L1 Wide Reading Log

Text title- Everest Book Three THE SUMMIT

Author- Gordon Korman             

Text type- Novel

Date read- 14/6/19

     The book is about a team of mountaineers with four kids whose goal is to summit Mt. Everest to be on top of the world. Each one of these kids could break the record if they reached the top. However, one of the older kids wanted to be one who broke the record tried to sabotage the others. Coincidentally, a storm hit the mountain, causing chaos to the whole camp.

     One of the characters I find interesting was Tilt Crowley. He was one of the four kids that would break the record if they reached the top. However, Tilt was the second youngest meaning that he would not hold the record if the whole team reached the top. To prevent the record escaping from his hands, he had turned Dominic’s oxygen value wide open. That means the youngest kid in the summit team would run out of oxygen before reaching the top, and forced to return. After Tilt summited and returned to camp four, a storm heading towards the mountain was spotted. Dominic and his partner were forced to stay on the mountain as they did not have the time to descent before the storm hit them. They were forced to move behind the mountain without oxygen on an unfamiliar route. At camp four, Tilt has set off to a suicide mission by himself, trying to save the two mountaineers, but Tilt himself was the only casualty of the team. I find this relatable to me. When I was younger, I would envy other people and would try to do things that will benefit me, but I was the only one who was affected.

     A message I took from the book is things don’t always go your way, especially on Mt. Everest. When the team was on the mountain, they waited a long time for the bad weather to pass. They almost had to leave and wait for the next season as the weather was too poor. However, a tiny window gave them the opportunity to summit. As they ascent, one of the members had slid and fell a hundred feet, breaking a few ribs but still alive. Tilt had successfully reached the apex and returned to camp. However, Dominic and his partner ran into oxygen issues and got caught in the storm, which was very unfortunate.

‘Do you think your new record has been over-shadowed by Tilt’s death?’ The reporters asked.

     Everyone was facing a huge challenge. It was the mountain and themselves. The mountain was extremely dangerous, every step they step on could be a 50 meter drop to death. Their bodies could collapse from oxygen deficiency and fatigue with every step they take. When I was little, I always saw news with titles such as ‘First Hong Kong Citizen to summit Mt. Everest’ or Youngest Hong Kong Citizen to summit Mt. Everest’. These news articles always amaze me. I had always wanted to e a mountaineer, but did not have the equipment nor experience to summit mountains such as Mt. Cook or other mountains with similar conditions.

The title of the text was very straight forward. It describes what the book was about in a simple and plain way. Just by reading the text title, the reader would know the book is about the summit of Mt. Everest, therefore the title was appropriate.

I would recommend this story to people who are interested in mountaineer or ones that have a goal to achieve. This is because the book is written so well, you can almost see what the writer is seeing. It also gives a certain level of motivation to the reader.

1.4 Now and then

24th December, 2018

Central, Hong Kong

     Travelling in Admiralty on a Monday morning may be an unforgettable experience to visitors. The metro stations are filled with middle class workers, who are risking a $1500 fine for having their breakfast. This station is where Hong Kong Island is connected to the rest of the city. We could hear the people mumbling in a foreign language, and the Chinese lady who shouts at their child. The ridiculous amount of people in the station makes everyone sweat as if they were chasing a missed bus. Packed like sardines, people inhale one another’s breath.

     Disgusting.

     We can see the greyish sky, paired with the smell of polluted air. Despite the smoggy atmosphere, the golden rays of the sunrise still shone through the thick clouds to reflect off the glass skyscrapers. The pedestrian crossing light turns green, hundreds of people cross the roads that was once filled with cars. There is almost no airflow at all. Dozens of buildings tall as the sky trap the toxic air. In the little gaps between buildings, we can smell the scent of coffee from the busy cafe’s trying to serve the impatient customers.

     However, with daylight fading away, another rush hour begins. The buildings once full of people were emptied.

     Christmas lighting on the gigantic buildings were turned on, creating a stationary light show. People who were dressed up in business suits wore Christmas costumes and dinner dresses. Scent of coffee is now replaced with turkey, cream of mushroom soup and other dishes you’ll see on a family Christmas dinner.

     Community groups mixed with children and young adults would sing Christmas carols and give out blankets and food to the homelessness and wish them Merry Christmas.

     Full of pubs, a street called Lan Kwai Fong lighten up by traditional neon lights that reflect off the rain water mixed with spilled beer. People with different backgrounds, cultures and races were all having a blast. Group of friends split among the pub, meeting new friends and partners.

     This is what I call home, the pearl of the east.

Level 1 English Wide Reading Log

Text title- My Father’s Hands

Author- Calvin R. Worthington

Text type- Short story

Date Read-

     The story is about the narrator’s father‘s life. His father had a pair of good hands. They were rough and exceedingly strong. They were warm as well. They could draw and saw a square with quick accuracy. However, his hands failed him in one thing. They never learned to write.

     The character I found interesting was the narrator’s father. He had an interesting life. Even though his hands failed him in one the simplest things, he could do a lot of things that an ordinary office man can’t do. He was a pipefitter in a shipyard and installed the complicated guts of mighty fighting ships. His enthusiasm and efficiency brought an offer to become line boss-until he was handed the qualification test. His fingers could trace a path across the blueprints while his mind imagined the pipes lacing through the heart of the ship, He could recall every twist and turn of the pipes. But he couldn’t read or write. He was a very capable person, but he just failed in one simple job, writing.

     This story has taught me the importance of knowing how to read. In the story, the narrator’s father died because of a heart attack. He had a bottle of nitroglycerin pills when the heart attack took place, however, the bottle cap was imprinted “Child Proof Cap – Push Down and Twist to Unlock”, which he could not understand.  Therefore he couldn’t take the pills in time which lead to his death.

     The narrator’s whole life was a challenge. He could not read or write. With a modern society, it would be even harder. There are information and warning signs everywhere. With illiteracy, it would be very difficult to fit in this society. I can relate to him. I have fractured a knuckle on my right hand and got a cast put on it. However, I am right handed. Therefore, I have to write and do other things with my left hand which I am not used to.

     The text title doesn’t fully describe the whole story. It didn’t mention anything about the narrator’s father being illiterate or any details of the story. Therefore, it kept the story mysterious.

     I would recommend this book for people who think everything should be perfect in their life and grudges when something doesn’t go their way. This book will let them learn that sometimes, people are not perfect just as they are born.

LEVEL 1 ENGLISH WIDE READING LOG

Text title- Canterbury Quake

Author- Desna Wallace

Text type- Diary

Date read- 25th February, 2019

     The story was set around the Canterbury earthquakes, from 8th August, 2010 to 30th July, 2011. The diary is written by 11 year old Maddy who lived in Christchurch during the earthquakes. The diary is about how Maddy’s family live through the earthquakes and how she finds family relationships important.

    The character that I find interesting is Tessa. Tessa is the oldest child in the family, Maddy’s sister. In the start of the book, Tessa is like a bully to Maddy. She is often mean to Maddy because she’s older and has more control of things over Maddy, such as having her own cell phone. This gives the impression to the reader that she is strong and independent. However, after the earthquakes happen, Tessa became very scared and would sometimes cry alone when she’s in her room. When I’m scared and alone, I’ll find a closed room and lock the doors. Then focus on something else such as social media or on hobbies instead of the things that scare me. But I really can’t do that if I’m in an earthquake, can’t I?

    The message I took from this book is strong bonds with family and friends can break easily. In the book, Maddy’s best friend, Laura had to move to Timaru after the earthquake. At Timaru, Laura has met some new friends at her new school. This weakened the friendship with between Maddy and Laura as they don’t meet as much and Laura has a lot more friends to be occupied with. I can relate to this, even though I am 9000 kilometers away from my family, I still have a very strong bond with my family, because I call them a few times a week and exchange photos.

   There were a lot of challenges Maddy and her family has to deal with. This includes dealing with liquefaction, no flushing toilets, no water, no electricity, limited transportation and limited daily supplies. Their family is very tough to choose to deal with these problems instead of moving out of Christchurch. These are problems that people like me will not be able to experience in the urban areas of Hong Kong. There are almost no natural disasters that bring mass destruction. The most powerful natural disaster we have are typhoons. Whenever we have one, we will buy food enough for a couple of days and wait for the typhoon to either die out or past. Some thrill seeking teenagers will use this opportunity to go out to the shore and have fun. One of the recent typhoons left devastating damage to the city. The typhoon picked up all the bricks on the water front and threw them around. It even uprooted hundreds of trees which pulled up underground power lines and other pipes.

     The title of the text was very appropriate. It clearly describes what the content of the book was about so that the reader doesn’t have to read through the book description to know if it’s the book their looking for.

     I would recommend this book to people who like reading journals or people who are interested in geology and earthquakes. This is because you can learn about what’ll happen during an earthquake besides the initial shake.

This is your online portfolio

Hello and welcome to your personal online journal.

This platform has been created to enhance and enrich your learning at Mount Aspiring College. Its purpose is to provide you with an audience for your work (or work-in-progress) and you have the choice (by altering the ‘visibility’ of your posts) of whether your work on here is visible to the world, or only to your teacher.

Anything you post here in the public domain represents you and thus it’s important that you take care with that decision, but don’t be afraid to publish your work – as the feedback you may get from people at home, your peers and people from around the internet is only likely to enhance it.

Remember you can always access your class blog and all manner of resources through the Department of English main website – and by all means check out the sites of your peers to see what they’re getting up to as well.

If you have any questions for me, an excellent way to get an answer is to create a new private post on this journal. I am notified of any new posts and will reply swiftly to any queries.

Make the most of, and enjoy this new freedom in your English learning.

Righto!

Chris Waugh