Yearbook Entry — Class 6C: the challenge of Chinese, and a tribute to a beloved class teacher
The Yearbook Committee is putting together a book for all graduating students — a collection of photos and comments about school life. You are a student in Class 6C at Kowloon Secondary School. Complete the following yearbook entry (about 200 words, on pages 2–3).
1.2 Student Life — Write about what you will miss most about being a student in Class 6C.
A warm, sincere yearbook entry: 1.1 turns the hardest subject — Chinese — into a story of a class bonding over a shared struggle (“like the Avengers”); 1.2 is a heartfelt thank-you to the class teacher, Miss Yang.
Show original handwritten pages (2)
The writing, with corrections marked inline
Strengths to praise
“We are like the Avengers!” and “Miss Yang, you are like the mother of all 30 naughty little kids in 6C… I will miss you a lot.” The exclamatory, affectionate register is exactly right for a yearbook — personal, heartfelt and clearly written for classmates and a teacher to read.
Rather than just naming a hard subject, the entry argues that the challenging ones are worth remembering, then shows how struggling with Chinese together (“how we worked so well between 30 of us”) bonded the class. Turning ‘difficult’ into ‘memorable’ is a thoughtful response to the prompt.
“burning midnight oil just to finish reading a passage”, and Miss Yang remembering every birthday with “a little cupcake and a little card full of love and caring”. Specifics like these make the nostalgia feel real rather than generic.
Chinese as “some sort of alien language”, the class as “the Avengers”, the teacher as “the mother of all 30 naughty little kids”. The similes are playful and apt, and they carry real feeling.
“irrefutably”, “the cohesion is… incredible”, “an absolute privilege”. The word choice reaches confidently above the ordinary and mostly lands.
The entry keeps the two sections distinct — a challenging subject (1.1) and what will be missed (1.2) — and each builds to a clear emotional point. The reader always knows which prompt is being answered.
Grammar notes
| Issue | Explanation |
|---|---|
fix (line 9) some sort of alien languages → some sort of an alien language | Number. some sort of is followed by a singular noun: some sort of (an) alien language. (One unfamiliar language, not many.) |
fix (line 10) languages that we could never break it down → …that we could never break down | Redundant object. With the relative that, the extra it is not needed: a language (that) we could never break down. |
fix (lines 19–20) strengthened our bondage between each other → strengthened our bond with one another | Word choice + phrasing. bondage means captivity/slavery — the word wanted is bond (a close connection). And between each other → between us / with one another. |
fix (line 26) she still held her gentle and sweet smile → she still kept her gentle and sweet smile | Verb choice. You keep / wear a smile, not hold it: she still kept her gentle and sweet smile (or gave us a gentle, sweet smile). |
fix (lines 33–34) a privilege that we everyone wanted → a privilege that everyone wanted | Doubled subject. everyone is the subject of the relative clause, so drop we: a privilege that everyone wanted. |
fix (line 12) more valuable to be remembered than remembering → more worth remembering than… | Phrasing. The clause tangles two structures. A cleaner version: how persistent we were is more worth remembering than how difficult it was. (The candidate’s caret insertion to be remembered shows the right idea, but the sentence needs reshaping.) |
notice (line 7) irrefutably | Vocabulary. A strong, formal adverb (= in a way that cannot be denied) — used well to concede that Chinese really is the hardest subject. |
notice (line 15) burning midnight oil | Idiom. ‘Burn the midnight oil’ (= study/work late into the night) is apt and idiomatic for exam-year revision. |
notice (line 16) like the Avengers | Voice. A playful pop-culture simile for a class pulling together — the kind of personal touch a yearbook entry thrives on. |
Style suggestions
“Even in paper 4, speaking, we could tell so easily what on earth? I believe how persistent we are is more valuable to be remembered than remembering how difficult it is.”
“Even in Paper 4, the speaking exam, we could barely tell what on earth we were saying. Still, how hard we tried is more worth remembering than how hard it was.”
The rhetorical ‘what on earth?’ is left hanging; completing it and untangling the next sentence keeps the energy but adds clarity.
“Despite how we tackled Chinese language together, The caring of Our class teacher, Miss Yang the thing that I would miss the most, her caring towards our class is simply second to none.”
“But the thing I will miss most is our class teacher, Miss Yang — her caring towards us is simply second to none.”
The two inserted phrases collide here; one clean sentence delivers the same point far more smoothly.
“strengthened our bondage between each other so much”
“strengthened the bond between us so much”
‘Bondage’ has the wrong meaning (captivity); ‘bond’ is the warm word the sentence wants.
“We always remember the things that we enjoy and keep them in our mind…”
“If you’re reading this years from now, here’s the subject I’ll never forget — and it’s not the one you’d expect.”
Yearbook entries often speak to a future self/reader; a direct opener leans into the genre.
“she still held her gentle and sweet smile to all of us”
“she still gave us all the same gentle, sweet smile”
‘Gave a smile’ / ‘kept smiling’ is the natural collocation.
“…instead of recording the subjects that we enjoy, I believe it is a better option to record the subjects that we found challenging.”
“…so instead of the subjects we enjoyed, I’d rather record the ones we found challenging.”
Joining clauses with commas (a comma splice) is frequent here; a conjunction or full stop sharpens the logic.
Strong moment worth teaching from
Almost untouched — just ‘kept her smile’ for ‘held’. The concrete detail is the lesson.
“Whenever it was someone’s birthday, she would never forget to give him or her a little cupcake and a little card full of love and caring. Miss Yang, you are like the mother of all 30 naughty little kids in 6C.” (lines 29–31)
This is why the tribute works: instead of ‘she was a caring teacher’, the writer gives one specific, repeated act — the birthday cupcake and card — and then names the feeling with a simile (‘the mother of all 30 naughty little kids’). A single concrete habit does more to show care than a paragraph of adjectives. That is the core move of good descriptive and reflective writing.
Professional rewrite — the opening of 1.2 (Student Life)
A model of the tangled opening of the Student Life section — where two caret insertions collide — in the writer’s own warm voice.
Student (verbatim, edits folded in)
Professional version
- Collision of inserts: ‘The caring of’ and ‘the thing that I would miss the most’ are merged into one clear sentence.
- Capitalisation: mid-sentence Our → our.
- Flow: the ‘beloved son / notorious student’ contrast is kept — it’s the best touch — but made into one balanced sentence.
Vocabulary to notice
| Word & alternatives | Definition | Usage notes |
|---|---|---|
| irrefutably undeniably, unquestionably, indisputably | (adv.) in a way that cannot be denied or proved wrong. | “irrefutably the most difficult subject”. Formal and emphatic; from refute (to prove false). A confident way to concede a point. |
| persistent determined, tenacious, dogged, persevering | (adj.) continuing firmly despite difficulty. | “how persistent we were facing the challenges”. Noun persistence; a key ‘growth-mindset’ word, well chosen for the theme of effort. |
| cohesion unity, togetherness, solidarity | (n.) the state of sticking together or being united. | “the cohesion is… incredible”. Used here of a class’s togetherness; also a writing term (how a text holds together). Adjective cohesive. |
| notorious infamous, ill-reputed, having a bad name | (adj.) famous for something bad. | “her notorious student”. Note: notorious is negative (unlike famous) — used playfully here against ‘beloved son’. |
| ironic paradoxical, contradictory | (adj.) the opposite of what you would expect; oddly contradictory. | “which is really ironic” — that our mother language is the hardest. Noun irony; a precise word for an unexpected twist. |
| privilege honour, special right, blessing | (n.) a special advantage or honour available only to some. | “an absolute privilege that everyone wanted”. Adjective privileged; lifts ‘being in 6C’ into something valued and earned. |
| second to none unbeatable, the best, unrivalled | (idiom) better than everything else; the very best. | “her caring… is simply second to none”. A ready-made idiom for top praise — used correctly and warmly here. |
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