10Th Form Speaking Prompts:

~Choose one of the following prompts to speak about for 3—5 minutes

1. With the advent of the Internet and super technological phones has arisen a change in the way people communicate. Texting has replaced calling; emails have replaced letter-writing.

• What are the benefits and disadvantages of texting and email?

• How do they affect speaking and writing skills?

• Is it still important for people to be able to write and speak properly? Why or why not?

2. According to Oscar Wilde, “Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

• Do you agree or disagree?

• Distinguish between ‘price’ and ‘value’ and use examples to illustrate your point.

• Can you be both wealthy and moral, or does money always make a person corrupt?

3. Drop a spoon and expect a visitor! Many cultures have their own set of superstitions which they take very seriously.

• What are some superstitions which exist in your culture and give examples. What are some superstitions from other countries that you know of?

• What do you think are the origins of some of these superstitions and how are they different in different countries?

• Relate this to your personal experience: are you superstitious and how do superstitions affect your life?

10Th Form Writing Prompts:

~Choose one of the following prompts and write a composition.

1. It is commonly believed that we have not even begun to exhaust the supply of original ideas or new inventions. There is much more for us to invent and discover.

• Create a new invention that you believe is both helpful and original.

• Explain its uses and purpose.

• Predict its impact on society; how can it benefit society as a whole? What are the potential harms?

2. Identify what you believe to be the most important event in world history.

• Explain the importance of this event.

• Infer the positive and negative impacts of this event on society.

• Infer and explain the positive and negative effects had this event never occurred.

3. A Yiddish Proverb says: “A half-truth is a whole lie.”

- Explain the meaning of this proverb and whether or not you agree.

- Many people distinguish between a true lie and a white lie; they say it is okay to tell a

white lie. Do you agree?

- Give an example of a situation when it is appropriate to tell a lie.

9Th Form Olympiad

9Th Form Reading Text #1:

“100th Anniversary of Roald Amundsen Reaching South Pole—How the Grueling Race Was Won” by David Roberts, Beyond the Edge: National Geographic Adventure Blog, 2011

It was the strangest of all races. Two teams of five men each—one British, the other Norwegian—set out at the beginning of the 1911 Antarctic summer, both bent on becoming the first explorers to reach the South Pole. The British team was led by 43-year-old Robert Falcon Scott, the Norwegian [team was led by] by 39-year-old Roald Amundsen. Each man had already made bold expeditions to the Antarctic region.

Yet because the two expeditions had chosen to build their coastal base camps 600 miles apart, at either edge of the vast Ross Ice Shelf, their paths would never overlap, and the two teams would never catch sight of each other. There was no way to know who was leading the race.

Amundsen’s team set out on October 18. Scott’s party did not depart from Cape Evans until November 1. The two parties had about the same distance—roughly 800 miles in a straight line—to cover to get to [the South Pole]. Yet their traveling styles were utterly different, and those differences would spell victory and defeat. Amundsen used dogs to haul his [sleds], while the men skied; to supplement the rations they carried, they would kill and eat the dogs when they succumbed to exhaustion. Scott [had] experimented in vain with ponies and motorized tractors [to pull his sleds], but ended up heading for the Pole with his men in harnesses, pulling their heavy [sleds] themselves.

Multiple Choice:

1. Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott competed to be the first person to:

   1. visit Antarctica.

   2. win a sledding race

   3. reach the North Pole.

   4. reach the South Pole.

2. How old was Roald Amundsen during the race?

   1. 43

   2. 39

   3. 18

   4. 49

3. Why was there no way for the men to know who was winning the race?

   1. One team was travelling much faster than the other team.

   2. One team never started the race.

   3. The teams’ paths never overlapped.

   4. The weather conditions made it too difficult to see.

4. “In vain” means:

   1. Unsuccessfully

   2. Successfully

   3. For fun

   4. Carefully

5. According to the article, the styles of travel used by Amundsen and Scott because:

   1. They traveled very different distances.

   2. Amundsen used dogs to pull his sleds.

   3. Scott had more people in his team.

   4. Scott’s team carried more supplies.