Happy Halloween!

Lyris K., 7, Victoria Shanghai Academy

1) There is a Halloween party at your school! What does your classroom look like? What decorations do you and your classmates put up?

We’ve got witches, pumpkins, black cats, dark lights, and skeleton heads hanging on the lockers.

2) Your teachers cooked up some tasty Halloween snacks and gave the foods some interesting names. What is each one made of? What does it taste like?

Blood punch: Blood punch is cranberry  juice.

Bag of Bones: A bag of bones is a bag of candy.

Graveyard Surprise: Graveyard surprise is some of my cookies yesterday.

3) Everyone is having a good time, but there is no more blood punch left! So your teacher asks you to go to the kitchen and get some more. As you are walking to the kitchen, you hear a crash and a scream coming from behind a door. What do you think has just happened?

I think it started like this. Some naughty students were sitting in there and another student came in. Then the door slammed and the naughty student screamed.

4) You go into this room and are surprised to see a ghost! This ghost looks a little strange though. How is it different from what you expected a ghost to look like?

He was wearing underwear! Its eyes are red as blood and its tail smelled like blue cheese.

5) The ghost starts to cry. It tells you that it is very sad. What happened to it? How did it become a ghost? Why is it so sad?

It is because everyone laughed at him. There was a magic spell in front of the people. The man drank it so he became a ghost.

6) It says that you can help make it feel better. What do you do so that it is not as sad?

The people will get some blood punch for the ghost! Because it is sweet for him.

7) Since you helped the ghost, it flies away and joins its family. How does the ghost thank you? What does it say to you? Does it give you a special gift?

He said, “Thank you,” and he gave me a gift. Inside the gift is a bow for my hair!

8) Finally you make it back to your class with a bowl of blood punch! Your teacher and classmates ask where you have been. What do you tell them?

Instead, I just say, “Just messing around”. Then the teacher said, “Next time bring the blood punch faster”. Then we continue the Halloween party!

Stop Whining!!

Wang Lok S., 14, South Island School

        Do you like people who whine? People don’t like other people whining but they do it themselves. People who whine are like people who beat around the bush the whole time. Yes, it helps you to not be bottled up and become stressed, but it makes other people judge you from these actions.

        People don’t like whiners. We have trained our body to just shut off and ignore whiners. Unfortunately, there is a point where we cannot take it anymore and blow up. Then the whiners get offended and then whine about you instead! Sure, it makes you feel good but it doesn’t make us feel any better. There are other ways to calm yourself like writing a journal. Kids might like a toy that they talk and complain to. Try not to complain or whine to someone else as they may not appreciate it and it may even result in conflicts.

You may get judged for who you are. People who usually talk loudly and complain a lot are considered low class and no one wants to be around them because they don’t want to listen to their complaints. Yes, people feel good when they complain but others feel like you are a person who is low class. There is no point in complaining 24/7 when it ruins your reputation and relationships with your friends.

Whining gets you nowhere. It doesn’t help with getting to know people, and most of the time you can solve it yourself. Most of the time, complaining about how slow traffic is won’t make it go faster. Whining about how stupid your grade was doesn’t make you smarter. The only thing that matters is how you deal with these problems. You will feel better when you deal with the problem yourself.

If we never complained, we would have never invented many life-changing inventions or even be where we are today. If no one complained that “My legs are killing me to get to grandma’s place” then we would not have invented transport. If we never complained about how bored we are, we would have never come up with entertainment. However, these were all made by self-motivated people who tried to solve the problem themselves. These people are considered “Wonderful” people because they not only noticed the needs of people, but they made the dream come true.

In conclusion, whining will get you nowhere; just complaining or whining about how annoying things are is not going to solve anything. Saying good things instead helps people and you also gain a good reputation!