Homework for 2nd class

Katie’s uncle bought a chess set. After watching Lynn play with him, Katie has realized that his uncle won’t win. When he asked Katie if he could beat Lynn using this “lucky” chess set, Katie said no. Katie said people have to make difficult decisions in life, because she did have to choose from being polite and being honest, which is both important, and both told by her mother before.

 

In my life, as always, I made a variety of hard decisions. They may be too small to be mentioned, or significant enough to change my upcoming years and even my whole life. 

 

When I was in middle school, the final exam was always something that I was afraid of, especially for the Math Exam. In the last weekend before Monday’s test date, which is exactly the essential time for preparation, I was struggling to reviewing the textbook and papers until mid-night, or simply to go to gym to refresh my body and mind. It is said that relaxing a little before big event can help us get rid of nervousness and improve our memorization and comprehension skills. Even the decision did not really matter in the long-run, I thought over it for a while, and finally, I chose to go on to study.

 

I studied in a boarding middle school, in which four students lived in a dorm. When we were 9^th grader, there was once a time that all the three roommates of mine grew obsessed with “cop-theme” computer games. They talked it boisterously for hours after light-out, with great excitement. I, who hated playing these stupid games, stayed quiet in bed, being fidget. I was really tired and sleepy, but I could not even close my eyes with so many noises around. I came up with an idea to stop them immediately with a harsh tone, but if I did so, I would definitely get into trouble with the three roommates, who were my closest friends.

 

Several days before graduation, AllChinesePublicMiddle School senior students took a high school entrance exam, which was called “Zhong Kao” in Chinese. Unfortunately, I did not get into my dream school. I am in a school where I did not really appreciate its mission. Here, still, I had to choose from continuing my study in my city or stepping out of my Comfort Zone to seek for a new land of education and opportunities in United States.

 

The course of life is truly unpredictable, and decisions may be made by an instant thought, or with careful deliberations. Nonetheless, regardless of the process of making decisions, these are really our choices, which we will believe firmly and go on with confidence. 

In the book, “Lynn said that sometimes in life you had to make hard choices”. When uncle asked Katie could he win Lynn with his lucky chess set, Katie said no. Mother has told Katie to be polite, and also told Katie that lying is the worst thing she could do. Katie had to make a choice, to be polite or not lying, she chose no lying. Just like Lynn said that sometimes in life you had to make choices, I think it also reminds the reader they move to Georgia, changed everything in their life was one of the choice.

 

  I also have experience to make a hard like that. When I was in primary school, my parents asked me, “ Which College do you want to go?” I said the best one in the US, I remember it was just joking; I didn’t think I can do that, even I worked very hard.

 

 Few years later, my parents wanted me study in a new environment, which was Hong Kong, they thought Hong Kong got a better English atmosphere, to let me catch up the US. I so shocked about it, because I’m not ready to change everything in my, if I say “no”, maybe I would lost such a good opportunity . If I say “yes”, and I didn’t how to adapt the new life, new environment, new friends. Eventually, I made a choice, I said “Yes”. It was a really a turning point in my life.

 

  Now, I already adapted the new life in Hong Kong, it was really a long time, almost take me one years. Now I realized, don’t underestimate any kind of choice in your life, it really can lift you up, or lead you down.

 

Hi Jason and Silver,

 

I thought both of these responses were great. I loved the level of detail in Silver's descriptions of situations where he had  to make difficult choices, especially the scene with the roommates making a ruckus (a scene of noise and confusion) while he lies in bed and wonders what to do to make them stop.

 

I also really liked the use of a quotation in Jason's scene with his parents asking what school he wanted to go to and his responding with  the best one in the U.S.  Both pieces of writing called up the images behind the words.  That quality is, for me, one of the marks of good writing.

 

In both cases, the endings were terrific. Endings are hard to write. But you both made them work, drawing a conclusion, or making a point, about the stories you told.

 

If you will permit, I will edit both of them a little to point out some places where, in an academic setting, an instructor might ask you to do more of one thing or less of another. Then I will send each edited version to your e-mail.

 

  You can let me know via reply here or my private e-mail if you would like me to do that or prefer I not. It's totally up to you.

i would like to receive it in e-mail, thanks!

Will do. I'll send it via your e-mail tomorrow. Again, nice work, particularly that ending, which is, to use another idiom, "a knock out. "

Please send me an email edition, and thank you for your note!

Will do. You can expect it via e-mail by tomorrow.  And thank you in return for your excellent work. You're making my job "a piece of cake," to use another idiom.   Laraine

Katie said no to his uncle about winning Lynn at chess because her mom told her to be polite and she shall not lie; consequently, Katie was facing a dilemma: should she be polite or not lying. Katie decided to choose the first. I haven't really faced any times to make big decisions due to the fantastic management of my life with my mom's help; however, I was once quite unsure whether I should go to a new high school or stay in my old middle school for the last year. My mom told me during summer that I had a chance to skip grade 9, and go straight to grade 10---- high school----in a different school. At first, I was very ecstatic to go to the new school in account I didn't need to do my homework, but I felt differently when I was saying goodbye to my middle school friends: I was sad and didn't want to leave them. My mom asked me one more time before deciding, and I was wavering. I thought of my future, so I decided to go to the new school. Up to now, my decision looks to have paid off because I've been in very good form and learning immensely.

I think Katie says that for several reasons. The first one is that when uncle Katsuhisa asked her if he could beat Lynn by chess, she decide to say the truth, which is he can’t beat Lynn, although that may hurts her uncle’s feeling. Another one refers to Lynn. In chapter 5, Lynn began to change. She made new friends and change her style of living. That may made her popular at school or did other good that we don’t know, but this change surly hurts Katie’s feeling and made them living in a different world. I think there have to be at least another reason—although I haven’t finish reading it, but I pretty sure—about Katie in the future. Until now, she was a naive girl who always believed in her sister. So when she grows up and discovers more things about the real world, especially for a Japanese kid in America at that time, there must be a hard choice waiting for her.

 

Here comes my story. In fact, when I was a kid in primary school, I was eager to do well in everything. In another word, I used to be very afraid to lose.

 

At that time, I am good at long running. At least, I am the best 800 meters runner in our class. Our P.E class teacher, which is also the coach of our school’s track-and-field team, noticed me and wanted to persuade me to join his team. The first few days, I was glad to do that and looking forward to win some games for my school. But later on, gradually, I found out that all other members in this team were better than me. And according to their description, they were just in the middle class which meat that I was probably could be beaten by most people in a game between districts or even schools. I became afraid, afraid to lose, especially after training for a long time, so a thought came into my mind: quit this team.

 

But it was very hard to decide. The coach, who thought me was very smart and hardworking, liked me very much. He seemed like didn’t care about the result and just wanted me to have a try and experience this game. I was in grade five so he believed if I had some game experience as he planned, I could surly be the top player in our team. And my parents didn’t care about the result at all. They are the kind of parents who would cheer and be proud for their son even if their son only got the last rank, as long as he tried his best.

 

During that time, the idea of quitting this team always bothered me, beeping around my mind all the time. I could neither concentrate on study and training. I even thought about it while I was eating or sleeping. One day before the game I finally couldn’t stand the pressure any more, and I told my parents about my feeling. Actually, they wanted me to have a try on it, but considered about my feeling, they didn’t push me and called my couch and helped me to quit the team.

 

That was a really hard choice that I had to make. Until now, I still can’t tell whether I did right or wrong. There doesn’t have an answer. If I took part in the game, maybe I wouldn’t be afraid of games anymore. That’s a possibility. But anyway, I still gained a lot from that experience. I choose to take this class to train my English and decide to study abroad someday. This is a hard choice as well, but it can never compete with the previous one.

 

Because people grow.

Sorry I send it late.Silver and  Jason's answer inspire me a lot. I will also try to finish it earlier and make our teachers' work easier. Apologies.

Hi Jack, Since I am, as of yet, unfamiliar with some of the forum icons, I am hoping this reply directly follows your post.

 

This was very nicely done, and I liked how you made the ending make a point about the experience. I liked, too, your tribute to your mom's help in making decisions.

 

Your description of your wavering was also important because it highlights one of the key elements of making decisions i.e. They are hard to make final.  Nice too, was your use of a transition, or verbal bridge, to tell the reader about the deciding factor in coming to your decision--your thoughts about the future.

 

Please let me know if you would like me to make any other comments via e-mail attachment. What I'd do is try to point out places where a college instructor might ask for, for instance, additional transitions or perhaps more (or less) description. In other words, my response would be more formal and less personal. However it's up to you to say if you would like those comments or not.

 

See you in class. Laraine

 

 Hi Ewan,

 

Well, no matter which icon I hit, I can't get the response to follow the post. I hope to figure it out for the next time. In any case, to steal a page from your style book, here comes my response:

 

I liked the way you made a transition--created a verbal bridge--from the summary of places in the story where decisions had to be made by the fictional characters to your own personal experience.  I also really got drawn in by the suspense of would you, or would you not, follow your coach's advice. The way you described how you decided to not follow his advice was very moving:

 

"I became afraid, afraid to lose, especially after training for a long time, so a thought came into my mind: quit this team."

 

I am a real fan of conscious repetition for emphasis, and that double use of the word "afraid" was stylistically perfect. It also linked up beautifully to your opening where the word "afraid" appears and sets the stage for what's to follow, "I used to be very afraid to lose."

 

This is great work, and it really pulled me in personally (I, too, don't like to lose). Please let me know, either in the forum or in an e-mail, if you would like me to send  you via e-mail a somewhat more formal response to your writing, of the kind an instructor might make on the papers you write for college in the States.

 

See you in Class, Laraine

 

 

inevitably, there are so many decisions that we have to make in our whole life.  While sometimes they seem like unconspicuous like which homework should i do at first today, Sometimes they seem like very important for us just like we choose our major in the college. Maybe we can avoid to choose for a short while, however absolutely, we cannot abandon to do a choice all the time. In the story, Katie's mother required her to be a polite girl, at the moment, mom also told her that lying is the worst thing she could do in the world. But sometimes politeness conflicts integrity totolly. When Uncle asked her whether he could win Lyn a game of chess luckily, she said no. It must be a hurt for uncle, but meanwhile, she didn't lie to uncle, she chose to be honest. Also, when Katie met the  women "T", she chose to be honest again. Maybe that is a real Katie, she is a frank girl but it is hard for her to be a ladylike girl.

 

Like Katie, I also should make many choices in my life.  Actually, I just make a big decision in the other day. This year, I decide to transfer to an american high school. So I have to improve my ability of English, and at the same time,  I should do a good prepration for the schools' interviews. So I worked very hard when other people were enjoy the New Year in the beginning of the year. Everybody knows that Spiring festival is a big day for Chinese, it's a traditional festival in China. So I was getting in trouble to make a decision between the  celebration and learning. So I asked my parents their opinion, but they said I was old enough to do choice by myself. After I was entangled with the decision for a while, at last I chose to fight for my application. Because I did know studying in America is one of my dreams, I thought fighting for my dream is more meaningful and I would also feel happy when I work hard for it. Road of striving is always struggled but also happy, especially when we come true the dreams and get full of the sense of achievement. So it led my decision, and I hope I can be successful.

 

All the sweat condensed to be the every piece of the road of success. After my hard working, I finally make it, I get 3 offers in the end, I was mad with joy. And also I think this is deserving, because I ever fought for it.

 

Life is a big game, there are too many unknown numbers in our life, everday is unpredictable. So whatever you choose, remember, do yourself, enjoy yourself, no regret.

 

 

 

 

This piece of writing shows real insight into the sacrifices sometimes required when making  hard choices. I also liked very much the way you used the transition "Like Katie" to move the reader smoothly from a discussion of the text into your own experience of making hard decisions. I also thought the last paragraph was a very fitting end to what you had written. 

 

I've offered to respond in a more formal and more academic way via e-mail. If you choose that option, just let me know here or via e-mail--laflemm@gmail.com-- and I'll comment at greater length.