You have just taken part in a local festival in your village. Write an article for publication in a cultural magazine describing the festival, its origin and importance to your people and the role you played.
Tell a story that ends with the advice. “Cut your coat according to your cloth”.
You are the chief speaker in a school debate the topic of which is “Public secondary schools are better than the private ones”. Write your speech for or against the topic.
Write a letter to your elder brother working abroad describing the hardship you and your parents are facing at home and requesting him to give some financial assistance.
Write an article for publication in a national newspaper on why you think a woman should be your country’s next president.
You have been sent on indefinite suspension for the part you played in a recent disturbance in which valuable school property was damaged. Write a letter to the principal of your school describing the part that you played and apologizing for your involvement.
Read the following carefully and answer the questions on it.
In all school systems of the world, some schools are considered ‘better’ than others. In fact, based on such a judgment parents often go to great lengths to have their children enrolled in one school rather than another. One yardstick for Furthermore, making this judgment is student achievement, especially general performance in public examinations. _ among some experts in education, opinions about schools are further narrowed down to subject areas. For example, one often hears that school A is better than B in Mathematics and Science while the latter is better than the former in English Language and the Liberal Arts. Whatever the focus of these comparative statements, there remains the fact that schools do vary in terms of average student achievement.
Why is it then that some schools have high average student achievement while others have low average student achievement? The reasons are not far-fetched. The first reason is that some schools are located in privileged areas in the sense that the students come from homes where parents care about their children’s education ensure that the children are well-fed, show interest in their school work and provide easy access to books in the home. On the other hand, there are schools which serve less privileged communities, and whose students come from homes where parents are unable to provide the necessary support services for good academic work. Students in the first type of school would generally have a higher rate of achievement than those in the second type.
Another reason for the difference in academic achievement between schools is how well the schools are equipped. Schools that have good laboratories and libraries, ample space. places to sit and write for every student and optimum-sized classrooms usually record a higher standard of student achievement than those where the basic equipment is lacking or where the students are crammed into inadequate spaces.
The quality of the teachers also has to do with the differences in student achievement between schools. A teacher that does not have a good grasp of his subject matter nor is committed to his job cannot produce an outstanding student. On the other hand students will generally attain a high standard where the teacher is an expert in his field, knows how to structure the material to be learned, demands a lot from his students and motivates them. Also, school management has been found to have a relationship with student achievement. Students perform better in schools where the leadership is enthusiastic and creative than in schools where the principals and teachers adopt a casual attitude to their job.
Finally, discipline cannot be divorced from the learning process, and this is often seen from the perspective of general student behaviour. Where students show a disregard for the rules and regulations that guide good learning by disobeying their teachers, neglecting their homework or playing truant, they cannot make any reasonable academic progress. On the other hand, students who comport themselves well have laid a good foundation for academic success.
(a) In one sentence, summarize the yardsticks used to make a distinction between one school and another.
(b) In five sentences, one for each. summarize the factors responsible for the different levels of achievement in schools.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
The black ant is indisputably one of the smallest visible insects on earth Except with aid of a very powerful microscope, it is difficult if not impossible to locate the eyes, the mouth the nostrils (if it ever has any) or any other part of the body. An air of mystery surrounds the existence of this little creature.
Have you ever taken time off your programme to watch these ants move in row? What gives them the sense of direction, we do not know. Indeed whoever sends them on an errand and how they even know their destination and the type of errand to run we are yet to be told. But they are an extremely well-organized lot.
Certainly, there are no defined routes for them on walls or trees, yet they move in an orderly manner. almost in a straight line. The beautiful thing about these insects is that even when their line of movement is disorganized. they soon regroup and connect themselves again end to end. If in the process. one of them is killed. they quickly recognize that fact from their various positions. Then. one sees them running helter skelter with a seeming insistence on getting at the comrade to confirm its death.
When this has been done, some of them run zigzag at a tremendous speed to alert the others on the route. Soon, they disappear completely. Later. as if everything were over and forgotten they reappear and form a new route and continue their movement transporting food or going on one errand or the other as before Bring your ears close to them and you hear nothing and you wonder what their means of communication could be. Perhaps, most surprising is their high sense of understanding the weather and the climate They are just like men in this area. They know when it is the rainy season and when the dry season comes. In fact, it is true to say that they prepare better for the future than man.
During the dry season. they file out to different places gathering food which they store underground. At the slightest sign of the approach of the rainy season. they all get into the hole and seal it up. Surprisingly. they re-emerge when the dry season sets in. And whoever tells them that the dry season has come we do not know. You can now see the sense in the injunction, “Go to the ant, thou sluggard. learn her ways and be wise.”
(a) Why does the writer regard the black ant as one of the smallest insects on earth?
(b) Give reasons why the writer thinks that the way ants live is ‘ interesting’?
(c) (i) What is the writer’s attitude towards the black ant? (ii) Quote an expression from the passage to support your answer.
(d) When this has been done ” What does ‘this’ refer to?
(e) “The beautiful thing about these insects …”
(i) What grammatical name is given to this expression
(ii) What is its function in the sentence?
(f)What quality of the wins implied in the last sentence of the passage?
(g) For each of the following words or phrases find another word or phrase that means the same and can replace it as it is used in the passage: (i) indisputably; (ii) row; (iii) helter skelter, (iv) a tremendous (v) area (vi) approach.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
One of the puzzles to which I had no solution as a child was how my cousin could seal an envelope with his saliva. Each time he wrote a letter for my illiterate father, he merely ran his tongue over the inner edge of the flap of the envelope, folded it and then sealed it. Just like that! In my puzzlement, I tried the same trick repeatedly with two pieces of paper but my saliva failed to hold them together. I then theorized that my cousin’s saliva must be gummy. If that was so, why wasn’t mine? My studied search for a solution led to the very sound conclusion that my cousin’s saliva was gummy because he was the only educated man in the family. By extension. I reasoned that all educated people had sticky saliva.
But it didn’t take me long to wonder why my cousin’s lower jaw was not stuck to the upper jaw. Indeed. I wondered how morsels of food could roll down to his gullet without sticking to the tongue and the palate. Each time I was around when he ate, I watched him put one morsel after another into his mouth without experiencing any problem in getting it down.
After many days, indeed weeks, of pondering over this thorny issue. I decided that while all educated men had sticky saliva, they had developed a special mechanism for neutralizing the stickiness when eating.
My theory received a severe jolt one day when father had to get a letter written but my cousin was not around. Father sent to the next house for his niece. the nearest educated person around. After the lady had written the letter, father brought out an old envelope which had probably been lying forgotten for months on his cupboard. But, to my amazement, the flap would not stick well to the body of the envelope, no matter how many times she applied her saliva. In the end, father used some pap as gum. With this. my new puzzle was: “Why was the educated man’s saliva sticky while the educated woman’s saliva was not?” Before long, I decided that the woman’s saliva was not so sticky because she was not as learned as the man. So, I updated my theory: the more learned a person was, the more gummy his saliva would be. Fine theory.
The death knell sounded on my latest theory one day when father sent me to buy an envelope from a nearby shop. Having bought it, I studied its flap closely and discovered that its inner edge had some glossy material. It felt sticky to my touch. Curious, I ran my tongue over it and I sealed the envelope. That was it! It got stuck, refusing to be parted no matter how much I tried. When I delivered it that way. father rightly guessed that I had tampered with it Although I received a spanking. I was consoled that at last, I had unravelled the mystery.
(a) State the writer’s original theory.
(b) State the modification to the original theory.
(c) What incident gave rise to the modification of the theory?
(d) Why didn’t the flap stick to the envelope when the woman tried to seal it?
(e) What lesson did the writer finally learn?
(f) “The death knell sounded on my latest theory”
(i) What type of figurative expression is this? (ii) What does it mean?
(g) “… which had probably been lying forgotten for months on his cupboard.”
(i) What grammatical name is given to this expression? (ii) What is its function as it is used in the sentence?
(h) For each of the following words. find another word or phrase that means the same and can replace it as it is used in the passage:
(i) puzzlement (ii) thorny (iii) severe (iv) theory (v) unraveled
Narrate an experience you have had or heard about that illustrates the saying: “Where there is a will there is a way”
As your contribution to a debate, write arguments for or against the proposition. “We are happier than our fore fathers”.
There was a riot in your school resulting in extensive damage and the Ministry of Education ordered your school to be shut down. Write a letter to the Commissioner for Education, explaining the causes of the disturbance and appealing for the school to be re-opened.
You have just returned to the city from your village where you spent the last holiday. In an article suitable for publication in your school magazine, compare life in your village with that in the city.
You are in the final year in secondary school. Write a letter to your uncle, who is an influential person in the society, telling him what you intend to do next and asking for his assistance.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
Are you scared of speaking before a large audience or even making a few suggestions in public? This need not be. You can make effective speeches in public. Here are a few pointers. Perhaps the most important step is to be sure of what you are going to say. This sounds obvious enough, but it is amazing how many people get up to speak when, in fact, they have very little to say. After one inconsequential point, they discover they have run out of steam. So to ensure you can speak well, the more conversant you are with them the more confident you will be.
How do you present your speech? Certainly, before you begin, you will be a little uneasy. Even the most experienced speaker feels the same way before beginning his speech. This is not bad; in fact, it is a good tonic for a successful speech. To overcome this, do not rush headlong into the task. Rather, it pays to breathe in and out, heavily, deeply calmly. Then begin the speech, slowly, calmly. carefully, with a clear, confident voice. This is when you are going through the introduction. “The Chairman, Honourable Guests of Honour, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen…” By the time you finish this and go through the usual ritual of stating that it gives you “great pleasure to stand before this august gathering to discuss a few points….,” you would have reached a point of emotional equilibrium. You should now be sufficiently calm to go on with the speech.
Somewhere at the beginning, and at strategic points in your speech. you should introduce flavour into what you are saying. You would not want to serve tea without sugar after all. So, you should inject some humorous remarks once in a while. But this calls for skill. To start with, you cannot introduce humour indiscriminately, otherwise you might sound like a jester. Experienced speakers most often introduce humour early in their speeches, presumably to ease the tension in the hall. But these jokes must be brief. purposeful and closely related to the point.
Many speakers are scared by the countenances of the listeners. Not all their looks are friendly. However, there are bound to be a few friendly ones, and it is advisable to pick them out, look at them from time to time, and ignore the hostile ones. Looking at the friendly faces keeps you at ease.
You are advised to write out your speech in full after which you should read it several times before the day. You couldn’t get a willing listener to criticise your delivery. Do this several times until you can almost recite it. Notice that we are not advising you to memorise it, because you could forget vital areas due to anxiety. Writing out and practising the speech would make you much familiar with the content, indeed with every word.
Speech-making is an art. While it is true that some are gifted in speech-making, it is more correct that anyone who doesn’t suffer from speech handicaps can learn to deliver effective speeches. And you can become a master in this art.
(a) In one sentence state the intention of the writer
(b) In five sentences, one for each summarize the five steps for making a good speech and the reason for each step.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
I vividly remember that Thursday morning, some twenty-two years ago. when I was operated upon to have an abnormality corrected. For months. the doctors had combated the ailment with drugs of various kinds many of which sent me on long excursions into slumberland, Yet the ailment had seemed to defy all medical entreaties. Then a few days later, two senior surgeons called on me to discuss their decision They made it clear that only a surgical operation held any hope, otherwise the downward trend was sure to continue until the inevitable quiet end. So. they sought my consent which I promptly gave, stating that at my age I was old enough to accept any eventuality.
For days, I was gradually prepared for the great event. I took various drugs to build me up physically, and I was encouraged to eat well. Besides, a clergyman came regularly to talk to and pray for me He assured me that I would sail through the operation safely as God, the greatest of surgeons, would join the medical team Gradually I steeled myself to face the exercise.
Then the day came. My wife came very early into the ward, looking as if she bore the burdens of all the world. I told her to be a good girl and cheer up. But all my jokes fell flat. So. when a senior nursing sister came and told my wife to go and buy one of the drugs needed, I was somehow relieved. Moments later, my eldest son came, and I told him to brace up for any eventuality. I said I was proud of his achievements as a young engineer, and of his immediate younger brother as a pharmacist. So, if the end should come, they should both rise to the occasion and steer their other brother and sister to good careers. I had not quite concluded when the stretcher was wheeled in and I was helped on to it.
As the journey to the theatre commenced, with my son by my side, I held his hand firmly and smiled. This was the only way I could reassure him that all was going to be well. The stretcher moved on. Then, suddenly, I saw my wife hurrying er catch up with us. As she came along, I told the ward attendants to show down so that she could catch up with us. I took her hand and put it in my son’s. Apparently, this gesture disturbed rather than strengthened her. She burst into tears. Before I could say anything else, to mother and son, the theatre doors were flung open; and the stretcher was wheeled in.
(a) What did the surgeons seek from the patient?
(b) In what two ways was the man prepared for the operation.
(c) What do the man’s words to his eldest son suggest about his state of mind?
(d) (i) What message did the man intend to convey to his wife by putting her hand in his son’s.
(ii) What was his wife’s reaction?
(e) “Before I could say anything else…. ‘
(i) What grammatical name is given to this expression as it is used in the passage?
(ii) What is its function in the sentence).
(f) ….the inevitable quiet end”.
(i) What figure of speech is used in the expression above?
(ii) What does it mean?
(g) How do you know that the patient survived the operation?
(h) For each of the following words, find another word or phrase which means the same and which can replace it as it is used in the passage. (I) combated; (ii) entreaties; (iii) eventually; (iv) steeled; (v) steer; (vi) gesture.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
It seemed that Joe had just about had it with his wife of three years. He no longer thought her attractive or interesting: he considered her a poor housekeeper who was overweight, someone he no longer wanted to live with. Joe was so upset that he finally decided on divorce. But before he served her the papers, he made an appointment with a psychologist for the specific purpose of finding out how to make life as difficult as possible for his wife.
The psychologist listened to Joe’s story and then gave his advice: “Well, Joe, I think I’ve got the perfect solution for you. From tonight when you get home, I want you to start treating your wife as if she were a goddess. That’s right, a goddess, I want you to change your attitude towards her completely. Start doing everything in your power to please her. Listen intently to her when she talks about her problems. Help around the house; take her out to dinner on weekends. I want you to pretend that she’s a goddess. Then after two months of this wonderful behaviour, just pack your bags and leave her. That should get to her.
Joe thought it was a tremendous idea. That night he started treating his wife as if she were a goddess. He couldn’t wait to do things for her. He brought her breakfast in bed and had flowers delivered to her for no apparent reason. They read books to each other at night and Joe listened to her as never before. It was incredible what Joe was doing for his wife. He kept it up for the two full months. After the allotted time, the psychologist gave Joe a call at home. “Joe,” he asked, “How’s it going? Did you file for divorce? Are you a happy bachelor once again?” “Divorce?” asked Joe in surprise. “You must be kidding! I’m married to a goddess. I’ve never been happier in my life. I’d never leave my wife in a million years. In fact, I’m discovering new, wonderful things about her every single day. Divorce? Not on your life!” The psychologist hung up wearing a knowing smile.
(a) Why did Joe consult the psychologist?
(b) What did Joe think he would achieve by following the psychologist’s advice?
(c) What is ironical about Joe’s answer to the psychologist’s question towards the end of the passage’
(d) From this episode, what do you think had really been wrong with Joe’s marriage?
(e) “… it was a tremendous idea’. ((i) What grammatical name is given to this expression as it is used in the passage?
(ii) What is its function in the sentence?
(f) “I’d never leave my wife in a million years” What figure of speech is contained in the sentence above?
(g) Why do you think the psychologist wore a knowing smile?
(h) For each of the following words. find another word or phrase which means the same and which can replace it as used in the passage. (i) attractive. (ii) upset; (iii) solution (iv) wonderful; (v) apparent; (vi) allotted.
You are a speaker in an inter-school debate on the topic: “It is better to attend a school near your home than one outside your neighborhood”. Write your speech for or against the proposition.
Write a story ending with the word: “Indeed, it was a blessing in disguise”.
Write a letter to the Director of the Environmental Protection Agency in your country complaining about the environmental pollution of your area and requesting that urgent action be taken to improve the situation.
Write an article for publication in your school magazine on the topic: “Why I should like to be… ” Choose an occupation or career and give at least three reasons why it appeals to you.