young nation magazine 21 may 2011

Dear friends,How are you all? You all must be preparing for the exams. Don’t take exams on your nerves. Just relax and read our advice page to get to know overcoming stress.Also, SMS and internet chatting has introduced us to a new lan-guage- slang language. Don’t forget to read back to back to back two pieces on it.Take care,edi

Hey kids, kindly send us letters, stories, poems and events detail on the following

address: [email protected] Or

Editor Young Nation4- Shaarey Fatima Jinnah, Lahore.

Designed by Sohail Abbas

Storytime Advice

Coverstory Coverstory4

11 12

6

Dear edi,

Thank you so much for mak-

ing my article a part of your

magazine. Mother’s Day is-

sue was overall great. Keep

up the same hard work to

rejoice us.

Thanks once

again and will

send you more

articles Inshallah.

At the end I would

like to share this:

“Life is not about

to remain error

free. Life is about correct-

ing mistakes.”

Regards,

Hafsa Jawaid

Dear edi,

Hope you are doing fine.

This is my first letter to any

magazine. I will be happy if

you publish it along with my

article, story and poem.

May your magazine prosper

by leaps and bounds!

Your biggest fan,

Hassan Arif

Hi edi,

How are you? Your magazine

is very informative and best

of all magazines. I simply

love reading it. I am sending

you some drawings. Please

publish them. I want to be a

cartoonist so it will be great

and encouraging if you pub-

lish them.

Thanks,

Kamran Anwer

Young Nation-May 21, 2011 2

Mr. Logophile

word: Rendezvous (n) Meaning:

1- A popular gathering place

The café is a favorite rendezvous for youngsters.

2- A meeting at a prearranged time and place.

He was late for their rendezvous.

Young Nation-May 21, 2011Young Nation-May 21, 2011 3 3

Quaid’s PakistanBy Ali Kamran We forgot IqbalThe vision is lostThe west remembered himThe constitution is just a book frostIt made us confusedThe policies are before usWe search themWithin the western thoughtsThe nation’s vision is im-paired consequentlyWe observe and analyze with that eyeWhich has been re-placed?So our vision is unintelli-gible to us nowWe are the lost onesOur mission is failedOur hands are tightened with western ropesWe are confusedThat why the destination is invisible to usOn the Day of JudgmentBefore both honest Law-yersWe will be held account for their PakistanThey will put us a ques-tion“Where is Iqbal’s Paki-stan?”

Life on the wheelchair!!By Mahnoor NaseerHaving a life on two sets of wheelsWaiting for the day when you shall heelHaving people drive you aroundNot knowing how to,Set your feet on the groundSeeking every day for some-one to helpLooking at everyone like you are an elphAlways waiting for someone to push you all dayNot being able to run and playWhat kind of life is this?I don’t know what a normal life isMy spirit breaks downWhen I see my little brother Running on the groundWhen I look at othersLooking straight meWith Eyes fill with sympathyWhat kind of a future is for me?Life maybe not fairSitting all day on a wheel-chair

But I won’t give upI will one day stand upLife maybe roughBut I got to toughI’ll fight for my own survival

Almost everyone in this world is my rivalSo what I can’t walkI still can hear and talkI still can smell and seeI still have many possi-bilitiesI still am a human beingWith Just one missing qualityBut who cares, in my hand is my futureSo what, I have to de-mand on othersEvery thing happens for a good reasonBeing on a wheelchair is not treasonI maybe not normalBut I’m sure, I’m special.

Cricket teamBy Hassan ArifHere some the winnersThere go the losersAfridi takes a catchSimon Katch gets outAkmal always looks for a shotAnd parks his car in the parking lotYounas is ready to take off his pantsUmer goes to pick his brother from CanttPakistan will always win Leaving the losers’ heads in the bin


By Sahar Saqlain

We all are familiar with the term “Short Massaging Service” abbreviated as SMS. Technology plays a vital role in the field of communication and cell phone is one of the most usable communication instru-ments at global level which has an attrac-tive and cheaper communication facility i.e. SMS. In today’s fast paced world almost everything is getting short. Time is short, messages are short but the worst thing is that even in the short messages our lan-guage has become too short that many of us can not understand it. Text messages

have changed the way of express-ing among young generation. The modern SMS language is consisted of shortened phrases, acronyms and abbreviations. This language is may be useful in messaging as it saves time and expenses. Notwithstanding the myriad benefits provided by the SMS in enhancing communica-tion and improving global busi-ness generally, the SMS has been found to be of detrimental effect on the language proficiency of learners. Many experts agree that text messaging has served more bad than good, especially to the youngsters. Children learning English language now think that this is an official and standard language.Teachers usually complain that students are using informal SMS

abbreviations in their daily writ-ings. They are blurring the

lines between formal English and informal SMS language that con-sequently leads them to commit a number of errors, ranging from incorrect spellings to ungram-matical sentence construction

By Sahar Saqlain

letebyoE

Cover Story

in their assignments and tests, which make teachers confuse because they are not familiar with the language. This is also increasing the generation gap as older generations who do not frequently use text messaging may not understand the message that contain such a slang lan-guage. For instance many of you normally use ‘SHUD’ instead of ‘SHOULD’. The pronunciation of these two words is the same, and it is advantageous to use the first spelling from an SMS message, because it saves space and time. It is even simpler to write because it is spelled like it is spoken. This simplified spelling would also affect words like ‘WOULD and COULD’. Nevertheless, the simpli-fied spelling is not acceptable ac-cording to the English grammar rules. Ultimately you become a victim of the SMS language and punished by teachers.

SMS language has brought many changes to com-

mon words writing as be became b, see or sea became c, okay became k,

are became r, you became

u, why be-came y,

we became v, the became d, at becomes @, ate became 8, for becomes 4, too became 2, won became 1, great became gr8, late became l8, tomorrow became 2mro or “2moro”, today became 2day, Your and You’re became ur”, won-derful became 1drfl, someone became sum1, no one became no, any one be-came ne1 see you became c u, for you became, 4u easy became ez, enjoy became njoy and many more.SMS are used as a way of com-munication and an effective com-munication always have impact on the reader but critics say that this type of communication de-stroys the way kids read, think and write. The two biggest prob-lems a child has to face due to this short handwriting includes: First children are unaware of the correct use of punctuation that actually beautify the sentence, since it does not observe gram-matical and syntactic rules of a standard English language. The second concern is the use of low-ercase letters. Students aren’t using capital letters where they should. This over texting habit has brought the care free atti-tude of kids to the classrooms. Assignments containing slung language also show unprofes-sional attitude of yours. Mostly, the SMS language affects two aspects of language pro-ficiency stated above, namely, skills to express oneself eloquent-ly through writing and skills and ability to use words ap-propriately in context. Students who are in the process of learning English are now unable to differentiate the con-text and situation ap-propriate for the use of the SMS language.Due to this rapid use of short abbreviation in SMS many words have

been added to ‘Oxford Dic-tionary’ by this year. Such as “OMG (Oh My God)”, “LOL (Laughing Out Loud)”, the symbol for “heart (<3)” and “FYI (For Your Information)” This will made most of you happier because from you can officially use these words, no matters that these word can-not beautify your sentence. But kids if you use these inap-propriate word in daily write it can create a negative image in the minds teachers and may be your teacher start disliking you for whole life. So the conclusion is that the SMS language does not conform to grammatical or syntactic rules of the Eng-lish language, nor does it conform to spelling rules. It has been indi-cated that the English language proficiency of the learners is negatively affected by learners’ expo-sure to the SMS language.



Is text ruining the English language?

While all the rest

of the class com-

plained about

the lack of

time to

s o l v e

such a

lengthy paper I was the one

beaming with joy to write all

the essays in time and could

not comprehend the fact why

others thought it lengthy. The

mystery was reveled when the

papers were handed back and

mine had innumerable red

blotches on it. Confused, on

scrutinizing what I had done

wrong, I realized that my

teacher had marked vari-

ous question marks and excla-

mation marks with comments

on the answers written in text

message short hand. Then it

dawned upon me that maybe

since my Ma’am belonged to

a different ‘age’ she did not

know the new-age linguistics

and I rose up to enlighten her

up with this new development.

The argument which took place

is as follows:

By Rabia Siddiqi By Rabia Siddiqi

Cover Story


Me: Excuse me Ma’am, why

have you marked my paper

with red marks…..

(I was really lost for words

here; I did not know how to

break the ice without offend-

ing her and what would be

the best word to use- wrong,

this way, bloodied red…?) But

thankfully she replied before I

could finish.

Ma’am: You! What is this gib-

berish?

I have to admit her icy voice

did send chills down my spine,

zipped the lips of the rest of

the class and with their eyes

turning towards me brought

me in the limelight. Oh well,

so I was now the center of at-

traction. She was really :@

(angry).

Me: essays? (I gulped)

Ma’am: Your paper is riddled

Me: Excuse me Ma’am, why

have you marked my paper

with red marks…..

(I was really lost for words

here; I did not know how to

with hieroglyphics, many of

which I simply could not trans-

late.

Me: Ma’am, this is called

text message short hand

I can translate these

for you, this word ‘n’

mean ‘and’ and this

‘b4’ mean before.

This is very ram-

pant now-a-days, the

youth of today use it

while texting through

cell, internet chatting

and more over it is widely

used in contemporary

advertising, have

not you heard

“I’m Lovin

it?”

I sin- c e r e l y

tried my best to explain her.

Ma’am: I am aware of the fact

that texting has seamlessly en-

tered the contemporary youth

lifestyle and is clearly the pre-

ferred mode of communication

with friends and even family.

Screw these technological inno-

vations that are playing havoc

with the vocabulary and gram-

mar.

Me: Ma’am, but there are many

advantages of short hand, you

see they take less space, are

less time consuming…..

Ma’am: and infecting the lan-

guage. (I was cut short with this

retort)

Me: No Ma’am, even Shake-

speare introduced few new

words in the language… and I

think text messaging is a per-

fect example of how people

adapt and mould language to

suit different contexts.

Ma’am: This just portrays the

laziness of today’s youth. This

is not Standard English, some of

your symbols make no sense to

me it may me quick for you but

I had to drain dozens of tea-cups

in myself to make sense out of

your nonsense. You need to re-

alize that everything has its place,

and in formal essay writing, spell-

ing and grammar apply. Do I make

myself abundantly clear?

Me: ok, but these words here,

these are now added in Oxford

English dictionary…this LOL,

it means laughing out loud and

this….

I peeked up at her face and no

wonder my Ma’am eyes were

twitched and she was glaring

at me icily through her thick

spectacles, which had slided to

the tip oh her nose. There are

deep frowns on her forehead

for a split second she reminded

me of the movie “How to tame

your dragon”

Me: are you all right? (There

was something menacing about

that look and I felt that my

voice seemed to come form a

deep pit)

I still can’t fathom what was so

offensive in this that made her

to snatch my paper, unmark it

and asked me to rewrite the es-

says 50 times in Standard Eng-

lish to ensure my attendance

in the next classes. Oh, I mean

rolling on floor laughing. End

of my sad story.

Young Nation-April 30, 2011 11

Young Nation-April 30, 2011 10


Naima was a bright student! She had always been securing the first position in the class. It was always beyond any doubts that the high-est marks amongst all the sections of the ninth class of the Seedlings Higher Secondary School would be obtained by Naima!Every teacher seemed to be proud of Naima, who had won various laurels for the school. She had also taken part in some international mathematics competitions and had made the school proud. Her parents were also very fond of her and used to boost of her achieve-ments a lot! At times her sibling felt very bad as their parents kept on talking about Naima only to

their friends and neighbours.“It seems that our parents also dis-criminate!” Sara often thought. She was two years younger than Naima but unlike her elder sister was just an average student, studying in the same school where everyone loved to talk about Naima and only Naima!Naima and her class mates were to appear in the country’s Board Examination. The school offered extra classes to prepare their weak students as well. It was optional for every student to avail the opportu-nity or not. The teachers were ea-ger to help every student out!When Naima read the circular re-lated to the extra classes, she said,

“I don’t need them.. I don’t think I need to know any thing in the whole book of Mathematic, I know all! Its better that the school con-centrates on the weak students!” At the same time Iman was also stand-ing there, she was going through the circular again and again as if was trying to be certain that the offer was not a joke and the school authorities would really be doing something for the weak students! It was a blessing for her as she had been flunking in the Mathematics for quite some time. Naima knew she had a definite edge on that par-ticular subject therefore smiled at Iman’s interest in the circular and waved at her proudly.

Naima was a bright student! She their friends and neighbours. “I don

Overconfi denceis always bad By Saira Owais AdilSSSSSSaiaiaiaiairarararara O OO OOwawawawawaisisisissis A AAAA A Addididiilllll

S t o r y T i m e


The extra classes went on. The teachers were working hard. The students were also striving as it was their last chance to make their concepts clearer. They knew they had to concentrate, ask and prac-tice the various problems in order to gain marks! Naima on the other hand started her preparation sepa-rately. She marked the areas that required her attention more. She was confident about the Mathe-matics and Physics and hence paid more attention to literature and other subjects. The school announced the time table for the prelims. Everyone was worried as on the basis of the prelims they were supposed to

get their admit cards for the final Board Examination…..Some one was shocked! Tears were falling on the red rosy cheeks. Everyone was surprised and was watching the girl who was holding her prelims result in her hands and standing outside the headmistress office for quite a long time. It was Naima! She had been called by the School’s Headmistress along with all other students who could not perform well in the preliminary examination, though conducted by the school but based strictly on the pattern of the Board Exami-nation. The school was shocked, there were whispers heard in the air about an unusual! “How could Naima not perform well?” Even the teachers were stunned.“Naima I didn’t expect this from you! You have scored only 60% in the Mathematics examination. The physics practical had also gone so bad. We gave extra time and tuitions to our students then why didn’t you avail the opportunity?” Asked Mrs. Ahmad angrily. “Speak up! I am waiting for your reply”, she thundered at last. “We have expected so much from you and thought that you would fetch po-sition in The Board for the school but your performance has disap-pointed me a lot. Either we were fools or you have decided to make fool of yourself!” Mrs. Ahmad lost her temper completely.“I thought I knew everything”, Nai-ma could only say these words and at the same time fell on the ground.She was taken to the hospital where she was admitted for the next few days. She could not bear the disgrace, the shame and the attitude of her headmistress who had always pampered Naima a lot. There were only twelve days left for the Final Examination. Naima could not waste a single second. It was Sara who sat by her side and helped her in her studies. She mo-tivated Naima to recollect herself and put in her best. Naima needed

confidence and Sara was the first person who showed her trust in to Naima’s capabilities. Day and night Naima studied, practiced the Math-ematics problems now on paper (not orally as before), did the other subjects without a glitch that time and was set to appear in the Exami-nation she had always dreamt of. She talked less to her friends at the Examination centre (before and after the paper) and concentrated on her studies only. Instead of wasting her time on watching and probing on other’s preparation; she only wanted to keep a check on herself! After her bad performance in the prelims, no one bothered for an-swers during the Board papers. She was also an ‘average’ student then!She thought she had lost her iden-tity but Sara encouraged her to fight back for it.The result was out! Naima had grabbed the third position in the whole province. Her teachers, headmistress, parents and every-one hugged her, congratulated her and showered her with gifts and praises. She could be very flattered as in the past years, but she react-ed a bit differently that time… she thanked everyone very decently and stepped down from the stage of the Seedling’s huge auditorium and walked straight to her sister, who was standing among all the other school mates. She hugged her younger sibling and thanked her in front of the whole school. “I may have obtained no huge score if my sister, my well wisher and a true friend had not supported me a lot especially when I had lost con-fidence in myself! She trusted me when no body was ready to count on me any more”, Naima was cry-ing… it was the first time that Sara was credited for any thing in her life! An average student for the first time in the Seedlings history had contributed to the fate of ‘ex-cellence’ ….. Sara’s eyes were spar-kling and this spark would take her miles ahead!


Almost everyone feels nervous before an exam. Butterflies in the stomach and worrying thoughts - ‘Will I be able to answer the questions?’ ‘Have I done enough revision?’ - are indications of exam nerves that are probably familiar to all stu-

dents. Too much anxiety can block thoughts, create a nega-tive frame of mind, and lead to panic and potentially poor exam performance. Here are a number of things you can do to help manage exam anxiety and turn uncom-

fortable, panicky thoughts into more creative tension. Revision tipsYou should develop a timeta-ble to monitor your progress. Make sure you allocate ade-quate time for fun and relaxa-tion as well. While revising a

Almost everyone feels nervousefore an exam. Butterflies

n the stomach and worryinghoughts - ‘Will I be able to

dents. Too much anxiety canblock thoughts, create a nega-tive frame of mind, and leadto panic and potentially poor

fortable, panicky thoughts into more creative tension.Revision tipsYou should develop a timeta-

HOW TO OVER COME EXAM EXAM STRESSSTRESS

A D V I S EBy Komal Ata


subject, practise writing. This would be an actual simulation of the examination itself. Plan your revision and complete it in time. This will give you a sense of achievement and build your confidence.Spend as much time on recall as on reading. Practise by writ-ing answers as you would do in the exam. This will help you re-member the important points when you answer each paper. Practise writing answers under exam conditions. Take three hour tests, without a break in between, preferably at the same time as that of the exam. This will help your body clock adjust to the examination time and conditions. Time outAs soon as you notice your mind is losing concentration take a short break to overcome mental fatigue. Stick to ac-tivities that do not break your continuation of study during these breaks. Avoid television and loud music. Your mind and body perform at their best only if you get adequate rest.Maintain a regular sleep patternA regular seven hours of sleep is essential for the body to func-tion well. Also, sleep at a regu-lar time; don’t alter your sleep-ing cycle. Try and stop working an hour before bedtime. You will find it helpful to do some muscular relaxation, which is particularly effective in reliev-ing stress.Have strong faith in God! Don’t get disappointed and have faith in God. You should pray before you start studying. Prayer will help you in increas-ing your confidence and reducing your stress as well. What to eatFood rich in vita-mins and proteins, such as green leafy vegetables and fresh fruits, are a must. These nutrients

particuing strHave Don’t and hashouldstart will heing yoand rstress WhatFood

i

HOW TO OVER COME EXAM STRESS

will help your brain stay sharp and help in reducing the stress. Avoid food with high fat con-tent. Stressful foods can in-clude processed foods, artificial sweeteners, carbonated soft drinks, chocolate, eggs, fried foods, junk foods, red meat, sugar, white flour products, chips and similar snack foods, foods containing preservatives or heavy spices.Take things light – Be BraveYou should avoid any sort of negative thoughts of not per-forming well in the examina-tion since this may affect your preparation as well as your per-formance in the examination. If thought of failure is disturbing too much, don’t lose temper and think “No one is going to shoot me if I fail in exam”. You should think that many other students are also appearing in the exam, if the paper will be difficult, it will be equally dif-ficult for all, not only for me. Take things light during exam and start your study rather pay-ing attention to things which i n - crease your stress.

Don’t cheat!By Shahida NazThere is nothing impossible, if we do hard work we can achieve what we want. We must trust in our confidence and inborn abilities. We can get marks by cheating but our conscious will always disturb us. So we should work hard on our studies.We are Muslims, our religion does not allow us to steal and cheating which is not less than a robbery and theft. We should be honest as students. Efforts and hard work devel-op these talents and laziness destroys them, if a student will not think of cheating he can achieve his goals. After doing hard work what we achieve make us relieved and happy. So always achieve degree by hard work that is your achievementWhat if you fail at your first at-tempt, try and again try and you will pass next time but always work hard. It is always said that hard work is key to success~

Young Nation-May 21,2011 14


Hamna Shoaib

Kamran Anwer

Artist’s Corner

Manahil Liaquat

Nmara Shahid

Rabia Farooq

young nation magazine 21 may 2011

Documents

day of judgmentbefore

mothers day

playwhat kind of life

iqbalthe vision

hafsa jawaiddear edi

hassan arifhi edi

kamran anweryoung nation

favorite rendezvous