Dear Tracy,<\/p>\n
It has been a long while since we last chatted. How is your life in Chicago? Have you tried the famous deep-dish Chicago-style pizza? I bet you\u2019re now enjoying a cozy lifestyle in the States, right? Lucky you\u2026<\/p>\n
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My life has totally changed since I proceeded to the senior form. The HKDSE curriculum is really challenging, especially the module 2 mathematics. I need to calculate differentiation and limits \u2013 I bet you\u2019ve never heard about these mathematic terms before. Though the life of being a secondary school student in Hong Kong is tough, I won\u2019t give up so easily. I study very hard and discover something really interesting \u2013 reading English short stories! Surprise?<\/p>\n
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Well, as you may know, every Hong Kong senior secondary student has to take three elective modules when learning the English Language. One module we take this year is the \u2018Short Stories\u2019 module. In the past few months, I have just finished it and I\u2019d say it\u2019s my cup of tea. So, let me share something about it with you.<\/p>\n
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Don\u2019t you know it\u2019s extremely boring when the whole English lesson is spent on flipping through and highlighting news articles? I was truly overjoyed when I heard that I could read short stories in the English lessons! The Short Stories module is really captivating, while I can enjoy myself in a fantastic fairytale world, a ride on a time machine and go back to the time when Sherlock Holmes was still alive, or sneak into a haunted house and make friends with some lovely ghosts during the English lessons. That\u2019s GREAT! I remember once reading a short story called The Open Window<\/em>, which is about Mr. Nuttel, a man with anxiety disorder getting teased by a niece of a lady he\u2019s visiting ( the short is really great and you mustn\u2019t miss it). After reading the story, my English teacher played a video clip named T<\/em>he Open Door<\/em> and its story plot is similar to that of T<\/em>he Open Windo<\/em>w<\/em>. At the time when the video showed the scene that Mr. Nuttel got terrified and ran away so quickly after listening to the niece\u2019s lie, the whole class broke into laughter. I\u2019d say that lesson was the most exciting English lesson ever.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Actually, reading short stories not only brings laughter but also helps me boost my language skills. There\u2019re many essential elements that create a perfect short story, for example, characterization, the use of twist and the like. When I learnt about characterization, I had to be as observant as Sherlock Holmes so that I could figure out the personalities of the characters through their dialogues, actions and other people\u2019s attitude towards them. I\u2019ve also learnt countless adjectives and expressions while reading short stories. Well, you know, being a writer is always my dream. This short stories module helps me a lot in polishing my English skills and gearing up to be a professional story writer in the future!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Don\u2019t you think that you\u2019ve missed out something really cool? Never mind. I\u2019ll tell you more about it when you come back to Hong Kong in the summer holiday.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Really missing you a lot! Write back soon!\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Cheers,\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Charlotte \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Dear Tracy<\/p> It has been a long while since we last chatted. How is your life in Chicago? Have you tried the famous deep-dish Chicago-style pizza? I bet you\u2019re now enjoying a cozy lifestyle in the States, right? Lucky you<\/p> <\/p>