Category: Tuition

A Spring-clean at the Playground

The Mastertuition neighbourhood playground was neglected. The equipment was broken and faded. So, the residents decided to have a spring-clean at the playground on Sunday morning.

Mr Low and Mr Raja painted the monkey bars. Encik Bryan repaired the broken benches with his hammer and nails. Mrs David planted  a hibiscus while her son James Harden stood next to her holding a shovel. Mr Balan and Encik Johar repaired the swings. Ms. Alice and Mrs Lee prepared drinks for the thirsty volunteers.

By the time the volunteers finished with the spring-clean, the playground looked nice and cheerful. Now, the neighbourhood children could use the playground.

Bryan was on his way to school. The pavement were filled with students walking to school. Many adults were busy going to work at the same time. Just then, horns blared and pedestrians screamed thunderously.

Peering through the many people who had gathered along the pavement, Bryan saw puffs of smoke snaking out from between two trees. Inching his way through the crowd, Bryan stepped onto the side of the road to avoid getting injured. He was horrified to witness a car with its front smashed against a tree. Smoke was billowing from the bonnet profusely. One of the doors was opened and a few people were trying to drag the driver out. The driver was pregnant and sobbed in fear.

“What happened?” someone next to Bryan asked. However, the shock had robbed Bryan of any speech. He stared at the scene as a sense of panic engulfed him.  Bryan ran forward a little. He was standing in the middle of the road together with drivers who had come out from the cars. He wanted to shout and asked them to get away but he could not utter a word. He was overcome with fright as more and more smoke emerged from the bonnet. Suddenly, someone shouted, “Hurry!” The car is going to explode!”

Bryan was jolted from his thoughts. Together with the rest of the crowd, he ran as far as he could. The victims had been dragged away just in time. There were popping sounds and loud bang before bright orange flames burst out of the bonnet.

Bryan was late for school that day but so were many of his friends. They were unable to walk to school as the route was blocked. The police had cordoned off the area.

Encik Bryan came back to shore in his boat. He was excited. He had caught a variety of fishes.

He unloaded his containers of fishes when he reached the shore. Encik Bryan’s friends were also unloading their catch. Puan Siti, one of his neighbours, had already set up her stall. She was selling prawns, crabs and cockles at her stall. A cat was trying to steal a fish from the basket behind Puan Siti. Meanwhile, seagulls were flying nearby. They were hoping to get some fish for their food.

It had rained heavily for three consecutive days. Kampung Mastertuition was flooded eventually. Bryan felt miserable as his house was flooded.

Unfortunately, all his books were spoilt by the flood water. The river had overflowed its banks and the water was three feet high. Bryan’s parents were away and did not know that Bryan had been trapped in their house due to the flood water.

Luckily, Bryan’s neighbour had seen Bryan in his bedroom. Before being trapped in the water, Bryan climbed to the top floor. Bryan was rescued by a rescue team. He sat in a boat with his neighbhours, feeling sorry for himself.

For the fifth time, Bryan touched the bulge in his backpack. It was a digital camera given by his parents on his birthday. He was going to use it to make a film about his visit to the zoo which was located at only a stone’s throw away from his house. As the bus approached the zoo, Bryan, unlike his other friends, quietly took out his video camera while the rest were jumping around excitedly.

Bryan turned on his video camera as he walked down the stairs. His teacher grinned and waved into the camera. His friends gave him the thumbs up sign. Bryan filmed everyone storming into the zoo. It was too difficult for Bryan to spot any monkeys initially. Once Bryan found a troop of monkeys, he quickened his pace with the zoom function to take a clearer picture. Afterwards, he filmed a polar bear splashing in the knee-deep river. Bryan pointed at one of the huge creatures and spoke loudly as they talked about the characteristics of the rhinoceroses.

Although the trip to the zoo was an uneventful one, Bryan was as excited as though it was his first trip there. He captured his friends in their candid moments and his teacher in a rare moment laughing while playing some tricks with the students.

It was a dream came true for Bryan as he was capable of viewing the entire excursion again when he went home. Knowing what he had done, his teacher persuaded him to try his hand at video editing and make a film of the zoo trip.

It was Deepavali. Alice’s family was having an open house. Alice’s parents had invited the neighbours to come to their open house. Mrs. Tan came wearing an elegant cheongsam, while Puan Siti wore a pretty headscraft and baju kurung.

Alice served cookies and drinks to her guests. Alice’s brother Mano and his friend Ramli happily played with sparklers. Alice’s sisters, Lily and Susu made a flower kolam using coloured rice. Meanwhile, Alice’s grandmother lit the oil lamps to celebrate Deepavali. Everyone enjoyed themselves.

While waiting at the bus stop for my bus to arrive, I looked around in boredom at the flats around me. In my hand, I held my new mobile phone. It was one of the best camera phones on the market. My parents had just bought it for me. It had one of the best zoom functions of all the camera phones. I had been using it to take photographs of my candid moments.

However, I was on the lookout for something more exciting. At that moment, I saw movement on the third floor of a flat. Out of my curiosity, I walked towards the block of flats, taking out my mobile phone at the same time. To my surprise, I saw a man scaling the walls of the block of flats exactly the way Spiderman would do it. Immediately, I took a picture of him with my mobile phone. The man shocked me further by climbing through an open window of a flat on the third floor. I hurriedly snapped another picture of him in action. No one else noticed the events that were unfolding before me for the place was deserted.

I was hesitant about notifying the policeman as it occurred to me that the man might just have forgotten the bring his keys. If he was the owner of the flat, he would be annoyed with me and I would certainly not be able to live with the embarrassment. I decided to do nothing when I could not see any movement at the window after a few minutes.

A flash of lightning lit the sky, followed by loud thunder. The sky was dark. Although it was midday, it looked very gloomy. Then, it started raining heavily. The rain continued for an hour. There were puddles of water everywhere. The drain behind the bus stop was overflowing with rainwater and looked ominous. The water on the road flowed swiftly.

After a while, the heavy rain turned into a drizzle. People walked around with umbrellas. It looked like a sea of colourful umbrellas. A few ladies were walking very slowly so as not to get splashed by passing cars. A few children were having the time of their lives playing in the puddles of water. They did not seem to mind that their socks and shoes were thoroughly wet.

• kind- voluntary – children’s home – weekend-

My aunt is a kind lady . She does voluntary work at a children’s home every weekend. All children love seeing her.

• goes – leaves – feeds – children – homework – listens – problems – kind – outdoor games – swimming pool –

Usually, my aunt goes to the home in the morning and leaves only in the evening. She feeds the younger children. She helps the elder ones with their homework. She also listens to their problems. They like her as she is kind and caring. Sometimes, she plays games with them. They play outdoor games such as football and basketball. They also play indoor games such as chess and scrabble. Occasionally, my aunt takes them to the nearby swimming pool for a swim.

• look forward – weekend – spending – children –

The children look forward to my aunt’s visit every weekend. My aunt also enjoys spending time with the children.

• policeman – works –

Bryan is a policeman. He works at Bandar Puteri, Puchong.

• spends – walking – neighbourhood – elderly – children – play – road – cycles – residents – makes sure – stands – junction –

Bryan spends most of his mornings walking around the neighbourhood. He helps the elderly and students to cross the road. He makes sure that children do not run or play too near the road. In the afternoons, he cycles around the neighbourhood. He stops to talk to the residents. Everyone likes him very much. In the evenings, Bryan makes sure that the children coming home from school do not dash across the road. He stands at the junction to watch them. When the children see him there, they behave immediately.

• works – ill – job –

Bryan works hard every day. He goes to work even when he is ill. He enjoys his job because he likes to help others.