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Letter to the Editor | Week 3, Lesson 1 | Grade 9

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Letter to The Editor But first, let me tell you a story. Last week friday, I was in New Amsterdam to buy some textbooks. After I bought what I needed and, walking back down N/A stelling road to the bus park, I decided to go visit an old friend of mine. Her snackette was located close to the stelling itself.  When I used to go to High School, my friends and I would be at her snackette every afternoon, rain or shine. The food was great, the place was well kept and always busy. Aunty Jenny and her husband ran that snackette and bar and they are very nice people.  This was during the time the Pontoon was operating, this big, long ferry that would be packed every morning and afternoon with school children from Multi, BHS, and NATI. This pontoon and the presence of so many school-going customers kept all the businesses alive and prosperous down that stelling road. Flash forward to 2020, the boats have stopped carrying passengers between Rosignol and New Amsterdam, stelling road gets...

Health and Family Life Education - Introduction | Grade 7

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This is likely the first time that you have taken a class on H.F.L.E, and you might be wondering what it's all about. H.F.L.E stands for Health and Family Life Education, and it is my goal as an H.F.L.E teacher to help you master life skills - skills that you will need now, and skills that you will need when you become an adult. These "Skills" that I am talking about aren't what you usually think of when you hear that word, instead I will teach you how to:  go about dealing with and solving the problems in your life.  think critically and filter out wrong information. manage your feelings (stress, depression, attraction, jealousy) understand yourself as an individual and care for your body. negotiate and communicate with people. care for the environment and use resources responsibly. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines life skills as: "abilities which help us to adapt and behave positively so that we can deal effectively with the challenges of everyday li...

Assonance & Alliteration | Week 5, Lesson 3 | Grade 9

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  Assonance and Alliteration are two features of language that writers, especially poets, use.  They are meant to engage a reader’s auditory (i.e, listening) skills while also making the writing they are used in sound musical and fun to read. Assonance and Alliteration are mainly different in terms of what letter type is repeated and where.  Since poetry and prose use them heavily, they can be a little hard to distinguish to most people. What is Alliteration? Alliteration is a literary style that deals with the repetition of similar or identical consonant sounds. (All letters of the Alphabet, other than Vowels, are consonants) It makes a line fun to read and usually repeats the consonant sounds in a word, usually in the beginning those words, but may occur at any point. You may be familiar with this famous example of Alliteration from the old tongue-twister "Peter the piper".   E.g #1 - " P eter p iper p icked a p epper; p ut it in a p epper p ot", is the Guyanese ...

Clichés - Week 2, Lesson 3 | Grade 10

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  What is a Cliché? A cliché is a word or phrase that has been overused in writing. Clichés such as “leave no stone unturned” have been used so much in writing that they have lost all their effectiveness. These phrases have become weak and meaningless. They usually contribute nothing to the message you are trying to convey and will be viewed, by the reader, simply as padding. A text full of clichés makes the writer appear lazy and uncreative and will, for many readers, kill the significance of the writing. As a young person reading through textbooks or stories, you'll come across certain old, almost meaningless phrases, that are used in an effort to express the writer's ideas. "Time heals all wounds." - This is a true statement, but it's been used so many times in books, movies, articles, etc - that it becomes boring and tired.  "Don't put all of your eggs in one basket." - You have probably heard this one before from your mother or grandmother. I...

Using a Colon | Grade 9 - Week 3, Lesson 3

  The colon   ( : )   and semicolon   ( ; ) are frequently used incorrectly in place of each other. The two punctuation marks serve very different purposes, and should not be used interchangeably. COLON A colon is used to give emphasis, present dialogue, introduce lists or text, and clarify composition titles. Emphasis — Capitalise  the first word after the colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete sentence. (She had one love: Guyana, land of many waters.) Dialogue —Write the speaker's name, followed by a colon and his or her statement. (Reporter: What is the Golden Arrow of Achievement ? Dunn: It is a General Award and Guyana's fourth-highest award, to ‘any citizen of Guyana who has performed an outstanding and specific act of service or achievement of an exceptional nature'. ) Introduce lists, text or tabular material — Capitalise  the first word after the colon only if it is a proper noun or the start of a complete ...

Implicit Meaning - Week 1 Lesson 2 | Grade 9

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 An Idea like "Implicit meaning" can be hard to understand sometimes. Like any big or confusing word, there are other smaller easier words we can break it down into.  It's like talking about something without mentioning the name of that thing. Check out these examples:  1. Of the 24 hours in a day, there is none I love more than those hours when the sky becomes painted with oranges and pinks - when the air becomes cooler and the crickets start to sing. What time of day do I love the most? If you guessed "Sunset" or "twilight", you're correct. I did not tell you just like that, that I love the sunset - I told you about the colours in the sky and the coolness of the air and the crickets that start making their sounds. With this information you can then understand what time of day I am talking about. 2. As he bit into some crunchy jam and toast as he read the newspaper spread in front of him. Over on the stove, the tea he forgot to pour out was get...

Descriptive Writing - Different attitudes | Grade 9

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In the last Grade 9 English "A" post, you were asked to write a 2 paragraph descriptive story based on a picture you took or drawing you made. In today's post you can learn to describe a person from different angles of approach.  For example, we can describe a beggar in any of these ways: Illustration of a beggar in 'rags' As seen by an anonymous writer, e.g. The beggar shuffled into the shop almost apologetically, holding out half a coconut shell with sad persistence...  As a first person description, e.g.  I watched the beggar thoughtfully and wondered whether he earned more than I did from his earnest entreaties to elderly tourists...  As seen Through The Eyes of a child (by the Narrator), e.g. The scene always puzzled Mitzie, being young as she was. She watched her father take off the clean clothes he wore at home, and put on some old and dirty rags. “It’s his work”, her mother explained nervously. “He works in a very dirty place, and he doesn't want to sp...