Write a story to illustrate the saying: A stitch in time saves nine.
Your house master has just been promoted to head another school. As the house prefect, write a speech you would deliver during the send-off party organized for him.
Write a letter to the Minister of Education in your country on the poor state of schools in your area and its effect on the, performance of students.
Write an article suitable for publication in your school magazine on the effects of drug abuse.
You are about to leave secondary school and a friend of yours who is attending school in another town has written to enquire about what you wish to do after leaving school. Write a reply to him, explaining your plans.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
The number of people living in slums worldwide is estimated to be more than a billion. Experts in urbanization fear that the ever-growing slums in the world will soon become more populous than the cities. Findings like these, however. do not show clearly the devastating effect which substandard living conditions have on the poor. The situation is more serious in developing countries, where many people lack basic amenities, adequate housing and modem health care services.
It is an irony that while some of the richest nations want to build colonies on the moon and explore Mars, growing numbers of their poorest citizens cannot afford a decent place to live here on earth. It might be easy to conclude that the poor could remedy their situation if they showed more initiative. but factors involved in the housing crisis are beyond their control. The world’s population is increasing at an alarming rate. such that millions of houses are needed to keep pace with this development.
It is a fact that cities provide more facilities than the rural areas. It is easier to get electricity and good water supply, pursue one’s education and secure well-paid jobs in cities than villages. Very often those in the villages hanker for such opportunities. One cannot therefore blame them when they seize the first opportunity to reside n the cities. They do not mind going away from the villages to reside in congested cities. thereby contributing to over-population in the cities. In troubled areas of the world. political disasters. civil wars and suicide bombing are common Poor people, women and children run away from such troubled areas to preserve their lives They seek refuge in whatever shelter they can find when existing buildings are completely destroyed The relationship between housing and poverty cannot be ignored. People who cannot afford basic necessities as food and clothing. may not be able to rent or build decent houses. These and other factors have forced millions of people to settle for substandard housing They live in abandoned buses, shipping containers, cardboard boxes and other unthinkable places.
The housing problems. just like many other problems facing the world should be tackled with urgency. However, the cost of land for the erection of houses is high Even when land is secured. the high cost of building materials is another problem to contend with. One must not therefore blame building agencies which employ methods that enable them to build inexpensive houses
(a) In five sentences, one for each state the causes of the worldwide housing problems.
(b) In one sentence. summarize the measures that poor people have adopted to solve their housing problem.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
Part of my one-year study programme in Britain involved visiting several places of historical importance, especially those related to precolonial African history on which I was researching One was the home of William Wilberforce, the 19th century anti-slave trade statesman. The house had been turned into a museum by one of the several organizations that fought the scourge Among the most outstanding features of the museum were the several statues of slaves in different postures black slaves being captured in their native homes, being chained together, being led to the port for sale, on the slave ship and being forced to work on plantations The sculptures were particularly remarkable in that they illustrated very movingly the bane which Wilberforce threw himself against.
As a black man I could not help shedding tears when going from room to room on the two floors. Then, there was a period of pandemonium which I. unwittingly, caused. I was on the first floor, about to cross the lobby, when I came face to face with another visitor. a white man. When he saw me, a wave of fright swept through him. His eyes were immediately bloodshot. He shouted out of fright and ran back. Quickly, he made for the staircase, sped down to the ground floor, and took to his heels.
All this while. I remained still, at a loss as to the cause of his action. He stopped shouting only when he got into the bus that brought his group. Meanwhile. others around him. realizing the cause of his fright, came to tell me that I was
the cause. They laughed it off when they told me that he had thought I was one of the statues and. had left suddenly turned into a human being. I discovered the reason for his fright when I entered the room which he had just left and found that It one of the statues looked exactly like me. Whoever did the wax model perhaps had my picture. was my height, my shape, my complexion, indeed the exact replica of me.
I realized what had happened. I was the only black present in the building. The man had not expected a live black person to be in the museum. Thus, the sudden sight of a black person moving around, with the stature and face of one of the statues, should certainly frighten him. I wondered what could have happened if I had pursued him down the staircase.
(a) In what capacity did the writer visit the museum?
(b) For what was William Wilberforce famous?
(c) Why did the writer stand out among the visitors in the museum at that hour?
(d) Why was the other man frightened?
(e) by had the man assumed that the writer was a statue that had come alive?
(f) “a wave of fright swept through him…” (i) What figure of speech is contained in the expression above? (ii) What does it mean?
(g) “…that brought his group…”
(i) What grammatical name is given to this expression as it is used in the passage?
(ii) What is its function?
(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) organizations; (ii) remarkable; (iii) pandemonium; (iv) replica; (v) pursued.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
When Bademosi heard that he had some visitors from Ireti, his hometown, he concluded immediately that they a must be the usual seekers of financial assistance. or jobs. He decided that this time, he would give them the rough edge of his tongue. They had come because earlier callers had not reported what he had stressed: that he was not in Kapitatown for anyone’s sake.
He took his time to put his office and workshop in order. determined not to leave in a hurry just because of some stubborn fortune-seekers. He made sure that all his seventy-two workers had signed out before he signaled to his driver. There, in the huge limousine, he thought of the new multi-million dollar contract for his construction company and how he would get a helicopter from the profit. That would be the ultimate solution to the persistent problem of the traffic congestion which he faced in Kapitatown.
The five-kilometre distance to his mansion was covered in about two hours. On arrival, his youngest wife informed i him that his visitors were chiefs from Ireti. He felt a revulsion as he imagined that they must have come with a king-size request. As he entered the house. he steeled his mind. However. the three chiefs disarmed him with their cheerful smiles. Each met him in the doorway with a bear hug. As soon as the chit-chat ended, they announced that the Ireti ruling council had decided to confer on him the highest traditional title of the land and that a date had been set for the great event. He was flabbergasted; so they had come with an offer. He immediately accepted.
Thereafter, things moved very fast. He contacted all the great names in the country, among them his state governor, the top politicians in the land and his business associates from far and near. However, he did not even pay a preparatory visit to Ireti. He took everything for granted.
The great day came. Hundreds of limousines from far and near streamed into Ireti. As he was not the only awardee, the conferment ceremony began with the others Each took about fifteen minutes; so before Bademosi’s turn, all his invited guests had arrived Just as he was called some heavily-built youngsters appeared Shouting into the microphone, their leader announced “Bademosi doesn’t deserve this conferment and cannot have the title. A man who has deserted his community for more than thirty years who did not think it proper to return home to care for his ailing parents before they died, and who has consistently turned deaf ears to the calls of our youths, cannot have the title. Good day. everybody!”
With that, the youths continued to appear in their hundreds, angry and fierce, wielding all forms of weapons, warning everybody to disappear immediately otherwise heads would roll including theirs if the police wanted it so. Within minutes the whole arena was deserted
(a) How had Bademosi treated visitors from his Bademosi is wealthy?
(b) Why has Bademosi planned to buy a helicopter?
(d) What should Bademos have done before the day of the conferment of the title?
(e) Give two reasons why the youths objected to Bademosi s installation?
(f) ”As soon as the chit-chat ended
(i) What is the grammatical name given to this expression as it is used in the passage?
(ii) What is its function?
(g) “… give them the rough edge of his tongue
(i) What figure of speech is used in this expression?
(ii) What does it mean?
(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) stressed (ii) ultimate, (iii) flabbergasted (iv) deserted (v) disappear.
Write a story to illustrate the saying: Where there’s is a will there s a way.
You are the Chief Speaker in a debate on the topic: Violent video games should be banned. Write your argument for or against the topic.
Activities such as debates, drama and excursions are now rare in schools in your country. As the Senior Prefect, write a letter to your principal suggesting the revival of these activities and pointing out what students stand to gain from taking part in them.
Write an article for publication in your school magazine on the dangers of keeping bad company in school.
You have spent about six weeks in your new school Write a letter to your father telling him about your experiences so far.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the question on it.
When the principal introduced Mr. Njobe as our new Mathematics teacher, we did not think much of him. He did not look very likeable nor did he appear to be an achiever. Nothing was spectacular about him apart from the fact that he was a South African. Most of us who knew the goings-on in his country regarded him as one of the luckless refugees from the apartheid regime. After the mild clapping, we forgot about the man with giant, hungry looks.
During his first lesson in our class, it struck me that not once did he consult the textbook. Rather, to teach the properties of the square and rectangle, he made us measure the top of our tables, the classroom doors, and other objects around. From there, we discovered that these objects had opposite equal sides, and all the angles were equal. We did not have to learn these from books; he made us find out. When later I consulted my textbook, what Durell, the great mathematician, wrote came every much alive. I started to see Mr. Njobe as equal to Durrell.
With time, we began to like his teaching. He taught with zeal and usually through playlike methods. His class was always lively and full of jokes. For instance, to each us the properties of a circle, he instructed us to bring out the bowls which we used for the midday meal. During the lesson, he made each one measure the distance round his bowl. Incidentally, almost every bowl was different in size. We laughed at the sizes of the different bowls while we measured them. Throughout the lesson, there was much laughter. Finally, he told each student to divide the distance round the bowl by the distance through the centre. Imagine our amazement when we discovered that, whatever the size of the bowl, all the answers were the same. This he explained is the base in all computations regarding the circle. That was fifty years ago and I have not forgotten. He actually tamed Mathematics for us, terrifying as it was.
Then, one day, we learnt that Mr. Njobe was on admission in Wesley Guild Hospital. Our representatives sent to convey our good wishes were refused entry into the intensive care unit: they were told that his condition was critical. We virtually went into mourning for weeks. But just as we were writing him off our mind, one hot afternoon, his car crawled into the school compound. As he stepped out, students swarmed out, carried him shoulder-high and danced round the school, chanting spontaneously, Njobe, welcome! Mathematics welcome!”
(a) Describe the appearance of Mr. Njobe on his first day in the school.
(b) With what concept of South Africa did the writer associate Mr. Njobe?
(c) What did the students’ mild clapping suggest?
(d) What impressed the writer about the new teacher during the first lesson?
(e) What is the unique about the new teacher’s method of teaching?
(f) “…that i these objects had opposite equal sides…”
(i) What is the grammatical name given to this expression as it is used in the passage?
(ii) What is its function?
(g) “He actually tamed Mathematics for us…” What figure of speech s used in this expression?
(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) luckless (ii) consult (iii) meticulously (iv) amazement (v) terrifying (vi) critical
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
It was Mr. Ogun that wooed me for school. That was decades ago, I had resisted vehemently: I even ran away to hibernate with my maternal grandmother. I had told Granny that I wanted to spend a few days with her. By nightfall, my father, who suspected that I was hiding there, came to take me away. The following morning, he dragged me all the way to school where Mr. Ogun received all fresh students.
I swore secretly that I would abscond at the first opportunity. but throughout the day, Mr. Ogun kept a watchful eye on fresh pupils. He had a smiling face and looked very friendly. As soon as he had registered our names, he led us to the field to play. Of all the children, I was probably the only one who looked forward to an opportunity to abscond. Mr. Ogun seemed to have read my mind, he used my name in the songs he composed as we marched round the field. He once held me by the hand and marched along with me. As we went on. he announced, “What a smart fellow! Clap for him.”
In the classroom, Mr. Ogun told me to sit in front as he stated, “My Smartic will keep the pieces of chalk and the duster.” Gradually, I was mellowing in my plan to abscond. I began to think that I could give school a try. At the end of that day, my father was around to take me home. Perhaps he decided not to take chances.
During the first week, my father took me to school everyday. Somehow, my resistance was softening to his surprise. Every morning, as I produced the pieces of chalk from the cupboard. Mr. Ogun smiled broadly, nodding approvingly. Before we left the classroom for recess, for games or for home, I dutifully kept the materials safe, and as soon as we returned, I produced them. It took some time before I realized that my role was crucial since the pilfering of such materials was common in all the other classes.
My father soon stopped bothering about me as I would get up from bed, take my bath, and get into my uniform without any prodding. My love for school was deepening. especially when I discovered that I was among the few that always did well in most tests. And Mr. Ogun would praise me to the skies.
Towards the end of the school year, we learnt that Mr. Ogun was going on transfer to another school. How devastated I felt! Now, at last, was the time to abscond from school. But then. I simply could not take the crucial step because my bond with school had become very firm.
(a) What evidence is there in the passage that the writer’s experience took place long ago?
(b) Mention two things that Mr. Ogun did that won the writer for school.
(c) What was the benefit of the duty performed by the writer to his class?
(d) What do you think the writer implies when he states that he dressed up for school without any prodding?
(e) Why could he not carry out his plan to abscond when his mentor had left?
(f) …that my role was crucial.. (i) What is the grammatical name given to this expression as it is used in the passage? (ii) What is its function?
(g) “…my bond with school had become very firm” What figure of speech is used in this expression?
(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) vehemently — (ii) abscond (iii) probably (iv) gradually (v) prodding (vi) devastated
Write a story ending with the statement: Indeed, it was the biggest lesson of my life.
You are the Chief Speaker in a debate on the topic: Education is not as important as riches. Write your argument for or against the topic.
The quality of food prepared for students in your school has become very poor. Write a letter to the Principal complaining about this and explaining ways in which this situation can be remedied.
Write an article for publication in a national newspaper on the importance of education in national development.
Your school fees have been increased astronomically and your father has threatened to transfer you to another school. Write a letter to him giving, at least, three reasons why you would like to remain in your present school.
Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions on it.
Have you ever considered the vast differences between the conventional desktop telephone and the modern handset telephone? The desktop telephone has one distinct function: that of making and receiving calls. Apart from that, perhaps the other use is aesthetic — adding some beauty to the furniture pieces in the room. The conventional telephone set was a status symbol, as only the rich and highly privileged could afford it.
To obtain it, one had to fill many forms and have three well known citizens to attest to one’s sterling qualities as a highly responsible member of the society. Then, after paying several fees, one had to wait for several months before the telecommunications department officials would come to install the wires, in order to get one’s set connected to the national grid. After that, the applicant might count himself among the privileged ones in the community. But he must not heave a sigh of relief yet: his problem may just be beginning. The inclement weather may remind him that his use of the facility is at its mercy. A rainstorm or even a strong wind can destroy some of the wire-bearing poles, thus cutting him off from other telephone users. Besides, a vehicular accident may knock down a pole or several of them. It is not even uncommon for termites to render wooden poles useless. Finally, there are the problems of the communications department officials who are noted for bringing bills late, and cutting off wires for failure to pay up promptly. Most often, the bills bear little resemblance to actual consumption. Thus, the telephone is not always there at one s service.
Like the conventional desktop telephone set, the handset has the primary function of making and receiving calls. Beyond that, there are vast differences between them. To begin with, the small handset is not much of a status symbol now. It is very easy to carry about and it can be used everywhere by all and sundry. The telephone service providers have flooded the market with lines at very low prices, such that most users can boast of two or more lines. Gone are the days when one had to apply for a set and wait for months. Today, all that it takes is to purchase the handset, which could be very cheap or very costly depending on one’s preferences and purse. Once it is purchased, its user could have access to dozens of functions. Apart from making and receiving calls, one could send text messages and receive responses within minutes. The set could be used to take pictures which could be as clear as any taken with a professional camera. One could also connect to the internet to read newspapers and send mails. Besides, the set could be used to store songs; it could also be used as a radio receiver. One could use the handset to programme schedules of activities. The reliable timepiece on it could be used as a watch. Young ones play games on their handsets and store pictures of loved ones on them.
However, with all these advantages, the handset has one obvious shortcoming: it can easily be lost or stolen. This is where the conventional desktop telephone is not vulnerable.
(a) In three sentences, one for each, summarize the problems associated with owning the desktop telephone.
(b) In three sentences, one for each, summarize the advantages which the handset telephone has over the desktop telephone.