An incident when you were faced with a difficult problem.

Narrate an incident in your life when you were faced with a difficult family problem.

1. Describe how your grandmother discovered that you had run away from home.
2. Describe how your parents quarreled and how upset you felt.
3. Describe how you finally ran away to your grandmother’s house to avoid facing the family problem.
4. Describe how your Grandma took you back to your home, and how you slowly learnt to face the problem.

“What is the meaning of this?” Grandma questioned in a frightened whisper as she thrust the newspaper at me. I took it from her tremulous hands. A picture of me stared back and my parents’ plea for my return was stated in bold print. Now, I had to tell my grandmother the truth.

For weeks, my parents had been bickering. I never understood what started the quarrels and neither of my parents explained the problem to me. When the bickering finally stopped, it was only to be replaced by a cold war between them. They were no longer on speaking terms and they made me relay messages from one to the other.

I was very confused. My performance at school was affected and my teachers thought that I was becoming lazy. This compounded my problems. Finally, I decided to run away from home.

One morning, instead of going to school, I went to Johore Bahru where my grandmother lived. I told her that it was my term break and I had decided to spend the holidays with her. I fabricated a tale about my parents going on a business trip to Australia, as the reason for their not being able to accompany me. However, since my disappearance from home had come to light, I confessed everything to my grandmother. She put her arms round me and comforted me. That afternoon, she took me back home.

My parents were relieved and happy to see me. Before they could question me, my grandmother took them aside and they talked for several hours.

That night, as I prepared to go to bed, my mother quietly came and satisfaction by my side. She apologized to me for not having been sensitive to my needs. She told me that there were irreconcilable differences between her and my father and that they had filed for a divorce. She also said that I was to live with her. She hoped that I would try to be strong as we went through our crisis together. Her soft and soothing voice made the news easier to bear. I now know that running away from a problem will never solve anything.

Describe an incident when you helped someone

Describe an incident when you helped someone

Outline:
1. Describe why the person needed your help
2. Describe how you spent time with the person to understand his problem and to advise him.
3. Describe how you helped that person
4. Describe how you feel about the incident.

Being the eldest in the family, I have always felt responsible for my younger siblings. My youngest brother, Tuan, has always been my favorite. Unfortunately, he was the one who was always getting into all sorts of trouble.

Countless were the times when my parents were asked to see his principal concerning his misbehavior. Tuan got into numerous fights with the other boys in school and had been caught a number of time vandalizing school property. He persistently failed to do his homework and he interrupted classes with his many pranks.

Exasperated, my parents gave up on him. Their method of disciplining him only made him more rebellious. Being the closest to Tuan, I spent evenings talking to him. I also talked to his classmates. It was after many such patient talks and careful analysis that I found the root of the problem.

Tuan, being extremely intelligent, was bored with his school work. Therefore, while his classmates were struggling with their schoolwork, Tuan would rather think of new and interesting pranks. When I spoke to Tuan about his problem, he agreed with me. He wished that his lessons were more interesting and challenging.

I approached Tuan’s principal and told him what I thought of Tuan’s misbehavior. He has skeptical at first, but after examining Tuan’s grades, he said that the idea was worth trying. He then arranged for Tuan to sit for the entrance tests to a special school for highly intelligent children. To everyone’s surprise, Tuan not only passed these tests, but did so with flying colors.

The special school readily admitted Tuan into their academic quarters. Since then he has excelled. At the rate he is going, he may even complete secondary school before I do! Tuan’s conduct reports have also been encouraging. Our parents have only been called up once to see his principal and that was concerning an extra subject that the principal wanted Tuan to take. I am really proud of my brother and I am glad that my help has been instrumental in bringing about his present academic excellence.