B-Tue-1200

Summary for Lesson 1

In today’s lesson we focused on the concept of writer’s voice, thinking about how to create a definitive and unique authorial voice using ideas of tone, inspiration and experimentation to help broaden the class’s understanding of their own personal way of writing. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help write the free-writing pieces assigned for homework. It also contains our work on the six tips for exploring your own writer’s voice, thoughts on taking inspiration from other authors, our work on tone and the article we studied in class as an example of using different kinds of tone (serious, sarcastic, angry and optimistic) in writing. Finally, it also has the prompts for the students’ free-writing, thinking about which genres they tend to gravitate towards and how they can break those barriers down and experiment with genres they feel less comfortable with in order to expand and develop their penmanship, voice and style. Everyone worked excellently today, really well done guys! I thought your ability to stretch yourselves and push yourselves outside your comfort zone was fantastic, as was your understanding of why thinking about tone, style and voice is important in reaching your fullest potential in writing. Keep up the gorgeous work and I’ll see you next week! 🙂

Here is the video we watched about author’s voice in class: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt7XCO0f4EI

Here is another video you can watch if you have the time with tips to help you develop your voice from another professional author: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z-zd72dgRQ&t=1s

Here is the music I was playing for the free-writing exercise. You can use this to help with your homework: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIYzp5rcTvU&t=592s

Homework 

Humor and a little bit of horror

One day, the planet Venus saw that everyone in her Solar system was still mourning the ordeals their friend Earth are going through. She said to her pal Mars with immense sadness, “We are truly a lifeless Solr system now, both firguratively and literallly. ” Why is that ? I always thougt there were wtill some bacterias living there,” answered Mars.”” Well,” Venus said, ” I just looked and Earth became too hot and polluted to support life.” After the news spread, everyone, even Pluto, who was still crying over being kicked out of the planet club broke into a new fit of sobbing. They cried so much that they formed a ring full of frozen tears around Earth.

__________Michael

Diary writing

Jul 8, 2021                    Super Cloudy

I just had a basketball summer camp. Our team lost the basketball game 2-3. But we learned about the “give and go” and played a shooting game that requires us to collect things to earn points. We won that game.

At the morning, I watched the EURO 2021 semi-final. England win 2-1, which is no surprise.

I wrote this just after taking a nice shower.

—-YUANYUAN

Analysis

The coronavirus is a virus that infects about 90% of the people who get in contact with the virus. This virus has now been barely controlled, but it could break free and cause a wildfire of infections. Now, every country is thinking of ways to eradicate this virus. Now, I think the best way is to have a ring vaccination and make herd immunity. Herd immunity could make most people immune and contain the virus. Herd immunity is the best shot.

Darwin

Homework:

Candy

This is my homework

Summary for Lesson 2

In our second lesson together, we focused on descriptive writing, thinking about the three fundamental building blocks: high level vocab, literary techniques and sensory language.  The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help write the descriptive pieces assigned for homework. It also contains some really important and helpful links such as the online thesaurus and vocab lists, the inspiration for the gorgeous work the class did on up-levelling their vocab to an even more vivid and sophisticated level, and finally our discussions on sensory language, creating atmosphere, avoiding cliche and using unique and original literary techniques to grab the reader’s attention. The class were absolutely brilliant in today’s class, everyone was super engaged and full of fantastic ideas. The vocab and language being used in today’s class was outstanding, and the unique and unusual examples of figurative language the students came up with were really beautiful. I was particularly impressed by their ability to critique and improve upon their own work, and also absolutely loved the sensory language they used in order to create a tension and suspenseful atmosphere for their reader. They also demonstrated a very adept grasp of the concept of cliche and why they are important to avoid in writing. Really well done everyone, it was a joy to teach you all today! Keep up the excellent work, make sure you remember your three crucial building blocks of descriptive writing, and I will see you all soon 🙂

Here is the link for the video on creating unusual metaphor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Wrq6AnYuxI&feature=youtu.be

Here is the link for the video on descriptive writing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSoRzTtwgP4&feature=emb_imp_woyt

Homework 

Homework:

It’s not interesting to find a Ferris wheel in the amusement park, but it is new to find a Ferris wheel standing upon the valley with fern climbed up and all over. Luckily enough, there was one that stood in the valley of Salt Lake City. No one ever came down after going on the awfully creepy contraption. A river ran besides the Ferris wheel, the water wasn’t that purified for using, just plain stream water, yeah. Few fish lived in it, the sand, gravel and clay covered most of the stream. A evergreen oak tree stood at the other side of the stream. It had been a young oak stapling when this park first opened. It was hit by rain, thunder and wind as well as the Ferris wheel, but he still stood boldly and brave while the Ferris wheel retired from the challenge of time. The paint on the side of the cart was peeling off showing the hair standing brown metal. The arms of the roller coaster were rusty. The controller table lay motionlessly next to the Ferris wheel. The wire weren’t damaged, there were just rusting even worser. Wild animals roam the area once in for a while. A table with sticking wood stood in the front of the Ferris wheel. Bird poop dotted the surface and cobwebs dominated the corners. The steel rusty legs sustained the weight of the subject, getting weaker little by little in every second. As you can imagine, this place was once a small amusement park that used to have good economic incomes, but one day it closed due to some mysterious reasons. As you can see, an ice cream shop, worn down, companied besides the huge aged wheel. Some fractions of the rollercoaster rails still stood as a sleeping snake, only harder, and most of them, were already destroyed by age. Listen, there is the slightly creaking sound of the wheel, and the smell of old bananas somehow.

The ferris wheel is run down and broken, and it is overgrown by plants. The smell of rusting steel filled my nose, and the wheel creaked sadly. The lush greenery of the plains was very different from the decrepit wheel. The wheel was like the sunset, majestic but dying. The air tasted of rust mixed with flowers, salty like tears but fragrant. The grass was moving slowly because of the warm wind, the green blades rippling like waves.
The mountains in the background were tall and mighty, but they were crying. They thought about the pain they went through because of the mining, how their bodies had chunks and chunks being ripped out, and how the iron had been made into a huge wheel, whom they called their son. The mountains were proud at that time But, as the year went past, the humans have stopped using the ferris wheel. It has now fell into disrepair. The mountains think it is their son, their offspring, their glory!
Creak! The wheel’s shaft creaked, threatening to snap, groaning and snapping like a stick under pressure. It could snap anytime and tumble onto the new park underneath. The wheel felt like the park has stolen its glory, and it was angry. It struggled against its bonds, and finally broke them. The rivets connecting it tho the ground snapped, and the wheel rolled towards the park, only to be stopped by a tree. The already weak wheel broke into a lot of parts, shattering as the wheel rammed into the tree.
Now, it has died. The parts slowly tumbled towards the fair walls, not, doing any damage. It had made its parents sad. It liked the feeling of humans riding him. He believed that the humans will return and save it, the sad shards incompatible with the cheerful fair. Until one day, the bulldozers came and lifted up the final shards. The parts were taken away, and it was took back to the city. The wheel was happy, because it thought that the humans are coming to rescue it. It was took into a big factory. Suddenly, it fell into a huge pool, and was instantly melted. It thought at the last moment: Maybe I’ll be used again…

Once upon a time, there was a Ferris wheel. A Ferris wheel that was small and rundown. It became rusty like an orange. The wheel is not popular, not many people used it. Years and years, the wheel waited. It wanted to be used and feel the joy of the people riding it. It has been waiting for almost a decade for that moment. The moment where it will hear the laughter of the people.

And then it came.

One day, as the wheel was spinning casually, some men came strolling down to the wheel’s hub. They had big hammers. The wheel closed its eyes and waited for whatever was going to happen. It was dead. Pieces of the wheel was everywhere. The men put the parts inside a big basket, and they lifted it up onto an airplane. Where it is heading for: Las Vegas.

The wheel have always been dreaming for Vegas. Its heart would chirp like a bird if the news came. Now, little did the wheel know that it’s going to Vegas, because it’s been sleeping. The plane lifted the wheel’s remains into a factory. In there, it would be made into a new wheel—-The Glory.

At the factory, the parts were melted into a huge “Ferris wheel soup”. That soup would be made into a new wheel, but that would take quite a few years. But y’know, time flies quickly.

6 years went by. The Glory was complete. Four men wheeled the Glory into its designed spot: The heart of Las Vegas. As it was being put up, the wheel “woke up”. It soon realized where he was heading for: Vegas. It could jump as high as an Olympic high jumper once it saw the bright lights, the casinos, and the hotels. Its dream came true. The Glory, once a small and forgotten little wheel, will become Las Vegas’ latest hit in just a few days’ time.

Grand opening day. The Beatles came to perform their latest hit. The president pledged the allegiance. Then, the five of them climbed on the wheel. The Glory felt alive again. The crowd watched as the five of them whirled around the wheel. This would mean a new beginning to the now brand-new Glory.

You have come to a deserted theme park for a thrill. Covered in a thick coat of wild plants, are the remains of a small theme park. You can almost hear the ants discussing how good this place is for their predators won’t even bother to visit such a lonely place. In the distance, a mountain looms over the park like a vulgar, ready to devour the carcass. It is so quiet that you would think that you are deaf, except when the Ferris wheel groans every now and then, as if aching for some human care. Under tha plants that cover the park’s roller coasters, Ferris wheels, and many other things , you would think that they are so rusty that they might fall apart if you touch it. There are always threatening looking clouds over your heads, ready to pour on you any second from now. When you see the broken down gate, you can almost imagine it into a gigantic tombstone for the park with the words “he once provided comfort and fun for others, but no one ever provided him any in his time of need, so he is now dead.” Smell carefully, and you might smell some wisps of ice cream coming from the turnover ice-cream cart that once had long lines of children waiting impatiently to get their ice creams. However, you are much more likely to smell  a horrible stench that came from the pollution the humans who used to come here, the only thing that remained of its merrier times, bad as it is. You might also see a oak tree with rotting branches and few leaves, as if it were too distressed and lost his hair while thinking about deep philosophical questions like “why was the park full of people one day, and suddenly none the other day?” On a hill, a ancient castle beams down on the park and says，“ Welcome to the ruined guys party!” As you go deeper into the park, you find a roller coaster cart at the bottom of a river for boats. With the water shimmering, you seems to make out a few skeletons of humans. You are not sure if they are just toys used to scare the people coming to the park or the reason the park closed down. As you walk across a  wooden bridge spanning the river, suddenly, it gives a loud and final groan. Before you can make out what is happening , the bridge collapses and you joins the skeletons at the bottom of the river.

____________Michael

When I stepped inside the gate of the fair, I was amazed about this place. You could smell the scent of cotton candy and pop corn and hear the sound jazz music that floats in the air. It was as if I was in a rainbow world. All the lights shimmered in the night sky and the ferris wheel spend through the night, like people that sends hopes again and again. It was a warm October night, and small breeze blew besides my ear. Suddenly, a little gray mouse that held a small chunk of cheese scampered away quickly. I was scared and spilled my orange juice. People beside me chatted and laughed with their friends, and only I seemed to be alone. A hand patted my shoulder unexpectedly and I looked around. Behind me was Liya, my best friend, and there was two ice creams in her hands. She giggled and signaled me to come with her. Liya took me to a rollercoaster and we bought tickets to go on. After 20 mins of waiting, we went on the rollercoaster. When I looked down, all the places was in my eyes, the fair, the skyscraper, my home, the amusement park…

—-Candy

This is my homework, thanks.

Summary for Lesson 3

In our second lesson together, we focused on narrative writing, thinking about the different stages to writing a narrative story that we could use to create compelling and capitvating stories.  The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help write the narrative stories assigned for homework. It also contains the step-by-step process of story-planning, focusing on the seven elements of narrative writing such as plot, point of view, symbolism and theme. We completed work on how to hook the reader- for which the students came up with some particularly impressive ideas regarding the technique in media res– and on the importance of pacing. I was really impressed by everyone’s work today, they planned their narratives meticulously, thinking about a multitude of different elements to include. I also loved their discussion of how to fit themes and morals into their stories, something which would bring their work to the next level of sophistication. I loved hearing about their visions for their stories- really great work everyone! See you soon 🙂

P.S. Here are the videos I mentioned that you should watch if you have some spare time (hopefully they will work for you, the final one might by UK only though but we watched it in the lesson already so it isn’t so important):

Symbolism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR9VbSXxouM&feature=youtu.be

Pacing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krpMNLRhM_4&feature=youtu.be

The video from the beginning of the lesson (the GCSE one): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee-3qumk6E0&feature=youtu.be

Homework 

Summary for Lesson 3

In our third lesson together, we focused on narrative writing, thinking about the different stages to writing a narrative story that we could use to create compelling and capitvating stories.  The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help write the narrative stories assigned for homework. It also contains the step-by-step process of story-planning, focusing on the seven elements of narrative writing such as plot, point of view, symbolism and theme. We completed work on how to hook the reader- for which the students came up with some particularly impressive ideas regarding the technique in media res– and on the importance of pacing. I was really impressed by everyone’s work today, they planned their narratives meticulously, thinking about a multitude of different elements to include. I also loved their discussion of how to fit themes and morals into their stories, something which would bring their work to the next level of sophistication. I loved hearing about their visions for their stories- really great work everyone! See you soon 🙂

P.S. Here are the videos I mentioned that you should watch if you have some spare time (hopefully they will work for you, the final one might by UK only though but we watched it in the lesson already so it isn’t so important):

Symbolism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GR9VbSXxouM&feature=youtu.be

Pacing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krpMNLRhM_4&feature=youtu.be

The video from the beginning of the lesson (the GCSE one): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee-3qumk6E0&feature=youtu.be

Homework 

I lay on a shabby bed with a fever. I felt that my stomach wanted to exit my body. I went to the toilet and I vomited yet again. It was late night. I wondered if the journey could progress or not. MyHow did I get into this…

One day, my mom found out about a family trip program to Nepal. Many other kids were going too. My mom asked me if I wanted to go. I thought that it would be hard hiking in the mountains, but at least the view would be impressive. So, I agreed. We went on a plane and went to the first place. It was a city. We did not stay there for long, and we only stayed for a few days. The next place we went to was relatively rugged. We trudged up the muddy path, and it was very dark when we finally reached the hotel.

The hotel was kind of small, but I did not care much as I went to sleep.

The second day of hiking was harder than the first. We trudged up the snowy, mountains, hail and snow pelting us. We went up the mountain slowly. When we got to the hotel, I was all wet, and set by the stove, watching others p0lay games on their phones. I warmed up, and went to the room to wash. But, the hotel only provided hot water for money! We were very lucky, since the last customer did not use up all his/her water. We used the hot water to brush our teeth and wash. Tomorrow morning, we went on the most treacherous but most fun part of the journey.

There was some ice, so we put on our snowshoes. it started snowing, and we kids began to have fun. We had snowball fights and ate the snow, even though it did not taste well. We went on and hiked, and I found a beautiful quartz rock. We went up the snowy path and aw the vest view in a few days: Snowy mountains liked together, like a huge wall, majestic and mysterious. We hiked to the next hotel.

After dinner, disaster struck. I started to vomit, and I had a fever. I was on the hotel bed, thinking that I probably ate something contaminated. My stomach tried to send up more vomit, and I went to the toilet in response. Oh, what did I do to end up here! I vomited until my stomach felt empty. Oddly, I felt wet, even though my mom said I was in risk of dehydration.

In the wilderness, the best I could get was some Chinese medicine to stop the vomiting and some oral rehydration salts to regain my expelled bodily fluids. I kept vomiting until about 10pm at night, and finally went to sleep. Miraculously, I recovered overnight, and only felt my stomach gurgling in the morning.

At the breakfast, the team got some bad news: there is too much snow on the mountain, so we had top went down. We slowly went down the mountain. Sometimes, the snow around us was up to my neck! We finally got to the place, where there was a few Jeeps waiting for us. This trip of the mountains have finally ended!

Diverse Dimension 
Wades sat on his bed just before eleven thirty reading the daily news. He just went on a holiday by himself for the first time. The clock hung on the side of the wall of his compact bedroom. The blue and white lights shone outside, advertisement screen still as the way it was for the past decades, persuading costumers to buy. Eleven twelve, Wades was already sleepy. Just as he was about to close his eyes… “Hey!” Wades was shocked and wide awake. He looked around the compact room. His parents just passed way two years ago, now he lived in a poverty shelter, there was a sizzling sound of the lightbulb above and the humming of the aged air conditioner. Too much news, he thought, only my imagination. I’ll just sleep earlier. With that his eye lid dropped shut.
“Bang!” Wades sat straight up. Something was forcing the door, he shivered and hot chilly sweat rolled down his neck. “You have to come.” A voice said. The voice was the same tune that spoken to him at eleven twelve. A dark black bag was swung over his head and he remembered no more.
When he awoke, he was sitting at the back of an old car, no lights were lit, he was soaring though an unused road. No one was driving, the streets light glowed with a coldish warmth. The car took a sharp right turn which took wades swaying to the left. Then at once the car headed to a thick strong wall. Just as the car was going to crush, the bricks shattered inwards and the car rode into the hollow in cave inside the wall. Wades stomach lurched upwards. He wanted the gag. The car’s tire flipped sideways and it landed onto a gooey green water with a splash! The car floated onto a shore and the door opened. A man with an eye patch met Wades’ eye. “I had been waiting for you.” He spoke. Wades said nothing. “Come along.” He said as he helped wades out of the car. His hand was cold to the touch.
“You see,” he continued, “You’re living in this wonderful world, am I right.” Wades nodded nervously. “But,” he suddenly turned, “This isn’t the real world.” The words were knifes as they struck Wades heart. “I see by your expression that you are shocked,” he calmly said, “The real world is about time, currently destroyed, by a chemic bomb.” Wades’ eyes widened. “You are currently in the real world,” the man continued to walk, “But your soul is in this diverse dimension. Do you want to return to the real world?”
“Umm…” Wades hesitated.
“I see your confusion, boy.” Said the man, “It’s okay, just come along!” They went up to a small door arch with no doors attached. When they got inside, they came up to a complicated machine. With a lot of buttons and levers and monitors attached to a table. “You’re the only way to save the world,” the man said, “Quickly, onto the seat.” Wades did as he was told. “Adam! Amy! Ben! It’s time.” The man shouted. Three people ran in front of the man. “Go and connect the reverse system!” The three people connected taps and other things to Wades. At last, the man walked up to wades, and gave him a small PVC pipe. “Put your finger in here, any finger.” Wade stuck his secondary finger into the pipe. “Rub the machine!” shouted the man. Amy, Adam and Ben punched buttons and hit levers. Suddenly, the PVC pipe felt freezing to Wades. And his finger started to turn to glass. “My finger is turning to glass!” Wades shouted and screamed. “No, it’s not silly!” said Ben, eyes glued to the screen. “It is,” said the man, “in his mind. The mind transfer is working as it should be. Calm down.” Soon Wades’ whole body turned to glass with his eyes shut. He heard the crews shout.
“Delay, forty three nano seconds! Too much delay!”
“Heart rate, one hundred and forty beats per minutes! Beating to fast!”
“Calm down boy, it’s okay!” said the man and soon his voice started to echo.
When Wades opened his eyes, which was pretty surprising. He wasn’t glass anymore. He breathed heavily.
“Listen!” a voice said, “You have to get to the mountain with the snow peak!”
“Who’s there!” he shouted and he looked around and realized he was in a valley with the sun hung right on the top of the valley.
“It’s me Ben!”
“Where are you?” Said Wades.
“I am still sitting near the machine.”
“Where am I?”
“You are in your mind and I can read and edit, well maybe not edit that much of your mind.”
“So, I have to climb up the valley?”
“Yeah, and do it quickly before they discover you.”
“Who’s they?”
“No time to explain.” So, Wades did climb up the slope of the valley.
Suddenly, the ground below him, probably three meters below him opened in to invisible darkness. Wades screamed.
“We are having problems to communicate with your mind! Just don’t look down and don’t panic!”
Wades tried not to panic, while he was half way up, he looked down and found the hole increasing upwards towards!
“Don’t look down, if you don’t, the hole won’t reach you!”
Wades continued to climb up and soon he reached the top. And found there was a cliff on the other side of the mountain.
“Jump off the cliff!” Said Ben.
“But, but…”
“Just do it!”
We don’t have much time.
“I don’t have the courage!” Cried Wades.
A draft of wind blew onto him occasionally and he lost his balance and fell off the cliff. Wades screamed. He fell down into the darkness and never reached the end of the darkness. Soon he saw the familiar lights of the city he lived in. He was falling right onto the ground with incredible speed and force. The citizens looked up and screamed as Wades soared into them. They ran, many tripped and some fell over each other. Then, the city began to dissolve and then he could see lights as he fell through the sunny sky, through the sky and then, to his godness, he saw land. He then soon saw himself lying on the land in the grass. He fell towards himself. Then he blanked out. What felt like a minute, he opened his eyes to find himself in himself on the real world?! He screamed with joy.
He had survived.

Arhgg! I vomited again at the hotel’s toilet. I wondered where it had all gone wrong. I had went on a free holiday trip that was on  the news paper  advertising that it is free as long as you provide your passport and buy your own plane ticket. The name of the group “Bdusagy” was a bit strange, but it was free, so I signed up anyways. However, the next day, while I was getting my plane ticket at the airport, the person in charge of giving people their tickets told me that the system said it gave me the ticket 20 minutes ago. Just then, I saw several people with the logo “bdusagy” on their shirts, so I walked towards them. Before I can say anything, one of them offered me a drink, I was just thinking the services are great when I felt dizzy and blacked out. When I woke up ,I was on a bed in a hotel. I felt nauseated and began vomiting at the toilet.

After several hours of agony, I finally felt better. My mind was swirling with questions .”Who drugged me? Where am I ?” I tried the door and was surprised to find that it was open. I went down to the lobby and found that I’m in Brazil! The hotel manager told me there is a package that someone left me. Inside I found a thick wad of Brazilian money and a node that said, “stay in the hotel for 3 days and the money is yours, try to get out, then you will be silenced. As I watched the main entrance of the hotel, I saw the same person who offered me a drink dressed as an hotel servant watching the entrance! There was also a slight buldge under the clothes that indicated a concealed gun. “Thank gods I kept several gernades and guns in my gigantic underpants, and they haven’t took them,” I thought.

Boom! Boom! Boom! The person guarding the entrance was dead before he can blink his eye. I was not only a child born in a military family, I was also a sniper who earned quite a few medals in his younger days, though I lost most of my money on a few bad investments. Sadly, I grossly underestimated the power “bdusagy”. Almost immediately after my shots, people everywhere began firing on me. I took cover under the front desk, only to find a mean looking bell boy pointing a pistol at me. I surrendered after that, and gagged and bounded into the back of a dark van before the rest of the dazed hotel people came to their senses. On the van ,they quickly relieved me of my weapons and knocked me out using drugs. When I woke up, I was  unbounded and ungagged me but my feet was connected to the ceiling of the van with a rope, and left me alone in the van. Ironically, they still didn’t find a tiny knife concealed in my hair, so I was able to free myself. Next, I went to the front of the va and found that it was actually a helicopter. On the windshield was a weird motto that said” protect the ancient secret at all costs.” I thought the motto was a bit weird but decided to wory about it after I escape out of here. Looking through the windows, I decided I was in some kind of secret base. I thought a helicopter was about the same as a car, and was taking off pretty well. Unfortunately, lots of huge guns began to point my way. In my panic, I randomly pushed a button and actually used 24 missiles to take out the entire place, saving myself from being shot out of the sky. Ten minutes later, I half crash half landed in a Brazilian jungle and pondered what I should do next.

—-Michael

This is my homework thanks.

On one late Autumn afternoon, Lily and Ovan was hiking on a misty, green and tall mountain. The sun had gone to Antartica for holiday and small wind blew beside their ears. Suddenly, purple lightnings slashed through the sky and splinted a tree in half. Small pebble stones came down the sky hardly and Ovan’s and Lily’s face instantly became wet. They quickly got on their rain coats and ran even faster up the mountain. “Look there,” Ovan exclaimed, “there was a small house, let us go inside to escape from the rain. In the little house, they found a bed and decided to sleep until the rain end. After two hours of nap, Ovan got up and found out that Lily was gone. He went outside to find her but found nothing and went in again. Suddenly he saw a little opening on the floor and found out it was a door, so he opened it and went in. The place was dim but small lights shimmered behind the wood wall. The tunnel was long and damp, the floor was made also by wood, so it creaked when Ovan stepped on it. Lights flashed up and a voice spoke, “ I am George, and I captured Lily cause she once killed all of my family. She was also a monster that had already lived two thousand years. I had already killed her, so leave quickly before I will kill you too.” Ovan ran out as fast as a horse that had been scared. But suddenly, billions of sharp spines shot out as fast as light and killed Ovan too. “ Ha, ha, ha,” George laughed, “ you are a monster too, aren’t you. You were the one that tried to poison me. Now you were all died!”

—-Candy

Jack got out of the river, water and mud all over his clothes, and the figure of what seemed like a tent slowly drifted away. He sat on the surface, wondering why he had gone camping rather than a nice beach trip to Miami.

Jack was planning a quick getaway from office with his friend Troy, and he decided a camp in Yellowstone was the best option. But Troy said he can’t come because he will visit his parents. Little does Jack know that things will be that twisted.

So he booked a ticket to Yellowstone and pitched his tent nearby the river(haha that was a bad choice), and put his luggage into the tent. Then, he hummed a few bars of his favorite song and went hunting.

On the way, he met another guy called Rolf. Rolf said he is a hunting specialist, and he gave Jack a crucial tip: Shoot the arrow into a large clump of leaves, because there might be an animal hiding. He followed his advice and threw his first roll of dice. The arrow went headfirst into a tree. Not discouraged at all, he shot his second arrow, and it was a bullseye(literally)! It hit the eye of a cow. Now I can have some steak, thought Jack as he strolled back.

Then the shock came.

He walked a long way, only to find out that his tent and belongings are blown into the river by the wind. Oh no, what should I do? Jack panicked. He decided to keep running, unaware that it’s a side downhill a few yards later.

KLUNK. Jack fell inside the ice-cold river water, the tent being carried out of sight. He got up, wondering why he had gone camping. That night, he had to sleep on the hard grass and drink the river water. The only things he had is his bow and 10 arrows.

Things remained like that for the next couple of days. One day, as he went hunting and gambled for a wild boar, he met Rolf. He told Rolf what happened and Rolf called the rescuers with his dying phone. Soon, a helicopter went soaring over their heads. It was the rescuers. The two of them climbed on the helicopter, chatting like old friends. They got off the helicopter and into the airport. I’ll be going to the beach next time, Jack thought as he got on the airplane and said goodbye to his new friend.

6 years later, New York City. Jack waited at the JFK airport, every minute felt like an hour to him. Finally, Rolf arrived. The two of them embraced into hugs, talking about the adventure. “This one will be better than that camping trip for sure,” said Jack excitedly to Rolf as they climbed up the airplane. Destination: Miami, Florida.

Summary for Lesson 4

In our fourth lesson, we focused on emotive writing, thinking about how to use language to evoke an emotional response from the reader and play on their heartstrings.  The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help write the diary entries assigned for homework. It also contains our work on the importance of word choice and connotations to evoke emotion, thinking about how to use adjectives, adverbs, nouns and verbs to subtly suggest ideas to the reader, and our work on character creation, looking at how to get inside the pysche of a fictional character. We used a diary entry from Captain Robert Scott as inspiration, analysing his language and interpreting the emotions on display, and thought more generally about the conventions of diary writing, the details of which are on Slide 10. Everyone worked really well today, and I was really impressed by their analysis of the emotive backdrop of Scott’s diary, which is often difficult to discern. They were able to think beautifully about the power of word choice and came up with some great ideas for how to include these ideas in their own writing. Amazing work guys, keep it up! 🙂

Homework

Dear diary,

Today I went an unknown rainforest. When I went in, I could see some long legged spiders making their webs and birds singing some cheerful song. I couldn’t see them among all those leaves. I used my new camera to took pictures of all the amazing creatures in nature. The leaves under my foot are not crunchy at all, it is soft, wet and full of mud. Sometimes I could see an ape above my head and snakes scattering. I also found some black scorpion and a napping jaguar. Their black spotted fur looked very beautiful. He yawned and I ran away. There are many banana trees in the rainforest and I think it leaves is a good thing to escape the rain.  At about 4 pm, the sky began to cry and I wore on my raincoat. The path was much slippery than I thought and I found out that I need to climb up a steep hill to reach the end of my destination. The rain made the stone wet and slippery. The mud was unstable too. After about 5 mins of thinking, I decided to use my strong rope to climb up. I tied the rope to a very strong tree and climb up, although it is quite hard but when I think of Nobel Prize, I came up as fast and safely I can and escape from the raining forest.

—Candy

Dear diary,

When I woke up, I am on this strange island. I tied my boat on a tree nearby the sea. The views on the island is great and today is a nice weather. The sky is blue and clear, and some clouds floated in the sky, but to me, the sky seemed to be gray and dark, and there seemed to be no light, only shadows and darkness around me. Even though it is hot and dry with the sun shining on the white sand, but I felt as if it is raining outside right now, the clouds crying with coldness. I am helpless. I don’t know the way back, I don’t know how to survive here, I don’t know where I am, I don’t know if danger will come to me, and I don’t know if anyone will come to rescue me. What am I going to do? The rest of my food is already gone, and my water too. I’m not sure if the sea is clean to drink, safety first, so I can’t drink seawater. That leaves me food-less and water-less. I know I am going to die here, but when will I die? Would it be painful? I wish to die now, if I would die here anyways. At least, my cat at home is still alive…or is he? I hope to know…

Our supplies are getting meager. The desert is as hot as ever, and the red sands stretch infinitely. Our water supplies are just going low. The GPS systems have ran out of battery, and prove no use. We have possibly no hope of getting out of the desert. The one flare won’t be any use because there is normally no one in the desolate desert. We are going in the direction of the nearest city, but we are not sure. The other people on our team are getting exasperated and depressed. We have very important rock core samples to deliver back. We will probably die, but the samples are super important. It shows that there is gold, titanium, iron and many more useful metals and minerals in those desolate lands. The samples are heavy, and we can throw them away, and probably survive the trip, but for the development of our country!

The team suggested me to use one of the flares. What if someone sees? I believe that the chances of someone seeing us are tiny. I estimate that there is a week of travel before we reach the nearest city. We will most certainly die of thirst, as our water will only last 4 more days. I will use the final flare, and I pray for help!

If when you find this journal and I am dead, take back the samples and the evidence! A lot of people have died in this dangerous desert, I sincerely hope you survive. Take these samples back. This is my will.

…

Boom! The flare goes off. The bright red flame burnt for a whole minute. The whole team looked up in expectation, but there was nothing. Just when they were about to go, a dot starts to come closer and closer! It was a rescue plane!

Diary of Astronaut Tom Armstrong

May 19,2041

I have started this diary on this date because something cataphoric happened to our whole expedition, and felt compelled to let the world know the whole story. Jack, me, and Fred were the members of the Mars expedition team. The expedition consisted of two spaceships, a ship that carried most of our supplies and a main one. After launching off Earth 6 months ago, we were making good progress. By using the new engine NASA scientists designed, we were only 13 days from Mars. However, the most unexpected happened. On both of the space ships, there were thick titanium shields that were supposed to protect us from space junks, but they turned out to be a flux. I mean they worked against small rocks, but they obviously didn’t work against large ones(as you will see in a moment). This morning Fred and I (Jack was piloting the supply ship) spotted an large incoming space rock. We didn’t want to risk it, so we piloted to the left of the rock, and Jack followed suit. Sadly, the huge rock collided with a slightly smaller rock and set it in motion moving toward us. I barely made most of the ship out of the way when Boom! It had hit the shield. It ripped through the shield like paper and destroyed our ships long antenna along with most of the other parts of our communication devices. Fred and I was just thanking gods that the ship survived the collision when we heard another huge boom and saw a huge explosion. We realized that Jack and the supply ship weren’t so lucky. After taking a survey of our ship, we decided there wasn’t much damage and have supplies onboard for 18 days. Fred and I had a quick discussion and decided to continue to Mars. We couldn’t make it back to Earth anyways, with communications down so there is no rescue.

May 24,2041

We have finally landed on Mars! We recorded the historical moment of stepping onto Martian soil with a camera an d also planted our country’s flag onto Mars. Next, we quickly collected soil samples and started to look at them in our ship’s lab.

May 26,2041

Today, we completed all tests about the  Martian soil. I also located the newest Martian Rover, Hope. When I saw its camera, I saw a way to communicate. I will make the rover take pictures of my diary and test results(which is how you are reading it now). At dinner time, I saw how little supplies we had left and dread came over me. I spent the whole night lying on the ground crying, thinking that any moment Jack and the supply ship might appear and then we could go home.

May 27,2041

I woke up feeling better. I’m proud to say that I’ve completed the mission despite all hardships, and made a first, landing on Mars. I was shocked to find that Fred had drank a vial of poison to end his life but still thought it was understandable considering how I was like last night. I buried him beside the ship. This afternoon I also found we made another two firsts, first person to die in space and first person to die in another planet. I have now also became the person farthest away than any other person.

May 28,2041

Today will be my last day alive. Rather than having to suffocate, I have decided t become the second person to die in another planet by drinking another vial of poison. I hopes that my family will be well taken care of and went to sent the pictures of my diary and test results using the rover. Goodbye, everyone and everything!

_____Michael

Sorry, it should have been: I have decided to…,not t….

__Michael

The Diary of Jasper Johnson the Jungle Ranger

May 12, 2048

Today, I have arrived in the Green Goon Jungle, the home of the perilous Green Goons, little slime balls with a mouth that could gobble you up in about 5 seconds flat. I hid my belongings into a tent to prevent any green goons stealing them. I was here to get some vials of green goon sweat in order to produce a potion that can make people recover from injuries. The King has been injured lately, and only green goon sweat would make him recover. But how was I going to get their sweat without them biting me? This will surely be a hard task.

May 13

Today I met a friendly green goon called Ronald. He says he is the son of the King of the Green Goons. I wanted to get his sweat but Ronald says he’s sorry, but the King would not let anyone get their sweat, or they will be chomped up by the Munchers, a type of green goon that devours everything in its path. This was gonna be tough.

May 15

I will be attempting to fetch some sweat from a green goon today, and I had the chance. I found a green goon asleep with beads of sweat on its face. I dropped my vial and collected a few drops, but suddenly I heard footsteps. So I darted to escape. I only made it to the tent by a hair and stuffed the vial into my kit. Thankfully, the green goons were not after me. Whew, that was close, but at least I got some green goon sweat!

May 16

I wiped my dagger and set out to duel. My plan is to duel with a green goon and when they are very tired, I will kill them and collect the sweat. But my plan didn’t work out entirely at first. I slashed by dagger to the green goon, but they bit me instead. But they got a cut in the stomach, so they are going to be weaker.

We set off to duel again. I aimed for a neck shot, but instead I hit their chin while they bit my leg. It’s starting to bleed, but with the last of my strength, I slashed the neck and killed it. I got my vial and collected the sweat, and it’s enough for a potion, and enough to recover the King!

May 20

Today I have arrived in the kingdom of Bellingham*. William III, the Duke of Bellingham, lay on a bed with the queen and his other relatives by his side. I arrived and knelt to Queen Mariette of Bellingham, saying that the potion is done. Mariette fed the potion into the king’s mouth. We both prayed. Will it work?

A month later

June 20

King William, now fit, and Queen Mariette placed the badge on by shirt. They awarded the Badge of Honor because of my courage to produce the vial. Ronald was there too, and he said the Royal Society of green goons found out I was using the sweat for good reasons, and they welcomed me whenever I want. I will never forget this moment as I strolled home with a badge on my shirt.

*this is no reference to Jude Bellingham, who famously scored for dortmund in the champions league.

Meow! A black cat touched John at the door of the office building. John ignored it, and started to walk back home. On the way, he suddenly noticed a path that was never here before. John decided to ignore it, as it was getting dark. Suddenly, he heard the sound of screaming towards the other end of the path…

John went on the path. He walked for a long time. It felt like a million years before he saw something. The sky was dark and there was mist hiding what was inside. Then, another scream came from inside the mist! John felt compelled to investigate. He went inside the mist, and a huge, abandoned castle loomed before him…

“Thanks God I took a flashlight” ,John mumbled. He turned on the flashlight, and a ray of light shot out. John shone the light onto the castle and found out that it was decomposing. Some of the stone bricks had called out, and there was a large section missing in the upper parts. Green moss and vines were growing on the walls, and there were some plants growing in the missing section. The castle looked sad and seemed to be saying: Goooo awwayyy! Despite of these warnings, John still went inside the castle.

It was very gloomy inside, with cobwebs everywhere. The cobwebs were like drapes, hiding whatever was behind it. There looked like there were three route: One was a long corridor, and seemed to lead into darkness. The second one was a door, once grand, that now is moldy and broken. The third one was a corridor that went to a door. Just when John finished thinking about where he would go, the door creaked shut, and it was locked…

John suddenly felt that coming here wasn’t the wisest idea. The entire castle had a gloomy feel. It was already 9pm, and the flashlight would run out of charge in about 30 minutes. Then, suddenly John remembered the missing section on the top of the castle. There was dense foliage down there. He could escape through there!

John first tried the corridor leading to a room. It was just a storage room, and it smelled terrible, because of the rotting food. The stinking aroma drove John from the room. Then, John tried the long corridor. It turned out it was a dead end, but there was something red on the end…

John ran from the blood. His mind raced: Will I die here? Was that blood? How did it get here? Will I get out? He returned to the  entrance and tried the final route, the moldy door. Success! It led to a room with a staircase in it! John went up the staircase. He remembered that the missing part was on the left side. John turned left, and found three doors. The first one led to a bedroom with a skeleton in it. The skeleton radiated unluckiness. John rapidly closed the door. The second one led to a dining hall. There was nothing in it. Then, the third door creaked open…

And John went inside. There was seemingly nothing inside the room until the ghosts appeared. They cracked happily and let out a scream. The ghosts were dancing around him, and the skeletons were inspecting him. He was literally the first living human they have seen in centuries.

John saw that there was a door on the end of the room and bolted towards it when the ghosts talked. “Now, little human, don’t go. We won’t hurt you. We just need some company, as we died 400 years ago, and nobody has been here. Can you just sincerely be with us for just one little night?” And the ghost lunged towards John.

John opened the door and slammed it at the ghosts, and found out that he was at the hole. He jumped out, and fell onto a tree. Luckily, John was OK and he was just a bit bruised. John then ran back home and sweared that he will never go back to that haunted house ever again, or will he?

Homework

Summary for Lesson 5

In our lesson today we focused on using advanced literary techniques, thinking about how to understand the effect of literary techniques and practicing using them in the right context. The PowerPoint with all of the resources is attached, which should be used to help write the pieces assigned for homework. I was really impressed by the class’s knowledge of a range of literary techniques, all of which they brainstormed fantastically at the beginning of the lesson, defining the techniques beautifully and thinking about their effect. They then completed some work on writing advanced literary techniques themselves, specifically focusing on irony, oxymoron, and pathetic fallacy. We then moved on to thinking about literary techniques in context, acknowledging that not every technique is appropriate for every situation, using the context of suspense writing to demonstrate that fact. The class worked beautifully on foreshadowing as a technique, giving their opinions on how and why these techniques worked for the genre of suspense. Fantastic work class, keep it up and I’ll see you all next week 🙂

Homework 

That night, I can’t sleep because I have a feeling that something bad is happening. Unfortunately, I am right, as you will see. In the darkness of the night, the cold wind blew my bedroom door half open with a creepy creak that startled me. But there’s more frightening things waiting for me. A cyan light shot through, and slowly began to spread by itself. My heart pounded rapidly with fear. It pounded so fast that I can feel the heartbeat without putting a hand on it, as if I had just ran 800 miles. Soon the cyan light illuminated the whole room. My bedroom transformed to the world of cyan. Mist began to appear from nowhere, the light making it cyan too. A silhouette of a person began to appear in the mist, then the figure of the person became clearer and clearer until I can see the details. The person was a girl with black hair and black eyes. She was quite beautiful. Even with the cyan light, I can tell that her skin is so white that it looked fake. She was wearing black shoes, black clothes, black gloves, a black cloak and a black mask covering her mouth and nose.

“Who are you!” I yelled as if fearless, even though I am afraid deeply in my heart.

“I am part of you…I am Kacasy!”Kacasy answered. What did she mean that she is part of me? Her name sounds nice, but what sort of name is Kacasy?

“Follow the light…Follow the darkness…”She chanted, “Follow the nature…Follow yourself…”Her voice trailed off. The cyan light outside is shining brighter than ever. The cyan mist surrounded me, turning darker and darker until the mist is black. The cyan light suddenly went out, leaving completely darkness all around me, even Kacasy disappeared. Even though she disappeared, I can still hear her voice, coming from all directions in the dark.

“I am the darkness…I am you…so you will be me! ”

Her voice echoed in the darkness. I fell and fell into the darkness, with Kacasy’s voice still lingering by my side.

“I am part of you…so you’ll be me! ”

“Stop! Stop! Stop it!”I yelled.

Darkness swallowed me. I screamed.

Silence.

That’s my homework.

Welcome for feedback. All is accepted.

The Mystery of the Disappearing Crown Jewels

Mr.Scott ran to me in a panic, holding an empty case. “Oh, no, Jasper, what is happening?” said Mr.Scott as he showed me the empty crown jewel case. “The crown jewels must have been stolen by a thief or someone in need.”

“But the jewels were just here an hour ago—-and then I went to get some coffee—and when I’m back, it’s gone!”

“Then who—-or what could manage to steal a full tank of crown jewels in such a short time? It must be someone who lives near the palace!”

I decided to set off to search. This is a disaster, I thought, The Coronation is scheduled for 8PM, just two hours later! So I went to search the nearest skid row. Someone could steal the crown jewels because they want to sell them for money! I go to the skid row about once a week to visit my friend Kevin, who is currently homeless. Then I noticed something unusual: The guy wearing glasses, who rarely leaves the skid row, is gone!

I ran to the palace and told Mr.Scott what I saw. He then said he will look for him while I searched for more suspects. So I went to my neighborhood, which is close to the palace, and asked Trent, my neighbor, who had a passion for treasure. “No, I wouldn’t even dream about stealing a royal crown, let alone intercepting a huge coronation!” But I’m not sure if he was lying or not.

Suddenly I caught sight of a guy with a pair of glasses and shabby clothes running and holding something golden. I quickly took a picture and bolted out of Trent’s house. “Sorry, just remembered I had a dentist appointment!”

I called the police and reported everything to them. They said they would do their best to catch him. I looked at the picture and the golden thing is surely the crown jewels! 

I glanced at the watch. Oh, no, it’s 7:30 already! Can the police catch the guy with glasses, put the crown jewels into the case, and the coronation to go as planned? I thought with my hands on my heart.

I rushed back to the museum and I was delighted to see the crown jewels, not a single piece missing and safely in the crown case! I breathed a HUGE sigh of relief. The coronation will be going as normal!

The palace, 8:30. Queen Mariette of Bellingham opened the case, millions of people tuning in to watch. She placed the crown into King William’s forehead. Applause. I am hereby witnessing the coronation of King William of Bellingham! But little did I know that I would be going in an encounter with the Green Goons a few years later……

It was the day of the presentation of artist Mike, but his died body was found inside the box that contains the paintings. Everyone was horrified, they screamed and jump as high as kangaroos. Suddenly, a detective came and found out Mandy, Steve and Gregory was the three suspect. Mandy hate Mike because she was once got pushed down the mountain by Mike. Steve was put to prison by Mike, and Gregory’s wife was killed by Mike. The detective advice to search of evidence two by two, and promised to gather at the dinner table at 11pm. Gregory and Steve found a very thick rope hanging in the laundry, they thought it was the weapon that killed Mike. They also found a painting of Mike himself and there was a knife sticking out of his face. The detective and Mandy found green pigment on the floor from the laundry to the stage( where the presentation took place) and a certificate of Steve saying that he won first place for weightlifting. It was 11pm and the four people gathered at the dinner table. Steve said they found a thick rope in the laundry and a painting with a knife. Mandy said that it was her knife on Mike’s own self painting and she once wanted to kill Mike by poisoning him, but didn’t succeed. The detective said the trail of green pigment is probably  made by Steve because he once got a certificate for weightlifting. Steve nodded and said I found his died body in the laundry this morning and took it to the stage but I only wanted to embarrass him. “Ding dong!” The door bell rang, the detective opened the door and an odd old man was standing there. Suddenly, he screamed soo loud that the whole may hear and ran away. Just when the detective was thinking what happened to the old man, Gregory came behind him and killed the detective. He was the one that killed Mike, he also killed the detective, Mandy and Steve so that he wouldn’t be captured. Mike once killed his wife and all of his friend, he was very mad and planed killed Mike today. Although no one suspect him, but they will all know at 12 o’clock, because all the evidence will point to him by the moonlight. Gregory ran away into the dark as if he was a cat.

—Candy

On a very ordinary Tuesday, an ordinary person called Tom walked into his small private and very ordinary bank. He was very happy because someone paid him lots of money to store a small box. The stranger said that it contained some of his clothing, and demanded that the box was not to be opened. Tom happily agreed, he was earning 30 million pounds after all! As he left the throng of people on the main street into the side street where his bank was located, he saw an rich but evil looking wearing a huge hat and scarf that covered her face completely. There were traces of red that looked like blood on her clothes, but Tom thought, “you can’t judge people by their looks anyways, especially when they’re rich.”

However, Tom let out a scream unmatched of in the whole history of screams as he entered his bank. “It can’t be real, “thought Tom,” my employees probably lied on the floor and painted themselves with splatter of red.” He raced out of the door, but the evil woman was already gone. He called the police, but he fainted when the police told him that only the thing inside the black box was stolen, though the thing is likely to be diamond silk clothes, an 10million pounds per a gram clothing. The police also told him that they couldn’t catch the thief.

Determined that he would not fail his client , Tom took the matter into his own hands. He first began to think of who would knew about the black box and what was inside it. This narrowed the suspects down by quite a lot since he didn’t even know that himself. Since his client was so secret about it, word probably didn’t go out that end. He finally decided that the thief had to be Kite, her job at the bank was to clean the vaults, and she always complained about how poor she was. Besides , she could always take a peek when she was cleaning the black box if no one was lookin. After checking his E-mail, he found that Kite had said that she was sick today. Success. After talking about his discovery with the police, they head out to arrest Kite. Just when they were  about to barge in Kite’s house, Kite came out with a suit case. She tried to protest that she was innocent, but there wasn’t much she could do when they found diamond silk clothes in her suit case. She was sentenced to death for the murdering of 6 people. Tom hadn’t failed his client, and even became a famous detective!

__________Michael

THE END

Summary for Lesson 6

In our final writing lesson together, we focused on persuasive writing, thinking about building on the students’ knowledge of persuasive writing styles and thinking about advanced techniques. The powerpoint with all of the resources is attached below, which should be used to help write the persuasive letters assigned for homework. It also contains our thoughts on pathos, ethos and logos and why they are effective, alongside the persuasive techniques thought up by the students and Slides 8-16 which should be used to inspire the students with their homework. We spoke about authoratative voice and how to build it, and also looked at questioning how to change someone’s mind. Everyone worked beautifully today, I was so impressed by the class’s knowledge and skill in using persuasive devices effectively and coming up with some beautiful examples building on the three pronged logos, ethos and pathos method. You have all been fantastic over the last six weeks, really good luck in your future studies and I hope to see some of you again in the future. Keep up the amazing work! 🙂

The video on how to change someone’s mind that we watched: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58jHhNzUHm4

Persuasive techniques revision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRVOLqvXNmg

Homework

Dear Principal,

I have three things that will help make the school better. Firstly, I think that we should have more science classes. Secondly, I think that the primary cafeteria’s food should be better. Finally, I think the school should lower tuition fee. Here are a few reasons that you should do this, and how it will help the school expand and help the students learn.

Firstly, I think the school should have more science classes. Science is a good thing, and the people fighting the coronavirus need science to succeed, since they need drugs, vaccines, protection “space suits” and some other equipment. That equipment is all manufactured using the power of science. Science is also a major subject that is covered in a lot of tests. A lot of students also like science, so I think that two science classes a week is not enough.

Secondly, I think that the primary school’s cafeteria food should be improved. Experts say that better food makes learning easier and more efficient. Some students eat meager amounts of food in lunch and can feel their belly growling when they are going to PE class. The students will be much happier if the cafeteria food gets better. If the students are happier and learning is more efficient for them, the teachers will need less time to teach the students, therefore raising morale. The cafeteria food should really be improved, to make the students healthier and make education easier.

All the changes will cost money, but this change will generate money to compensate for the money used on the other two projects. The school should lower tuition fees. This may seem counterintuitive, but if the fee is lower, more students will come, as their parents will think that it is worth it. Students will flock towards the school so expanding or just getting more money will be easy. Lowering the fee will help the school expand and get more students, therefore getting more money.

I think that these changes will help the school a lot, so we should add more science classes, improve the cafeteria food, and lower the tuition fee quickly! Doing these things will help students on their tests and make their future better, boost teacher morale, and give more money to the school. This will really help the school!

Sincerely, Darwin

Hello teacher, I am not sure what exactly is “government grant”, can you please explain? Thank you!

Dear Ms. Kelly,

I think that the government grant could be spent on redoing the playground，foods and technologies.

Firstly, our playground was not fun at all, there’s only a  football field, and we girls have nothing to play. Don’t you dislike our playground? The school could make the football field smaller and add a basketball court, a spiderweb and swings. All of us would explode if this really happened.

Second, technology is now a very important thing in our life. Almost every grownup have a iPhone. Many schools have computers for their students to use. Although some students will use the computers to play games and watch Youtube, but don’t you know the school could ban this? IT could also see what the students are doing.

Thirdly，the school could change the food for lunch. Lunch is the most important meal in the day and the school only provide some potatoes and one small slice pizza. The students who have PE class can not participate well and the teacher will be very mad.

So, please use the money for redoing the playground, lunch food and adding computers. Thank you.

Dear Mr. Prankster,

I think our school can spend the 1,ooo,ooo dollars on prank kits for each of our students(worth $10 each), 20 short-sheeted beds($20 each, for those students caught without a sense of humor and being angry when pranked), a new playground(cost $10,000), and give the rest for good students for Prank College.

First, the prank kits give the students THREE customized pranks for a student depending who they are. This can boost the students’ pranking skills. Also, when the pranks are done, the kit will magically fill itself with three new pranks. This can end the agony of which prank to pull.

Second, I think short sheeted beds are the perfect prank to pull. With pranko’s glue stuck to the bedsheet, the bad kids will certainly be bwwwwaaaawwwwing when they got their feet trapped in the bedsheet.

Third, why not build a new playground? Our old playground is just a field with slides and swings. So why not upgrade it with a fresh new basketball court, soccer pitch, jungle gym, spider web, and obstacle course? That sounds better, isn’t it? That will provide much more fun and a bigger pranking experience.

And lastly, we should provide funds to the good eggs who will be heading to college. The college can provide exclusive one-on-one pranking lessons, hand-selected pranks selected by the best pranking masters, and a truly magnificent pranking life. That’s how you should spend the government grant.

—-David Goofball, Goofball School pranking teacher

Dear students and teachers,

I think you should give the million dollar grant to your hard working principal. After all, with a whole network of schools consisting of 3 million students, a million dollars can hardly do anything. If I only used it on one school, it would be unfair to the other schools. Secondly, although I am the principle of one of the largest schools on Earth with students paying 500dollars plus profit each, you still can’t find me on the list of “Ten richest principals ever” ,Why? This because I donate some of it to charity( a evil laughter in my mind, because I only donate 10thousand dollars each year and then donate the rest to Michael W trust fund) and use some it to make our school better( though they are very subtle). This leaves very little for me(though 900 million for the trust fund mentioned above). For example, this semester I only got 6000 dollars, barely enough to keep my 15 family members who relies on me alive and well. Especially when the government says that a family should at least have 13500 dollars to spend each year. Next, I could use the grant to do some business, making more money so the school can use it(Though it is likely that it will earn lots of money and then suddenly be broke). However, if you are still convinced I’m a principal who only wants more money, you can go to the website bestteacher.com(by Michael W) you can see that I’m first place. Besides, I used to be the CEO of the National Educational Administration of the United States before I retired. For those of you who still do not believe me, please email me and I will persuade you privately.

From your principal Michael W

Dear students who are still not convinced

I am here to offer you a deal. If you support me, I will give you 5 dollars each. If you don’t, I’m here to blackmail you. I will you lots of D’s on your report card. The best part is that I don’t even need to do anything else like scolding you, your parents will help me scold you and do what I can’t do, like spanking you and who know what else.(Ha-ha-ha!) For those of you who are especially tough, I’m here to silence you, and no, I don’t mean killing you, I still want to be a good citizen, now don’t I. I mean I can send some of your writing drafts on the internet with some changes and then charge you with plagrism when you submit your writing. Have a wicked day, all of you!(followed with evil laughter)
From your very nice principal Michael W