Writing Foundation 2
The students were taught:
- Techniques for Descriptive writing: Adjectives, Similes, Descriptive words, Sentence Variety, Adding details
- How to start an essay with a “hook”
- The structure of an essay and the components for each paragraph
- Different ways to elaborate an essay (use descriptive details, use your five senses, use personal stories)
Niseko Extreme by Lucas Zheng (P3, Kiangsu & Chekiang)
X’mas Workshop 2011 – Short Story Writing
The Last Present by Abe Luk (G4 Discovery Bay School)
BEGINNER LEVEL 1 2011 (Term One): BE AN ARTIST
In this module, students examined the role of an architect, learnt about famous architects and their architecture. Students met a professional architect and worked on a floor plan that replicates a real life challenge faced by the architect.
INTERVIEW WITH AN ARCHITECT
by Journalist Adrian Hui (P2, SIS)
Do you ever wonder who is behind all of the fabulous skyscrapers in New York? It’s the great Thomas, aged 31! Thomas works for a company called Thunder Tyrants. He got this name from Thunderclan which is a clan from the imaginary book “Warrior: Clan Cats”. Thomas had invented a 160-storey triangular skyscraper. Thomas has also built the 400-storey shopping mall, breaking the world record! Right now, Thomas is building a 1000-storey high apartment near the White House. The president, Tom J. Jacob had ordered Thomas to do this. Thomas is an architect and he lives in New Zealand, even though he plans the skyscrapers in New York.
An architect plans how tall a building is, how wide it is and how comfortable it is. Thomas works starting from 9:00am-10:00pm. He works in a white room that has a few decorations: 1 table, 3 chairs and 1 sofa. It also has a small bookcase that has 20 books in it; 10 books about being a good architect, 5 fiction books and 5 books about art and music. The white room is also Thomas’s home, so it also has a bed and a TV. There’s also a fridge and 2 bags. Thomas has a servant called Ms. Chu Chu train. He wears normal clothes to work and also when he’s free. He wears a construction suit when he visits the site so he doesn’t have to worry if it gets dirty.
The most interesting thing I learnt about architects was you have to work hard to achieve what you want. One challenge for the architect is he has to concentrate on his job e.g. the architect’s favourite TV show is on when he’s supposed to be making blueprints. You have to be patient, brainy and be able to oversee a lot of thing. You also need to have a lot of details, think thoughtfully and know how to invent something new to be good at this job.
More writing samples:
The Famous Man by John Zhang (Y3, CIS)
Biography by Sean Meng (Y4, CIS)
BEGINNER LEVEL 3 2011 (Term One): MEET THE DIVING INSTRUCTOR
SUMMER MODULE 2011: RUN A TEA STAND with TEAKHA
Students wrote a reflective piece after preparing and running their own tea stands. The students raised over $6000 for Kunpen Charity, dedicated to help Yushu’s Tibetan herding population.
LOVE AT FIRST BITE
by Jae Lamb (P5, DGJS)
Earthquakes often happen around the world. When disaster struck in Qinghai in 2008, thousands of residents were left homeless and moneyless. Abandoned, helpless children trudged around the deserted ruins, pausing only to wipe their tear-stained faces. Amidst the destruction, a bloody hand shot out briefly, only to be covered by the rubble again.
EcoProject tries to help these poor victims of the earthquake by asking people to donate money to help bring back business to Qinghai. By baking cookies and selling them at a fair price, we can lend a hand too.
My role in this Charity Bake Sale was to be a leader. With two maniacal 6 year olds under my supervision, this wasn’t an easy job. Every few seconds, they would giggle at my teammates’ pathetic jokes or start dancing around. But, we still managed to make some posters, send some emails, and practice our role play.During these crazy five days with my team, I learnt some pretty fascinating facts: 
Ryan Lee insists on people calling him Orange.
Ryan Au is the tallest of the group. And he’s 10 years old.
Estrella and Gabriella are really un-talkative.
Abraham, who’s 6 years old, can play a Chinese flute. What’s a Chinese flute, exactly?
Benjamin, who’s 6 years old too, already knows how to play the piano.
I really look forward to selling our scrumptious cookies on Saturday!
SUMMER MODULE 2011: ORGANIC FARMING WITH HERBOLAND
Students wrote a thank you letter to the founders of Herboland, who gave our students a tour of the organic garden, baked cookies with them and taught them about the interesting facts of different plants.
by David Yeung (Y1, CIS)
Dear Gary and Gavin,
Before I visited Herboland, I learnt about factory farming, organic farms and processed foods and I also went to two fruit stores.
Factory farming was created in 1950 by big companies that wanted to earn more money. I don’t support factory farming because the animals cannot move around and they are cruel to the animals. Organic farming was created in 1930. Organic farms do not use pesticides and chemical fertilizers. Conventional farming uses pesticides and chemical fertilizers. I support organic farms because it is healthier than conventional farms.
The field trip was very exciting. My favorite part of the day were making cookies and making my leaf book. I made the cookies with rosemary, cinnamon and baking powder.
I want Herboland to have better security and have air con.
From,
David
SUMMER MODULE 2011: REFUGEE RUN WITH CROSSROADS
For final output, students reinforced their learning through designing a product or service that can transform and empower the lives of vulnerable refugees.
by Claudio Woo (Y1, German Swiss International School )
ADVENTURE IN 2010: The WACKIEST TRIP EVER!
by Hannah Szeto (P4, Diocesan Girls’ Junior School)
Bbring! Hooray! Schools over! I was so excited, because I was going to go to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter!
Right when I arrived at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, I smelled the sweet scent of Butterbeer. Soon, I was looking at all the wands and finally made up my mind to buy Hermoine’s wand. I noticed that people were starting to go into the silverfish and umber-colored castle. As I crept closer, I found out that it was actually a ride, so I begged Mom to take me on it (my brother was too short, so mom had to stay with him in the child swap which is a place where kids who are too short go to wait for their family).
After waiting for quite a while, it was finally our turn, “This is it!” I thought. I had my wand in my coat pocket for protection. The ride was amazing but when I got to the Dementors, that was when things started to get wacky. Let me tell you about it. At first, when I went through the treatment of Floo power, I felt fantastic! But when I went to the Forbidden Forest on my Enchanted Bench things got scary with spiders all over the place (I am terrified of spiders)! The more I looked, the more I realized – the spiders were actually real! I didn’t stop to think, I just grabbed my wand and started casting spells like “Expelliarmus” and “Stupedgy”. And it actually worked! But there was more to come! The next surprise was with the Dementors. The Dementors were black, hooded figures and when you saw them in the wizarding world, the air around you became cold and it seemed like all happiness was gone. The only you could say to get rid of them was “Expecto Patronum” and you had to think of a very happy moment in your life. Now back to the scene. The Dementors were real, just like the spider, so I cast the spell and drove them out of the castle.
After the ride ended I hurried out and ran to the child swap. My mom went on the ride by herself and after she finished I told her all about my adventure. She just laughed at me sarcastically. Oh well, if she didn’t believe me, who would? I decided to just keep my mouth shut.
That night, the stars were shining brightly. As I lay in bed, I thought about the stupendous expedition that I encountered. I would remember it my whole life.
SUPER CYCLONE
by Zachary Yu (G3, The ISF Academy)
Last night at 4: 52 am, with no warning, in the city of Niseko, a huge tornado tore roofs of 400 houses (including schools, hospitals etc.). About 67 lives lost and 89 still missing. Angry men and women were protesting in the road, because of the loss of their children. They complained that the schools had no bomb shelters, even the police could barely stop them!
Today at 6:00 am, the tornado triggered a 450 foot tall tidal wave hitting Hokkaido and killed at least 600 people and 60 people are still buried under the rubble.6hours later, a huge landslide came down Sapporo and crushed 40 houses. Luckily, no human lives were lost, but a little dog and a cat were found dead deep below the rocks.
According to scientists, tornados form from thunderstorms, hot air and cold air mixes together. The hot air turns into a spiral and the cool air gets pushed out and creates a tornado. This is called a mesocyclone, the mesocyclone hits the ground and the tornado is formed. People are panicking because this is the worst tornado, because it is so rare in Japan, the speed is 400 kph! In history, the fastest is only 100 kph, so this is the not only the biggest in Japan, but in the world!
Many heroic moments and miracles came out of this disaster. This morning at 7:00, in a collapsed building, there were children who survived the storm. Inside the arms of a dead mother, there lay a son, about 7, and his baby sister, approximately 6 months old. They said their mother held their hands and ran. The floor was giving away. When the floor was just steady enough the ceiling fell. The mother used her body to protect her children and sacrificed her life.
A few blocks down, a 12 year old boy saved a baby by lifting up a flipped over car.
Just when the tornado left, we received messages at the mega storm center, from New York. The Super Cyclone passing their way! I don’t agree that the Japan Saving Center had to be in Hokkaido. The helicopters are weak, 17 of the strongest helicopters left today at 6: 11 and have not returned.
I realized that no mater how strong we are, nature can wipe us out easily.
