KET Reading

​Read six short stories.

​Tony

I was 12 when I started playing the guitar. My parents are classical musicians, so they encouraged me to play the violin when I was five, I think, and piano when I was eight. I certainly picked up some fundamentals from all that. I didn’t really care for it at that time. When you’re a boy that age, you just want to play with your favourite Star Wars action figures and be a football player pretty much.

​David

Well, ever since primary school, I knew I wanted to play an instrument. When I saw the middle school orchestra playing, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of. The sixth form was the first opportunity I had to start learning an instrument. At first, my band teacher told me to play the trumpet, so I went to the local music shop to try one out. I picked up the trumpet, put it to my lips, and I couldn’t make a sound.

​Alina

My dad inspired me to start learning classical music, and over the years, I’ve developed a growing passion for it and decided to move forward with it and pursue it as my career. My piano idol is Frédéric Chopin, a Polish composer full of emotions reflected in his beautiful music. I usually practise after school on weekdays for about an hour, but I sometimes take a few days off. I seem to play better when I return to the instrument.

​Camilla

My favourite hobby is gardening. No other hobby can give me more pleasure than it. I grew up watching my grandmother grow seasonal vegetables and flowers in the empty plot of land we had. I remember planting my first roses. When the flowers are in full bloom, I feel a thrill of joy in my mind and take pride in my creative labour. While working in the garden, not only do I spend my time in a better way, but I also improve my health.

​Leon

I started my interest in coin collecting when I was about eleven years old. My father showed me a piece of paper that had an imprint of a coin he traced over with a pencil. I was fascinated and interested, so I started doing my research, asking people everywhere what this coin was. A few months later, I found out that it was a morgan dollar. I wanted it, I had to have it, but I nearly fell off my chair when I saw the price of it.

​Rory

From all the hobbies I started in my childhood, chess is the only hobby that stayed with me. I fell in love with chess when I was seven years old. My cousin offered to teach me the game when the heavy rain trapped us indoors for most of his two-day visit. I accepted his offer to show courtesy. For me, chess is more than just a game of skill, it is a philosophy. Chess teaches that persistence pays off in the end.