32 Issue 15

Jonathan TanOur Featured Author of the Month “It’s a lot of hard work!”

Issue 15 / SGD 7.50 ISSN: 2010- 1376

Building the Next Generation of Thinkers & Writers

I Can Write So Can YouOf Personal Heroes & Writing

YRC InvestigatesSingapore’s Everyday Heroes

Email From Israel Writing Beyond the Stars

3 Great StoriesTo Help You with Your Own Writing

Breaking Bounda A Teacher Aide Tells His Story

ries

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54 Issue 15

Managing Editor/Publisher Catherine Khoo

Editor Carlo Venson Peña

Circulation Manager Nannette Cruz

Designer Lim Soo Yong

Editorial Assistant Natalya Thangamany

Editorial Advisory Board Catherine Khoo, Vijay Chandran, Noel Chia

Contributors Jimmy Lee, Alicia Boo, Paulina Lee, Jeannette Xavier

Illustrators Gibson Les Paul, Adeline Lim

YAC Core Contributors Kenrick Lam, Ee Chong Hui, Emilyn Foong, Theresa Ellsworth, Dylan Wong, Ron Yap, Wong Zi Ling, Nurul Iiman Bte Said

For advertising and sales enquiries 6336 8985

Education Subscription Agent EmitAsia 6372 0330

Email: info@youngreaderclub.sgWebsite: www.youngreaderclub.sg

All rights reserved. No part of this publica-tion may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Call 6336-8985 for back issues.

Printed in Singapore by SC International Pte Ltd on Lumisilk Matte Arte Paper

Cover and additional photos by Carlo Venson Peña

is published byExperiences & Experiments Pte Ltd

442A Joo Chiat Road Singapore 427655

TEAM

The soft afternoon breeze kisses you warmly on the cheeks, and blesses your imagination with images of cheer and merriment of the coming holidays. You know the year is coming to a close, and that the last few months of 2012 will give way to the coming of yet another year of opportunities and challenges.

As YRC Magazine moves on to its final stretches for this dragon year, we look back and enjoy the past few issues that saw many firsts: budding authors, new departments, a fashion spread! While looking forward to having even more firsts in the last months of this year, we are just as excited for the burgeoning few months of 2013.

In this issue, we reflect on our personal heroes, teachers and children, and how we are moved by them, specially with the celebration of Teacher’s Day in September and Children’s Day in October – two special events that are close to our hearts.

Other departments are making a comeback and a statement: Breaking Boundaries, which we have tied up with the Spastic Children’s Association of Singapore; and Email From Israel, a growing favourite among our readers, which features a steadfast young lass for this issue.

The all-time favourites also bring additional flair to YRC Magazine: our award-winning Featured Stories featuring winners from previous Young Author Awards; the thought-provoking Different Strokes, with photos by educator-photographer Jimmy Lee; and the eye-opening Parents Ask, Teens Answer, with professionals from Family on Focus and senior YAC CORE members Kenrick Lam and Ron Yap.

Altogether, a fruitful issue that both delights the senses and engages the mind, moving towards our goal of building the next generation of thinkers and writers. For subscription enquiries, call 6336.8985 or email books@catherinekhoo.sg.

Happy reading!

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Featured Author...Young writers of today

Text by Natalya Thangamany Photos by Carlo Venson Peña

J onathan Tan is a very young, vivacious personality that nobody can forget easily. A round-faced bespectacled

tween nearing thirteen, he is a bubbly boy who uses a lot of facial expressions and excited hand gestures when talking. As Jonathan grins shyly and fidgets around on his sofa, he shares to YRC Magazine about the origin of his story, Topsy Turvy Cinderella, and about the people in his life whom he deems as his personal heroes.

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P R O F I L E

Sharon Skariah, 16 Global Indian International SchoolMy name is Sharon Skariah; I’m fifteen years old and I came to Singapore eleven years back, attending Global Indian Interna-tional School. I have a passion for reading, writing and speak-ing. I get pure joy out of seeing a piece of my work completed. Reading is where I get my inspiration to write. Other sources of inspiration are my friends and school, our continuous laughter, inside jokes, last minute cramming for the next exam and our everyday lives. My story “Fragile Lines” was inspired by one of my friends, her broken home and her love for life. I believe that being happy is truly important because life is too short a journey to be anything but happy. So love truly, forgive unconditionally, take chances and never have regrets, because a smile is the best makeup you can ever wear.

Fragile Lines 3rd Prize Winner, Young Author Awards 2011/12 Written in Sec 3 in Global Indian International School

I Hate Life

I shrunk deeper into my bed as my mum threw the china vase onto the hard wood ground. The beautiful piece of art which had cost dad a fortune shattered to shards of un-wanted pieces of tiles.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as the sound of pots and pans crashing to the floor echoed around the house, creeping into my bedroom through the open doors. Dad start-ed swearing. I shut my ears not wanting to listen to any of it.

They were fighting again. But unlike other times today there was a lot of shattering and vulgarity. Tommy let out a squeal as he jumped just in time to miss one of the many plates and glasses being flung around.

My dad’s hands rose into the air, and in one swift blow, his palms connected with my mum’s cheeks. I wrapped my arms around me; a heavy silence blanketed my house… Mum broke it with a shrill cry of a wound-ed bird. Dad stormed past her and into his room slamming the wooden door behind him, making the whole house vibrate. Mum crumpled up onto the floor weeping like a five-year-old.

Illustrations by Adeline Lim

I ran out of the house ignoring the state of the living room and kitchen. I ran till my legs started aching and my eyes started sting-ing with the cold of the night. The icy bitter cold of the town sent chills up and down my spine as a shocking feeling of loss and pain hit me. I could see the twenty five years of love or what they claimed to be love crash-ing down.

I stopped when I reached the creek be-side the Miller household. It was the same story there.

Fights. Anger. And dispute.But this time it was Mrs Miller fighting

with her sixteen-year-old daughter who had recently turned into a Goth.

The girl had coloured her gorgeous blonde hair into a fiery mess of black and red. She wore a contrast of black and neon colours and had cuts all over her arms.

The once Ms Teen Sweetheart of our lit-tle town had now become the most horrific thing next to Mr Symonds mad bulldog.

Her poor mother was sick and tired of her… she was on the verge of breaking down. I pitied the family. But who was I to judge? My own family was close to tearing

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tad drunk,” he said pulling my cheeks with his ruddy hands. I brushed his hand away. He frowned at me not understanding the mean-ing of my act.

“Hey ya’ll this here is my lil’ sis. No one harm her!” he commanded, his English raw and uneducated. Immediately everyone looked away and started talking amongst themselves. The guy who had circled me muttered a sorry and then joined his friend. It seemed like my brother was the leader. I couldn’t bear to look at him. He was a street urchin. A disgrace.

“Hey sis, it was nice seeing you. You’ve grown up to be very pretty. Remind me of Mum,” he said in much more proper English. In front of me he could speak normally and in front of his buddies he had to speak like a street urchin to look cool.

Pathetic.“You’re not coming home?” I asked inno-

cently. Even though I hated him for the many

reasons I have listed till date I still missed him. After all he was my big brother.

He stooped down a bit to my level. “Kid, I am going home. Just not to dad and mum but to my lovely wife and five-month- old baby girl.”

“You’re married?”“Yes and you my dear are an aunt,” he

said ruffling my hair.I smiled. “Then why are you still with…”

I didn’t finish my sentence, instead I just pointed to the hooligans.

“Oh them,” Brother looked at the boys. “I was on my way to New York to meet my wife and daughter who had shifted there a month back. I was staying at a cheap lodge in one of the small villages on the way and these boys attacked me. You know your brother… I’m really good at acting and getting away with trouble. So I made them believe that at their age even I was a gang leader and you know they love people of

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P R O F I L E

Hans Hu, 14 Raffles Institution

I’ve always enjoyed writing, being creative and doing the craziest imaginative things at the worst of times, and regretting later (but with tremendous satisfaction!). I like being different. I write for laughs. Thankfully, my writing style has matured since Anti-Clock-wise, and I look back knowing not whether to laugh or to cringe. But no doubt, I enjoyed writing it. The story is downright silly and light-hearted, and heavily influenced by the type of (British) com-edy I couldn’t get out of my head then. Since then, I’ve become a lot more original, and even though I sometimes wish I could go back in time and write a better story, this story has always had its place in my heart.

Written in Primary 5 at Xingnan Primary School Illustrations by Gibson Les Paul

Anti-Clockwise

The Time Machine

“So let’s all drink a toast to no one in par-ticular!” said Archbishop Martin Hufty-Tufty as he raised his glass for the fifth time that night. “C’mon, cheers!” There was the sound of glass clinking in the grand dining room of Fiddelias Mansion.

Then, there was a moment of silence, broken only by the constant crackling of the fire in the ornate fireplace. “Right. So I do be-lieve that we have all eaten our fill and drank our…”

“…But what about just one more drink…” the Archbishop trailed off as Lord Felix Fiddelias shot him a warning look for interrupting him.

“As I was saying,” Lord Fiddelias contin-ued, “there is something I would like to show you, ladies and gentlemen. Baldur!”

The large oaken door opened and in came the short, round, dirty-looking Alan Baldur with his untrimmed beard. “My lord?” asked Lord Fiddelias’ loyal servant.

“Attend to it at once; I will join you shortly.”

“Certainly, my lord.”

Only after he left did Lord Fiddelias re-alise that his three guests had been holding their breath. “Ah yes,” he explained, “he does kind of stink. I’ve told him to shower before but I have this feeling that he is not using wa-ter to clean himself.”

As the four of them walked downstairs to the basement, Lady Elizabeth asked, “So…What is it that you wish to show us so ur-gently?” Lord Fiddelias did not answer her, but continued climbing down the stairs.

When they reached the basement, they found Baldur waiting for them. Behind him was a raised wooden platform and atop it sat something draped in a piece of white cloth. “Ladies and gentlemen,” Lord Fidde-lias announced, “the greatest genius that ever lived…is standing right in front of you.” The guests exchanged skeptical looks at that.

Lord Fiddelias ploughed on, “He, that is to say, I, have invented the greatest invention ever. Behold…” and with that, Lord Fiddelias tugged on a chain that pulled away the cloth, revealing a box-like wooden machine. The Time Machine!”

The three guests squinted at the wooden “machine.” It was Archbishop Martin who

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one.” Whatever hope left in Lord Fiddelias already seeped out. He pulled a blue lever and hit the button. As usual, there was the explosion and the pair found themselves in Leonardo Da Vinci’s house again, only twen-ty years later.

Leonardo turned around and said, “Ah. I knew you would return. Here’s the painting you inspired me to paint. I give it to you as a gift.” Leonardo gave Lord Fiddelias the paint-ing. It was covered in paper and there was Leonardo’s signature at the back.

“So if we want to return to England, the red lever needs to be somewhere…here,” Lord Fiddelias pulled the levers again. He hoped that it would be his last try before he found out how to get back. Lord Fiddelias and Baldur landed once again in another house; they stepped out. This house was small and dimly-lit. Suddenly, the silhou-ette of a man came close. When he was il-luminated by one of the torches on the wall,

Lord Fiddelias recognised him as the young William Shakespeare.

“Oh my…” gasped Lord Fiddelias. “Will you…um…” he picked up a piece of paper, “sign this for me?” Shakespeare looked puz-zled, but he signed it anyway. After Lord Fid-delias took the piece of paper over, he gave a punch to William Shakespeare. “That was for those boring plays you are going to write. Oh, and bye then. Thanks for the autograph.”

Stuck in a History Book

Back in the wooden crate, Lord Fid-delias sank onto the ground. All hope was lost; he was not going to make it back to his time. He silently prayed to God: Please get me back to my time. I would repent for my past sins. “Let me get this straight,” he said. “I’m stuck in a small, stinky wooden crate for the rest of eternity with a dimwit as dim as a

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P R O F I L E

Emmanuel Oh, 14 Raffles Institution

My name is Emmanuel. I am currently a Year-3 student in Raffles Institution, and my CCA is the school choir. Some of my hobbies include reading fiction, adventure and non-fic-tion books, playing competitive first-person shooter com-puter games and doing community work. I feel that writing is a nice hobby that anyone can pick up and practice. It also feels very rewarding when your piece of writing is fin-ished. The story I wrote at that time was based on the book series “The Power of Five” written by Anthony Horowitz. I hope you find my story an enjoyable read.

The Path to Freedom Written in Primary 5 at St. Anthony Primary School Illustrations by Adeline Lim

Editor’s Note: Due to the length of the story, YRC has decided to create an abridged version of The Path to Freedom. To read the full story, visit www.youngreaderclub.sg.

Breakout

In the outbacks of Australia stood an orphanage. A figure could be seen moving across the building, together with three oth-ers who were very much like him. It was a teenage boy named Norton Rodes. And he was not in a good mood. His story started when his parents were killed on their way back from the hospital where he was born. The car they were driving suddenly malfunc-tioned and rammed into a tree. Both adult occupants were instantly killed. The next day, Norton was sent to the orphanage and had remained there ever since.

The details of his parents’ death were sketchy at best, and he always wondered what it would have been like if his parents were still around. Of course, all that had hap-pened was meant to happen. He believed in destiny. And that he could never escape it.

The orphanage was a small, run-down hut in the middle of nowhere. It had one sto-rey and an attic. The hut was incredibly small,

with barely enough room to fit 20 people. As a result, some had to sleep in the attic and Norton was one of them. The walls were made from plaster and broke easily. The only furniture were some chairs which had been turned into stools over time. A table with a missing leg and two cookers were in the kitchen. The toilet was a place that would make you sick; the smell of sewage filled the air, threatening to choke you to death with its stench. And Norton had to get through this every day.

Despite all that, he was healthy, with broad shoulders and a well-built body. His eyes were dark blue and his hair was cut short. He had made some friends who were around the same age as him in the orphan-age. They had more or less a similar back-ground as him and it did not take long for them to be friends with each other. All of them agreed that they were sick of the or-phanage. Tonight, they were going to break out.

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Moments later, the door was thrown off its hinges as the police chief burst through the door in full fury. He drew a gun and pointed it at Mr. Williams, threatening to kill him if they did not come out. Norton knew that he would not do that. There was no way a po-lice chief would actually kill someone. But on the other hand, if they refused to move or show themselves, the police would comb the whole place and eventually find them. But they needed a distraction.

Just then, Winston struck with a power-house kick from where he was hiding. Since the table he was hiding under was behind the police chief, it was a surprise to him. The four of them acted as one. As Winston took away the chief’s gun, Stan and Bert pinned him to the floor. Norton took a frying pan and struck hard at the man’s face. The pain must have been excruciating.

Standing in a corner, Mr Williams was shocked. All this while, his employees were

criminal fugitives? He could not take it any-more and he lost consciousness.

When he awoke, Norton’s team was gone and so was the police chief. But as he sat up, he realised how long he had been unconscious. The whole place was clean. The police must have conducted a thorough investigation and before leaving they had in-jected him with some sort of sleeping drug. He looked at the clock. Thirty two hours had passed. From that day on, he never hired any more teenagers again.

Norton was with his friends in a small farm. The owner allowed them to stay for a night but gave them no food. They were too troubled to eat anyway. That night, Norton thought about what the police would do to them if they had found them. Probably they would give them a hundred strokes of the cane. Norton shuddered at the very thought of it. He was determined to escape and lead

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Text by Natalya Thangamany

Additional Photos by Carlo Peña

Young Author Contributors: Ee Chong Hui, Ron Yap, Emilyn Foong, Dylan Wong, Wong Zi Ling, Nurul Iiman Bte Said

Full interview and text on www.youngreaderclub.sg

YRC Investigates ...Understanding how the world works

Heroes are made,

Never born;

They give aid

Not scorn

When someone is in trouble

And stuck in a big scary

bubble.

They might not be Superman,

Neither are they Spiderman;

As long as they’re willing

to give up a seat

To the one who need it more

on the bus or train,

It is considered as an

amazing feat

Compared to those who only

watch and feign.

– By Ee Chong Hui YAC Core

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Singapore Insights ...Three people. Three lives. One Singapore.

We all have a hero in our lives.

We all need someone to look up to.

We all need a helping hand.

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Different Strokes...A picture paints a thousand words

Photo courtesy of Jimmy Lee

H E R O I S M is just a m at te r o f b e i n g t h e r i g h t p e r s o n a t t h e r ight t ime doing the right thing, regardless o f w h e t h e r p e o p l e know about the good deed or not.

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Email from... Israel J What is your neighbourhood like?

My  neighbourhood is very quiet and nice. I live right by my high school so I can get home fast. Usually when I’m out in the neighbourhood it’s with my dog, since I take her for a walk around. Or I walk with my friends to the park and sit and talk.J How do you travel to school and how long does that take you?

I walk to school. I live right next by and it takes me about two minutes to get there. J  What after-school activities do you enjoy doing?

After school, I go home and do my homework, eat some lunch, sleep a bit because I get really tired after school. Or I hang out with my friends, or just chill by myself, watching TV or going online. J  What is your personal definition of ‘hero’? 

To me, a hero is someone who is fearless, someone who is strong. Someone who’s been through a lot in  their life and still never give up hope and hangs on, no matter how hard things get.   J Who is your role model or personal hero?

My grandmother is my hero. She was in the  Israeli army for 25 years. She has

seen and  experienced amazing things in her life and all that made her the amazing person she is today. She is what  holds our big family together. She loves and cares for each and every one of us. She created this big family, which is why we are all so close. She means the world to me; and she is so strong and  independent. When I grow up, I wish to be just like her.  J W h o a r e y o u r

‘ p e r s o n a l h e r o e s ’ a n d why are they ‘heroes’ to you?

In School. My teacher. Because she is like our mother as she cares for each student and gives each one the attention they need. If anyone has a problem, she will always find a way to help us. If a student is going through a rough time like I was this past year, she will be there to listen and help. 

YRC Magazine welcomes a brave and bold Yuval from Israel, who tells us about her definitions of a true hero.

Yuval LichtblauAge: 16

School: Ostrovsky High SchoolHobbies: Surfing, Reading,

Listening to Music, Basketball

Yuval on holiday with her family

in Greece.

Yuva

l (rig

ht),

with

her

si

ster

Maa

yan

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Parents Ask, Teens Answer...Linking teens and parents together

is a great way to inspire teens to become the best that they can be. But how can parents make sure their children are emulating the right heroes?

personal hero

Having a

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Breaking Boundaries...Learning without borders

M a i n s t r e a m s c h o o l s h a v e A l l i e d E d u c a t o r s . A s p e c i a l e d u c at i o n ( S P E D) s c h o o l l i k e Th e S p a s t i c C h i l d r e n ’s A s s o c i a t i o n o f S i n g a p o re ( S C A S ) h a s Te a c h e r Aides. They play an essentia l role in the classroom, such as 61-year-old Selvarajan Isaac Shadrak , who is ever ready to lend a hand to his fe l low col leagues and students in n e e d. R e a d h i s s i d e o f t h e S C A S story here.

What is your average day at work like?

As a Teacher Aide, my working hours are from 8.00am to 5.00pm and I work five days a week. Every morning, we assist in bringing down the students from their school buses. While the teacher is busy teaching students, Teacher Aides will assist the students in their class work. Most of the students have difficulty in writing, drawing and using the computer,

Will Be At Your Aide

and we assist them patiently.During recess time, we will assist students

who are unable to feed themselves, after which we will help to brush their teeth. Because of their limitations and disability, we provide necessary assistance to the students. At the end of the day, we assist the students to their respective school buses and we also help to carry the wheelchair-bound students up into the buses.

What inspired you to be a Teacher Aide at a SPED school like SCAS?

I have been working as a Teacher Aide at SCAS for ten years. I never thought that I would be working with children with cerebral palsy. I have a passion to help children and adults with special needs. In 2002, as I was looking for a career change from being a police officer, I wrote to SCAS for a job because of my love of working with children. To my surprise, I was accepted as a Teacher Aide and I have no regrets.

Your wife used to be a counselor at a mainstream school. In comparison between the two sectors, what are

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HEALTH Helping you make smart choices...

There are quite a number of ways to reduce your lactose intolerance.

• You can start consuming small amounts of milk or other dairy products at a time, so that you don’t overstrain your lactase enzyme production every time you consume them.

• Always take your milk with other food so the stomach empties slower and therefore doesn’t react to the dairy product just as fast, and distributes the amount of lactose reaching the body over time.

• Try consuming milk and dairy products that have lactic acid and live bacteria, since they have lactase in them already. These will help you absorb the milk product’s nutrients better and faster!

• Taking small amounts of milk and other dairy products adapts your stomach to lactose, and you would eventually find it easier to digest milk and other dairy products. There are some milk brands out in the market today that are specially formulated with low lactose content to enable better digestion and these are very suitable for people who are lactose intolerant!

Remember that aside from your calcium, taking milk, specially high calcium, low-fat milk with

Vitamin K and D– the vitamins that both aid in calcium absorption a n d i m p r o v e b o n e strength– helps you get the most out of your glasses of milk. So don’t be too scared about l a c t o s e i n t o l e r a n c e because there are many ways to enjoy milk and dairy products to its full goodness!

E v e r h a d t h a t u n e a s y fe e l i n g w h e n y o u c o n s u m e a co n s i d e r a b l e a m o u n t o f d a i r y p r o d u c t s ? Then you seem to have p r o b l e m s w i t h y o u r bowel movement and have some pain in the

t u m my ? D o n’t b e t o o a l a r m e d. I t could be lactose intolerance.

Defined as the inability to digest lactose, the type of sugar found in many dairy products, lactose intolerance is usually due to the insufficient levels of lactase in a person’s body. Lactase is an enzyme that burns lactose into glucose, the sugar that our body uses for energy.

There needs to be a line drawn between lactose intolerance and lactose malabsorption, a condition when the body cannot totally absorb the nutritional benefits of milk, since their bodies have reached the peak of lactase ability.

Most people are born with the ability to produce this special enzyme, since babies can only consume milk as food until they grow old enough to eat solid food. Eventually, as a person grows older, one either develops a tolerance for milk products or secretes lesser lactase enzyme, which may lead to some form of intolerance.

It is interesting to note that most people who experience lactose intolerance come from parts of the world where milk and other dairy products are not a staple in their diet. Although many who claim they are lactose intolerant, their bodies can actually digest a limited quantity of lactose. Symptoms that are linked to poor digestion of milk often lead people to totally avoid milk and other dairy products. This is dangerous though.

Avoiding milk and dairy products in the long run can lead to lesser absorption of calcium, potassium, magnesium and other vitamins and minerals that milk has. This could then lead to poor bone health, hypertension and other disorders.

HOW DO YOU REDUCE LACTOSE INTOLERANCE?

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I Can Write, So Can Youby Catherine Khoo

A n i n v i t a t i o n t o d i s c o v e r a n a m a z i n g j o u r n e y. Pu b l i s h yo u r ve r y o w n t r a v e l o g u e . J o i n C a t h e r i n e Khoo as she takes you on a journey to discover yourself and l i fe’s s imple pleasures.

When I boarded the plane to Phnom Penh, I really wanted to know if the city I visited ten years ago had changed. Yes, I always wanted to practise social responsibility, wanted to bring my students to learn how other children lived, and to experience their way of life. I wanted their parents to be there and together, bond over a campfire while cooking dinner …. I wanted to go

back to the simple life.

But STA Travel’s Dan, who was my guide for this recce trip, did not prepare me for a homestay that gave me an honest-to-goodness feel of Cambodian hospitality.

A two-hour ride from the city brought me to the countryside of Chambok . The Homestay

Information Pack of the Chambok Community-based Eco-Tourism read:

“Experience the real country life of a Cambodian family and community. You will see how we live and interact with each other. You will see how we earn a living to support our family. If you want, you can even learn a bit about the Khmer language.”

I was met by Thy (pronounced “Tea”), a 26-year-old villager who spoke pretty good English. Unlike others who left for the city, Thy stayed behind to coach and teach English to the village kids and was

the official village guide. With him was Cham, whose house I was going to stay in. I climbed the wooden steps, and lo and behold, a room which could accommodate at least 10 people.

I was sold! The air was pristinely unpolluted, the people were friendly, and would you believe it, if you look at the night sky, you will be able to see thousands of stars! Stare long enough, and you’ll be able to catch a shooting star!

The next morning, I climbed a hill to the only school in the village, where 100 or more children from 7 to 16 were there to meet us. Staring at their enthusiastic faces as I asked them to count from 1 to 10, and the looks of gratitude as I distributed Oreos and

Discovering the Hero in You

Cambodian specialities: Fish Amok & Beef Loc Lak (pronounced Lok Lak)

School in Chambok

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ResourcesGet more from your YRC Magazine by using these exercises and activities in your classroom discussions! For more student worksheets and teacher resource kits, log on to www.youngreaderclub.sg and click on Member’s Corner.

Choose random paragraphs from the Fe at u re d Sto r i e s i n t h i s e d i t i o n o f YRC. Identify the main idea and the suppor t ing detai ls f rom the chosen paragraphs. Underline the main idea and strike the supporting details. Here is a sample for you:

PulsatingAtrocities

GlareOutback

VassalChills down the spine

PainstakingMuttered

Pitch-blackGrisly

FlankedCapsized

FugitivesOrnate

Dampened SpiritsImpromptu

SeepedRaft

ShudderingRammed

Figure out how these words/phrases are used in the YRC articles and use them in your own sentences!

Theoretical physicists say time travel is actually happening every day, just that the difference in time travel is so negligible that we don’t notice it. Called time dilation, they say a good example is a clock inside a speeding train. Since time passes slower the closer you approach the speed of light, a clock inside a moving train would be slower by billionths of a second than a stationary clock in the control station. Imagine a train travelling at 99.999 percent light speed (299 million miles per second): only one year would pass inside the train for every 223 years at the station!

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Dragon HeroesBy Josh Lim

Dragon Heroes is a story where an army of battle dragons are sent to help the humans fight the dinosaurs. There they meet the King and more of the battle unfolds. Who will win the fight? Catch this fiery story in YRC soon!

till the end of

the year!

It’s smooth

sailing for YRC...

Plus your not-to-miss favourites!Health & Live Life!

Y R C I n v e s t i g a t e s t h e P r o s p e c t s o f 2013

Parents Ask, Teens Answer

E u r e k a ! I d e a s that Changed the World

E d u c a t o r ’ s Corner

War and PeaceBy Dejoy Shastikk Kumaran

The 20th century is ravaged by two of the most devastating wars ever in history. In the Second World War, a young aspiring runner has to apply as a soldier. The record-holder for the Under-18 100m sprint, he thinks that he can break Usain Bolt’s sprint record. But after he is severely injured by artillery fire, he wonders if he can break the record. As Raymond recovers from his ravaging injury, he learns many lessons. Can he break the record? Can he reverse the effects of the war? Can he show the world that disabled athletes aren’t slow? Read on to find out!

Across the UniverseBy Rachel Lee

Kiran’s father just got a promotion. She would be happy for him, if they didn’t have to move halfway across the world, to Cupertino, California. Then the school musical beckons and Kiran realises that she could show Stratford Elementary School what Kiran Lee, aged eleven and three-quarters, can do. Will she get through to the bullies in her school?