Hi everyone,

I’m excited to announce that we’ll be introducing a few new membership tiers including an annual membership tier for those of you who want access to our Descriptive and Narrative Essay Bank so that you can have also access to our Premium Guides as well, which will help you throughout the process of preparing for the first language English exams.

If you’d just like to take part in membership for a short while, that’s also fine. You can sign up for a one-month membership at $25 USD just for that month alone, after which your membership will be canceled and you won’t be billed further.

The Premium Tier Annual Membership is priced at $135 USD per annum, and it will give you full access to all classes, content, and guides. It will also give you access to the Descriptive and Narrative Essay Bank as well as sample answers as well, guaranteeing you access for the entire time that you’ll be taking the IGCSE.

Sign up here to get access to all premium guides, materials, and extended resources!

Thank you so much for your support so far, and we look forward to continuing to serve you!

V.

Imagine, it’s a great day to start writing.

You pick up the pen that is right next to you in a little cup. As you sit down, get comfortable, and gaze upon the blank paper, ready to create a work of art, a communication of deep significance, an exam response that will wow everyone who reads it and be remembered in the halls of history. But as 5 minutes pass, 10 minutes pass, you continually gaze down. The paper is still blank. How do you start? This question is one that I have dealt with continually, and perhaps is a question that you’ve been contemplating every single time you’ve tried to write a brand new piece. Well, you’re definitely not alone.

Introducing arguments or essays effectively is crucial in capturing the reader’s interest and setting the tone for your writing. Here are several techniques to consider:

1. Anecdote or Personal Story: Start with a brief, engaging story or personal experience related to your topic. This approach can make your essay relatable and capture the reader’s interest from the beginning.
2. Startling Statistic or Fact: Presenting a surprising or little-known fact or statistic can immediately grab the reader’s attention and highlight the importance of your topic.
3. Quotation: Use a relevant quote from a well-known figure, which can provide an authoritative start to your essay and introduce the reader to your topic’s context.
4. Question: Open with a thought-provoking question. This can engage readers by prompting them to think about the answer and how it relates to the broader topic.
5. Contrast and Comparison: Begin by comparing and contrasting two ideas, situations, or phenomena. This technique is effective in highlighting the differences or similarities that you will explore in your essay.
6. Historical Context: Provide historical background relevant to your topic. This approach is particularly useful in setting the stage for your argument and showing its evolution over time.
7. Current Events: Link your topic to a current event or a recent development. This makes your essay timely and shows the relevance of your argument in the contemporary world.
8. Rhetorical Question: Pose a rhetorical question that doesn’t necessarily require an answer but serves to introduce the main theme or provoke thought about the topic.
9. Vivid Description or Scene Setting: Create a vivid picture or set the scene for your topic. This can be particularly effective for narrative or descriptive essays.
10. Thesis Statement: Sometimes, starting directly with a clear, concise thesis statement can be powerful, especially in shorter essays or when your argument is particularly compelling or controversial.
11. Analogies and Metaphors: Use an analogy or metaphor to explain a complex topic in simpler terms or to draw a parallel that guides the reader’s understanding of your subject.
12. Addressing the Reader: Directly addressing the reader can create a conversational tone and immediately engage them in the topic.
13. Provocative or Controversial Statement: Start with a statement that challenges conventional wisdom. This can be a great way to engage readers who might have strong opinions on the topic.
14. Foreshadowing: Hint at the main points or conclusions of your essay in the introduction. This gives readers a glimpse of what to expect.
15. Expert Opinion or Testimony: Cite an expert or use testimony to provide a credible start to your essay, particularly for argumentative essays on scientific or technical subjects.

Remember, the best technique depends on your essay’s topic, purpose, and audience. It’s often effective to combine several of these techniques to create a compelling introduction.

Today, something unfortunate happened:

The death of the IGCSE Malaysia Facebook group.

It seems that the admin of the group deleted it by accident, the net result of which is the loss of one of the most valuable spaces to have existed for discussing the IGCSE amongst Malaysians and to a degree, people at large throughout the world.

It was a group that contributed a lot to the IGCSE ecosystem in Malaysia, serving over 50,000 members from across Malaysia and no doubt across the world as well, who treated group as a place to exchange resources and various other things of that nature.

It was a most unfortunate loss of a space where many parents and students had the opportunity to just engage in dialogue and to discuss different matters across the entire gamut of different things within the IGCSE and also beyond. I asked a little bit about what had led to this situation and discovered from the admin of the group that essentially it had disappeared because of mysterious circumstances.

Up until now, I still don’t understand exactly what had happened but ended up mourning the loss for a while, only to make the decision to create a brand new IGCSE group.

If you happen to be from Malaysia or you have some sort of special attachment to the country or you just really vibe with some of the people here, then do consider joining this new IGCSE Malaysia Facebook group that I’ve created for the purpose of filling the void created by this loss.

The URL is simple: www.facebook.com/groups/myigcse.

It’s a group that’s dedicated towards discussing all aspects of the IGCSE across syllabi and across different subjects and hopefully in time it will become a forum for lots of different people to talk about the IGCSE and to also face challenges together as we seek out the best way of educating the younger generation of Malaysian talents to seek out better lives for themselves; I hope you’ll join us!

The loss of the original IGCSE Malaysia is a big one, but I hope that it will not be a lasting one. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance in fact that you came from that group in some way, shape or form, although I think nowadays the distribution of people who read this is more tailored to words, people who have come from Google or various other search engines of that nature.

Nonetheless, to those of you who came from that initial group at the outset, and those of you who eventually became my clients, friends and associates, thank you for being a part of that group together with me, and I hope that you’ll join me in this new one.

Thanks a lot and I’ll look forward to catching you guys soon!

V.

I’d like to extend my apologies for not updating as frequently as I should be updating.

This has been due to a mixture of different issues, such as the ongoing Cambridge CELTA course which I am currently enrolled in, several other projects which I have been undertaking, and various other journeys along the way as well as I continue with teaching and doing other things.

In the meantime though, I would still like to update, but likely it won’t be on the weekly schedule that I had talked about before, although I will do my best to create a little more content on a more consistent basis and maybe seek help along the way in order to update this website as well.

In the meantime, I thought I would share with you a sample essay from one of my students, Isabelle Tham, who joined me in March, and in the meantime has become a tremendously proficient writer.

Have a look and see what she has written in her response and I think that you’ll be inclined to agree!

Descriptive writing

2 Describe walking or riding along a path or track you have not explored before.

As I descended the rough stone steps leading into the abandoned underground subway station, the deafening noise of bustling New York traffic was suddenly silenced, as if someone had snipped the wire of my headphones. With my trusty explorer’s pack on my shoulders, I pressed on, determined to uncover the secrets of this forgotten place. Finally, I arrived at the heart of the dilapidated train platform, where signs of neglect were evident at every turn.

Aluminum cans, cigarette stubs, and bits of paper littered the ground like confetti. Faded graffiti adorned the walls, left behind by vandals and street gangs, standing as reminders of a past long gone. The train tracks were coated in reddish-brown rust, eerily reminiscent of dried bloodstains. The darkness enveloped me, and only the beam from my torchlight managed to pierce through the impenetrable blackness, revealing the vast arching ceilings above, as if disappearing into an endless night sky.

In the midst of this desolation, my torchlight caught a glint of gleaming metal—the handle of a trapdoor, curiously untouched by the passage of time that had ravaged the surroundings. With caution, I opened the door, noticing the intricate carvings and symbols etched onto its dusty surface. Beyond the door were more stairs, worn smooth with time and the passage of footsteps. Medieval wrought-iron torch brackets lined the walls, emitting an ethereal blue flame that produced an eerie chill rather than warmth. My curiosity piqued, I climbed down, careful not to slip on the slippery stone.

At the foot of the stairs, a tunnel awaited, its floor made of packed dirt. The blue flames that once provided illumination were absent here, replaced by encroaching shadows that seemed to harbor unimaginable creatures of the dark. Silvery cobwebs and vines festooned the place like a parody of party garlands. I ventured forth, ignoring the shiver that crept down my spine.

Finally, the tunnel opened up into a magnificent cavern, leaving me gasping in awe within the chilling silence. The walls were inlaid with luminous gemstones that cast a mesmerizing array of colors that danced and sparkled around me. The smooth stone floor was sprinkled with chips of marble and quartz, reflecting the torchlight and creating a breathtaking spectacle of lights. At the heart of this chamber stood a high stone pedestal, bearing the same ancient carvings as the trapdoor above. At its peak, a polished wooden box emitted a faint white glow, beckoning me closer.

I stepped forward, fingers reaching tentatively for the box. It seemed to whisper at me, encouraging me to uncover its mysterious origin. As I examined it, the cave trembled and vibrated. Rubble began to fall from the ceiling, and I knew I had to leave immediately. Without hesitation, I ran back to the brightness and sounds of New York City, determined to unlock the enigmatic puzzle of the subway station and its little wooden box.

– end –

If you enjoyed that, or if you’d be interested to work together on IGCSE First Language English, please feel free to drop me a line and to ask me any questions that you have about the curriculum, or to join the IGCSE English Students and Parents Support Group as well 

– Teacher Victor –
www.englishfirstlanguage.net