The City School Int'l. Dubai Year 8 Div B Class Magazine January Edition 2018

CONTENTS PAGE

STORY TIME Includes 4 BigWrites that were chosen as the best in 8B for the theme of memories. It also includes some reports about the UAE national day celebration, our Moral Education Exam in which we had to submit a video based on a specific topic, and our class activities.

RHYTHMS AND RHYMES 2 poems written by Zainab Lodhiare in this section.

The first poem is about the excitement and energy people have in the wonderful winter season, and the second poem is about equality.

8B’S GOT TALENT All the some of the students in mentioned in this section. include Arts, Sports, English,

wonderful talents of Grade 8B will be These talents and many more.

ENTERTAINMENT After reading the magazine, entertain yourself by trying puzzles, jokes, and riddles. guaranteed to give you a time.

you can out our They are wonderful

CREDITS PAGE Patron: Saima Rauf (English Teacher) Chief editor (Head of magazine team): Talha Raza Assistant editors: Ammar and Zainab Lodhi Chief Publisher: Zaid Kashif Assistant publisher: Talha Raza

Zainab Lodhi (Assistant Talha Raza (Chief Editor)

Editor and Head of Magazine Team)

Ammar (Assistant Editor)

Story Time!!!

Story Time!!

CREATIVE WRITING

This section of the magazine consists of the write-ups written by the students in the School Big Write. The topic for the Big Write was “Memories” and the students were told to write their own story within 1000 words related to the given topic. These write ups have been chosen as the best in the class.

Regret It had been a year since it all happened. I woke up this morning feeling nothing at all. I knew what had to be done and I was ready for it. I got up, took a shower, ate some burritos from last night, locked my apartment door, returned the keys to the lobby, and left. I reached the airport just in time to catch my flight. I was going home.

Home, it felt like it had been centuries ago since I was last there. I missed living in my huge mansion on the hills, being surrounded by nature and my family. As I boarded my plane and sat in my seat, I stared out of the window. As I kept on looking, the shutter of my eyes started coming down and before I knew it, I was asleep.

My family is having another one of their extravagant parties and I am inside playing Xboxwhen my friend Mark comes rushing in.

“Hey, Max, you have to help me!“says Mark “Please don’t tell me this is one of your gang problems, “I reply feeling frustrated. A few months ago,Mark told me he had joined a group of people who robbed rich people for a living. Atfirst, I was devastated after knowing that my best friend whom I had known for yearswas a part of such an abhorrent and

atrocious group. I felt like our whole friendship was a lie, but then I realized I didn’t care. I was too scared to tell him to leave the gang as I was afraidof losing my only friend. It was a weird friendshipduo. I was the friend who was rich and had everything in life and Mark was the one who was born an orphan and had to face many difficulties,but somehow, he turned out to be the cool guy in our friendship. I was too afraid of being left alone and having no friends that instead of stopping his actions, I let him use me and my wealth. I provided his crew with all the equipment they needed, but while doing that, I lost everything.

“We don’t have a place to stay and the police are on the search for us, so we were wondering if you would let us stay at your house. “said Mark “What if I say no?“I said hoping that my best friend was still in there somewhere, but I was wrong.

“Youcan’t, because you are the one who pays for all the things we get, so if we get caught, then so do you, and how will your parents react when they find out about what you’ve been doing? “said Mark I could not bear to see the look on my parents if they found out what I had done. All my life my parents expected so much from me that disappointing them was the worst thing I could ever think of doing.

However, Mark said that him and his crew would only stay here for a few days; what could possibly go wrong?

I go down to the market to get some stuff, butI panic when I look at the TV channel. There is a live video of some police officers gathered around my house. They are asking my parents to let them in the house so that they can arrest the criminals, but my parents reject. They have no idea that I have been keeping criminals in my house. The police threaten to blow the whole place if they won’tlisten, and that’s when the accident happens. One of the men accidentally fires the bomb, and the whole place lights up.

I run as fast as I can, as if my whole life depended on it, but it was too late when I reached home. There was smoke everywhere, ashes and debris floodmy sight, and my family was gone.

“Excuse me sir! Hello, you have to go now. Please wake up!”

I woke up and realized that I had another flashback. Everyone already left the plane, so I quickly get all my stuff and leave. After the accident, I used the money I had in my account and moved to Mexico. I am now back here in California. I tried to start a new life, but I just couldn’t get the memories out of my head. My family was dead because of me. I took a cab and after an hour of driving, I was finally there. Everything happened right here. The sun was setting; it was getting cold, and what I saw made me cry. I gazed at the broken and burnt wood, the only remains of my house that no one had thought of rebuilding. I wondered if the police ever found out about the innocent children in that house. I climbed the highest hill, and I burst into tears. All the memories came rushing back, swimming in the river below, having water fights with my brother and sister in the hot summers, hiding in the long grass when I used to be angry.

It felt right to be here. I wanted someone to stop me, to tell me I was being stupid, but there was no one left. I could see the whole city from where I was standing. I looked down at the river and gazed at how high I was. Well, it didn’t matter now. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and jumped.

Written by Ayda Omer Edited by Zainab Lodhi and Talha Raza

Stuck Inside It was my turn to share my story with my colleagues. I started, while sitting on my comfy chair and sipping coffee.

“Mom! I am ready, can we go now?” I shouted.

“Dear, there is one problem. I just got a call from my office and my manager is saying that we are having a big phenomenon in dealing with the trading deals, so I have to go there immediately!” said mom.

“Well, ok mom, ifthat’s what’s important for you, you can go. I will think of something to do.” I replied.

There went mom, in her car, to her office. I was left all alone. I heard the cars beeping, the dogs barking, and the birds chirping like crazy. I stood motionless when my mom left me. Then, I disappointedly went upstairs to my room, and started to use my iPad as there wasn’t much to do.

Suddenly, I noticed that everything around me just became quiet. The cars stopped beeping, the dogs stopped barking, and the birds stopped chirping. I looked through the window, and saw nothing. There was absolutely nothing. No cars, dogs, birds, but just an old man standing in my front yard. Who was he? I had no idea Then I thought about him being a stranger, which was danger. I quickly tried to call mom, but she didn’t receive the call. I was bewildered. A few seconds later, I heard a knock on my door. Nobody ever knocked on our door; whoever came just rang the doorbell. It was odd.

I tiptoed in my house because I thought someone, or something would come walking up to my house and harm me.

When I opened the door, I recognized the person immediately. It was the old man who I just saw through my bedroom window.

“Hello… wait, who are you?” I asked suspiciously.

The man didn’t reply. I got frightened by his appearance and shut the door on his face. I know it was a mean thing to do, but I couldn’t stop myself.

I quickly rushed upstairs to my room and immediately locked myself in. When I looked through my window, the man was still there, standing motionless.

Suddenly, lightning struck. It banged a flash onto my eyes and the mandisappeared.

I tried to call mom again, but she still didn’t pick up. I finally decided to go to meet her myself. I knew it was wrong, but I thought of my life to be in danger.

I hoped mom wouldn’t get angry to see me in her office by myself. I quietly went outside so that no one would notice me. I sat in the bus.

The bus driver looked strange, but it didn’t matter to me as I was just calming myself. I kept on talking to myself, “Nothing is going to happen, I will be safe with mom.”

The bus quickly became empty, the street lights closed, and it became dark. I couldn’t see where the bus driver was taking me, so I just rested my head on the seat and fell asleep.

When I woke up, I found myself outside of a house. It wasn’t an ordinary house, rather a haunted one. It was called “Sentient House.” I was very scared when I found myself in front of it.

I suddenly heard the bushes rustling. I got frightened, so I went in the house. The first thing I saw when I entered were spider webs on the walls with dust totally covering all the furniture. I carefully walked. Suddenly, I heard a crunchy sound. I freaked out, but when I looked behind me, it was fortunately just the sound of my foot crushing a dead rat.

I reached one room with a door so beautiful that I couldn’t resist myself from opening, and when I did, I saw the most elegant, graceful, and beautiful room I had ever seen.

I then sat on one of the chairs, but when I did, it seemed to have pushed me down. At first, I thought I fell and it was my misunderstanding, but when I sat on the chair again, it moved sideward. I was terrified. I absolutely knew nothing about why all this was happening to me.

I went back running to the door, but with a slam, the door shut itself. I tried to grab it, but I couldn’t. Then suddenly, I noticed something. I saw a man who looked quite familiar. Right when I saw him, an idea jumped into my mind. I could escape by jumping out of the window.

I succeeded in escaping but something or someone pulled me back into the room. While I was being pulled, my arm got hurt because it hit a table with a screw pointing outwards. My arm started to bleed. I was so perplexed.

Suddenly, the lights went out, and the whole house was dark again. After the lights went out, I saw a candle moving towards me. I cautiously started to move backwards when I fell out of the window while doing a back flip. I didn’t know how to do a back flip, but now I can cut that off my list. Then, I realized that I fell into a muddy puddle, but when I got up, I saw that I fell on a pile of dead bodies.

I shouted at the top of my lungs. Suddenly, the same old man, out of nowhere, appeared in front of me. He put his hand through my heart and pulled it out. I looked at the blood leaking and shouted.

My eyes then opened.

“Phew… it was just a dream!” I said. I was then relieved and happy. Me and my mom left to Grandma’s house afterwards, happily together.

“Great story!” said my colleagues.

Written by Sufyaan Atif, Edited by Zainab Lodhi

Rag days are over!

The date was 22 September 2013 at college! It was not as lovely as I thought it would be. As soon as I entered my class and grabbed a chair to sit on, everyone went dead silent. I scanned the classroom quickly and everyone burst into laughter. I knew I was on with the rags. I was alarmed by the sound of their irritating laugh, as if they were monkeys fighting for food.

My face started blushing in embarrassment. They glued my chair. I tried to get off the chair, but it wouldn’t budge. I ran out of the class with the chair still stuck on my back, and boom went the door. I bumped into a huge door and the chair came off. But still there was glue on my pants. I fell onto the floor and started sobbing. I couldn’t stop.

A teacher approached and asked me about what happened.

I said, “Nothing Miss, I just slipped of the floor and fell.”

She said, “Ok, go back to your class, it’s still tutor time. A teacher will come when the bell rings.”

I had to go to that horrible class again.

I went to the washroom and washed my face. Finally, I stopped crying.

Surprisingly, I saw a pair of pants to wear and I wore it. I entered the class hiding my face. Then, I dragged another lonely chair lying in the corner of the class. I checked twice before sitting on it because I didn’t want any more trouble. I sat and started reading a book. One of my classmates, Tim, started throwing crumbled papers on me. Suddenly, one girl entered the class with her classy looking backpack.A piece of paper went right on her face and she got so

resentful. She grabbed the crumbled paper from the floor and threw it on Tim’s hideous looking face.

“I might be the new girl, but don’t even think of ragging me. You’ll regret it,” said the new girl.

She came and sat beside me in the last row. The bell rang. The teacher came in, introduced herself, and gave lectures for about two hours. As soon as I heard the bell ring, I felt really energized because I could finally go out.

The new girl asked me, “Do you want to go to lunch with me?”

I replied, “Ok, I will go to the washroom first, I will catch you outside.”

It was difficult to find her in that horde. Finally, I saw her sitting on a bench. I didn’t even know her name yet. The imperfect boys in our class ran hiding their faces from us. She introduced herself. Her name was Lila. I told her about myself too.My name is Clover, I am twenty years old, and blah blah.

She taught me something important, “Never show that you fear someone even if you do.Show them your bravery instead.” That’s totally true.

“Well, thanks for helping me out.Have you heard about Martin Luther King Junior? He fought for civil rights, fairness, and equality because of how the world was differentiating black and white people.” asked Clover “Yes, he is a memorable person.” I replied.

I started talking, “So we should also work out to stop rags and spread this to everyone in our college. We can start with a small plan and slowly move on.”

“I am a person who got ragged multiple times, and I don’t want others to feel the same way I felt. There is a famous quote, ‘If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. Remember, you have to keep moving.” Lila motivated me.

The bell rang, and we went back to the class. The boring lectures and explanations continued until the school day ended. Even though it’s my first day of college, I already have a negative impression of it.

Lila told me, “I got to know that there is an assembly tomorrow. We will give our speech and explain how students and children feel, and how they fall mentally.” I replied. “Great!” I replied. We went back home.

The next morning, we both met and practiced about how we would deliver our speeches. The assembly bell had a bizarre sound this time. We ran to the assembly area asthe principal came up on stage and gave a speech, introducing himself. He was a kind and generous person from his tone.

As soon as he finished his speech, we rantowards the stage and asked, “Can we take a few minutes of your precious time?”

“Yes, why not?” he replied. His name is Mr. Gary White.

We gave our speech on stage. Lila ended the speech by saying, “We know people do rags for fun, but hurting other people’s feelings and having fun is not a good thing to do.”Tim applauded loudly after our speeches ended. Then, everyone started applauding. Suddenly, there was an awkward silence. Everyone said sorry to each other, and they screamed out loudly ‘Rags should be banned in this college!’

We felt extremely happy. The principal had a bright smile and said, “Ragging was a big problem in this college, but through your inspiring words, it can finally come to an end. Thanks a lot!”

We got a treat from the principal, he told the DJ to turn on the music and we all started dancing. Tim came to me and said, “I am really sorry Clover”

Written by Wandana Edited by Talha Raza

GO THROUGH OUR AMAZING EXPERIENCES!

Bloody Mary (History Project) Our class activities were practical this term and included a lot of projects. Let me start by telling you about the History project this term. In History, we studied about England and how Queen Mary of Scotts & Mary Tudor affected England. We had to make a visual harvesting on this topic as our term assessment. Our projects included common characteristics between the 2 leaders, their background, and some other secondary details. We were divided into groups of 4 and 5. In my opinion, this project was a very practical and interesting way of discussing what we learnt. It was a very creative idea to do visual harvestings and show our creativity instead of memorizing notes off our notebooks and taking a written exam.

Written by Ayda Omer Edited by Talha Raza UAE NATIONAL DAY

The UAE National Day was quite a fun experience as all the students were energized and full of spirit. The day was dedicated to UAE, and in one way or another, we ended up studying about UAE no matter what the subject was. In English, we wrote an essay on how the UAE has massively evolved in the past 20 years from a mere desert to one of the most popular tourist destinations on Earth.

Excluding the subjects, there were many facilities provided for us outside of our classes on the school grounds, including bake sales. Our school was fortunate enough to be able to bring a falcon. Many students were flabbergasted by the look of the falcon, and they were permitted to take pictures with it. Although it was very heavy due to the wrist band tied to it, there was a huge line of students waiting to take a picture or at least touch it.

In my opinion, the bake sales weren’t as good as I expected them to be.

There was a small variety of food available for the students to eat.

However, the falcon acted as a magnet for all the students.I can’t remember what it is called, but we had a place for all students to have pictures in. It was like a tent, or a studio. Anyways, many students, including teachers, took some fancy pictures in it.

We also had free time to enjoy ourselves outside our classes on the school grounds.

MORAL EDUCATION EXAM (VLOGs) Written by Talha Raza

For our Moral Education Exam, we were told to submit a Vlog (Video Blog) on the Moral Values that we learnt throughout the term. This project was necessary to not only merge multiple moral values, but also to involve family participation. The duration of the video was limited to 2 minutes.

Every vlog that we saw was fun to watch and taught us a valuable lesson in the end.

Talha Raza’s vlog showed the importance of cleaning up after your mess and not stealing someone else’s property. In his video, he has a habit of never cleaning up after the mess he makes. He wants a soft drink, but there is none in the fridge. As he doesn’t have any money in his wallet, he steals 3 coins from his brother’s wallet and goes to the vending machine to get himself a soft drink. However, he gets grounded by his older brother after he discovers about what he did.

Jasim Sohail’s vlog is just a conversation between him and his father based on Moral Values. Jasim approaches his father to talk to him about a conflict going on between him and his brother, and his father tells him how to resolve it along with giving very important Moral Values that children within his age should have.

This was a very good way of engaging the students and teaching moral values in an entertaining way.

Written by Shanzay Rizwan Edited by Talha Raza

Read through all our poems!

POETRY This section of the magazine includes 2 wonderfully written poems by Zainab Lodhi. The first poem is about the excitement and energy built in Winter Season, and the second poem is about Equality and treating everyone with equal rights. Enjoy!

Equality Different races, cultures, and religions But we all are humans We all are unique in our own way We all have ourown say Don’t judge others We are all sisters and brothers Everyone has their own thoughts This is what we were all taught Everyone deserves equal rights They should feel free from Day till Night Negativity might strike But that is when you must fight So, let’s make it better By saying everyone matters

Proofread by Ammar

WINTER It’s that time of the year Yes, winter is finally here All the things that are done Are just so much fun Cuddling in a blanket With some hot chocolate Go out to enjoy the weather Wearing jackets, sweatshirts, cardigans, and sweaters Time with family and friends The excitement just doesn’t end Don’t worry about fever or a blocked nose That’s just how it goes Just bear And take care Because it is that time of the year When winter is finally

here!

Proofread by Ammar

8B’S GOT TALENT!

8B’S GOT TALENT! It is time for you to witness the extraordinary talents of Grade 8B.

Sanzay Rizwan (Future Artist) Shanzay Rizwan is a student with a strong passion for Art, and plans on becoming a Manga artist in the future. Her specialty lies in anime drawing, as she has drawn multiple anime characters.

She started doing random drawings in her English book when she was in 6th Grade, but she started drawing manga in 2016.

She was inspired todraw and sketch by Japanese artists. E.g.: Akira Toriyama, who made the famous Dragon Ball Z anime. She watched anime and drew the characters she admired most.

She used to look up video tutorials on how to draw certain anime characters. Then, she used to draw by looking at pictures, and now she has the ability of making her own characters.

She seeks feedback to whether her drawings are acceptable or not. Feedback and opinions from the audience are critical for her artwork.

Talha Raza (Youtuber) Talha Raza is a student who has just started his own YouTube channel. He solely focuses the content that he posts on this social platform on Entertainment.

He currently has 264 subscribers, and he continues to passionately work hard towards getting higher in those numbers.

As Entertainment is a very broad topic, he has many different ideas that could hook many people to his channel. He reacts to comedy, makes videos on his subscribers’ suggestions, creates good quality gaming videos, and does all sorts of entertaining real-life challenges.

The first video that he uploaded was called “How to be the best Student in your Class.” It was an enormous success and hit over 30,000 views on YouTube. He got an unbelievable amount of positive comments. The video was motivating and inspiring to everyone who watched it, as it gave them guidance on something they desperately wanted. The video also got over 320 likes, which proved for it to be majorly admired.

After that video, he decided to change the direction his channel was going to.

He wanted to provide his audience with valuable information, but he was also passionate about basing his channel around an entertaining theme. That decision was very well-made and has made his channel successful.

With your help, he can reach higher in the number of subscribers that he has.

Go ahead and subscribe to his YouTube channel right now! It is guaranteed to entertain you!

Simba Moses We are proud to have Simba Moses in our class, the student with the highest reading Lexile on Scholastic Learning Zone in TCSI. Scholastic Learning Zone is a website used in our school for developing the students’ reading skills. It contains multiple books for different age groups and Lexile levels. When you make your account, you are asked to take LitPro test to determine your Lexile. After your Lexile is fixed, you are given the option of choosing your favorite genre of books. When you’re done reading a certain book, you can take its quiz to find out how much you know about that book.

You can either read books within your Lexile range, or read books above your capabilities to increase your Lexile.

Simba has a Lexile of 1417 and it is the highest Lexile in TCSI. It was discovered last year after the introduction of Scholastic Learning Zone to the school.His Lexile continues to increase, and he will soon reach even higher numbers.

Even though reading is his expertise, he is interested in English as an overall subject. He is reasonably well in writing as well, and got an A* in the School Big Write.

The Football Senior School Team 7 students from Grade 8B are part of the Senior Football School Team. This School Team competes in various Football tournaments and challenges multiple academies throughout the country. It was formed last year.

The team consists of 20 players throughout Grade 8 and 9. The captain of the team is Talha Raza, yet another student from our class. The students that are in the team from Grade 8B are the following: Talha Raza: ST (Striker) Amaan Aziz: RW (Right Winger) Sufyaan Atif: LM (Left Midfielder) Mohammad Taha: LW (Left Winger) Abdul Rahman: CB (Center Back) Alexander Sasha: CM (Center Midfielder) Ahmed Shahzad: CB (Center Back) Our Football Kit is a combination of both Peach and Maroon, as that represents our original school uniform.

Spelling Bee

Championships 4 students from Grade 8B participated in the UAE Spelling Bee Championships, sponsored by Coco Pops. The names of the students are the following: Zainab Lodhi Wandana Shanzay Rizwan Talha Raza The championship consists of 3 rounds: The Preliminaries, the Intermediate round, and the Finals.

These students took the preliminary rounds a few days ago. Fortunately, 3 of the students qualified to the semi-finals, but it was unfortunate of Wandana to get disqualified.

Wish these 3 students the best of luck for the rest of the competition, as there are many more obstacles to face if they want to qualify to the finals. However, there can only be 1 champion, and that’s where things get interesting.

ENTERTAINMENT JOKEs 1. Why do French eat so many snails?

They can’t stand fast food.

2. Why did the balloon go near the needle?

It wanted to be a pop star.

3. Knock, knock Who’s there?

Opportunity That’s impossible. Opportunity doesn’t knock twice.

4. Did you hear about the man who got hit on the head with a can of soda?

He’s lucky it was a soft drink 5. A recent scientific study showed that out of 2,293,618,367 people, 94% are too lazy to read that number.

6. A boy breaks an old vase at a rich uncle‘s house. The uncle gets extremely angry and yells: “Do you even know how old the vase was? It was from the 17th century!” The boy sagged in relief: “Oh, good that it wasn’t new.”

Trivia Fun Facts: 1. A shrimp’s heart is in its head.

2. Money notes aren’t made of paper. They are made up of a special blend of cotton and linen.

3. Sloths take two weeks to digest their food.

4. Ketchup in the 1830s was used as a medicine.

5. If you lift a kangaroo’s tail of the ground it can’t hop.

6. The longest movie made lasts 85 hours and is fittingly titled “The Cure for Insomnia.”

7. The more salt you put on ice, the more the ice melts.

Riddles

1. What has hands but can’t clap?

2. What comes at the end of a rainbow?

3. I’m tall when I’m young. I’m short when I’m old. What am I? 4. What is a seven-letter word containing thousands of letters?

5. You can see me in water, but I never get wet.

What am I? 6. 5 married couples were sailing on a boat to travel across the sea, but there was not a single person in the boat. How is that possible?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

A clock The letter W A candle Mailbox A reflection.

Everyone was married, no one was “Single”