English Language Centre

ELC2011 Advanced English Reading and Writing Skills

2020-21 Semester 2 3 credits

Assessment One: Analysing genres of writing (30%)

online, out-of-class, https://learn.polyu.edu.hk/
18:00, 14 March 2021 – 18:00, 15 March 2021

Instructions

- You will find on the next few pages four texts that are related to the topic of school.
- Read the texts carefully and answer ALL questions.
- You don’t need to copy the questions but you should indicate the question numbers e.g. 2(b), 3(a) clearly.
- Type your answers in MS Word.
- Aim to complete the assessment in 1 hour and 45 minutes.

Submission

- Save your file and submit it as a Turnitin assignment (click ‘View/Complete’, then ‘Upload’)
by 18:00, Monday, 15 March 2021.
- The first page of your file should contain the following personal information:
Full name e.g. LAI Ming Leon
Student number e.g. 19181716D
- Name the submission title in this format:
ELC2011 A1 LAI Ming Leon
- After you click ‘Confirm’ to upload your submission, Turnitin will generate a digital receipt. Please go to the
Turnitin Document Viewer and download this receipt, or save a screenshot of it, as proof of successful
submission in case of any technical issues later.
- Late submission will result in downgrading of this assessment’s grade, or an overall Fail grade for the subject.
Text 1

Greenwood, my elementary school, was a wonderful old building, enormous to a small child, like a castle
made of brick. Built in 1901, it stood off Grand Avenue at the far end of a street of outstandingly vast and
elegant homes. The whole neighborhood smelled lushly of old money.

Stepping into Greenwood for the first time was both the scariest and the most exciting event of the first five
years of my life. The front doors appeared to be about twenty times taller than normal doors, and everything
inside was built to a similar impossible scale, including the teachers. Everything about it was intimidating and
thrilling at once.

It had, for one thing, an auditorium that was just a like a real theatre, with a stage, and spotlights and
changing rooms behind. So however bad your school productions were – and ours were always extremely
bad, partly because we had no talent and partly because Mrs. De Voto, the music teacher, was a bit ancient
and often nodded off at the piano – it felt like you were part of a well-ordered professional undertaking (even
when you were standing there holding a long note and waiting for Mrs. De Voto’s chin to touch the keyboard,
an event that always jerked her back into action with rousing gusto at exactly the spot where she had left off a
minute or two before).

Greenwood also had the world’s finest gymnasium. It was upstairs at the back of the school, which gave it a
nice unexpected air. When you opened the door, you expected to find a nice ordinary classroom and instead
you had – hey! woah! – a gigantic cubic vault of polished wood. It was a space to savor: it had cathedral-sized
windows, a ceiling that no ball could ever reach, acres of varnished wood that had been mellowed into a
honeyed glow by decades of squeaky sneakers and gentle drops of childish perspiration, and smartly echoing
acoustics that made every bouncing ball sound deftly handled and seriously athletic. When the weather was
good and we were sent outdoors to play, the route to the playground took us out onto a rickety metal fire
escape that was unnervingly but grandly lofty. The view from the summit took in miles of rooftops and sunny
countryside reaching practically to Missouri, or so it seemed.

Of course winters in those days, as with all winters of childhood, were much longer, snowier and more frigid
than now. In consequence they used to keep the school heated to roughly the temperature of a pottery kiln, so
that pupils and teachers existed alike in a state of permanent, helpless drowsiness.

Source: The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid (by Bill Bryson)

1. (a) Why did the writer feel both thrilled and scared about his school? [2 marks]

(b) Find two examples of hyperbole and explain what effect the writer is able to achieve by using
this literary device in each case. [4 marks]

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Text 2

My Son is Waiting for College Acceptance Letters. And it’s Driving Me Absolutely Crazy

When my firstborn son was a toddler, I used to wonder if he would become a bouncer someday because he
was big for his age — and fixated on doors. Opening them, closing them. Letting some in (the dog), keeping
others out (the dad). He'd station himself in a doorway and take charge, wielding his power like Excalibur:
You? Yes, by all means, enter. But not your friend. She waits out here with the others ... until I say.

It was cute unless you were carrying groceries.

Now the tables have turned. He's standing at the doorway of more than a dozen universities, waiting to see
if he'll be admitted. We're staggering around in the three to four aimless months (110+ days!) between
applying to colleges and hearing back from said colleges. The kid is handling it just fine — but for me, this
limbo is anguish.

I check the mailbox three times a day, mistaking boring ole tax documents for promising acceptance
packets. I hunt for buried treasure in my email spam folder. I've sat on university application status
websites hitting refresh … refresh … refresh, hoping for news that wasn't there three seconds ago — and still
isn't. I am a confused and slightly ashamed spectator to the grappling matches taking place in my head:
What on Earth was he thinking applying to such an elite school?! … How dare they judge this funny,
compassionate child based on a handful of test scores and a disinterest in field sports! … If it were me? I'd
have done Mock Trial. But whatever …

Somewhere in an ivory tower above a picturesque quad, at some point when they damn well feel like it,
admissions folks will decide whether there are too many male applicants this year, or too many from our
hometown, or too many other history-nerd, CrossFit-competing jazz drummers, to deem my son a "good fit"
for their campus. So forgive me, but as someone who interviewed multiple pediatricians before the child
was even born and read every stinking opinion ever published on circumcision, the idea that his fate will
now be chosen so randomly, and soooooooo fricking leisurely, borders on outrageous.

Mostly, though, I don't like how useless the waiting makes me feel. So suddenly, newly useless. It's always
been my job to help my son get what he wants, and now there's literally nothing I can do but wait. And,
well, refresh.

Sitting and waiting while relative strangers judge you — employers, lenders, even dates — is good practice
for real life, I suppose. And I know the boy will hear "no," "I'm sorry, but," and "I'm afraid not" plenty in his
life, just as I have in mine and you have in yours.

But for 17 years, we gave this kid the keys to any doors he wanted to open. And I've gotta tell you, it hurts
to know that life will slam some in his face, and we won't even be able to sneak him in through the back.

At least if the whole college thing doesn't pan out, he can always find work as a bouncer.

Source: The Santa Barbara Independent

2. (a) Which of the following messages does the writer wish to convey? [1 mark]
(1) The college application system is unfair;

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 (2) Children need to prepare early if they want to be successful; or
(3) It’s OK if your child eventually ends up with a low-paid job.

(b) Analyse the use of imagery in ‘I hunt for buried treasure in my email spam folder’.
Find another example of imagery in the text and explain its meaning. [3 marks]

(c) Describe the character of the writer and support your answer by making reference to the
text. [3 marks]

Text 3

First Day at School

(by Roger McGough)

A millionbillionwillion miles from home

Waiting for the bell to go. (To go where?)
Why are they all so big, other children?
So noisy? So much at home they
Must have been born in uniform
Lived all their lives in playgrounds
Spent the years inventing games
That don’t let me in. Games
That are rough, that swallow you up.

And the railings.

All around, the railings.
Are they to keep out wolves and monsters?
Things that carry off and eat children?
Things you don’t take sweets from?
Perhaps they’re to stop us getting out
Running away from the lessins. Lessin.
What does a lessin look like?
Sounds small and slimy.
They keep them in the glassrooms.
Whole rooms made out of glass. Imagine.

I wish I could remember my name

Mummy said it would come in useful.
Like wellies. When there’s puddles.
Yellowwellies. I wish she was here.
I think my name is sewn on somewhere
Perhaps the teacher will read it for me.
Tea-cher. The one who makes the tea.

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3. (a) How does the writer feel about going to school? Justify your answer. [4 marks]

(b) Explain the writer’s use of these two lines: ‘Things you don’t take sweets from?’ and ‘I think
my name is sewn on somewhere’. [3 marks]

(c) Why would nonsense words like ‘millionbillionwillion’, ‘lessin’, ‘glassrooms’ and ‘tea-cher’
appear throughout the poem? [3 marks]

Text 4

Established in 1996, NTK Learning Center is a leading educational service provider in Southeast Asia. NTK
specializes in academic tuition for students following international curricula, standardized test preparation, and
educational planning and consultation services. Over the years, we have helped countless students prepare for
internationally-recognized examinations and entrance to schools and universities.
NTK has over 90 full-time teachers, including experienced examiners of several exam boards. All of our highly
qualified teachers have diverse teaching experience, and have passed our strict in-house selection and
assessment process.
We offer a comprehensive range of courses covering all major subjects and curricula. Our courses have a
maximum of 8 students per class. Individual lessons and private group lessons, which are customized to address
students’ particular needs and concerns, are also available.
Choosing a good school or university is probably the single most important decision parents and students have to
make. With our unparalleled success in helping students reach their goals, NTK is the established choice for your
educational needs.

Source: adapted from https://www.ntk.edu.hk/en/

4. (a) This text is extracted from an advertisement for a local learning centre. Find one example of
each of the following devices in it: [4 marks]
(1) hyperbole (2) alliteration (3) weasel word (4) compound adjective

(b) Create a slogan for this learning centre. Your slogan should demonstrate the use of one of
these literary devices: simile, irony, metaphor; and should contain no more than six words.
[3 marks]

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