Today's Homework

1) Composition corrections
2) English Practice Paper 5 (if you haven't done it already)

What we did today (30 Mar)

We went to crimelibrary.com.sg to find out the penalty meted out to offenders of various crimes. Will go through some of your work tomorrow. Some of you produced very good work.

Homework for today:
1) English Practice Paper 5 (Due on Thu)

Hand in your ring files tomorrow if you haven't done so.

Yi Lin, I can't find the link for the 3rd video. Will try again when I am more free.

Nick, need to ask you about admin for the blog. Don't really understand that.

God bless you.

Appositives

(I am writing this in a separate entry so it is more convenient for you when you use the blog for revision. It used to be embedded in another entry.)

An appositive is a noun / noun phrase that refers to another noun right beside it. It provides more details about the noun.

Jiaqi's e.g. (adapted)
"I know the answer!" exclaimed Matthew, the smartest boy in class, from his seat.

"The smartest boy in class" is the appositive in this sentence. Note that it is flanked by two commas.

Eldon's e.g. (adapted)
The lady standing there is my sister, Jane.

"Jane" is the appositive in this sentence. The appositive is preceded by a comma. In this case, we end with a fullstop as we have come to the end of the sentence.

More examples:
Bryan, the monitor of the class, is very neat in appearance.
My best friends, Jocelyn and Samantha, like chocolate ice-cream a lot.
Catherine Lim is the writer of the best-selling book, "The Bondmaid".

Whose

"Whose" shows possession.

E.g. 1) Ryan met the actor whose father sold Char Kway Teow at East Coast.

In the example above, the father "belongs to" the actor. The actor's father sold Char Kway Teow.

E.g. 2) Rachel was the pupil whose mobile phone was confiscated by Mrs H.

In e.g. (2), the mobile phone belongs to the pupil, Rachel. It was Rachel's mobile phone that was confiscated.

We cannot write "James is the most famous badminton player in Singapore whose mother sells chicken rice" because the mother does not "belong to" Singapore. We are not referring to Singapore's mother.

The above sentence should be written as "James, whose mother sells chicken rice, is the most famous badminton player in Singapore."

The mother "belongs to" James. In other words, James' mother sells chicken rice.

Try this:

Joel used to be the fastest runner in school.

His son has been selected to represent Singapore in the Youth Olympic Games.

________________whose _______________.

(Write down the answer in your English notebook. If your answer is correct, you can get a sticker on your book.) :)

Happy weekend.

What we did today

Vocabulary (25 Mar, 26 Mar)

precocious: unusually advanced or mature in development, esp. mental development

Precocious Jerry started writing stories at the age of three.

forcible: done or effected by force; convincing, as reasoning (I think the answer in the book is wrong. We will discuss this on Monday.)

The robber entered the house forcibly.

forceful: full of force; powerful; vigorous; effective

Forceful measures were taken to curb the problem of smoking.

luxuriant: abundant or lush in growth

luxurious: characterized by luxury; ministering or conducive to luxury

(Meanings are all from dictionary.com)

Thank you James, Ching Wah, Ellenmae and Daniel for going through the meanings of words in Practice Paper 4 Q21-25. I was impressed that you went to look up the meanings of the words and tried to explain which answer was the best fit for each question.

Homework (26 Mar)

1) Comprehension

What We Did Today

Today, we watched Pepsi commercials and saw how they were so attractive and engaging. Do demonstrate your creative juices when you write your essays.

We also improved on mundane and common sentences before we embarked on the essay for the day. Always remember to engage your readers with descriptive phrases and varied sentence structures, as well as allow them to feel as if they are present at the scene. Do not neglect the content. Every story you write should have a problem and complication.

Homework:

1) English Homework Book p. 58, 59
2) Pupils who did not bring Homework Book Unit 3 today, please hand it in tomorrow.

What We Did Today

A Picture Paints a Thousand Words

Today, we watched three clips about the parting of the Red Sea. The three clips were produced by different people / companies. You saw how the one by Dreamworks was the most impressive. The scenes tugged at the hearts of people and details such as the people's expressions and the background sounds were given attention to. You also saw how the Red Sea can be parted in two seconds in another clip. Many of you laughed at its simplicity. Let's ensure that our essays are descriptive like the Dreamworks' production and not like the simple clip we saw.

Homework update

Pupils who did not hand in their holiday homework today:
English Practice Paper 4 - Register No. *12, *17, *36, 37, 20(abs), 40(abs)
Term One Reflection - Register No. *18, *24, *31, *37, 38, 20(abs), 40(abs)
*Stayed back during recess to complete.

Medad, I don't think you've handed in your group's file, so I'm also missing your work, as well as Isabelle's , Mandeal's and Anish's work.

Filing

These are what you need to put into your files:

Writing File:
- cover sheet + 3 compositions + corrections + 3 model essays
- 3 situational writing exercises + corrections + model answers
- 4 journals

Yellow Ring File:
- Practice Papers 1 - 3
(After I've checked for your parents' signatures, you will place the CA1 Paper 2 in this file.)

Worksheet File:
We will organise this in Term 2 Wk 1 as some of the worksheets are still in class.

Fund Raising for Haiti earthquake victims

Thank you for your efforts in fund-raising. Many of you had many good ideas and came forth to ask how you could help. Well done.

The total profit is $1014 - after using the school's coin counting machine. I think this was a feat, considering that our sale was only for two hours. Thank God for the people who came forth to bless.

I hope it has been a meaningful experience for you all. Keep looking out for ways to bless others.

CA1

Summary of CA1 results:

No. of As: 23

No. of Bs: 17

Average score: 74.7%

Average for Paper 2: 69.2/95

Average for composition: 28.9/40

Average for situational writing: 13.9/15

Keep striving for excellence!

With God, nothing is impossible.

Happy Holiday

Holiday homework:

1) Vocabulary Book

(Confusing Words: Test 1-3; Word Forms Test 4-6)

2) English Practice Paper 4

3) Reflections on Term One (to be submitted on A4 paper; can present in any form - pictures, words, music, comic etc)

4) Parent's signature on CA1 Paper 1 and Paper 2 please

Use your holiday wisely! God bless you with joy, good health, discipline, wisdom and all good things!