Teacher Nyunt Wa Moe - Matriculation Essays and Letters

Birthday

- The essay and letter topics that are usually asked in the English exam are usually topics and topics that are already familiar to the students. The essay and letter topics are usually given multiple-choice answers. There are three essay topics and two letter topics, at least one of which is a topic and topic that the students are already familiar with. There are exceptions, such as in 2002, when two letters were asked together, one asking for a summer school tailoring course and the other asking for a job at an uncle's workshop during the summer holidays. However, this is rare. If you look back at the old questions, you will see that the topics are often topics that the students can write.

One such topic is birthday. Almost all of the students have celebrated their birthdays, whether it is their parents’ or their own. If they have not celebrated their own birthdays, they have probably attended birthday parties with friends or given birthday gifts. So the topic of birthdays and the content are familiar to the students. And the topic of birthdays is also a topic that is related to the Unit 1: The Calendar lesson. It is a topic that has been asked many times in university entrance exams and will continue to be asked in the future. Let’s practice writing How I Celebrated My Last Birthday, which was asked in Ayeyarwady Division and Kachin State in 2002.

How I Celebrated My Last Birthday

Birthdays are milestones indicating how many years a person has passed. People celebrate their birthdays in different ways. Some offer the members of Sanga with "soon" and offertories on their birthdays. Some donate money to Home for the Aged or Orphanage. Some do meritorious deeds by worshiping the Buddha and keeping sabbath. But most town dwellers celebrate their birthdays by giving a party.

My birthday falls on September 25. I celebrate my birthday in some way or other every year. Last year I celebrated my birthday in the following way. At our home, my parents and. I offered "soon" to Sayadaw and monks of Thantithukha Kyaungtaik on 25 September last year. We listened to Sayadaw's sermon and kept sabbath. After Sayadaw and the monks left, we prepared to entertain the invited guests. We invited the residents in our street and I invited my close friends. We served the guests vermicelli soup and ice-cream. At noon all the guests but my close friends left. In the afternoon, my friends and I sang karaoke songs by turns.

We also played video games. When we had sung and played games to our heart's content, we took a nap for 25 minutes. Then we took a bath and changed our dresses. We hailed a taxi and went to Dolphin Restaurant. We had dinner there and enjoyed listening to the songs the singers entertained. After having our dinner, we part company and I came back home.

GLOSSARY

milestone - every mile

offertories – offerings

Home for the Aged

orphanage - orphanage

sermon – sermon

vemicelli soup - lotus root soup

take a nap - take a nap

fall on - falls

residents - street dwellers

to our heart's content - to our satisfaction

hail – taxi, bus ride

part company - part company

In the 2003 Kachin State English Questionnaire, the essay topic was How I intend to celebrate my next birthday. The essay title above was Future.

Practice writing by replacing tenses.

Let's look at the old questions related to Birthday for the Letter. I will write a letter from the English question paper asked in Yangon Region, Rakhine State and foreign language examination centers in 1999. Please read the instructions before writing.

You are Phyu Hnin and you live at No. 18, Bo Myat Tun Road, Yangon. Write to your cousin May Thu, telling her how you celebrated your 17th birthday.

18, Bo Myat Tun Road,

Yangon.

October 7, 2004.

My dearest May Thu,

Why are you keeping so silent? You treat me like a stranger. I'm very angry with you because you forgot my birthday and didn't send your best wishes.

You know, you and I are the same age. I turned 18 on September 9th. I threw a birthday party at home. I invited my relatives and close friends only. My birthday party started with the ceremonial cutting of my birthday cake and everyone chanted "Happy birthday to you". Then I treated the invited guests with noodles in coconut milk gravy. As for desserts, I served the guests with ice-cream, cakes and jelly. After that my friends and I opened the packets of birthday presents. Lu Lu took my photos. And we sang songs happily. They wrote their best wishes and autographs in that auto book.

In the evening, our family went to Shwedagon and offered flowers and candles. We donated some money for the renovation of the Great Shwedagon. On our return from the Pagoda, we dropped in on Shankan Restaurant and had a buffet dinner. When we got back home, we had a chat for some time. Then we went to bed.

I was very happy on my birthday. It's a very special day for me, Oh, I almost forgot to boast about one special present. My parents gave me a diamond ring as a birthday present. You envy me, don't you? Well, you might think I'm long-winded. Let me stop here. Remember if you forget my birthday next time, I'll treat you as a friend.

Yours ever,

                                                                                                 Phyu Hnin.

GLOSSARY

threw a party - threw a party

ceremonial - ceremonial

dessert - dessert

noodles in coconut milk gravy – ກຮັກນີກ

chant - a chorus of voices

autograph - signature of a famous person

buffet - ( buffet) a food service where you can help yourself to whatever you like

- have a chat - have a chat

renovation - renovation

boast - boast

long- winded

envy – envy

disown - give up