• Class 7th
• Picture Composition
• Theme: At school
Examination results (page 8)
I woke up earlier than usual with a
strange feeling inside my stomach. I
looked at the calendar on my table.
There was a circle around today's date
and the words 'PSLE results' written
beneath it. The knot in my stomach
tightened. I could not eat breakfast that
morning and made my way to school.
The atmosphere in my class was tense.
No one spoke. We all waited anxiously
for our result slips. While we were
waiting, I had the chance to think about
my experience in Primary 6. I had really
enjoyed the year, but in reality, I had to
admit that I had not worked very hard.I
had not done any real work until just a
week before the first examination.
There did not seem any point in
working hard. Almost everyone passes
the examination and proceeds to
secondary school. I wondered what I
would do if I was one of those who
failed. I started to regret my
laziness.When the teacher entered the
room, we all stood and greeted him. He
put the pile of result slips on the desk in
front of him and called us one by one to
collect the slips. As each of my
classmates read their results, huge
smiles filled their face. I wondered if I
would be smiling, too. Then it was my
turn. I went to the front, picked up my
slip, opened it slowly and saw the
result. With an aggregate of 165, I was
not likely to be accepted by any
secondary school for the coming year.
My face dropped and I could not look
my classmates in the eye. The
disappointment was so great. As I sat at
my desk, I thought about my future. I
had failed. The fault, though, was mine
alone. 'You reap what you sow' my
father had often told me. He was right. I
had not worked hard and I had got
what I deserved. But suddenly a
different thought entered my mind. I
could do better than this, and I would
prove this to everyone. I would repeat
the year and make sure I passed next
year with flying colours. The plan was
sown and next year I would reap the
results.
A rowdy class (page 10)
My name is Sandra and I am in my final
year of primary school. The students in
my class are very hard-working and all
our teachers believe we will get good
grades at the end of the year. But last
year was different. We were very
rowdy and inattentive and most of the
students were disrespectful. Our form
teacher did not enjoy teaching us. A
few weeks later she was posted to a
different school and we had a new
teacher. I remember the first day our
new teacher, Mrs. Wong, arrived.
Before she came to class, most of the
students were behaving badly as usual.
Two boys were fighting. One boy was
listening to music with his feet resting
on his desk. One girl was drawing
pictures on her desk and another girl
was chatting on her mobile phone. Just
then, Mrs. Wong entered. The students
continued doing what they were doing.
Mrs. Wong stood at the front of the
class and stared at the misbehaving
students. Suddenly she sat at the
teacher's desk, took out a newspaper
and started to read in silence. Everyone
was shocked by this. One by one the
students stopped what they were doing
and started to pay attention. When
everyone was quiet, Mrs. Wong put
down the newspaper and stood up.
'Good morning, class,' she greeted all
the students. ‘My name is Mrs. Wong. I
am your new teacher and I hope we can
all work together. I have heard that you
are a lazy, rowdy class, but I don't
believe this is true. I am going to prove
to everyone else that this class is a very
good class. With your help and
cooperation, I'm sure we can do this.'
All the students were completely
shocked by this calm greeting. Other
teachers would become very angry and
scold us. This was a different approach
and all the students liked it. Mrs. Wong
was a good teacher and she made all
the lessons interesting. By the end of
Primary 5, my class had been
transformed into a hard-working group
of students.
On my way home (page12)
On my way home after school
yesterday, I met Ann, one of my
classmates. She was sitting alone on a
bench in the school garden. She was
obviously very upset and was sobbing
loudly.
'Ann, what's wrong?' I asked. 'Why are
you crying?'
Ann looked up and saw it was me.
'Oh, Jane,' she replied in between sobs.
I asked again what the problem was.
She told me that she had borrowed her
father's new mobile phone that
morning. It was a very expensive phone
and Ann had promised to take good
care of it. During recess a group of girls
Ann did not know had bullied her and
had stolen the phone. They threatened
to do something bad to her if she told
anyone what had happened. She did
not dare go back home without the
phone because her father would be
very angry. She did not know what to
do. I thought about the problem for a
while. I knew we should not let the
bullies get away with this. If they
succeeded this time, they would surely
do the same thing again to someone
else.
'Let's tell the principal what happened,'
I suggested. 'Mrs. Lim is a very
understanding person. I'm sure she will
help you get your father's phone back.'
Reluctantly Ann agreed. When Mrs. Lim
heard what had happened, she was
very annoyed with the bullies. 'Tell me,
Ann,' she said, what is your father’s
number? The girl who has your father's
phone might answer if I call.’
Ann told her and Mrs. Lim called that
number from her own phone. Sure
enough, the girl answered the call.
'Helen Tan,' said the voice on the
phone. 'Can I help you?'
'You most certainly can, Helen,' replied
Mrs. Lim. 'This is your school principal.
You can bring that phone to school
immediately. I will be waiting for you
personally.'
So Ann was able to return the phone to
her father that evening, and Helen Tan
and her two friends ended up in serious
trouble with the principal.
Fighting in school (page 14)
Mr. Lee, the school principal, was faced
with a major problem at school. Every
day there was fighting between
different groups of students. Most of
the fights started because the boys
supported different football teams and
the rival groups usua!iy fought after the
weekend's football results. Mr. Lee had
tried suspending students, but he knew
that was only a short-term solution.
Once they came back to school, they
started fighting again. He knew he had
to come up with a plan to eradicate the
problem entirely. Then he had an idea.
He decided to try to get the groups to
work together on some projects so that
they could use their energy in a
constructive way.
One morning Mr. Lee announced his
plan at the school assembly. There
would be a competition among groups
of students to find out which group
could contribute most to community
projects. For each contribution, the
group would earn points. At the end of
the year, the group which had the most
points would be given a prize: a trip to
England to watch a Premier League
soccer match.
At first, the groups of boys were not
interested but slowly, one by one, they
joined the competition. Within two
months, all the groups had been
transformed into hard-working teams,
all trying to earn points by contributing
to community projects. Some groups
visited hospitals and orphanages. Other
groups carried out clean-up campaigns
or repaired fences. By the end of the
first term, all the fighting had ceased
and the atmosphere at school was
much better. All this was due to the
principal's innovative idea to persuade
students to use their energy
constructively.
End of the school day (page 16)
The end of the school day is usually a
time of great joy for the students as
they finish the day's studies and look
forward to going home to meet their
families again. Yesterday afternoon was
a typical day, too. When the school bell
rang to signal the end of lessons,
students scrambled to pack their
belongings inside their bags. Most of
them remembered to pack their
homework assignments and the
necessary books to complete their
tasks. Then it was time to make their
way to the school gate. On the street, a
long queue of cars was already waiting,
with parents impatient to pick up their
loved ones and take them back home.
Some of them would not be going
home, though, since they had tuition
schools to attend, or extra-curricular
pursuits planned each day. With all the
hustle and bustle of children finding
their parents, it was lucky that there
was a teacher on supervision duty. His
job was to make sure children left the
school safely and in an orderly fashion.
Two students bumped into each other
and knocked each other over. Books
were scattered all over the pavement,
and pieces of paper flew through the
air. It did not take long, however, for
the students to pick up their belongings
and continue their journey home. After
half an hour of chaos and confusion, the
school gate was once again a scene of
peace and serenity. The long line of cars
had disappeared and only a few
stragglers remained to make their way
home on foot.
Recycling campaign (page 18)
Last year, as part of Earth Day
celebrations, our school started a
recycling campaign to try to reduce the
amount of rubbish at the school.
Recycling bins were placed outside the
school canteen. There was one bin for
glass, one for paper, another for plastic
and another one for aluminium cans.
Although it took a while for everyone to
get used to recycling their waste, after
some time it seemed the most natural
thing to do. Furthermore, it reduced the
amount of rubbish scattered around the
school compound.
In addition, we set up an organic garden
with compost bins to recycle garden
waste. The compost can be used as
natural fertilizer for the vegetables in
the school garden. What is more, it
helps keep the roots of the plants cool
and moist.
We also put up posters to encourage
students to keep the school compound
clean and tidy and not to throw litter
around.
In addition, students were encouraged
not to accept plastic bags but to ask for
paper bags instead, or else to take their
own cloth bags when they went
shopping.
Finally there was a competition to see
who could think of the best way to
reuse waste. There were lots of good
ideas including rubbish bins made from
old car tyres and plant holders made
from used aluminium cans. The winner
was a boy in my class. He invented a fly-
trap using a large plastic water bottle. It
was a great idea!
Racial Harmony Day (page 20)
My school has students from a wide
variety of nationalities and races. There
are Chinese, Malays and Indians from
Singapore as well as students from
China, Indonesia, Myanmar and the
Philippines. It is a very interesting place
to study because we can all
learn a great deal about lifestyles in
different cultures and different
countries.
Once a year, the school holds a Racial
Harmony Day. On that day, everyone
wears their traditional costumes and
the scene is very colourful. In addition,
there are different food dishes for
people to sample. It gives everyone a
good opportunity to discover different
tastes.
The best part of the day is when each
group puts on a performance of some
aspect of their traditional culture. Some
groups perform dances while others
sing songs, recite poetry or even
perform short plays. Our parents attend
the function, too, and it gives them the
opportunity to witness just how
multicultural our school is. I enjoy this
day very much. It helps me to
understand just how interesting
diversity can be.
Theme: Accidents and unpleasant
events
Traffic jam (page 24)
During the last school holidays I went
with my family to Australia. Our flight
was scheduled to leave at midday so we
left home just after eight thirty in the
morning to give ourselves plenty of
time for checking in and immigration
procedures. We called a taxi and loaded
our bags in the boot. We did not have
much luggage as Dad prefers to travel
light, so we took only hand luggage.
When we were on our way to the
airport, the taxi joined a queue of cars
waiting to get onto the expressway.
Strangely enough, the line of traffic did
not move. We waited and waited and
waited. The taxi driver then turned on
the radio and we heard that there had
been an accident just ahead and that
people should expect delays. As we sat
in the taxi, still ten kilometres from the
airport, my parents were becoming
increasingly anxious. Dad kept looking
at his watch.
'We'll miss the flight if we don't get out
of this traffic jam soon,' he informed us.
The tailback was getting longer and
longer. I looked out of the back window
and watched one man in the next
vehicle. He had a very worried look on
his face. After what seemed a very long
time, the traffic began to move again,
With less than an hour before our
scheduled departure, our taxi pulled up
at the terminal. We grabbed our bags
and raced to the check-in counter. The
lady at the counter was just putting the
'CLOSED' sign on the counter.
'Oh, please let us check in,' implored
Dad. 'We were delayed on the
expressway. We don't have any heavy
bags to check in, just hand luggage.'
The lady took pity on us and let us
check in. Then we rushed through
immigration and made our way to the
departure lounge. When we reached
the departure lounge, the rest of the
passengers had already boarded the
plane. We were the last to board the
plane, just before the plane doors
closed.
Dangerous driving (page 26)
Driving in heavy traffic can be stressful
at any time. It is even worse when you
have to deal with other drivers'
recklessness on the road. Last week
Bobby was driving to work along the
expressway. It was rush hour and the
traffic was quite heavy. Everyone was
driving quite quickly to arrive at work
on time and Bobby had to concentrate
very hard to make sure he kept a safe
distance from the car in front of him.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a motorcycle
overtook Bobby's car and it was
speeding along the road. Almost
immediately another motorcycle joined
the first motorcycle. A van driving
behind the motorcycles had to brake
hard to avoid hitting them. For some
time the motorcycle drivers rode side
by side. The pillion riders seemed to be
having a conversation with each other.
Suddenly both motorcycles accelerated
and sped off into the distance,
overtaking other vehicles on the right
and on the left. It looked like they were
having a race on the expressway. Bobby
and the other drivers were very
annoyed by this reckless driving. But
Bobby knew that anger on the road is a
bad thing so he calmed himself down
and concentrated again on the road
ahead.
Just then, he heard the sound of sirens
and he and the other drivers
automatically slowed down. It was
probably an accident. Just behind them,
the flashing lights of a police car and an
ambulance could be seen. As he drove
slowly by, Bobby saw one of the
motorcycle drivers who had been riding
recklessly minutes ago. He was
attending to his injured friends who had
been riding on the other motorcycle.
Their wrecked motorcycle was lying
next to them. His pillion rider was
trying to direct traffic while waiting for
the police to arrive. Bobby shook his
head in dismay. Driving on the roads
can be dangerous enough without
taking unnecessary risks. That morning
he drove to work more slowly than
usual. He arrived slightly late but at
least he arrived safely.
Puncture on the expressway (page 28)
One evening last week Tim was driving
home along the expressway after a long
day at work. Suddenly the cars in front
of him slowed down to a halt and he
found himself in a traffic jam. He waited
patiently for the traffic to move again.
Probably accident ahead, he thought.
As his car inched forward, he saw the
reason for the traffic jam. On the road
in front was a sports car with a
puncture. Standing beside the car was a
young woman dressed in a beautiful
evening gown. She was looking at the
punctured tyre and seemed
distressed.Tim was tired after a long
day at work, but he decided to try to
offer some assistance to the woman. He
stopped his car just behind the sports
car.
'Can I help you?' he offered.
'My car has got a puncture,' she
frowned, 'and not really sure how to
change the wheel.'
'That shouldn't be too difficult to fix,'
said Tim. Where's the spare tyre?'
The young woman opened up the boot
and Tim took the spare tyre. He found
the jack and the spanners he needed,
and before long, he had changed the
wheel.
'There you go,' said Tim. 'The problem's
solved. You can drive home now.'
'I'm not going home,' replied the young
woman now smiling gratefully. 'I'm
driving to the theatre. It's the opening
night for my new play. I'm an actor, you
see. Why don't you come to the
theatre? I've got a spare ticket. It's the
least I can do for all your help.'
Tim was delighted. He was feeling tired
but perhaps a visit to the theatre would
make him feel better. So he accepted
her offer of the free ticket. As he sat in
the theatre that evening, he felt very
pleased that he had offered assistance
to the young beautiful actor on stage.
Road accident (page 30)
Driving can be quite dangerous at
times, especially when the traffic is
heavy. Last week there was a collision
at a busy traffic intersection near the
centre of town. An elderly man was
driving his car towards the junction. He
was chatting on his mobile phone and
did not notice that the traffic lights had
changed to red. As a result he drove
across the junction and was completely
shocked when a large van hit the side of
his car. Still holding his phone, he lost
control of his car and it crashed into the
traffic lights. Fortunately the driver of
the van was not injured and he jumped
out of his vehicle to assist the elderly
man. The elderly man was bleeding
quite badly from a deep cut on his face,
caused by the windscreen, which had
smashed on impact with the traffic
lights. The van driver helped the old
man to the pavement and called the
emergency services for assistance. Not
long after, an ambulance arrived,
accompanied by a police car. The medic
tended to the old man's cut while a
police officer directed the traffic. The
traffic jam, which occurred as a result of
the. accident, stretched back more than
two kilometres and caused serious
problems for the morning rush hour
traffic. Before long, though, the
situation was under control. The elderly
man was taken to hospital for further
treatment and his car was towed away
to a workshop for major repairs.
Most people involved in the traffic jam
arrived at work late that day. It
certainly was an expensive phone call
the elderly man made that morning.
A ride on the MRT (page 32)
Colin is a rather careless person. Take
last week, for example, when Colin took
the MRT into town to see a movie with
some friends. He bought a ticket and
went down to the platform to wait for
the train. He was feeling sleepy that
morning because he had spent half the
night playing computer games. When
the train arrived, he got on and looked
for a seat. He was too tired to stand all
the way to town. Luckily there was an
empty seat at the end of the
compartment so he made his way there
and sat down. It was not long before he
fell fast asleep. Colin, however, had sat
in a place reserved for the elderly,
pregnant women and people with
disabilities. As the train made its way
towards town, it filled up with
passengers. An elderly lady with a
walking stick, stood in front of Colin,
expecting him to offer his seat to her.
But Colin was fast asleep, unaware of
what was going on around him. The
other passengers looked at Colin
disapprovingly, and the elderly lady had
to stand all the way to her destination.
By this time, Colin had travelled further
than he intended and had missed his
station. As the train approached the
end of the line, most of the people had
left the train. Finally, where the train
reached the terminus, it came to o halt.
An inspector walked through the
compartments to make sure no one
was left on board. When he discovered
Colin in the train, he shook him by the
shoulder to wake him up. By the time
Co!in arrived in town, his friends had
already gone into the cinema. What o
careless person he is!
Robbery (page 34)
Last week the Lucky Jewellery shop was
not so lucky. Two armed men wearing
sunglasses and hats rushed into the
shop in the middle of the afternoon, in
broad daylight, handed the staff two
large sacks and ordered them to fill
them with valuable jewellery. The two
men looked dangerous and everyone in
the store was terrified. Mr. Lee, the
shop owner, pressed the secret button
under the counter, which alerted the
police of the robbery. Two police cars
were dispatched without delay to
investigate. Back at the shop, two men
were waving pistols and shouting at the
staff and customers. Everyone with the
exception of the two store assistants,
who were filling the sacks was lying flat
on the floor. The robbers threatened to
shoot anyone who moved. When the
sacks were full, the robbers snatched
them from the shop assistants, fired
two shots into the air to terrorize the
people even more, and raced out of the
shop into the street. A getaway car was
waiting just opposite the shop. Just as
the robbers were climbing into the
vehicle the police cars arrived. As the
getaway car pulled away from the
pavement, the police gave chase with
sirens blaring and lights flashing. With
the police cars close behind, the
getaway car really had little chance of
getting away, especially when
reinforcements arrived and blocked the
road at the end of the street. Cornered,
and with no escape route, the two
robbers and their accomplice
surrendered and were taken away to
the police station. The jewellery was
returned to a grateful Mr. Lee at the
shop. Fortunately no one was injured in
the incident, thanks to the smart work
of the local police force.
Dirty food stall (page 36)
Last week I went to the hawker centre
near my home for lunch. I looked
around the different food stalls to
choose what to eat. There was a new
Stall there selling noodles so I thought I
would try a plate of fried noodles. I
stood at the counter and placed my
order. While I was waiting, I had the
opportunity to take a closer look at the
food Stall. I did not really like what I
saw. The kitchen area was quite dirty.
There was grease all over the walls
even though the shop had only recently
opened. I saw some cockroaches
running over the noodles and there was
a line of ants marching into the sugar
bowl. The chef was not wearing any
sort of apron or overalls and he seemed
to have a bad cold because he was
coughing and sneezing onto the food he
was preparing. When my food arrived,
it was presented very badly with some
noodles falling off the plate onto the
counter. Flies were already beginning to
contaminate the food. I paid for the
food and went to find a table. Although
I was very hungry, I contemplated
whether I should eat my food. Just
then, two men in uniform arrived at the
stall. They were from the National
Environment Agency. They told the chef
and his wife that they had received a
complaint from a customer who had
eaten there two days earlier. The
customer was now in hospital with food
poisoning. The officials made a
thorough inspection of the premises
and made notes about the condition of
the kitchen. At the end of the
inspection, they approached the chef
and his wife.
'l regret to inform you that you have to
cease operations here with immediate
effect. The level of hygiene is well
below the accepted standards,' said one
of the men sternly.
The chef and his wife closed the food
stall. I left my uneaten noodles on the
table and found somewhere else to eat.
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