Second book review

Harry Potter is going through his six year in Hogwarts. This year was important because it prepares Harry Potter to fight the Dark magic in the future. After five years of preparing and studying all the magic skills, Harry Potter and Professor Dumbledore study about Lord Voldemort past to know on how to defeat him and his followers known as the death eaters. Harry potter had suspected that his friend, Malfoy are working closely with Lord Voldemort to kill Harry potter and others. When Harry potter was going through his first lesson with Professor Slughorn, He received a book about potion making that was previously owned by a person who called himself the ‘Half-blood prince’. Harry and Professor Dumbledore still tries to find an object that could help them in defeating Lord Voldemort.

I choose Professor Dumbledore because he had helped Harry a lot of times ever since Harry just entered Hogwarts. Professor Dumbledore had also been looking out for Harry and protecting him from Lord Voldemort.

I do not agree on the usage of euthanasia. No one has the right to take other people’s life. For example, if a person has illness that could not be cured, we should not end their life because it is not up to us to decide whether the person should die or to continue living. All this is up to God to decide. Euthanasia is not allowed in Singapore. I hope that it will stay that way because as I said, It is not up to us to decide whether a person should live or die.

'What does it mean to be a Singaporean'

To me, Singapore is very special. The reason is that although there are many races in Singapore, Singapore had not faced any racial riots for a long time. And also, even though Singapore is a small country, Singapore technology had been similarly advanced to other countries such as USA. Singapore had done a lot of things for us. For example, now we get to live under a proper shelter, we get proper education, jobs and many more. Singapore had given the citizens many opportunities to be a successful citizen. In return, I would try to my best to study hard so that I could help Singapore in the future. If I were given the opportunity to leave Singapore in hope for a better future, I would like to, so that I could learn more about countries around the world, but I will try my best to contribute back to the country.

DRAFT 3

Kannan lives in a peaceful village in Sri Lanka. During that time, he was just a mere teenager. He led a simple life. Every day, after Kannan return from school, he would help his parents. He was brought up and taken care by both of his parents. One day, when he was looking at how the leaves and branches swayed in the breeze, He wished that he would lead a peaceful life forever. However, what he wished for might not be happening.

In 1948, when Sri lanka had gained independence, the government had introduced the Ceylon citizenship act. These act had made a lot of Indian tamils to be stateless, including Kannan’s family. These had made Kannan’s family to suffer as they did not have basic rights such as education, jobs and also housing. His family had lived in poverty for quite a long time. Both of his parents had to work in tea plantations and did not have enough money to support the family.

Kannan’s family had gone through a hard time while he was growing up. His family had lived in poverty ever since he was a child. One day, he heard that a militant group was formed. It was called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE). The Tamil Tigers wanted an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east of Sri Lanka by using force against the Sri Lankan government. Kannan wanted to join the Tamil Tigers. His intention was to have revenge on the Sinhalese for what they had done to his family. Before that, he needed to ask for his parents permission and advice. Just as his parents were resting from a hard day’s work, Kannan came to them to talk about the decision that he was going to make.

“Ma, have you heard the news? About the Tamil Tigers?” asked Kannan.

“Yes, a friend of mine told me about that, why?” She responded.

Kannan replied, “I will just go straight to the point, I wish to join them”

There was a long pause. Neither one had spoken a word. Kannan’s mom shook her head. Suddenly, tears were running down her cheeks. Kannan knew that her mom had refused to let him go. Kannan took off without saying a word. Kannan’s family did not know where Kannan had gone to, but her mom knew that her son had left to join the Tamil Tigers.

Since then, Kannan’s parents had not heard about their son. Lots of riot broke out during 1981 to 1983 between the government force and the Tamil tigers. Kannan had fought for the Tamil Tigers for a very long time. Unfortunately, Kannan found out that his parents were killed due to an explosion. Kannan had become more angrier as he thought that the government force were responsible for his parents death.

During the July 1983 riot, Kannan’s close friend was shot. When he was dying, Kannan was by his side. His close friend later admitted that he was the one who had thrown a hand grenade and killed Kannan’s parents, but it was accidental. Just as his close friends drew out his last breath, Kannan was shot in the back. In his last seconds, his only wish was that the war would end and he could see his parents again.

Totto-chan book review

The story is about a little girl called ‘Totto-chan’ who is going through her school life. Totto-chan was expelled from her previous school and she was posted to a school called Tomoe Gakuen. Her new school was very unique and different from other schools. For example, the headmaster of the school, Mr Kobayashi, teaches things that other schools do not. Totto-chan finds the school rather interesting and she loves the school. During World War 2, the school was bombed and was never rebuilt again. Mr Kobayashi aim was to build the school again but that never happened because He had died.
I had learn that we should try our very best to make our school life interesting, so that we could learn things in a more fun way. Every day, there will be something new for us to learn and we must continue to keep learning as it would help us in the future. I would recommend this book to other people because it shows us how important learning is.

In July, A riot had taken placed in the City of Urumqi between the Muslim Uighurs and the Han Chinese. Both ethnic races had conflict against each other ever since July. It all started when two Muslim Uighurs were killed in a dormitory by a Han Chinese workers. These had led to a riot where over 600 people had died. I feel that these two races should try to resolve their problems by peaceful way instead of having riots. The police of Xinjiang should try to prevent more fights from happening so that no more innocent people would get killed.

History of Sri Lanka.

· Sri lanka was colonized by the British between 1796 to 1948. During the British rule, it was known as Ceylon.

· Different types of race in Sri lanka. (eg.)

-Sri lankan tamil

-Indian tamil

-Moor

-Sinhala

The majority of people in Sri lanka are Sinhalese

Most of the Tamils are located in, Batticaloa , which is in the eastern side of Sri Lanka.

Ceylon Citizenship Act 1948

This act only granted citizenship to those who were born in Sri lanka and whose forefathers were born there.

These had caused many Indian Tamils to be stateless which means that they were not citizens of any country.

The Indian tamils do not have basic rights such as education, jobs, housing and voting.

Resettlement Policy 1950

The different races in Sri lanka are not evenly distributed throughout the island.

Sinhalese peasants were moved from densely populated southwestern and central areas to tamil areas.

The tamils were not happy

-Buddhist monks and the Sri lankan army which comprised of mostly Sinhalese came to occupy their lands.

Official Language Act 1956.

In 1956, Sinhala was declared as the official language in Sri lanka.

Most of the tamils were given a choice.

-They were given three years to learn Sinhalese or they will be dismissed.

Most of the tamils find it hard to find jobs and or be promoted.

New university admission criteria 1972.

In 1970, the government introduced new university admission criteria.

Tamils students had to score higher marks than Sinhalese students in order to enter the same course together.

A fixed number of places in the university are reserved for Sinhalese.

These had caused the number of tamil student entering university had decreased over the years.

Should Singlish be the official language in Singapore?

Singlish should not be an official language in Singapore. However, lots of people in Singapore, especially teenagers, are used to speaking Singlish.

The reason is firstly, Singlish is not understandable by people from other countries. Since English is encouraged to be spoken throughout the whole world, People from other countries might have problems communicating with the people in Singapore if Singlish were to become an official language in Singapore.

Secondly, Singlish is an impression of a bad English or also broken English. If we were to speak Singlish in public, People will think that we have not been studying our English properly and that will drop our image.

Thirdly, Singlish is not a good way to communicate among our friends because if we were to keep speaking Singlish, our English will become worse and that would be the reason why some students find it hard to pass their English.

If Singlish were to become an official language in Singapore, All Singaporeans would have a hard time communicating to each other. And people from other countries will look down on Singaporeans.

Are Singaporeans gracious and socially responsible?

Social responsibility is important to everyone. When we are out in the public, we must take care of our image. We must preserve our identity as a Singaporean. For example, especially during this H1N1 outbreak, those who are not feeling well should stay at home so that the disease would not be spread to other people. Still, there are some irresponsible people who do not wish to stay at home and go to the doctors even though the person is not feeling well. These are some the factors that shows not all Singaporeans are socially responsible.

Besides being socially responsible, we must also be gracious to people around us. For example, in a public transport, an elderly person had just got on to the bus and there are no empty seats. People who are fit and healthy should offer their seats to the elderly. However, there are some people who still do not want to do so, not offering seats to the elderly, pregnant lady and disabled ones. These are some of the examples on how Singaporeans can be ungracious

In conclusion, Singaporeans are gracious and socially responsible. However, there are some who still need to learn more on how to be gracious and socially responsible.

Singapore Police Force

The Singapore Police Force provides security and safety to the people in Singapore.

What are the requirements?

• Good eyesight, must have normal colour vision
• At least 5 GCE 'O' level credits or NITEC
• Must be physically and medically fit.
• Must be a Singaporean or a Permanent Resident.

The reason why I chose to join the Police force is because I would like to protect and maintain peace in this country.

What does a Police Officer do?

• A police officer mainly protects the country by conducting criminal investigations,
• Fighting gangsterism
• Identifying computer scam
• neigbourhood patrolling.

Loyalty to the police force is important. So is having a calm and quick mind. A police officer should also be ready to face demanding and challenging task.

My target for the next two years

My target for the next two years is to get at least a B4 in every subject. Most importantly is English language and Maths.

I am very worried for my maths because I am not good in it. I am working very hard to pass my maths. My target for maths in the mid-year exams is to get a C5. By end of this year, I wish to get a B4.

As for the other subjects, I am not so worried because last year I had done quite well in my History and F&N. But this year, both history and F&N is quite tough but I will still put in more effort compared to last year.

For Physics and Chemistry, I have no problem with my Chemistry but I have some problems with my Physics.

Finally, I hope that I will not be demoted to the Normal Academic stream. So, I will start working hard now.