Bahasa Inggeris notes, unit 9

A Heart of Gold

Textbook English Year 6 SK (Buku Teks Bahasa Inggeris Tahun 6, KSSR), pages 83-92 (English Year 6 SK, Unit 9 A Heart of Gold)

What this chapter covers

I can read a fund-raising poster and listen to a phone call to find the venue, date, categories, fee and prizes (9.1)
I can complete a table with the categories, type of contribution and contact information from a conversation (9.1)
I can listen to an announcement and give directions using a map (9.2)
I can read a recipe and sort the equipment and the ingredients (9.3)
I can recite a poem about missing home and explain what the poet feels (9.4)
I can name the parts of a formal letter and choose the right closing, Yours sincerely or Yours faithfully (9.5)
I can plan and arrange a formal letter asking for permission (9.5)
I can join sentences with either ... or ... and neither ... nor ... (9.6)
I can read the next part of Hansel and Gretel and explain how Hansel tricked the witch (9.7)

Unit 9 is called A Heart of Gold. It is about helping people who need it: a fund-raising contest for an orphanage, a carnival for the less fortunate, and cupcakes for a home for the elderly. You will also learn to write a formal letter and to use either ... or ... and neither ... nor ....

9.1Listening and speaking: a fund-raising contest

Poster for a fund-raising cupcake eating contest with venue, date, time, three age categories, entry fee and prizes — Poster: Cupcake Eating Contest.

English Year 6 SK, p. 83.

fund-raising event: an event held to collect money for a good cause. Proceeds are the money collected. Here, all proceeds go to Mercy Orphanage.

Poster item	Detail
Venue	Community Hall, Kajang, Selangor
Date	20 May
Time	9:00 a.m.
Categories	Bronze 7 to 11 years, Silver 12 to 15 years, Gold 16 to 18 years
Entry fee	RM10.00
Prizes	1st RM150.00, 2nd RM100.00, 3rd RM50.00

Kamini phones the manager of Serracakes. She asks whether her siblings can join, whether there is an entry fee and what she can donate. The manager tells her the contest has three categories, the fee is RM10.00 for each category, and she can donate either books or toys. He asks her to visit the website.

English Year 6 SK, p. 84.

Contest: Cupcake Eating Contest	Answer
Categories	Bronze, Silver, Gold
Type of contribution	Books, toys
Contact information	www.serracakes.com.my

When you listen to fill in a table, read the headings first. Then listen only for the answers to those headings, such as a number, a place or a list of two things.

The fee is RM10.00 for each category, not for the whole family. Read small words like "each" and "any" carefully.

Which category is a 13-year-old in? What is the first prize?

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Silver (12 to 15 years old). The first prize is RM150.00.

9.2Speaking: an announcement and giving directions

Encik Hakimi announces a carnival to raise funds for the homeless and less fortunate children. A good announcement says what (carnival), why (to raise funds), when (Saturday, 12th July, 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.), what to bring (clothes, food, books, cash) and ends with an invitation.

English Year 6 SK, p. 85.

Sketch map of Negeri Sembilan showing Labu, Seremban, Kuala Pilah, Sri Menanti, Pedas, Rembau, Johol, Kendong, Port Dickson and Pasir Panjang joined by roads — Map of Negeri Sembilan.

English Year 6 SK, p. 85.

Useful phrase	Use
turn left / turn right	change direction at a junction
go straight on	keep going the same way
T-junction	a road that ends so you must turn left or right
pass ...	go by a place without stopping
at the next junction, in front of you	says where the place is

Directions from Johol to Pedas

From Johol, turn left at the junction. Go straight on. At the T-junction, turn right and go straight on again until you pass Rembau. You will reach Pedas at the next junction in front of you.

Give directions in the order you travel: start, each turn, a landmark, then the place you reach. Use first, then, next and finally.

In the directions above, which town do you pass before Pedas?

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Rembau.

9.3Reading: a recipe

Recipe for butter cupcakes with a list of ingredients on the left and steps on the right — Butter cupcake recipe.

English Year 6 SK, p. 86.

Kamini makes cupcakes for the home for the elderly. A recipe has two parts: the ingredients (what goes into the food) and the method (the steps, in order).

Equipment	Ingredients
oven, muffin tin, paper cups, bowl, electric mixer, wire rack	butter, castor sugar, plain flour, eggs, baking powder, vanilla extract, salt, chocolate sprinkles

Fact	Detail
Oven temperature	180°C
Baking time	18 to 20 minutes
Cooling	10 minutes, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely

Steps in a recipe start with an action word: preheat, line, beat, sift, fold, spoon, bake, cool. Sort them by asking: "Is it something I use, or something I put in?"

An oven is equipment, not an ingredient. You cannot eat it and it does not go into the mixture.

Is "paper cups" an ingredient or equipment?

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Equipment. It is used to hold the mixture while it bakes.

9.4Reading: the poem "Home"

The poem Home written inside a drawing of a house — "Home", adapted from Stephen C. Foster.

English Year 6 SK, p. 87.

What it is about: a person far from home who misses the river, the little farm and the happy days with a brother. The elderly stay by the river. The poet wishes to return to the old life.

roam: to walk or travel about with no plan. wander is similar. hometown: the town where your family comes from.

To explain a line like "Oh! Take me to my old life", say what the poet feels (sad, lonely) and give the reason (misses home and happy times).

Why does the poet say "Take me to my old life"?

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The poet misses home and the happy days of the past, so the poet wishes to go back.

9.5Writing: a formal letter

A formal letter uses formal language and a fixed layout. We write one to a teacher, a bank, a company or the local council, to seek permission, to complain or to apply for a job.

A handwritten formal letter with labels: sender's address, date, receiver's address, salutation, subject, body, complementary closure, signature, sender's name — Najmee's father writes to Encik Hakimi.

English Year 6 SK, p. 88.

Part	Example
Sender's address	Naim bin Ahmad, 17, Taman Bukit Segar, 56100 Cheras, Kuala Lumpur.
Date	8 June 20__
Receiver's address	Encik Hakimi bin Razman, 6 Robotics, Sekolah Kebangsaan Tunas Cipta.
Salutation	Dear Encik Hakimi,
Subject	Permission to be Absent from Co-curricular Activities
Body	I am writing to inform you that ... I hope you will excuse him.
Complementary closure	Yours sincerely,
Signature and name	signed, then Naim bin Ahmad

Yours sincerely goes with a named person (Dear Encik Hakimi). Yours faithfully goes with Dear Sir or Madam, when you do not know the name.

Jumbled boxes of a formal letter from the English Language Society to Tasty Chocolate Factory asking permission to visit — Rearrange the boxes to make a formal letter.

English Year 6 SK, p. 89.

The boxes in the right order: sender's address (English Language Society), date (5 May), receiver's address (Tasty Chocolate Factory), Dear Sir, subject (Permission to Visit Chocolate Factory), first paragraph (who is writing and what is asked), details (twenty students and two teachers, 10 July, 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.), closing line (I hope to get a reply as soon as possible), Yours faithfully, Kamini.

Plan a letter with four boxes: purpose of the visit, date and time, number of teachers and pupils, and the officer in charge.

Write the purpose in the first paragraph: "I am writing to ask permission to ...". Then give the facts, then say you hope for a reply.

Do not write "Dear Sir," and then close with "Yours sincerely". The closing must match the salutation.

Which closing goes with "Dear Madam,"?

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Yours faithfully, because the name of the receiver is not known.

9.6Grammar: either ... or and neither ... nor

Either ... or ... and neither ... nor ... are correlative conjunctions. They link two words or phrases of equal kind to make one sentence.

Pattern	Meaning	Example
either ... or ...	one of two choices	You can donate either books or toys.
neither ... nor ...	not the first and not the second	Najmee plays neither football nor badminton.

Joining two sentences

You can go left. You can go right.
You can go either left or right.

They are not my schoolmates. They are not my friends.
They are neither my schoolmates nor my friends.

English Year 6 SK, pp. 90 to 91.

After either and neither, put the two words or phrases in the same form: either read or write, neither a cat nor a rabbit.

Never use a "not" with neither. Say "He neither came nor called", not "He did not neither come nor call". With neither ... nor, the verb agrees with the noun nearer to it: "Neither Idith nor the girls are sleeping."

Join: "She does not eat fish. She does not eat meat."

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She eats neither fish nor meat.

9.7Language arts: Hansel and Gretel (part 2)

Hansel and Gretel, cold, hungry and tired, find a cottage made of chocolates, candies, cakes and sweets. They eat it. An old lady comes out and invites them in. She is really a witch. She puts Hansel in a cage and makes Gretel do the house chores. She feeds him to make him fat so that she can eat him.

English Year 6 SK, p. 92.

Question	Answer
What trick does Hansel use?	He sticks out a chicken bone instead of his finger.
Why does it work?	The witch has poor eyesight.
What does the witch think?	That Hansel is not getting fat, so she must feed him more.

Value: Think carefully and keep calm in danger. A clever idea can solve a big problem.

Why did the witch feed Hansel lots of food?

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She wanted to make him fat because she planned to eat him.

Summary

Topic	Remember
Fund-raising poster	Venue, date, time, categories, entry fee, prizes, where the proceeds go.
Announcement	What, why, when, what to bring, invitation.
Directions	turn left or right, go straight on, T-junction, pass, next junction.
Recipe	Ingredients go in. Equipment is used. Steps start with an action word.
Formal letter	Sender's address, date, receiver's address, salutation, subject, body, closure, signature, name. Dear Sir or Madam goes with Yours faithfully. A named person goes with Yours sincerely.
Correlative conjunctions	either ... or ... (choice), neither ... nor ... (not either).
Story	Hansel tricks the witch with a chicken bone because she cannot see well.