“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest”

Benjamin Franklin


Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Form 4 Literature Component : Short story

THE FRUITCAKE SPECIAL
By Frank Brennan
 
PLOT: 
EXPOSITION
Anna works in Amos Cosmetics factory. She is a chemist and she designs perfume for the company.
RISING ACTION 
One day, Anna mixes some fruitcake that her mum has packed for lunch into her invented perfume. Suddenly, strange things become to happen as Mr. Amos asks her for a date and the waiter in the restaurant fall in love with Anna, and Mr Amos declares his love too.
CLIMAX
A fight takes place in the restaurant between
Mr Amos and the waiter to fight for Anna’s love and it ends up with Sabina punching Mr Amos. Anna leaves the restaurant in hurry.
FALLING ACTION
Anna tries to find out the secret recipe from Aunt Mimi but she is unable to. She finds out the woman who keeps the recipe has passed away.
RESOLUTION
Anna quits her job at Amos Factory and she ends up with marrying Armstrong, the pizza delivery man who now owns his own pizza company.
 
CHARACTERS:


ANNA            
Works as a chemist, her job is to design new perfumes, single and
lives with her mother.


DAVID AMOS
Owner of Amos Cosmetics factory. He is dark, handsome and gentleman. Often seen with
beautiful women. He appears polite but does not think much of his workers.

AUNT MIMI 
Pleasant but she also likes to mind other people’s business. Constantly trying finds suitable 
partner for her niece. She gives some fruitcake to Anna.


SABINA 
A beautiful young model and she is David’s girlfriend. She looks down on Anna.


ARMSTRONG 
Pizza delivery boy. Totally different than David Amos. Through effort & determination, he grows 
from a pizza delivery man to become owner of the pizza company.


THE WAITER
He works at the French Restaurant. He behaves weirdly towards Anna when he is under the spell 
of the fruitcake perfume.


ANNA'S MOTHER 
Naturally anxious that her daughter is still single and she always thinks that the pizza delivery 
man would make a good husband for Anna.


OLD WOMAN 
Used to sell fruitcakes in the market, offered the cake to Aunt Mimi for her niece.

SETTING:
PLACE
Amos Cosmetics factory
Home
French Restaurant
Aunt Mimi’s apartment
TIME
Modern civilization
SOCIETY
Middle class and high class society

POINT OF VIEW:
1st person POV
“I was a chemist at the Amos Cosmetics factory.........”

THEME:
The true love vs the superficial love.
Determination towards success
Sincerity in declaring love. 




QWERTYUIOP

 QWERTYUIOP
By Vivien Alcock

PLOT:
Exposition
Lucy Beck had graduated from BSC and was for looking for a job. She was trying to improve her life as she was tired of being poor.



Rising Action
She got a job offer to work as a secretary at the Ross and Bannister’s Firm. However, she had been warned by the handyman of the firm to be careful in her work.

Climax    
She finally found out what the old man, Mr. Darke tried to tell her on the first day of work as she had been disturbed by the spirit of the previous typewriter, Ms. Broome. She was so surprised that the typewriter had been interrupted her work by typing the word ‘QWERTYUIOP’ all over the letter.

Falling Action
She discovered about Ms. Broome and tried to telling her to let go her previous post as she is the new secretary of the firm.
 
Resolution 
Lucy finally had succeed to get rid from Ms. Broome as she told her Mr. Bannister had passed on three years ago. She folded the finished letter into a paper dart and sent it sailing out of the window. The wind caught it and carried it away.

SETTING:
Time
The story probably takes place in early 20th century when office work was done on typewriters and tapes were still in use. Computers were probably not in use yet.

Place
Belmont Secretarial College
Lucy Beck’s house
Ross and Bannister’s Firm

Society
20th century society.

CHARACTERS:
 










Lucy Beck  
Young and small ,mouse-coloured & easily overlooked. She is dissatisfied with her current life and determined to improve it to help her mother.











Harry Darke
He is an old man who has been working for Ross and Bannister’s for years.
Mrs Price
A teacher at the Belmont Secretarial College.
Lucy’s mother
A housewife who lives a hard life. She also needs to support her brother, Bert.
Uncle Bert
Depends on his sister for support, drunkard
 









Miss Broome 
She was the previous secretary of Ross and Bannister’s. She is unwilling to let go of her post even after her demise. 
George Ross
The younger partner of the company.

POINT OF VIEW:
3rd person POV
"She was tired of being poor"


THEME:
  • Determination brings success
  • Opportunities come but once
  • Letting go when necessary
  • Love and care for family members 

Monday, March 21, 2011

Introduction and Body Paragraph for an Essay

To create an essay, the most important thing is, you need to make an introduction which is called as an  INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPH.

Here is an example of introductory paragraph, so you can have a clear view on how to build an introduction ;

Title : Ways to prevent procrastination among college students.

People nowadays become easily stressed. Work overload, terrible time management and procrastination are some of the reasons on why people become stressed out. Some people likes to leave their works unattended and unfinished until at the last moment when he or she needs to submit the works. This is called procrastination. According to Edward Young, Procrastination is a thief of time and it also contributes to a lot of negative effects such as low quality of works and weak time management. It is also one of the most frequent habits repeatedly done among college students. To have a healthy life, college students need to avoid this terrible habit and there are several ways to prevent it. 

  • In the introductory paragraph, the general to specific technique need to be apply in the paragraph so that the reader can get a brief idea on the topic or title before proceed to the content of the essay.
  • you can state the general knowledge of the topic, current issues and the definition on the term that stated in the topic.
  • Then, in the last line of the paragraph which is called the thesis statement, you need to state the MAIN IDEAS whether it is stated or implied. Based on the above introductory paragraph, i have stated the implied main idea.
For the BODY PARAGRAPH, you need to state back the main idea with the elaboration and explanation by adding supporting details such as definition, examples, issues or experiences.

Here is an example of the first body paragraph that states the first main idea:

The first way to prevent procrastination is by scheduling or making time tables. Scheduling helps you avoid one of the great time wasters, procrastination, because it gives you a specific time to do each task. It gets you started on the work and helps you avoid putting off doing things that you dislike. Other than that, having a schedule also saves time. It takes time to devise a schedule, but that time is repaid many times over. Your schedule is a guide, telling you what to do next and assuring you that everything will get done. Besides, scheduling keeps you up to date and helps you avoid last-minute cramming. By keeping up to date and studying things as you come to them, you will learn much more efficiently. Thus, by scheduling or making time table helps a lot to overcome procrastination.
  
 *The bold sentences are the supporting details

Thursday, February 3, 2011

BREAKFAST (:

The Importance of Breakfast
The first role of breakfast is to break a fast. As we did not eat anything at night, having a nutritious breakfast will be a good start for us to begin our daily lives. In addition, the stomach will be super happy as the breakfast will be functioned as a fuel for the whole day. 
    Wondering, why is breakfast important for student and working people? As breakfast is good for brain. The glucose that we get from breakfast will feeds the brain. As a result, it prevent us from being restless, irritable and tired and lead to better concentration, and allow us do study better and perform in morning work.
     
    Breakfast will also provides energy to the muscles. Having a good amount of glucose to our body will increase the energy levels. However this does not means we load our breakfast with sugary foods. As those foods will give a quick spike of glucose but then will leave us hungry again, and make you gain weight.           
    Breakfast provides a very significant amount of the day's total nutrient intake. If you don't have much time then with quick breakfastof eating a fortified cereal with milk and a fruit, can provide essential nutrients to your body. This will make up for a significant proportion of the daily intake of nutrients.      
    Many studies show that people who tend to skip breakfast are heavier than those who have a nutritious breakfast. As having breakfast in the morning can boost your metabolism and thus, help you burn food faster. Also, having a fiber rich breakfast means you will feel full for longer, and won't binge during other meals like lunch or dinner.
     

Cyber Bullying

CYBER BULLYING 

Happens when a person or a group or taunts, threatens, harasses, and embarrasses others through the use of simple information and communication technology. The technology includes the usage of internet, mobile phones and other devices. 


EFFECTS
Loss of confidence and self esteem
Victims resort to becoming antisocial and alienate themselves; silent and chameleon like to avoid being noticed


Can often cause fights and often escalates to appoint where people are killed or committed suicide after an incident
 Ruin the reputation of a person and make them feel disliked, hated, and even make the person question their self worth
 Under constant fear and stress

METHODS of CYBER BULLYING


        Blogs
        •Website
        •Impersonation
        •Internet Polling
        •Stealing Password
        •Interactive Gaming
        •Sending Malicious 
        •Instant Messaging or Text Messaging 
          Sending pictures through email or cell phones  
    PRECAUTIONS 
Parents should check browsing habit
Implement curriculum in schools 
 Watch for changes in one’s behavior 
Educate children about cyber bullying

LAW AGAINST CYBER BULLYING 
  •  School officials are permitted to take action against cyber bullies even if the bullying did not happen in school by that time
  •  Court sessions would be held for cyber bullying offenders and police will be getting involved as well
  • School officials are allowed to suspend their students if one is found guilty of bullying another through telephone or computer 
  • Tougher and heavier punishment is added on top of the delinquents under the terms of state’s law for young offenders 
  • Fines will be charged to an individual if one is found guilty of cyber bullying via electronic communication