Tag: Writing

Using Direct Speech


Task description: This week during Writing, we are learning to accurately punctuate and use speech marks in our writing. Speech marks are punctuation marks that are used in pairs in various forms of writing to indicate speech or begin a direct quote. They are also called quotation marks and inverted commas. Speech marks are usually used when a character or a person is talking in a text or piece of writing, in some cases it can be used to show something that is said such as a quote from somewhere.

Many people this quotation marks and speech marks are the same but have you ever thought what the difference between quotation marks and speech marks are? Well here’s the difference, in writing, quotation marks or inverted commas, also known informally as quotes, talking marks, speech marks, quote marks, quotemarks or speechmarks, are punctuation marks placed on either side of a word or phrase in order to identify it as a quotation, direct speech or a literal title or name.

Quotation marks may be used to indicate that the meaning of the word or phrase they surround should be taken to be different from that typically associated with it, and are often used in this way to express irony. For example, in the sentence ‘The lunch lady plopped a glob of “food” onto my tray.’ The quotation marks around the word food show it is being called ironically. They are also sometimes used to emphasise a word or phrase, although this is usually considered incorrect.

The general rules of direct speech are:

  • Each new character’s speech starts on a new line.
  • Speech is opened with speech marks.
  • Each line of speech starts with a capital.
  • The line of speech ends with a comma, exclamation mark or question mark.
  • A reporting clause is used at the end (said Jane, shouted Paul, replied Mum).
  • A full stop goes after the reporting clause.
  • If the direct speech in the sentence is broken up by information about who is speaking, add in a comma or question mark or exclamation mark to end the first piece of speech and a full stop or another comma before the second piece (before the speech marks), for example: “It’s lovely,” she sighed, “but I can’t afford it right now.” / “I agree!” said Kate. “Let’s go!”

My highlight for writing this week is finishing the task because it was really easy and fun to do. I wouldn’t mind doing things like this more often. I don’t have a lowlight for writing this week as I enjoyed writing this week a lot and I didn’t find anything hard. The task was really different from what we usually do for writing. I’m really proud of how I went with this writing task so I don’t have anything for me to work on this week for writing. After that I completed the task, and I posted it on our blog. I enjoyed this task very much, and I hope to do more like this soon. Hope you enjoyed. Please leave a comment; thank you for visiting my blog.

My quote of the day: You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page

POV: You’ve won 2 million dollars

Congratulations! You have won 2 million dollars. What would you do with the money?

 

I have thought about this before so I’ve planned it out based on my life and things happening in it, so firstly I would spend $1140000 dollars on a house from my 2 million dollars and that would leave me with $860000 dollars left to save or spend, but I’m gonna spend.

 

Next I would half my $860000 dollars and put $430000 dollars on my card which I would save and slowly use over the next couple of years to pay off the payments for the house and buy things like furniture for the house I bought, which I’m gonna keep on my oldest sisters name until I’m 18 and can legally own a property of my own name

 

After that I’d use the other $430000 dollars to help my parents pay off the mortgage and pills and let’s say that’s around $10000 dollars, I would have $420000 dollars left I would give 1000 to my sisters each, which would leave me with $418000 dollars. 

 

So then I would give $5000 dollars to my parents each for them to spend on themselves and buy whatever they need or want. Leaving me with $408000 dollars. 

 

Next I would give $10200 dollars for zakat because 2.5% of 408000 is 10200. But the reason I’m gonna give that money for zakat is because zakat is the third pillar of Islam. It’s a donation that Muslims regard as a mandatory act within their faith. Followers of Islam who have at least a minimum amount of wealth are required to give 2.5% of their liquid assets away to charity each year. Zakat’s are usually given to people in need. Also it’s considered a good deed in my religion and if you have ever committed a sin, by giving zakat you are giving back for that and making up for your wrongdoing.

 

After that I would have $397800 dollars left and from that I would also give 7800 for sadaqah jariyah which literally translates from its original Arabic as “flowing,” or “running” (jariyah) “charity” (sadaqah), meaning charity that one gives in life that continues to provide charitable benefit to its elected donee and, therefore, divine reward to its giver, after its donor passes away from this life. Sadaqah Jariyah is considered an act of kindness that continues to give long-term or after you have left this world. are usually given to people in need. 

 

After all of that I would have $390000 dollars left, and with that I would send half of the $390000 meaning $195, 000 dollars to Fiji to help my family pay bills and do anything else they need, such as renovation or paint jobs. And to get help with medical care because my nan is sick.

 

After all of that I would have $195,000 dollars left. Using that I would buy weekly groceries for the next 7 years because 195,000/365 = 534.24(2dp) and that’s how much groceries usually cost in my household. And I divided 195,000 by 365 because there are 365 weeks in 7 years. But if anything ever happens and there is an emergency or anything like that I can use that money as well.

 

And that is everything I would do if I won 2 million dollars!

 

Task description: This week during Writing, our task was to complete 2 free choice activities. My first task was to write a rhyming poem about something gross like farts and my second one was saying what would you do with the money if I won 2 million dollars. This is my second free choice activities, and to be honest, I wouldn’t go on a shopping spree or anything, I would use the money to help my family and to help random people in need.

My highlight was writing all my reasoning behind the things I would do with the money and seeing how much you could do with 2 million dollars. This task was really fun and I enjoyed every bit of it so I don’t really have a lowlight for it but maybe next time I will. I don’t have anything to work on this week either because I’m really proud of myself and how I’ve done this week. I hope to do more like this soon because it was really fun. Please leave a positive comment on my blog. Thank you! Bye~

A Slimy thing…

A Slimy thing…

A Poem By: Zaria Khan

 

A slimy slug, a slimy snail,

A slimy thing that’s sure to fail

To make you smile, to make you laugh,

It’s sure to make you want to take a bath

 

A slimy frog, a slimy toad,

A slimy thing that’s sure to goad

To make you cringe, to make you squirm,

It’s sure to make you want to squirm and squirm

 

A slimy bug, a slimy fly,

A slimy thing that’s sure to die

To make you gag, to make you puke,

It’s sure to make you want to take a look

 

A slimy worm, a slimy grub,

A slimy thing that’s sure to rub

To make you sick, to make you ill,

It’s sure to make you want to take a pill

 

Task description: This week during Writing, our task was to complete 2 free choice activities. My first task was to write a rhyming poem about something gross like farts. I did mine on slimy things such as bugs, flys, frogs, worms, toads, slugs, snails etc. I choose to do my poem on such things because when I think of something gross that’s what comes to my mind. It was really fun trying out new creative and weird words to use in my poem.

My highlight was writing my poem because it was really funny and it was a weird topic to write a poem on. My lowlight was trying to figure out what words would fit in the poem. I don’t have anything to work on this week because I’m really proud of myself and how I’ve done this week. I hope to do more like this soon because it was really fun. Please leave a positive comment on my blog. Thank you! Bye~

Blog commenting

Task description: This week during Writing, our task was to write a positive, helpful and thoughtful comment on 5 peoples blogs in our literacy class. For me, looking at all my friends’ posts was fun and seeing how they were going with their learning, but what I loved even more was writing them a comment. And my reasoning for this is I feel like when someone shows their appreciation and interest towards your work it makes you feel good inside and happy that people care about your learning and how you’re doing. It also motivates you to do better and try your best next time, and I feel like this because personally when someone compliments me or leaves me a positive comment I feel like I did well and that I should be proud of myself.

For my 5 people to comment on, I chose to do 5 of my friends. These peoples names being, Tumanako, Mary, Swaimah, Rylan and Elijah. Not gonna lie this task was really fun and I really hope we do more like this soon because we don’t usually comment on each other’s blogs so it’s nice to spread a bit of kindness once in a while. One thing I found hard was choosing whose blogs I wanted to comment on because most of my friends are in my class so that was probably my only lowlight for this task but the rest was really fun and interesting. Something I loved was how each person I picked had something different on their blogs and they had a good task description telling us what they did and how they found it.

My highlight was finishing the task really fast because it was really easy. My lowlight was probably trying to think of who’s blogs to choose to comment on and what task to comment on as they were all really good. Something I’ll work on next time is trying to add more details to the comments and to give them some feedback/ideas, but I found that a bit hard this time because all the tasks were so good and didn’t have anything to work on. But besides all of that I don’t have anything I want to work on this week for writing, but anyways I enjoyed doing literacy a lot today, and if I’m being honest it was the easiest work I’ve had so far this term. Please leave a positive comment on my blog. Thank you! Bye~

Vocabulary Swap

Her jaw dropped as the phone line dialled out in a fade… The phone thumped on the ground sending shivers down my spine. She rushed to get in my car. The hospital was hours away from my house as she said to herself “I have to see her, please be okay, what will we do if she doesn’t make it!?!?. Poor Tara. I have to be with her!”

As she drove frantically thoughts ran through her head. “Turn green you f**king light” she yelled so loud that the car next to her could hear her. He gave her a ugly look, but she didn’t care, she wanted to see her sister.

Some time later…

She pulled into the carpark nearly hitting every curb she turned, but that was the least of her worries. She ran out of her car not even remembering if she locked it or not. She asked the lady at the counter desperately “what room is Aria Smith in?” The woman replied with “ room 69 level 3.“ She pressed the elevator button and waited but it wouldn’t open so she ran up the stairs.

When she reached the room, Tara was on the floor crying as her mum laid still on the bed. I rushed to her side, I couldn’t bare to see her like this. “Come my darling, we’re gonna be okay, she’s gonna be okay, don’t worry my baby” she said in Tara’s ear as she calmed her down.

They sat there crying for hours, her body hasn’t moved an inch. She was gone. “I didn’t even get to say goodbye, she left me alone in the world! What am I gonna do without her!?!? I miss her already… Why did she have to go, I need her” cried Kimmy as she sat on the floor in disbelief…

Task description: This week during Writing, I did a Vocabulary Swap. What we had to do was fill a table with 10 adjectives and/or verbs, then your friend (Swaimah was mine) will give you their 10 verbs and/or adjectives. We then had to make a story with those words and bold them. It was really fun to do because our stories came out good.

My words were: Be, gave, have, dropped, ran, come, said, see, make, get

My highlight was making a story out of random words. My low light was that my friend hated the words she had but in the end she worked it out. Something for us to work on is trying to give harder words to each other. After that we completed the task, we posted it on our blog. I enjoyed this task very much, and I hope to do more like this soon. Hope you enjoyed. Please leave a comment; thank you for visiting my blog.

Immersion assembly

Our school had an immersion assembly today, for the first day of term 3. I was super excited so I quickly decided to go to class. From class we walked to the hall in boy – girl lines, or as the teachers say BG lines. Then Mr Burt talked about lots of things, and welcomed us all back to school. After that the interesting stuff started!

Mr Burt also informed us about our theme. Our theme was ‘Fit for purpose’, so Mr Burt explained it to us. The topic for this term is fit for purpose. Which obviously has something to do with healthy eating. As usual we had our immersion assembly. We got to see all the teams performances and movies and got a look at what they were learning about.

Honestly my favourite one out of the teams was team 5. Each of the teachers had a role to play from a story they played out. Mrs Stone was a pregnant teacher, Mrs Ilaoa, Whaea Saff and Mr Moran were students and Mr Wiseman was the story teller.

My favourite out of teacher roles was Mrs Stone because I love the way she acted and played her part. My favourite movie was the Team 5 one. Team 5 did an amazing act! It was funny watching Mr Moran laying on the floor sleeping. I hope you enjoyed reading about immersion assembly and my favourite movie/act!

I liked all the movies/acts. They were all interesting and had something different. But if I had to pick a movie/act it would be the act from team 5 as it had a lot of funny moments. I loved all the movies and I am excited for the term and am ready to do loads of learning. I hope you will enjoy my blog posts this term!

I’m very excited for this term and the things that Team 5 will learn because I generally enjoy healthy eating, but exercise not so much. I look forward to everything that I’ll be learning and doing this term, and I hope you are, too ;P

Anyway this term Team 5 will be learning about how eating smart and being active have similar effects on our health. Which are is it reduces the risk of chronic diseases, known as diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and some cancers and associated disabilities. And it also prevents weight gain and/or promotes weight loss. <3

Dawn Raids

Dawn Raids

Dawn Raids: An Injustice Against Pacific Island Communities in New Zealand

 

The New Zealand government launched a number of raids throughout the Pacific which went by the Dawn Raids. In the 1970s homes and construction on islands. Though the whole purpose of these raids was to hunt down and get rid of people who had overstayed their visas. Over time this often turned violent and unfair because of people’s skin tones. And today I’m gonna be telling you about the Dawn Raids over the years, which looks into its legacy on New Zealand society as a whole. Detailing their impact on Pacific Island communities, measuring reactions from supporters and community leaders.

 

Historical Context:

To start it off, money making disasters, high unemployment rates, increased immigration from Pacific Island countries such as Samoa and Tonga, racism towards immigrants, and an anti-immigration feeling throughout politicians marked the social and political climate in NZ throughout the 1970s. Pacific Islanders were nearly always the target of discrimination at this period, they were often mentioned as “overstayers” even though they had legal permission to stay in New Zealand.

 

Impact on Pacific Island Communities:

The Dawn Raids had a very bad and outstanding impact on Pacific Islanders. This led many families to live in fear of the government, because they had the thought of them and their houses in the trail of illegal immigrants being raided. They had a concerning chance of being caught or deported at any time, which had serious mental effects for them such as depression or stress-related disorders. Many families were torn apart when parents or other relatives were caught and taken into custody or forced to leave the country while still carrying children or taking care of family members. And even though this trauma has been passed down through continuous generations, many harmful results of these raids can still be seen today.

 

Response from Promoter and Community Leaders:

Due to the Dawn Raids, supporters put together acts that caught people’s attention to problems faced by Pacific Islanders in NZ, some known as discrimination and unreasonable overstaying of visas. Many community leaders knew what was happening was unfair and fought for the rights of Pacific Islanders by offering assistance and information about legal representation. Though all their hard work and efforts were unsuccessful to put an end to Dawn Raids or help ensure that everyone who were harmed gained justice and fairness.

 

Legacy of Dawn Raids:

The dawn raids left a real impact on New Zealand society in a lot of different ways. Firstly these incidents pushed improvements to immigration rules and law in an effort to solve issues with hostility and spitefulness towards Pacific Island people. Second, it gathered a lot of interest and attention from different human rights firms around the world and brought to light issues experienced by immigrants everywhere. And lastly, it helped change people’s insite towards Pacific Islanders by making New Zealanders know that such practices wouldn’t be tolerated.

 

In conclusion, the Dawn Raids were unfair between Pacific Islander communities in New Zealand, leaving a lot of families in pain and hurt which can still be seen today. They are being treated unethically and one sided as a reminder of how accepted racism could continue uncorrected for centuries. With greater reason, it matters that we see this historical incident as a part of our past so that we can learn from it and improve better policies for applying immigrants into societies around the globe while still making sure that everyone has access to equal opportunities regardless of anything, and making sure nothing chances just because of where they are from or what their background is.

Just listen… FOR ONCE!?!

Just listen… FOR ONCE!?!

 

As the rain grew heavier, Aria huddled under the oak tree, trying to find some solace in the storm. She had run away from home, overwhelmed by the pressures of her life, and now she was alone in the forest, with nothing but her own thoughts and the sound of the raindrops pounding against the leaves above her head. Aria had always felt like she didn’t belong, like she was different from everyone else. Her parents didn’t understand her, and she felt like she had no one to turn to. She had reached her breaking point, and she couldn’t take it anymore.

 

Aria was a 13 year old girl who lived with her parents in a small town. She had always felt like an outsider and struggled with anxiety and depression. Her parents didn’t understand her problems and often dismissed them, which made her feel even more alone and hopeless. This happened for many months but she decided she couldn’t take it anymore and ran away from home with the intention of ending her life. Yet that wasn’t the case…

 

She found herself sitting in a forest, tears streaming down her face as she thought about how much pain she was in. She felt like no one cared about her and that her life was meaningless. ALl these thoughts were crowded in her head with nowhere to go.

 

She thought about what she said to her parents- “You don’t understand, and it’s not because you don’t know or cause I don’t tell you it’s because you won’t listen to me and let me speak how I feel, you want me to share my problems and my emotions with you yet when I try to talk, your not ready to listen, so how about you get better at that before asking me ‘what’s wrong’.”

 

Maybe it’s my fault, was I too harsh? She wondered, but all she wanted was for them to listen to her for once, I want to be seen and heard. As she sat there, shivering in the downpour, she heard a rustling in the bushes nearby. She tensed up, unsure of what to expect. But then, out of the shadows stepped a woman, with long dark hair and piercing eyes that seemed to see right through her.

 

It was a creature she had never seen before – a vampire. The woman introduced herself as Turia, a vampire who had been living in the forest for centuries. Aria was frightened at first, but Turia soon proved to be kind and understanding, listening to Aria’s problems and helping her to see that there was hope for the future. Turia had seen many humans come and go, and she could sense that Aria was in pain. 

 

She approached Aria cautiously, sensing her distress. Turia’s gentle demeanour put her at ease. The two began to talk, and Aria soon found herself opening up to Turia about her problems. Turia listened patiently as Aria spoke, knowing all too well the pain of feeling alone and misunderstood. She shared stories of her own struggles and offered Aria comfort and support.

 

It wasn’t until Turia revealed her true nature to Aria that she understood what was happening – she was becoming a vampire. At first, Aria was frightened by the idea of becoming a monster like Turia, but she soon realised that being a vampire wasn’t all bad. She had powers that she had never even dreamed of, and she was able to see the world in a whole new way. 

 

Eventually, Turia made the decision to turn Aria into a vampire as well. Aria was hesitant at first, but she knew that she trusted Turia and wanted to stay by her side forever. The transformation was painful, but Aria emerged stronger than ever before. She loved herself more than she had ever felt she had before.

 

Over time, Aria found herself feeling more and more at home with Turia. She began to see that there was a future worth living for, even if it wasn’t the one she had imagined. As the days went by, Aria and Turia formed a deep bond. Turia taught Aria about the world of vampires and showed her how to use her newfound strength and abilities. Aria felt powerful and free for the first time in her life.

 

As the years went by, Aria and Turia became inseparable, living together in the forest and protecting each other from the dangers that lurked in the darkness. Aria had found a new family, and for the first time in her life, she felt truly at home. And for once she felt needed and welcomed, she was happy which was a shock to her as she felt like an outsider most of her life. 

 

Years passed, and Aria and Turia remained together. They travelled the world and experienced many adventures, always looking out for each other and being there through thick and thin. Aria came to see that there was so much life left to live and that she was capable of so much more than she ever thought possible.

 

In the end, Aria realised that running away from home had been the best decision she had ever made. It had led her to Turia, and to a life that she had never even imagined was possible. She was grateful for every moment she had spent with Turia, and she knew that she would always be a part of the forest, and a part of the world that she had come to love. But Aria realised that running away from her problems wasn’t always the answer. She found the strength to face her struggles head-on, and with the help of Turia, she learned that there was always hope and that she was never truly alone.

Suspenseful beginnings


Task description: This week during writing, we are learning to write suspenseful beginnings using imagery and dialogue. We are also learning to draw inspiration from other writers. After that I completed the task, and I posted it on our blog. I enjoyed this task very much, and I hope to do more like this soon. Hope you enjoyed. Please leave a comment; thank you for visiting my blog.

Information Reports


Task description: This week during Writing, we are learning to follow the structure of an information report, and use language features appropriate for information report writing. We are also working on writing is in PRESENT tense and includes technical/specific vocabulary and writing follows the structure of classification, description, conclusion. After that I completed the task, and I posted it on our blog. I enjoyed this task very much, and I hope to do more like this soon. Hope you enjoyed. Please leave a comment; thank you for visiting my blog.