The Miracle of Love

Like any good mother, when Karen found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could to help her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new sibling.

The new baby was going be a girl, and day after day, night after night, Michael sang to his sister in Mommy’s tummy. He was building a bond of love with his little sister before he even met her.

The pregnancy progressed normally for Karen, an active member of the the Creek United Methodist Church in Morristown, Tennessee, USA.

In time, the labor pains came. Soon it was every five minutes, every three, every minute. But serious complications arose during delivery and Karen found herself in hours of labor.

Finally, after a long struggle, Michael’s little sister was born. But she was in very serious condition. With a siren howling in the night, the ambulance rushed the infant to the neonatal intensive care unit at St. Mary’s Hospital, Knoxville, Tennessee.

The days inched by. The little girl got worse. The pediatrician had to tell the parents there was very little hope. Be prepared for the worst. Karen and her husband contacted a local cemetery about a burial plot. They had fixed up a special room in their house for their new baby they found themselves having to plan for a funeral.

Michael, however, kept begging his parents to let him see his sister. “I want to sing to her,” he kept saying.

Week two in intensive care looked as if a funeral would come before the week was over. Michael kept nagging about singing to his sister, but kids are never allowed in Intensive Care.

Karen decided to take Michael whether they liked it or not. If he didn’t see his sister right then, he may never see her alive. She dressed him in an oversized scrub suit and marched him into ICU. He looked like a walking laundry basket.

The head nurse recognized him as a child and bellowed, “Get that kid out of here now. No children are allowed.”

The mother rose up strong in Karen and the usually mild-mannered lady glared steel-eyed right into the head nurse’s eyes, her lips a firm line, “He is not leaving until he sings to his sister.”

Then Karen towed Michael to his sister’s bedside. He gazed at the tiny infant losing the battle to live. After a moment, he began tossing. In the pure-hearted voice of a 3-year-old, Michael sang:

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray.”

Instantly the baby girl seemed to respond. The pulse rate began to calm down and became steady.

“Keep on singing, Michael,” encouraged Karen with tears in her eyes.

“You never know, dear, how much I love you, please don’t take my sunshine away.”

As Michael sang to his sister, the baby’s ragged, strained breathing became as smooth as a kitten’s purr. “Keep on singing, sweetheart.”

“The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms”.

Michael’s little sister began to relax as rest, healing rest, seemed to sweep over her. “Keep singing, Michael.” Tears had now conquered the face of the bossy head nurse. Karen glowed.

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Please don’t take my sunshine away…”

The next day,…the very next day…the little girl was well enough to go home.

The Wooden Bowl

A frail old man went to live with his son, daughter-in-law, and a four-year old grandson. The old man’s hands trembled, his eyesight was blurred, and his step faltered.

The family ate together nightly at the dinner table. But the elderly grandfather’s shaky hands and failing sight made eating rather difficult. Peas rolled off his spoon onto the floor. When he grasped the glass often milk spilled on the tablecloth.

The son and daughter-in-law became irritated with the mess. “We must do something about grandfather,” said the son. I’ve had enough of his spilled milk, noisy eating, and food on the floor. So the husband and wife set a small table in the corner. There, grandfather ate alone while the rest of the family enjoyed dinner at the dinner table. Since grandfather had broken a dish or two, his food was served in a wooden bowl. Sometimes when the family glanced in grandfather’s direction, he had a tear in his eye as he ate alone. Still, the only words the couple had for him were sharp admonitions when he dropped a fork or spilled food. The four-year-old watched it all in silence.

One evening before supper, the father noticed his son playing with wood scraps on the floor. He asked the child sweetly, “What are you making?” Just as sweetly, the boy responded, “Oh, I am making the bowl for you and mama to eat.” The four-year-old smiled and went back to work. The words so struck the parents that they were speechless. Then tears started to stream down their cheeks. Though no word was spoken, both knew what must be done. That evening the husband took grandfather’s hand and gently led him back to the family table. For the remainder of his days he ate every meal with the family. And for some reason, neither husband nor wife seemed to care any longer when a fork was dropped, milk spilled, or the tablecloth soiled.

Children are remarkably perceptive. Their eyes ever observe, their ears ever listen, and their minds ever process the messages they absorb. If they see us patiently provide a happy home atmosphere for family members, they will imitate that attitude for the rest of their lives. The wise parent realizes that every day that building blocks are being laid for the child’s future.Let us all be wise builders and role models. Take care of yourself, … and those you love, … today, and everyday!

A Dish of Ice Cream

In the days when an ice cream sundae cost much less, a 10 year old boy entered a hotel coffee shop and sat at a table. A waitress put a glass of water in front of him.

“How much is an ice cream sundae?”

“50 cents,” replied the waitress.

The little boy pulled his hand out of his pocket and studied a number of coins in it.

“How much is a dish of plain ice cream?” he inquired. Some people were now waiting for a table and the waitress was a bit impatient.

“35 cents,” she said brusquely.

The little boy again counted the coins. “I’ll have the plain ice cream,” he said.

The waitress brought the ice cream, put the bill on the table and walked away. The boy finished the ice cream, paid the cashier and departed.

When the waitress came back, she began wiping down the table and then swallowed hard at what she saw.

There, placed neatly beside the empty dish, were 15 cents – her tip.

The Elephant Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.

Dearest Grandmama

She is (was rather, she is no more) my grandmama. She was an affectionate woman who could win over anyone with her undying love, no matter what. Let me narrate to you, the story of her life, the trauma that no woman should ever undergo!

She was the eldest of a family of 7 girls and 1 boy. Of these, 2 children died shortly after birth. Right now, only 2 of them are alive.

At the age of 16, my grandma got married as a second wife to a 40 year old man. She lost her husband 1 year after her wedding. By God’s grace she had a son whom she considered a solace. But that didn’t last, as the son passed away shortly too! Ultimately, by the age of 25 she lost her entire family! Nevertheless, she then dedicated her life towards the upbringing of each and every child in the family. This was the reason she was loved and respected by everyone in our family.

Last year, by this same time, my marriage was fixed. Being the oldest grandchild in my family, she was very happy and said she would bring up my kid too! I was in tears and said of course you will have to! Shortly before my engagement, she had a fall one night when sleeping. It left her right hand fractured. There began all the trouble. She was 83 years old by then.

At my engagement function, all she could do was sit quietly in one place. It was a hard hitting reality for all of us since we got used to seeing her doing the entire household chores all by herself!

There was hardly a month left for my wedding. She developed a strange mental depression since that time, imagining things, fearing death, longing to see my wedding and the like. All of us assured her that she would be the first person to bless me at my wedding. But nature is inevitable as we all know.

She was admitted in the ICU for nearly 20 days. All day we would stay at the hospital, praying for her. One fine day it happened-what we all feared. She was no more, and left all of us teary-eyed.

My dad was the eldest child in the family, so naturally he had to do the rites. But our family stopped him since I had my wedding the next month. We (me, dad, mum and sis) weren’t allowed to even see her face! Imagine our plight!

At my wedding, her garlanded photo was in front of me and my husband. I was speechless, moved to tears. I knew, my dearest grandmama will bless me as ever!

Even today, we don’t feel her loss, I only feel why she isn’t around to share our joys and sorrows.

Keep Moving

A college class was graduating on a hot and humid day.

As the graduates walked across the platform and received their diplomas from the president of the college, he smiled, shook their hands, and said loudly, “Congratulations!” Then, in a much lower voice, one that was firm and could be heard only by the graduates, he would say, “Keep moving.”

He was only trying to keep the line moving across the stage, but his words were good advice for a lifetime: “Keep moving.” After every achievement growing up, graduation, marriage, job promotion, even retirement the best advice is, “Keep moving. Don’t stop. Don’t stagnate.”

There is more to life than you have found thus far. This is not the end; it is only the beginning. “Keep moving.”

When we approach life with this attitude, we look forward to the future and what God has in store for us.

How Big Is One

As a man walked a desolate beach one cold, gray morning he began to see another figure, far in the distance. Slowly the two approached each other, and he could make out a local native who kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he hurled things into the ocean.

As the distance between them continued to narrow, the man could see that the native was picking up starfish that had been washed upon the beach and, one at a time, was throwing them back into the water.

Puzzled, the man approached the native and asked what he was doing. “I’m throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it’s low tide right now and all of these starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don’t throw them back into the sea, they’ll die up here from lack of oxygen.”

“But there must be thousands of starfish on this beach,” the man replied. “You can’t possibly get to all of them. There are just too many. And this same thing is probably happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can’t you see that you can’t possibly make a difference?”

The local native smiled, bent down and picked up another starfish, and as he threw it back into the sea he replied, “Made a difference to that one!”

How The Poor Live

One day, a father of a very wealthy family took his son on a trip to the country with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live. They spent a couple of days and nights on the farm of what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?”

“It was great, Dad.”

“Did you see how poor people live?” the father asked.

“Oh yeah,” said the son.

“So, tell me, what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden, and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden, and they have the stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front yard, and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on, and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us; they have friends to protect them.”

The boy’s father was speechless.

Then his son added, “Thanks, Dad, for showing me how poor we are.”

Auld Lang Syne Lyrics

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!

Chorus.-For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We'll take a cup o' kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.  

Read the text below and complete the following task. [PMR 2011]

The newspaper is an extremely useful learning tool to students today. Besides being easily available and affordable, it offers them numerous benefits.

            A survey carried out on the benefits of the newspaper clearly shows that students who read the newspapers have better awareness of the world around them. This is because they are better informed of the current issues happening around the world. Hence, they become more knowledgeable.    

As language proficiency seems to be a problem amongst students these days, reading the newspaper also helps them improve their language skills. As such, they are able to put into practice what they have learnt.           

Meanwhile, once outside the classroom, students can use the newspaper to be a continuous source of education and information. For example, it can be used to obtain reference material or ideas for their school assignments.   

The newspaper today also motivates students to learn because it contains educational supplements that help them with their lessons. Besides, they also encourage students to develop their thinking skills through extensive reading.

            It is without doubt that the newspaper is beneficial to students. As such, we should encourage them to read the newspaper every day.

Write a summary on how the newspaper can be a useful tool to students.

Your summary must:

not be more than 60 words, including the 10 given words below

be in continuous writing (not note form)

be written in one paragraph

Use your own words as far as possible without changing its original meaning. Begin your summary as follows:

The newspaper is a useful tool that helps students to……

Steps to answer a summary question:

Step 1:

Read the text once to get an idea on what the text is all about.

Step 2:

Read the question. Identify the keywords.

Write a summary on HOW the newspaper can be a useful tool to students.

Step 3:

Identify the content points. Read again the text. Read each sentence in the text one by one. Ask whether the sentence answers the question “HOW thenewspaper can be a useful tool to students”?

Sentence from the text	Does the sentence answers the question “HOW thenewspaper can be auseful tool to students”?	What is the content point? (highlight or underlinethe content point) * yellow – main points * blue – supporting points
The newspaper is an extremely useful learning tool to students today.	No	None
Besides being easily available and affordable, it offers them numerous benefits.	No	None
A survey carried out on the benefits of the newspaper clearly shows that students who read the newspapers have better awareness of the world around them.	Yes	have better awareness of the world around them.
This is because they are better informed of the current issues happening around the world.	Yes. When you see the word “because”, the sentence normally contains the supporting point for the previous sentence.	better informed of the current issues happening around the world.
Hence, they become more knowledgeable.	Yes.	become more knowledgeable.
As language proficiency seems to be a problem amongst students these days, reading the newspaper also helps them improve their language skills.	Yes.	improve their language skills.
As such, they are able to put into practice what they have learnt.	Yes. When you see the phrase “as such”, the sentence normally contains the supporting point for the previous sentence.	able to put into practice what they have learnt.
Meanwhile, once outside the classroom, students can use the newspaper to be a continuous source of education and information.	Yes.	continuous source of education and information.
For example, it can be used to obtain reference material or ideas for their school assignments.	No. Pay attention to the words like forexample, like, such as. These words indicate examples.Don’t write examples in a summary.	None
The newspaper today also motivates students to learn because it contains educational supplements that help them with their lessons.	Yes.	motivates students to learn The phrase after the word “because” is the supporting point: contains educational supplements that help them with their lessons
Besides, they also encourage students to develop their thinking skills through extensive reading.	Yes.	to develop their thinking skills through extensive reading.
It is without doubt that the newspaper is beneficial to students.	No.	None.
As such, we should encourage them to read the newspaper every day.	No.	None.

*C indicates content:

C1 - have better awareness of the world around them / better informed of the current issues happening around the world

C2 - become more knowledgeable

C3 - improve their language skills / able to put into practice what they have learnt

C4 - continuous source of education and information

C5 - motivates students to learn

C6 - encourage students to develop their thinking skills through extensive reading

Important:

If you are able to identify both main and supporting points, write either one in the summary.

It is not encouraged to write the supporting points. Sometimes, a supporting point is NOT accepted as the content point!

Step 4:

Write the summary. Write five (5) content points only. Begin your summary with the ten (10) words given. Copy the points EXACTLY from the text to avoid sentence errors and changing the meaning of the original text. Use sequence connectors like next, then, moreover, furthermore, lastly, etc.

The newspaper is a useful tool that helps students to have better awareness of the world around them. (C1) They become more knowledgeable.(C2) Moreover, reading the newspaper also helps them improve their language skills. (C3) Furthermore, students can use the newspaper to be a continuous source of education and information. (C4) Finally, the newspaper today also motivates students to learn. (C5)

Step 5:

Count the number of words and write it at the bottom right of the summary. Make sure your summary is NOT MORE than 60 words.

The newspaper is a useful tool that helps students to have better awareness of the world around them. They become more knowledgeable. Moreover, reading the newspaper also helps them improve their language skills. Furthermore, students can use the newspaper to be a continuous source of education and information. Finally, the newspaper today also motivates students to learn.

(57 words)

Step 6:

Read your answer again. Make sure there are no spelling errors.

Marks for the above summary:

The newspaper is a useful tool that helps students to have better awareness of the world around them. They become more knowledgeable. Moreover, reading the newspaper also helps them improve their language skills. Furthermore, students can use the newspaper to be a continuous source of education and information. Finally, the newspaper today also motivates students to learn.