¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ New Journeys¬ To the West¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ Editor’s Note:¬ ¬ To preserve the youthful spirit and energy of the writings of the students of Korean International School, the editors have decided to leave some of the grammatical errors and idiosyncrasies from our young writers intact. ¬ 2 Foreward¬ The KIS Writers Award was the first whole-school writing competition at our school. From the start, our teachers, students, and parents have supported the competition and worked tirelessly for them. We have had entries from the whole range of our student population from Year 1 up to Year 13. Entries span different categories, from reports to stories to poems. We have even had a separate class for ESL students! The English Committee have received more than a hundred written entries, but have shortlisted the best 60 in this book. Reading through the numerous entries was an immense task for our panel of judges. It was difficult to decide which entries to include the book and which entries were to be chosen as winners - the works that we received were of such high standards. This year, student works were divided into four categories - fiction, non-fiction, poetry, and ESL. The works that appear in this book have been chosen from a pool of countless submissions, and represent the writing from some of the best writers in KIS. These have been judged according to a strict criteria that not only include obvious indicators like technical and factual accuracy and the organisation and development of ideas, but also more abstract qualities such as originality, imagination and even intangible magic! The process of deciding on the winners was just as stringent. The five judges had no knowledge of the identity of the writers. The winners of each category were chosen by two of these judges, who, although having reviewed the student work independently of each other, returned with the same winners! The teachers and parents have made this competition and book possible. Both the parents and teachers supported the students’ writing process, encouraging our students and giving them the guidance when they asked for it. The class teachers collected the student works, giving them a light editing before submitting them. The panel of proofreaders then went on to do a final checking of all the work. Next, the IPTA sponsored all the glass awards, deciding on their format and liaising with the manufacturer. From the beginning to the end, the English Committee worked tirelessly to make this writing competition a success. They came up with the rules of the competition and the judging criteria, promoted the competition, shortlisted the works and determined the winners, and put together this wonderful book. 3 The success of this first annual KIS Writers Award should not only be determined by the number of works submitted or by the quality of the student work, but also in the process of writing that produced this work. Students spent much effort on the writing process, completing many drafts before submitting them, typing away at their keyboards, checking and reading aloud and improving their writing again and again. The students have enjoyed the process, reading each other’s works, giving each other feedback, talking to their teachers, their parents, and their friends. They received their certificates and awards with pride, and their hard work and enthusiasm for writing sets an example to others, to show everyone what is possible, what our students are capable of, and what each of them can aspire to. It is this pride in their work and their engagement in the writing process that give us teachers and parents fulfillment, as their elders, their mentors. I look forward to reading next year’s student works, look forward to being surprised again and again, and to see the delights in our students’ faces when they look at their work, happy that they have done the best that they can. Keith Lau Leader of Learning for English 4 Contents¬ ¬ ● Winning Entries ¬ ○ Primary ¬ 2-15¬ ○ Secondary 16 - 37¬ ● Y1 - 3 Fiction 38 - 46¬ ● Y4 - 6 Non-Fiction ¬ 47 - 54¬ ● Y4 - 6 Fiction 54 - 98¬ ● Y4 - 6 Poetry 99 - 102¬ ● Y4 - 6 ESL¬ 103 - 124¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 5 Winning Entries¬ Primary¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 6 Winner: Non-fiction Y4-6¬ ¬ Journey to the West¬ Hirotaka Ikuta 5K¬ ¬ ¬ Journey to the west is an epic, famous story that is published in the¬ 16th century. This fantastic novel is one of the four great classical¬ stories of China. There are four main characters in the story. They¬ are Sun Wukong, Xuan Zang, Pigsy and Friar Sand. This fantastic story¬ could be divided into four sections.¬ ¬ The first section describes the journey of the Monkey King, Sun¬ Wukong. Sun Wukong is a special monkey that was born from a rock,¬ by heaven and earth working together. He became the king of the¬ Fruit and Flower Mountain because he leaped into a waterfall¬ courageously and found a beautiful cave. However he had a problem,¬ he wanted to live forever, so he went to a sage’s temple and met a¬ wise man named Subodhi. He taught Sun Wukong the secret formula¬ and 72 transformations. He went through a lot of dangerous¬ adventures, and he even stole the legendary iron bar at the Dragon¬ Palace where the Dragon King lived. Due to his disobedient nature,¬ he was trapped under a mountain for 500 years by Buddha as a¬ punishment, at the end of this chapter.¬ ¬ The second section tells you about a new main character Xuan Zang,¬ he is a buddhist monk who will be the hero of the story. His father¬ was murdered by a ferryman. The ferryman took Xuan Zang’s mother¬ and his father’s office. This section also tells you how Buddha hid the¬ true scriptures, which is an important key to the story. Buddha was¬ also looking for someone to find the scripture and bring it back to the¬ East.¬ ¬ The third part is the biggest section of all. It tells about the four¬ main characters having a journey to find Buddha’s scripture that¬ 7 was hidden in India. Xuan Zang was riding on his horse following¬ the road called the Silk Road. The Silk Road connects China to¬ India. He met three other characters that were Sun Wukong,¬ Pigsy and Friar Sand. They fought with demons during their way¬ to India, but together they arrived, and found Buddha’s¬ scripture.¬ ¬ The last section tells about the four characters going back to¬ China and being rewarded for accomplishing the mission.¬ ¬ I learned that it is important not to be selfish and not to be a¬ show off. However, I can also learn from Sun Wukong to have¬ courage, help others and to challenge myself. I think everybody¬ has a bit of Sun Wukong in them. I think this story is trying to¬ tell us to help others and not to be selfish. I also learned that¬ teamwork is very important and if you have friends that help¬ and support you, you could do anything!¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ ¬ 8 Winner: Fiction 4-6¬ ¬ New Journey to the¬ West¬ Leia Tong 6V¬ ¬ I am Cora Ray, I write entertaining books for children. My latest¬ book is called, “Journey to the West”, I can read it to you now.¬ ¬¬ A long time ago, in Alaska, there lived a little girl called¬ Madison. Everybody say she looks different from other people,¬ so nobody wanted to be friends with her. One day, her family¬ tried to sell her. On that very day, she found cardboard box and¬ on it, there were three glowing letters : “F. B. F”. She had no¬ idea what it stood for, but she was going to find out. Inside the¬ box, there was a slip of paper, on the paper it said,¬ ¬¬ “On your journey you will need three strangers to help you¬ succeed.”¬ ¬¬ Madison wanted to take on this mission.¬ ¬¬ On the day her parents took her to the market to sell her, she¬ saw, out of the corner of her eye, the white sails of the boat¬ that was heading to Tokyo. Before she had time to think, she¬ found herself running towards the boat and with three minutes¬ to spare, she boarded it before it set sail for its epic voyage.¬ She was a stowaway, so she had to hide. While she was trying to¬ find a place to hide, she saw a black cat. She was taken by¬ surprise when the black cat stood on its hind legs and said,¬ “Good Morning.” Madison was amazed, she could not believe¬ what she was seeing, but within a few minutes, they had¬ exchanged life stories and became true friends.¬ 9 ¬¬ When she arrived in Tokyo, she headed to the biggest temple in¬ Japan, not knowing what she was looking for. When she got¬ there, she saw a young man fighting a very old man. She was so¬ worried for the old man but after a few minutes, the young man¬ was on his knees begging for the old man to stop. When the old¬ man spotted her watching him, she said, “Would you like to¬ learning Jujutsu? I can teach you how to protect yourself.” She¬ didn't know why, but she felt she could trust him and decided to¬ stay in the temple to learn this ancient martial art. When¬ darkness fell on her first night, she felt safe and for the first¬ time, not lonely. She closed her eyes and fell asleep and the¬ black cat was purring on her chest.¬ ¬¬ Within a few months, she had become quite good at Jiu Jitsu¬ and was able to defend herself against some of the best fighters¬ in the temple.