MELICA PART 5: MORE MODEL GUIDED ESSAYS FOR HALUS/GALUS SPM 1119/2 CANDIDATES
The essay topic for Part 2 of SPM 1119/2 is wide. Candidates may have to write about a topic that falls under one of the four CEFR themes. Looking at the four themes closely may reveal that there could be eight themes and the essay topic can fall under any of these themes; people, culture, science, technology, health, environment, financial awareness and consumerism. That is a challenge for halus/galus candidates whom we know have limited vocabulary and perhaps general knowledge too.
Personally, I encourage teachers to list down words which are very common to all the four CEFR themes. For examples, they must know “consumerism”, “consumers” (Consumerism and Financial Awareness) and “environment”, “nature”, “forest reserve” (Health and Environment). Surely the list can be quite long. The point is, the candidates have no choice but to know the meaning of those words which could be alien to many of them.
MELICA PART 5 continues to help lower intermediate candidates. The more galus/halus/lower intermediate SPM 1119/2 candidates are exposed to model essays, the better it is. Frequent exposure to model essays which are specially composed to suit their proficiency and thinking ability should help the candidates in a number of ways. Through guided and focused discussion on each model essay that is conducted by the teacher, the galus/halus candidates could be inspired, motivated and convinced to do their best in writing essays in examination.
The following are practical activities that could be carried out with the weak SPM candidates based on the model essays:
i) Examine the ideas and details presented in each paragraph. Teacher may ask the candidates to highlight which part fulfils the first, second and third tasks. This focused discussion will guide the candidates how each task could be fulfilled.
ii) Revise with the students three different techniques of writing their introduction; listing (Model Essay 1), repetition (Model Essay 2) and flashback/personal experience (Model Essay 3). Let them apply the techniques on their own.
iii) Underline linking words, connectors or cohesive devices. They are also encouraged to suggest other additional connectors or cohesive devices in the model essay.
iv) In groups, the candidates can examine the ideas in the model essay. They discuss and suggest other possible ideas and details that can be included to fulfil each task.
Notes:
1. MELICA stands for Model Essays for Lower Intermediate Candidates of SPM 1119/2.
2. The suggested activities may require teachers to adopt and adapt to suit their realities; needs, context, learning and teaching styles, availability of time and pupils’ readiness.
3. Other model essays for lower intermediate candidates will be shared in this blog from time to time in future. Do subscribe this blog so that you won’t miss any of the latest sharing of materials.
Part 2
You must answer this question. Write your answer in 125-150 words in an appropriate style.
Question 2
Your class has been discussing on the topic of saving environment. Your teacher asked you to write an essay on your opinion about an environmental project.
In your essay, you should write about:
* one gotong royong project to save the environment
* what volunteers can do in the project
* why it is important to protect our environment
Write your essay using all the notes and giving reasons for your point of view.
Port Dickson, Langkawi and Kuantan have many beautiful beaches. People love to go to beautiful beaches. However, people do not like to go to dirty beaches. Ketapang Beach in my village is dirty. I suggest a gotong royong project to clean the beach.
Maybe, we do the gotong royong project on Saturday. We can start at 9.00 a.m. I think, Pakngah Johari can be the leader. He is a good leader. Furthermore, he is a hardworking man. Many villagers like him.
There are many things that we can do. Children can collect rubbish. Women can help too. They can collect plastic bottles, boxes and old tyres. Teenagers can carry heavy rubbish. Moreover, some ladies can cook some foods.
We must protect Teluk Ketapang Beach. We must save our beaches, rivers and forests. If we do not protect our environment, it will be dirty. It will die. Furthermore, we must love our beaches, rivers and forests for our future generation.
In conclusion, we must support each other to protect our environment. Our environment is very important to us. [177 words]
Part 2
You must answer this question. Write your answer in 125-150 words in an appropriate style.
Question 2
Your class has been discussing on consumerism. Your teacher asked you to write an essay on your opinion about how to be good shoppers.
In your essay, you should write about:
* what to do before going shopping
* how to save money when shopping
* how to be good consumers
Write your essay using all the notes and giving reasons for your point of view.
Shopping, shopping ang shopping. Do you like shopping? Some people love shopping. It is very important for us to be good shoppers.
Before we go shopping, we must make plans. Firstly, we must plan what to buy. Next, we must plan how much money to spend. Then, we make a list. We write down what we want to buy.
I think we can save money when we go shopping. We must not bring extra money. If we plan to spend RM150, we should only bring RM150. If we bring extra cash, we may buy something we do not need. Moreover, we look for discounts. Last week, I bought Milo, Nescafe, Ovaltine and Horlick. I got 20% discount. I saved some money.
We must learn how to be good consumers. If we do not know, we must read. We can ask someone. Besides, internet is also good. We can search for information. Internet can offer us a lot of tips on how to be good consumers.
To conclude, we must be good shoppers. Yes, we can! [175 words]
Part 2
You must answer this question. Write your answer in 125-150 words in an appropriate style.
Question 2
Your class has been discussing on sports. Your teacher asked you to write an essay on your opinion about teenagers and sports.
In your essay, you should write about:
* sports that teenagers enjoy
* why some teenagers do not like sports
* how to promote sports among teenagers
Write your essay using all the notes and giving reasons for your point of view.
Yesterday, my friends and I played football. Fikri, Aidil, Pravin, Tan and Sanjeev played football with me. We enjoyed the game so much.
Besides playing football, teenagers also love badminton. They hope to be like Datuk Lim Chong Wei. I like to play badminton too. Some of my friends enjoy hockey, volleyball and rugby. I know, different people like different sports.
Some teenagers do not like sports. They are lazy to play. Amin, Joshua and Balbir are my friends. They say they do not like sports because it is not fun. I think they are wrong. Besides, some dislike sports because they do not know how to play the games.
I think parents can promote sports among teenagers. Parents can give advice. In addition, schools can also promote sports. Schools can have simple competitions. All students must take part.
To conclude, to me, life is boring without sports. All teenagers should love sports. [153 words]
