Current Affairs Primary School Level

Timmy is a tortoise. He is our dear pet. He belonged to some friends, but as they did not want him any more, my dad brought him home. When he first came, he was small and I could pick him up easily. Now Timmy has grown quite big. He is now four years old. He eats vegetables like tomatoes, cucumber, lettuce and snake gourd. If I offer him small pieces of bread and butter he enjoys them too. Timmy wanders around at will and then settles down in some comer. He recognizes my voice and comes out to greet me when I am home from school.

Points: Where I live and who my neighbours are – a description of the ways of each neighbour - how we live together - the importance of neighbours. I, live on the first floor of a building called Sukh Sagar. I know five of my neighbours. Three of them live on the same floor as I do. One lives above me on the second floor. The other is just below me on the ground floor. Just above me lives a merchant. He has his wife and two small children. His wife is illiterate and noisy. She shouts at her children the whole day. She often beats them. She throws rubbish into our balcony. On our floor we have three other neighbours. One is a retired Government officer. He is a cruel man. He lives with his wife and a grown-up son. He shuts up his wife and son in the house when he goes out in the morning. He locks all the doors and windows. He does not allow his family to enjoy out side the home. He opens the house only when he returns at eight or nine in the evening. I really pity his poor wife and son. Another neighbour on our floor is a music director in the films. He has no children. He and his wife are generally quiet. But sometimes they have late night parties and got drunk. Then they shout and make a lot noise. They disturb all the neighbours. Lastly, on our floor we have a bank officer. He lives with his wife and three children, He has two college-going sons and one school going daughter. He is a jolly and sociable man. His family is quite friendly with us. We visit them often and they too visit us. The neighbour below us is an Insurance Officer. He lives with his wife and two small sons. The little boys laugh merrily and run about the house all day long. It is good to hear their merry laughter. We are on friendly terms only with our two sociable and cheerful neighbours. We leave the others apart. It is important that we should have good neighbours. Neighbours are more than relations. They help us in our hour of need. Difficult Words: Illiterate-unable to read and write; cruel-not kind; pity-feel sorry for; got drunk-have too much strong drink or liquor; sociable-able to mix freely with others; merrily-happily;

Our home is a two bedroom flat. It is on the third floor and faces a large plot with many trees. Mother has put up pretty curtains on the windows. In the drawing room she has hung beautiful paintings and in the showcase are lovely objects. On the balcony there are many flowering plants. Father has put up a bird feeder and a large bird bath. We love watching the sparrows and bulbuls. They come for a feed or a splash. The sun birds come to the flowers to drink nectar. It is quiet and peaceful in our beautiful home.

Points: His hard life-may be doing a double job - early riser- moves about quickly doing his daily round - sells remaining papers at street corner - shouts out striking or shocking headlines - evening round - bright and cheerful. The newspaper boy has a hard life. Selling newspapers helps him to earn a little extra money. He usually does some other job during the day. Sometimes schoolboys sell newspapers in the morning. They do this to get money for their books and school fees. The newspaper boy cannot enjoy a long sleep. He wakes up very early. He rushes to the newspaper office or the newsagent's shop. He picks up his bundle of papers at five in the morning. He sorts them out and arranges them. He runs along on his daily round. He drops a newspaper at the house of each of his customers. He sells the remaining papers at a street corner. He shouts out striking or shocking headlines. He makes people curious. They come and buy a paper. He does some other job during the day or perhaps he goes to school. Again he is busy for an hour or two in the evening. He goes about selling the evening papers. He is bright and cheerful in spite of his hard life. He knows to face life bravely. Difficult Words: Striking-unusual; cheerful- happy, smiling.

We have a big garden around our house. There is a lawn in front with rectangular and oval shaped flower beds alongside. At the back are fruits trees and vegetable plants. My mother loves the garden and works in it. Most of the vegetables we eat are from our own garden. At the far end of the garden are two pits for compost manure. A gardener comes weekly to do the heavy work. Many birds nest on the trees. A swing hangs from the branch of the mango tree where I play with my brother. I like our garden very much.

Points: Her appearance - her nature - her daily routine – her accomplishments - what we have learnt from her. My mother is healthy, good-looking and of medium height. She is fair in complexion and gentle in appearance. She has a quiet and peaceful nature. She is always kind to us and gives us all her love and affection. All of us in the family love her very much in return. She keeps busy all the time looking after her household. She wakes up early to prepare our breakfast. After having breakfast, my father leaves for his office and we set out for school. Then my mother tidies up the house and cooks our lunch. She works very hard and wastes no time. She is working as a part-time computer operator in a private company. When we return from school in the evening she welcomes us with a cheerful smile. She helps us to do our homework and takes up our lessons. My mother is well educated. She is also well- versed in household work. She knows cooking, sewing, embroidery, knitting, crochet and first aid. She has taught us by her example to be kind, helpful and hard working. Our home is a very happy place because we have a good and loving mother. We pray that we may be always worthy of her. Difficult Words: Of medium height - neither tall nor short: complexion-colour; household-the members of the family; tidies up-puts the house in order; well-versed in-has a good knowledge of; accomplishments- all things she knows to do.

My mother works very hard. She wakes up early to get breakfast and tiffin boxes ready for Dad and me. Now that I am seven years old, I help her on Saturdays and Sundays. She allows me to wash and cut some vegetables and lets me boil water to make her a cup of tea. I also hang the washing on the line and then fold the dry clothes. Often I go to the shop nearby to buy something she needs. I love helping my mother. She is happy and I hear her talking about me to the neighbors. She gives me a tight hug.

People have different tastes. Some like simple things. Others like comforts and luxuries. My tastes are very simple. I like all beautiful things. There are many beautiful things in nature and I love them all. I like birds, flowers, green fields, cool streams of water, sunrise, sunset, hills and valleys. I also like to keep animals as pets. Lastly I like kind and pleasant people. I am fond of music, reading and art. I like to have many hobbies to take up my spare time. I dislike those who are cruel and unkind to human beings and animals. I dislike dishonesty, boastfulness, vanity, pride and all bad qualities. I dislike misers and those who refuse to help others with their time or money. I dislike those who are noisy, rowdy and quarrelsome. I dislike all forms of meanness and want everyone to be noble and generous. I hope I shall be lucky enough to get all that I like and avoid all that I dislike in life. My likes and dislikes are quite normal. I am sure you share many of my likes and dislikes. From these two examples given, you can understand that you must think clearly, plan carefully and write correctly if you want to produce a good essay. As far as possible, use the Simple Present, Simple Past and Simple Future Tenses. Other Tenses are rarely used. Remember the rules of correct writing and you will write good essays.

One morning Mother was unwell and it was the maid's day off. I told Mom I would see to the cleaning of the house. I took the broom and dustpan and began sweeping. It is not easy but I did my best. While mopping the floor I had to stop often. At last it was done. I then loaded the washing machine with clothes and started it. After dusting the furniture, watering the plants, I set the table for lunch.            Mother hugged and thanked me for doing such a   good job. I felt so proud and grown up.   

I do not like to visit a dentist. But one day I had a bad toothache. I could not bear the pain so I phoned my dentist, and made an appointment with him. As I entered his waiting room, I saw many patients. They were all awaiting their turn to go in. Most of them seemed to be in great pain. Some even had swollen cheeks. I sat on a chair and looked through some magazines as I waited to be called in. Suddenly I heard a scream from the next room. I became very frightened. I wanted to get up and run back home. But everyone would have laughed at me if I did this. So I kept on sitting. At last it was my turn to go in. The dentist was kind and gentle. He felt my tooth with his instrument. He said that there was a cavity in it. It would have to be filled. Then he took a machine and drilled my tooth. It made unbearable noise. From time to time he made me gargle my mouth with water. Finally, he filled my tooth with white cement. He then told me to come back after a week to have my tooth ' filled with silver. I had to pay him eighty rupees for this work. On my way home I was happy. The pain had gone. I was thankful to the dentist for having taken away the pain. Now let us take up another subject and think about it. Suppose we are asked to write on 'My Likes and Dislikes'. The ideas that come to us may be: People have different tastes-what some like may be disliked by others - my likes -flowers, birds, streams, animals, kind and pleasant people –what I dislike - cruelty, dishonesty, vanity, pride, boastfulness, meanness, miserliness - my likes and dislikes are normal and quite common. The points for this essay will be people have different tastes - my likes - all beautiful sights and sounds -flowers, birds, green fields, streams, music, hobbies, kind and pleasant people – what I dislike - cruelty - dishonesty and all bad qualities - my likes and dislikes are normal - hope to get what I like and avoid what I dislike. With the help of these points we can go on to develop the essay.