Your Best Piece Of Writing This Year

As we approach the end of the school year, English Teacher Online would like you to think about the best and worst parts of Grade 5. This week you will write a memoir and edit it into a final piece of writing – your best piece of writing this year.

What is a Memoir?

A memoir is a memory, or rather, the written account of a personal experience of the author. All the memories you have in your head could be turned into memoirs!

Good memoir topics from this year include;


Study Tour

Sports Day

Loy Krathong

AMC at the Mall

Scout Camp

Activity Day

Or any other family activity that you have strong memories of.

3 Questions to Help You Write a Memoir

Just think and try to answer the following questions.

1. What is the memory? Write down the activity that this memory comes from.

2. What are the details that made this moment so powerful? Think about the colors, smells, feelings, thoughts and expressions. Try to remember all your senses from that time?

3. What big lesson did you earn from this experience? Or what do you realize now that you didn’t realize then?

If you can answer these questions, you should have enough details to write a good memoir!

How Should I Write A First Draft?

With your ideas and answers to the 3 questions above, you’re going to write about 100 words describing that memory.

Set a timer and write for ten minutes – don’t stop! If you can’t think of something, just dive back into that memory and get it all out on the page.

If you get really stuck, then look over the three questions again.

How Should I Edit and Write My Second Draft?

After taking a short break for milk and biscuits, it’s time to start editing your work.

Here’s a checklist for your edits:

1. If you need more content, go back to the three questions and ask what’s missing.

2. Separate out the good from the bad, and the relevant from the garbage. Don’t be afraid to rewrite a whole paragraph.

3. Fix the grammar.

4. Ask a friend to read the whole thing (or do it yourself) and ask, what’s missing?

5. Add in any missing details, such as the names of the family members or school friends you mentioned?

6. Go back to number 1.

Time to Write the Final Publication!

Take another short break, then come back and edit your 2nd draft.

Ask yourself: “Is this story complete? What would make this story better, maybe more or less words?”

TOP TIP: Many people don’t like to write, but writing is like a muscle – the more you practice the stronger you become.

If you want to get better, try writing for ten minutes EVERY day in a journal or diary!

Learn to have fun and good luck writing your memoirs.

Look back at Grade 5 here.

Introduction To History

English Teacher Online invites you to a 3-week long time travel mission beginning with this introduction to history.

History is the study of the past. Everything that has happened to people and things over time is history.

What is a Timeline?

Timelines help us understand history by telling us what happened when. They show us how much time went by in between events. Below you can see a technology timeline. What do you notice about it?

Family History

One of the most interesting parts of history is learning about your own family. We learnt how to make a Family Tree in Grade 2, so in Grade 5 you are going to create a Family Timeline to show important events and how much time happened between them.

Researching Your Life

The first step is to research your life by writing at least ten important events that have happened. Some examples include;

I was born at ____on _____ the ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­____ of ______ 20___.

My first word was “____” when I was __ months old.

I took my first step when I was __ months old.

I started kindergarten in 20___.

When I was ____ years old I _________.

I learnt to ride a bike ______________.

I learnt to swim _________________.

My younger brother/sister was born _____.

In 20__, I went to _____ with _______.

_____ I became a novice monk _______.

I got my favoutite toy, _____, in 20___ when I was __ years old.

My ________ died _________ when I was __ years old.

My beloved King Bhumibol the Great of Thailand died on the 13th of October 2016 when I was ___ years old.

I won my first _______ competition when I was __ years old.

You can add any other information that you want to put on your timeline. Next you have to put the events in order, by date.

How to Scale Your Family Timeline.

Turn a piece of A4 paper landscape and measure it. Decide on a scale for your timeline by dividing the length of the paper by your age. About 2.5cm per year is a good scale.

Draw a line through the middle of the paper so you can write about events both above and below the line. Think about adding pictures to your timeline while you are planning its design.

Researching Your Family

Once you have completed a timeline showing your own life, you can continue to do research about things that happened BEFORE you were born. You should try and write 20 sentences which  may include;

My older brother/sister was born __________.

My parents married on the ______________.

My parents first met __________________.

My ______ was born on ______________.

My ______ graduated from university in ___.

My ______ started his/her first job, as a ______ in _____.

My ______ got a promotion to ___________ in _____.

My ______ started our family business, ______ in _____.

My ______ moved to Nakhon Si Thammarat from _______ in ___.

My ______ bought his/her/our first car in _________.

The first person in my family to own a ____ was my _______ in ___.

The last person in my family to own a ____ was my _______ in ___.

My _______ met [a famous person] __________.

Please plan to meet, phone, email or message family members  so you can complete your family research this weekend.

Putting It All Together

Do you remember the scale you made for the timeline of YOUR life?

Use the same scale (maybe 2.5 cm per year) to make a family timeline going back 50 or 100 years! You will probably need several pieces of paper, one for each decade.

Good luck and remember, if you want to share your ideas or ask a question please post in the comment section.

Describe a Mythical Creature in Great Detail

This week English Teacher Online explains how to describe a mythical creature in great detail.

Suddenly I noticed a large snake-like form. Its small red eyes were hardly visible within its red armoured head. I could see large pointy horns and a wide grinning mouth full of razor sharp teeth. It stood on four legs with two enormous powerful wings and a long slithering tail. Its skin was covered with hard red and white scales, and it walked like a king. Suddenly it saw me and turned its head …..


Your Turn

1. Take a piece of A4 paper and mentally divide it into 3, turn it landscape.

2. In the middle 3rd of the landscaped A4, draw your mythical creature in great details to include key features starting with the eyes, mouth, teeth. horns, hair, plume, antlers, ears, nose, beak, body, arms, legs, wings, fingers, toes, claws, talons, hooves etc.

3. Choose each feature in turn and add some adjectives to it.


Example: Eyes

two eyes, two red eyes, two fiery red eyes

Keep playing with the words, adding and throwing them away, reordering them etc., until you are happy.

4. Label all parts of your mythical creature with adjectives describing each noun.

5. Go back and identify your best descriptions and try to improve some of the others.

6. Use your labeled picture to write a paragraph (5+ full sentences) describing your mythical creature as if the reader had never seen it before. Try to write your own sentences or use these to guide you.

Suddenly I saw (the shape or name of your creature).

Its (body feature) was/were (description of what they were doing/how they made you feel)

It had (start with the eyes and head)

I could see

I noticed

It looked like

Post your paragraph in the comment section. Thanks.

Order Of Adjectives

By Grade 5 you may want to use more than one adjective to describe a noun.

So in week 4 English Teacher Online helps you understand the order of adjectives.

We’ve also included some practice for you to think about too.

If you have any questions, please contact your wise old English teacher or leave a comment.

The Order of Adjectives

Number (two)

Opinion (lovely)

Size (small)

Age (new)

Shape (square)

Colour (blue)

Nationality, origin (Asian)

Material (plastic)

Purpose (shopping)

Noun (bags)

Examples using 2 adjectives to describe a noun

Two mean dogs. (number, opinion)

Lovely small kitten. (opinion, size)

Big old barn. (size, age)

New round marbles. (age, shape)

Square green stamps. (shape, colour)

Black pirate flag. (colour, origin)

Chinese wooden toy. (nationality, material)

Plastic shopping bag. (material, purpose)

How Many Adjectives Should I Use?

Sometimes (but NOT often) you may use all the adjectives to describe a noun.

The beautiful tall thick old green Brazilian rain forest.

However, it is much more usual to use just 2 to 5 adjectives to describe a noun.

Examples using many adjectives to describe a noun.

Two mean big old black dogs. (number, opinion, size, age, colour)

Small new square plate. (size, age, shape)

Antique brown wooden chest. (age, colour, material)

Practice for YOU

Choose the best answer from the options below.


1) The ________   _________ bird.

a) blue small

b) small blue


2) _________  __________  _______ trees.

a) tall old two

b) two old tall

c) two tall old


3) Five ________  _________  _________ coins.

a) silver old small

b) small silver old

c) small old silver


When you have finished you may check your answers below.

Answers: 1=b, 2=c, 3=c

Do It Yourself

How would you describe your favourite toy?

What other cool adjective combinations can you think of?

What did Daeng and Lek find in their net? (Macmillan page 14)

Please share your answers in the comment section.


Useful List Of Collocation Words

English Teacher Online presents a useful list of collocation words to help you become fluent in English.

A collocation is a combination of words that are often used together. They are blocks of language that “just sound right” to native English speakers.

Learning collocations is a good way to improve your English because these words (phrases) “go together.” You’ll discover how to use them more frequently – so they’re better than just learning one word at a time.

When you do learn a new word, write down some other words that collocate with it. Below are 10 examples for the verbs, have, make, do, go, come, take and get.

Copy these collocations into a book or Word document on the computer. Try to think of other combinations for each list and share them in the comments section. I’ll help you if you make a mistake!


Have lunch: When do you have lunch?

Have a drink: Would you like to have a drink?

Have a rest: I want to have a rest.

Have a haircut: I need to have a haircut.

Have a bath: I’m going to have a bath.

Have a holiday: When do you have holiday?

Have friends over: I had friends over for my birthday.

Have a good time: We all had a good time.

Have a headache: I have a headache.


Make something: Make learning fun.

Make money: You can make money doing that.

Make progress: I’ve made progress this year.

Make a mess: My brother always makes a mess.

Make a mistake: Did I make a mistake?

Make a difference: I want to make a difference.

Make a noise: Let’s make some noise.

Make an effort: Please make an effort with your comment.

Make room: Can you make room for one more?

Make trouble: He often makes trouble.


Do your best: Don’t worry, just do your best.

Do your homework: I’ll do my homework after school.

Do business: He does business with everyone.

Do someone a favour: Do me a favour and lend me your bike.

Do the cooking: Who’s going to do the cooking tonight?

Do the housework: I’ll do the housework while you’re out.

Do the shopping: Can you do the shopping on your way home?

Do the washing up: You cooked a lovely meal, so I’ll do the washing up.

Do your hair: May I help you do your hair?

Do nothing: I’m just going to sit here and do nothing.


Go fishing: Let’s go fishing.

Go abroad: She went abroad for work.

Go online: Just go online and search for it.

Go missing: My cat has gone missing.

Go bald: Uncle Ben is going bald.

Go blind: Some people go blind because they watch too much TV.

Go deaf: Listening to loud music can make you go deaf.

Go crazy: The dog goes crazy every time I come home.

Go out of business: Many shops have gone out of business.

Go bankrupt: He went bankrupt after his stocks crashed.


Come early: Please come early and relax.

Come on time: She always comes on time.

Come late: If you come late, they may not let you in.

Come prepared: Come prepared with a pen and paper.

Come first: Bolt always comes first.

Come last: It doesn’t matter if you come last.

Come to a standstill: The traffic has come to a standstill.

Come into view: The mountain came into view.

Come to a compromise: They came to a compromise and shared one.

Come to a decision: Have you come to a decision yet?


Take a look: Let me take a look at it for you.

Take a break: You need to take a break.take a break

Take a rest: I need to take a rest.

Take notes: Make sure you take notes.

Take an exam: Are you ready to take your exam?

Take a seat: Please take my seat.

Take a taxi: Why don’t we take a taxi?

Take a chance: I’m going to take a chance.

Take someone out: May I take you out to dinner?


Get home: What time do you get home?

Get a job: Please go and get a job.

Get lost: I don’t like you – get lost!

Get a shock: Don’t touch that, you’ll get a shock.

Get drunk: He gets angry when he gets drunk.

Get pregnant: Get married before you get pregnant.

Get permission: Get permission from your parents.

Get ready: Get ready for an amazing life.

Get started: Let’s get started decorating the kitchen.

Get upset: Don’t get upset when things go wrong.



Some common types of collocations are

noun + noun: computer studies

noun + verb: dog’s bite

verb + noun: go home

verb + adverb: turned suddenly

verb + expression with preposition: burst into tears

adverb + adjective: completely happy

adjective + noun: bad memory

How to learn collocations

1. Treat collocations as phrases or single blocks of language.

2. When you learn a new word, write down other words that collocate with it.

3. Read as much as possible. Reading is the best way to learn new vocabulary. By reading you’ll learn collocations naturally and in context.

4. Practice using your new collocations, in context, as soon as learning them.

5. Learn collocations in groups that work for you.

6. Please share some of your own collocations in the comments. I’ll help you if you make a mistake.