Outstanding Writing
Some people like listening to heavy metal, some like classical music, some like jazz and some like easy listening. As a music fan, I like all kinds of music besides heavy metal. Some songs I have listened to have meaningful messages, for example, don't hide your true self, stand up for yourself, believe in your dreams, etc.
Why I Like Listening to Music 1K Kwong Ellie Yuen Ting
You could say that different kinds of songs have different “functions”. For example, when you feel upset or stressed out because of school work, you can listen to some slow and soft music to calm down and relax. I always listen to music to release stress and it makes me feel relaxed. When you are in a bad mood, you can listen to your favourite tune for fifteen minutes. Afterwards, you won't remember what you were upset about. Listening to music can also reduce depression and help you sleep better.
I had a personal experience which I would like to share with you. About three months ago, I had a toe surgery and I was extremely nervous. When I first saw the doctor, I found out that I could have the surgery on that day. I was so anxious and my hands felt so cold. The doctor saw how nervous I was and recommended me to listen to some music. The surgery was done in about thirty minutes but it only seems like a few minutes had passed because I was distracted by music. The surgery was over in the blink of an eye. My toe was wrapped up and only felt a little pain. I was very thankful the doctor gave me the idea of listening to music. I really don't know how I would have survived the surgery otherwise.
Usually, doctors would recommend their patients to listen to some music before and after having a surgery to make them feel less nervous. After reading about my experience, maybe the next time you are feeling anxious, you should listen to some music too!
Recorder Competition 1S Fung Sum Yu
Last year I joined a recorder competition. My teacher, Miss Tam, suggested that I join the recorder competition because my technique is pretty good.
First I needed to practise the easiest part of the piece of music every day in the music room with other students. After a week, I started practicing other music sentences. I practised the piece of music for a month. Miss Tam said, “You have finished your practising. You just need to wait for the date that you have to perform in front of the adjudicator.”
One week later, I got the date to compete with others. There was one week left. Although my parents and my brother ignored my music, I still kept practicing.
On the day of the competition, I arrived at the venue. Miss Tam and my dad encouraged me. Then I walked into the small room with 40 other competitors. When it was my turn, my heart almost jumped out from my body. I played the music softly and gently. I watched the adjudicators eyes. I noticed they were smiling. I calmed myself down. Thankfully I made no mistakes.
After all my competitors performed, the adjudicators announced the result. “1st-runner up belongs to Fung Sum Yu.” I was so surprised because this was just the first time I joined the competition. I was glad to take the 1st-runner up title. I hope to have the next chance to perform my music soon.
My First Pokémon Journey 2F Tam Chun Ki
When I was a child, I watched the Pokémon TV shows and became a fan. I always hoped to have a Nintendo Console and play a Pokémon game myself. My dream came true two years ago when my cousin got a Nintendo Switch and he decided to lend his gaming console to me and I finally played my first ever Pokémon game - Pokémon: Let’s Go Pikachu.
I remember I was excited when I started the game, because it was my first Pokémon journey in the Kanto Region. I started as Ash who lives in a small town and received a Pikachu from Professor Oak’s Lab. Leaving my hometown and starting my journey to become the best Pokémon trainer with my Pikachu, to become the best Pokémon Trainer, I had to defeat eight trainers who are the strongest in the city and defeat the strongest Pokémon trainer of the whole Region. I met awesome new friends and we became team members. Of course the best battle I got into is the Champion battle, which is against the strongest trainer. The Champion is actually my neighbour who started the journey on the same day. His Pokémon team is strong, but he lost to me and accepted his defeat as a trainer - he didn’t care for his Pokémon.
After the gameplay I gave the console back to my cousin. However me and my older brother managed to save up money and buy a Nintendo Switch Lite and a Pokemon Shield game card. I can have a whole new journey with new Pokémon in the Galar Region.
After playing the game, I have learnt two important things that are useful for our life. First,I learnt the importance of friends. Pokémon in your team are like your friends, we support each other, share happiness with each other and help each other. Second, just like the neighbour who found out his problem after losing the battle against me, we all make mistakes, so we should find our mistakes and do better.
They tried to tear me down 2K Tsang Tsz Yu
My classmates teased me about my ambition. They mocked me because I wanted to be an artist. They said I was so useless that I couldn’t achieve anything. They poured paint on me and claimed that it suited me. They embarrassed me in front of the whole class but I didn’t care. I didn’t care so much what I was to others as I only cared what I was to myself.
My teachers scolded me. They said I had never put any effort into studying. They pointed out that drawing was just a waste of time. They took away all my painting tools and reminded me, ‘You can only be successful if you study.’ I started to doubt myself. Was drawing really a waste of time? Was studying the only key to success?
My parents beat me. They said I was a failure. They rebuked me as they thought my talent for drawing was useless. ‘Ridiculous!’ they shouted and they started to tear all my drawings into pieces. They locked me in my room and told me to introspect. A long silence filled the room. Although I didn’t understand what I had done wrong, I realised my dream was going to be difficult to achieve... But I would never give up, even if the reality hit me real hard. I would do what they thought I couldn’t do, I would prove them wrong.
Who tried to destroy my dream? I seemed to know but I didn’t care. After all, a fish could never teach a dragon how to fly.
Back To School 3C Foo Regent
It has been a wild ride.
I have experienced some schedule fluctuations which have been mentally draining. It was almost inevitable that I became unmotivated to do summer tasks. Though, I got back on track using some upgraded time management skills.
I still remember when I wrote about this topic last year. I apologise for the vague and unhelpful tips I gave back then. I will now rectify some concepts about time management:
One week later, I got the date to compete with others. There was one week left. Although my parents and my brother ignored my music, I still kept practicing.
On the day of the competition, I arrived at the venue. Miss Tam and my dad encouraged me. Then I walked into the small room with 40 other competitors. When it was my turn, my heart almost jumped out from my body. I played the music softly and gently. I watched the adjudicators eyes. I noticed they were smiling. I calmed myself down. Thankfully I made no mistakes.
After all my competitors performed, the adjudicators announced the result. “1st-runner up belongs to Fung Sum Yu.” I was so surprised because this was just the first time I joined the competition. I was glad to take the 1st-runner up title. I hope to have the next chance to perform my music soon.
Summer Holiday 3C Tang Ho Ki
Unlike other summer holidays, for some people this summer was boring and short. However, I have learnt new things.
Apart from doing homework, I have done many activities with my family. In order to keep healthy, we exercised everyday together. Before the pandemic, we did not really have time to exercise together, so we can say the pandemic gave us the chance to become much healthier. Moreover, we tried baking cakes and biscuits by ourselves at home. It was an amazingly simple thing to do but we found it interesting.
For myself, because I wanted to learn something else, I started to learn Spanish. Spanish is quite difficult for me. However, I tried my best with the pronunciation and some simple sentences to communicate with others. I like Spanish and I think it’s a good way to spend time. I practiced the piano for 2 hours a day also, so my summer holidays were fulfilling.
To conclude, I am not sure what you have done in the summer, but I hope everyone enjoyed it. The Coronavirus did make us feel very exhausted and helpless. We couldn’t go out as frequently as before and the pandemic is still not under control. However, I hope everyone will continue to do what they love to do. Hopefully, after the pandemic, we can remove our masks and have our regular lives back.
How to Kill Time during the Pandemic 4F Au Yeung Sin Lam
Due to covid-19, most people had to stay at home during the summer holidays. Like many of you, I spent plenty of time overusing my phone and watching YouTube videos.However, after a few weeks, it occurred to me that I could no longer have fun from that lifestyle. In the light of the desire to stop being a couch potato, I started to explore hobbies to get through this harsh time.
Drawing on the iPad was my first approach. Different from traditional sketching on paper, which is hard to finish a good-looking piece of art by a person with no talent like me, electronic devices will help you to correct some basic shapes. Chances of painting out of bounds are also reduced because of its fantastic settings. These helped me accomplish amazing works and resulted in building up my self esteem.The most vital point is that completing one work took quite a lot of time and gave me a fruitful vacation.
Crochet is my other method. Looking at the screen for a long time really hurts our precious eyes. As a result, I began crocheting, which I have learnt in crochet club. It is also uncomplicated for beginners to comprehend via online videos.Time flies when crocheting. Moreover, turning a ball of yarn into bags and cases brings me a sense of success. Having skills in different areas is also essential for dealing with our changeable and unpredictable reality.
I hope these ideas will help you to spend time more meaningfully and discover something you are passionate about.
Plastic Surgery 4S Chau Pak Wai
Plastic surgery has become trendy due to the influence of Korean culture all over the world. As Korea is a country that pays a lot of attention to beauty, plastic surgery is popular in Korea and many people visit for a makeover.
A lot of people see plastic surgery as naive behaviour and think it is stupid to hurt themselves and pay tons of money for beauty. However I think it is
always worth it to do whatever you want. Plastic surgery is not just about unnatural beauty. A lot of people get plastic surgeries done to fix their birth defects and scars. Besides, when people finally get to look like their ideal selves, they feel happier. Many people think plastic surgery is a form of self-harming, but I think it is a process to love yourself. When people are not satisfied with their looks, they tend to hate themselves. Plastic surgery helps them to transform their ideal looks and helps them become more confident.
Plastic surgery makes people look more beautiful, however it does not mean it is a fabulous decision to make. To be honest, we should appreciate natural beauty more. Although plastic surgery is somehow a process to love yourself, some people are addicted to them and get surgeries done again and again. They are never satisfied with their looks. We should learn to like our natural selves and not follow the public beauty standard blindly. We should learn to accept our imperfections.
Everyone has their own kind of self-love. We should respect their thoughts and decisions. However, it is also important to learn to appreciate your natural beauty and do not over-rely on plastic surgery.
My School 5F Tam Chun Him
SKH Chan Young, our secondary school.
Kindness is ubiquitous, tolerance is the rule.
Happiness and joy every single school day. This is more than a school.
Caring teachers and students are always beside you.
Helping one another, even though faces are new.
Any day any time, you can call this place home.
Nothing needs to be feared, you’ll never walk alone.
Young people strive to reach their goals, nothing is impossible.
One success is never good enough, we aim for the highest possible.
Upward we look, forward we go.
New students or senior ones, this is our school motto.
Goals are never too far away. New heights, off we go!
Secondary one to secondary six, we came through sunny days and rain.
Endless bliss and jubilation will forever live in our minds.
Cheerful school days will never be dead.
On and on our school years go, six years will gradually come to an end.
No one will feel sad, we won’t forget how our days went.
Daily work or complicated tasks, we enjoy and learn from every process.
Always we will toil for success.
Regardless of the sorrow and pains, we will remember the joy of our school years.
You will never leave in tears.
So this is all about our school, how do you feel?
Could it be the school life you will?
How about giving you a surprise.
Only some can find it out.
Once you read the whole poem,
Look at every starting letter of each sentence.
Pulling through 2020 5K Chan Ming Nei
The year of 2020 has been full of misfortunes. The virus has taken away our freedom and happiness for more than half a year, killing over 800k people around the world.
People have lost their jobs, gone bankrupt, and are feeling miserable in general. As a teenager, it is not any better for us either. Personally, I originally had a lot of things planned for the summer, such as the exchange
tour to Japan, gaining work experience, going on overnight trips with my best friends and making the most out of the last summer before officially stepping into adulthood. Now it just feels like there is an emptiness in my heart that can never be filled. For my peers, the graduates, we lost our chance to go to the long-anticipated graduation dinner and graduation trips. This may not seem like a big deal for others, but for us, it not only marks the completion of secondary school life, it also adds a full-stop to our youth. It’s just really upsetting being unable to celebrate these last few years as he had hoped.
As the saying goes, “it is what it is.” The pandemic is here to stay, there is no use sighing over something that we cannot change. All we can do is accept the facts and learn. It is important to maintain a positive mindset. Here’s some thoughts that stayed with me these past months.
Since I was a child, my father taught me that I should always try new things. When I was 10, my parents ordered raw oysters for dinner. I thought it was slimy and gross, so I refused to eat them. But then, my father told me that I should try it first before I head to the conclusion that it is good or not. And what do you know, raw oysters became one of my favourite foods. Therefore, if you have any spare time, it is always nice to try new things, like developing a new interest such as playing a new instrument, painting, writing, even singing. As said in the movie Forrest Gump, “life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get.” There’s nothing wrong with a little bit of surprise, right? What’s important is that you can find happiness at this moment in your life.
I’m sure if we can survive through 2020, the end of the world wouldn’t be too hard for us.
Struggling through the pandemic 6C Leung Jo Lam
This academic year (2019-2020), for me, is the last one in my secondary school life and, for most students, the bumpiest one. In the face of the cancellation of the school mock exams, with the postponement of the DSE exams that followed, it is hard, if not impossible, not to feel traumatized. Feeling helpless as well, I understood studying is all about self-discipline. The only person you should rely on is yourself. Teachers, be it day school ones or celebrity tutors, are just here to assist us with our studies. Overdependence on them would do more harm than good and create an excuse for not making an effort to revise. On a positive note, an extra month for revision could be beneficial for those left behind to catch up on their studies and those top students to further sharpen their competitive edge. All these served as a driving force to me for striving continuously to get good results in the DSE exams.
As we all know, the education system in Hong Kong is a grade-fixated one. Studying hard and passing the exams with flying colours would almost be the only pathway to entering a decent university. Therefore, whenever I was sitting an exam, I told myself it was a make-or-break one and ‘it is now or never’ to showcase my diligence and endurance throughout the three-year senior secondary school life. With this in mind, no matter how suffocating and unbearable wearing a face mask while sitting a two-hour exam could be, I managed to rise to the occasion. Against all odds, this year’s DSE exams were over eventually. Tough times never last, but tough people do!
A Bird in a Cage 6K Wong Tsz Yin
Seeing other birds flying around is my daily entertainment. When I look at them, I sometimes find myself wondering how it feels to breathe in the open air, how it is like to be exposed under the sunlight, how to catch a worm by myself instead of feeding by a human. It just keeps me captivated.
Therefore I believe that now is a good time. ‘It’s alright. He will not find out if I just go for an hour.’ I kept telling myself.
Stretching my head, spreading my wings and jumping up. I practically fell as it had been a long time since I learned how to fly. How ridiculous it is, look what humans have done to me. I am slowly getting used to my wings. Flying high I can see the picturesque and sweeping view. The sky is blue and dappled by clouds. I wish I had crayons to paint on it. All the skyscrapers underneath become small. Hither-thither streets are full of tiny humans yet they don’t notice me since all of them only stare at their phones, looking so dreary that I hope they can feel my unprecedented feeling right now - liberation. I have never felt this great before because I can eventually feel the warmth from the sun, the wind caressing my feathers. I feel like this is the cosmopolitan city I made and I am ruling this world, patrolling my own empire and citizens.
I have tip-toed around my entire life and it has eaten me alive. Every night I look out the window, pondering if I deserved better or I was born to be restricted; I start counting a million stars, wishing I could land among them and be a fearless bird. Now I know that I am hardwired to fly around the jungle, forest or wherever I like but not to be in a cage. I cannot stop flying until I find the right place, even if it hurts my wings or my entire body because my spirit is never dead and I know where I belong. I would never ever go back.
It has been an hour since the cage door opened. I guess that I am a bit rebellious as I flew to the edge of the window to see the panoramic view. Standing there, it is crystal clear. I deliberate if I should take the next step but my loyalty convinces me that I shouldn’t.
It is the grief of a bird being in a cage - that which utterly deprives us of being free. Three years ago I abominated my master as he put me in the cage. I would moan all day long as revenge. Nonetheless, he still tolerated me as I am his only company. He was an old man who would sit on his recliner after coming back from work, petting me a little and then falling asleep. As days passed by, I realised that he was also trapped in this modern world as work had been taking away his life. Ironically both of us were prisoners.