleeping. Kino suddenly awakens from his sleep and sees a dark figure. Without hesitation, Kino immediately tries to strike it. Unfortunately, Kino himself is hit on the head by it. The following night, the second attack takes place when Kino feels "dark creeping things" (page 54) lurking outside, waiting for him to go out. As soon as he steps foot outside, he is attacked again but dismally, this time, blood oozes down from his head. The third attack happens at the beach, after a huge argument between Kino and Juana. On the way back, Kino hears someone running at him and instantly, he uses his knife to strike that person. Fortunately, this time he is able to kill the attacker. I find the attackers really heartless as they are willing to hurt innocent people just to achieve what they desire. They have a callous attitude towards the sufferings of others.


Ultimately, Kino too shows a greedy side. When the pearl buyers offer him a low price for the superb pearl, he refuses to give in as he feels that the great pearl deserves more. Due to that, he gets him and his family in trouble for numerous times because the attackers keep attacking them in order to steal the pearl away from him and someone even hires a group of trackers to track them down, causing them to be on the run. Not only that, his canoe is sabotaged and his house is burnt to the ground, resulting them to be homeless. Kino should just sell the pearl even though it is not much because the pearl brings nothing but predicaments to them. Also, Kino shows his greedy side when attacking his wife. His perceptive wife, Juana, is convinced the pearl is the root of all evil and requests Kino to throw the pearl back to where it comes from. However, due to Kino's greed, he refuses to listen to Juana and hushes her quiet. Juana decides to do something about it by secretly trying to throw the pearl back into the sea while Kino is soundly asleep. Regrettably, Kino finds out and in the process of getting the pearl back, he punches her in the face until she falls to the ground. Kino even kills a attacker who tries to ambush him while he is on his way home. This shows how greedy Kino is as he is willing to harm his ever so faithful wife and even takes away a life. In my opinion, it is very wrong to do what Kino does because it is very inhumane and brutal to do so. To me, violence is never a solution to any problem.


As a conclusion, due to greed, Kino and his family is unable to find peace and serenity in their lives. Kino initially thinks that the awesome pearl will bring him good fortune and their lives will change for the better but actually, the pearl brings them nothing but predicaments. Not only that he and his family are incapable of appreciating the benefits of possessing the pearl, they have to be on the run in order to avoid all the troubles. To stop all the misfortune, he has to throw the mother of all pearls back into the sea. Worst of all, he loses his most priced possession, Coyotito, his one and only son due to greed.



By : Fion Jauw