This writing project was a enjoyable experience for all those involved. I worked with Rainbow Tong and Joe Ma from Ng Yuk Secondary School , and we had a lot of fun along the way.

Many thanks to both of them for all their imaginative ideas, and also for brightening up the whole process with jokes and laughter, which made writing this book more than just typing things up.

Enjoy!

Eugene Law - Island School - May 2018

Moving to Tai Wai in 2018 provided Island School students in the Writers' Block Elements class with an exciting opportunity to work on a writing project with Ng Yuk Secondary School. NYSS students shared ideas and English vocabulary from their Form One lessons, collaborating with IS students to weave these elements into stories written for younger children.

The project has been a great success - over the weeks the initial shyness between the schools evaporated, leaving a real creative buzz, lots of laughter, and new friendships. I hope you enjoy the results.

Teri Eves - Lead Teacher of English

Island School

June 2018

As a local school in the district, we are always looking forward to the possible liaison opportunities with any international schools for collaborative teaching in English. It is our honour to partner with ESF and Island School in running a pilot writing workshop for our Form One students in which they learnt about story elements and new vocabulary.

Our students found the inter-school and inter-cultural experience very enjoyable. Through the creation of their own stories and interaction with IS students in English, their confidence and sense of achievement has been greatly enhanced.

Yu Ka Yan - English Teacher

Ng Yuk Secondary School

June, 2018

Once upon a time, there were a pair of twins called Ryan and Rachel. They lived in the New Territories and were very poor. One day, they heard a rumour about a cave full of treasure on Ma On Shan. They were very excited, if only they could find the treasure, then they'd be rich enough to be able to buy their own house!

They hiked for hours and hours in the sun, and even though they'd drank the water they'd bought from the Seven-Eleven store, they were still very thirsty. Especially as they realised that they had miles and miles of walking uphill still left to do. Luckily they'd also bought some pineapples, so at least they had something to eat.

After many hours of walking they finally came close to the cave. But before they could take a step further, the biggest, hairiest monster the siblings had ever seen came out of nowhere and blocked their path.

It had huge wings, two bulbous eyes, one nostril and arms as thin as twigs. It made a noise like a broken down jet engine with asthma.

Ryan and Rachel turned and ran away in terror, dropping their pineapples and water. They didn't know what to do. They really needed to get to the treasure, but how were they going to get past the monster?

Ryan and Rachel hid in the trees while they tried to work out what to do next. They had to work out a plan to get their supplies back and how to get past the monster to get to the cave.

The monster saw the dropped pineapples and gobbled them up with a big bite. It then let out a huge "BUURRPP!" and started staggering from one side of the path to another, before finally falling to the floor.

The twins looked at each other in confusion - they didn't understand it. What had just happened?

The monster slowly got to its feet and lurched off in the direction of the cave. Even though it was hardly able to walk, it still seemed to be desperately trying to avoid touching any leftover pineapples as it went.

"I think it might be allergic to pineapple," said Rachel.

"Hmmnn, that knowledge might be useful. But how can we use it to get it away from the cave? asked Ryan.

"Right now I don't care, I'm just happy that it's not after us anymore," Rachel replied.

Suddenly, there was a loud boom above them. Ryan and Rachel looked up. Something weird was happening in the sky. They saw a bright spot of light that was getting closer and closer very, very quickly.

"Oh no, what now?" screamed Ryan in terror.

"It looks like a Sputnik satellite," replied Rachel, "its GPS must be broken, and oh dear, it looks like it's going to crash land nearby!

"I hope it doesn't hit us," gulped Ryan.

Luckily the Sputnik did not hit them, but it did crash into the monster at the speed of sound. As the monster was already in a weakened state because of the pineapples, it stood no chance. Its limbs flew off in all directions, and its body was literally crushed to pieces by the impact.

After the dust and dirt had settled down, all that was left was a massive crater with the remains of the Sputnik lying in the middle, resting on top of the monsters mashed up and mangled corpse.

With the monster being nothing more than just blood and gut soup, Ryan and Rachel could easily now just stroll straight into the cave.

When they finally found the treasure, they couldn't stop smiling, there was so much of it, and it was so glittery and shiny.

They knew they'd never be able to get it all down the mountain, so they just stuffed their bags with as much as they could carry. They could always come back another time if they needed to.

Ryan and Rachel were now incredibly rich and they bought a lovely large house with a swimming pool.

They never went back to the cave, they already had enough money and so they left the rest of the treasure for anyone else who was willing to search for it.

Anyone and everyone was welcome to eat with them, whether they were rich or poor, and the twins always served a special recipe that contained two of their most favourite foods - canned tuna, and of course, pineapple.

The End

A note about the Sputnik 1

Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite ever put into space. It was launched on 4th October in 1957, by the Soviet Union. The polished sphere had four external antennas, and was around the size of a ripe watermelon, which was tiny in comparison with later satellites.

Sputnik 1 travelled at over 8100 meters per second, and completed 1440 orbits around the earth. It worked for 21 days until its battery ran out. The launch of Sputnik 1 also triggered the 'Space Race' between the United States and the Soviet Union, who competed to see who could put the first human in space. Sputnik 1 did not land back on earth like in this story, instead it was burnt up by the earth's atmosphere during re-entry.