Farewell from Mr Sweet

by Mr Timothy Sweet

 

As this will be my last year at Valtorta College, I would like to wish the staff and students at this tremendous school all the best for the future. I will always carry my fond memories of the kindness and hospitality I experienced here in Hong Kong with me.

One-Minute English Sum Up

 

Due to the fact that some students may have had difficulty hearing, understanding or remembering my One Minute English speeches I have summarized some of the main points below. Take some time to read them to boost your performance in English. As well as preparing for the HKDSE, these tips and explanations will help you to make sense of English poems, songs, movies, dramas, and even television advertisements.

Poetic Devices

Every HKDSE candidates should try to understand the main kinds of poetic devices. Remember, poetic devices are the tools we use to make poems and songs special. There are two main kinds:

1) Figures of speech: figures of speech are uses of words that are different to their normal meaning.   Here are a few of the most common kinds: 

a)      Metaphor: This compares two different things to say something in a beautiful or dramatic way (e.g. ‘she is an angel’ = she is very kind and helpful).

b)      Simile: This is very similar to metaphor but is less direct (e.g. ‘the student was as busy as a bee’ = the student was very busy).

c)      Personification (e.g. ‘the icy wind was biting at my skin’ = the cold wind was hurting my skin).
 

2) Sound devices: As their name shows, these are tools to make poems and songs sound catchy or beautiful. Here are a few well-known examples:

a)      Rhyme: Everyone knows what rhyme is, but can you spell it correctly in an exam? Almost every pop song uses rhyme to emphasize meaning. Poor quality pop songs and poems use it without thinking about the meaning (e.g. “I feel like a king, every time I sing”).

b)      Assonance: This is related to rhyme but we only repeat the vowels and not the final consonants (e.g. ‘she moved through the room’ note that the /d/ and the /m/ sounds at the end of the words are different, but the vowel sound / U: / is the same).

c)      Alliteration: This is about consonant sounds and many VC students found it easy to write their own examples (e.g. “3B is bright, brilliant and blessed”).

Exam Skills

Exams can be very stressful, especially if you are not well prepared. Here are some tips to help you to improve your English scores and to reduce stress:

1)   Develop a good learning attitude and take every chance to speak in class.

2)   Always ask your teacher questions if you don't understand. Remember, if you don’t understand, other students probably don’t either.

3)   Revise your notes every weekend. ‘Cramming’ (studying lots of information just before exams) doesn’t work for English the way it does for some subjects.

4)   Find a 'study buddy' and meet at lunch or after school to practice together.

5)   If you are studying with your study buddy after school and you need to find the correct pronunciation of a word, go to a website like www.howjsay.com.

6)   Keep your own vocabulary book where you write your own example sentences and definitions of new words and phrases. Top HKDSE students will build their vocabulary to about 3000 words during their time at secondary school. You can do that too if you study a few new words every day starting from S1.

 

English for Life

As well as passing exams, you will need your English for your career and when you travel abroad. Here are Mr Sweet’s ‘3 Virtues of Good English Students’ to help you develop the right attitude to become a fluent English speaker.

 

1)      Patience: being patient is important because learning a language takes a long time.  Don’t get frustrated and tell yourself you are not improving – negative messages will stunt your progress. Instead, tell yourself positive messages, like “I can do it” or “Little by little I am becoming fluent”, and encourage your friends, too.

2)      Diligence: this is just another word for being hardworking. Be strict on yourself – are you keeping up with your vocabulary so that you will know enough words and phrases by the end of Secondary 6? Rewarding yourself with fun activities like playing an English computer game, watching an English movie, or singing an English song can help you keep going when your hard work starts to get boring. Don’t give up!

3)      Courage: one of the most important ‘virtues’ of good English learners is that they aren’t too scared of making mistakes. In fact, the best way to learn new things is by making mistakes. Don’t be scared!

Good luck everyone.

Mr. Sweet.