• 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.