Term 2 Home Learning Assignment

My badge has a Latin motto
Hope for the future
The future is hope
Or something

The writer is thinking about the little thinks that were part of his school life but we can see that he does not really pay much attention to his school as he is unsure about his own school's motto.

At times black crows try to interrupt
When we sing the National Anthem

I guess he was thinking about how these little "bad" occurrences help shaped him into the man he was and played a part in his life.

It is difficult to maintain
The whiteness of my shoes
Especially on Wednesdays

He should mean that wednesday was a day when something would usually stain his shoes, or maybe he might be thinking, "stain" his heart.

I must admit there is something quite special
About the bare thighs of hardworking scouts

The fact that he ADMITS means that he despises the scouts initially.

The Malay chauffeurs
Who wait for my schoolmates
Sit on the car park kerb
Telling jokes to one another

We can see that the author himself does not have a chauffeur and seeing his classmates' chauffeur waiting for them everyday makes him jealous. While being jealous, then he takes down every single detail of what the chauffeurs are doing.

Seven to the power of five is unreasonable

I guess that he does not really like maths and finds that the maths equations are not logical and unreasonable.

On Chinese New Year
Mrs Lee dressed up
In a sarong kebaya
And sang Bengawan Solo

He respects Mrs Lee and her way of dressing up. Judging from the way the author takes note of Mrs Lee specially, perhaps she must have a high priority in his heart.

The capital of Singapore is Singapore

This shows that he has enough of the facts and things he has to memorise about Singapore that he just wants to forget everything and remember that the capital of Singapore is Singapore.

My best friend did a heroic thing once
Shaded all A’s
For his Chinese Language
Multiple-choice paper

He respected his friend doing such and act and even says it is heroic. This proves that he is thinking how bored an exam can be and these things should be done to add a tinge of excitement.

In our annual yearbook
There is a photograph of me

He appreciates the fact that his photograph is taken.

Pushing a wheelchair and smiling
They caught me
At the exact moment


When my eyes were actually closed


I guess these are the final stanzas which could mean that his life is full of many surprises. Some surprises may caught him without even him knowing him, like him saying, "When my eyes are actually closed".


PART 2 (My Memories as a primary school boy)

My memories as a primary school boy is very different from the memories of the author's primary school life. No one really attempted to cheat in the exams and even if something like that happen, I think I would not find it very heroic. My teachers are strict, but I guess that is what forms the core and character in me. One incident I remember clearly is a betrayal. Even though it happened when I was Primary 2, I still remember it vividly. One day, sitting in my school bus innocently, my friend came up to me and called me to spray him with my water bottle. Listen well, he told me to spray him. After that, he went to complain to my teacher that I sprayed him. At that time, spraying of water was taboo in my teacher's eyes. Then I got scolded and embarrassed in front of all my classmates. That was it, part of my life but I guess from then onwards I know who are my true friends and who are not.



MY VERY OWN POEM

Summer ends with a school ahead
Winter comes with a sudden dread
There I enter my destined school
Unaware of the tears I shed

I made it through Year 1
Roughed it by Year 6
What happened from Year 3-6?
Only remembered the dreadful Year 2

An innocent boy in a bus
Trusted and betrayed by his friend
A pure heart unpurified in the end

A primary school life over
A betrayal forgotten
A new life awaits
Not forgetting my friends