Online Task 4 - Answered!

1. Think of at least 3 benefits of using speeches by famous figures, in the classroom.
                               
a. Students learn to use language creatively.
b. Students learn to become a better speaker.
c. Students can improve their competence in the language.

2. Go to www.youtube.com and find the audio-visual on the speech. In not less than 50 words, state would the audio-visual be of any use in helping understand the speech better? State your reasons.

 Speech using audio visual helps one to understand the subject matter better.The video above is a good example of speech using audio and visual aids to explain Dybetes in the Body. The explanations given along with the animation made the speech easier to be understood. Audio and visual aids (animation in this case) can be an essential part of giving speeches, and when used correctly it can enhance persuasive speaking.Visual aids can range from postcards to posters and even computer presentations like Power Point slides and animations. Many people are familiar with the overhead projector, an important device that helps presenters demonstrate a particular subject through enlarged text and pictures. Film clips can also be used as visual aids to stimulate thinking.Using such aids also benefit the audience and helps them retain more information.Futhermore we can't deny the fact that speech using audio visual aids would also be more comprehendible and entertaining.



3. Who is Martin Luther King?

Martin Luther King  was an American activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement.


4. Based on the questions below, analyse the features of the given written speech:


a. What is the purpose of the speech?
To express that all men are equal and should be treated equal. The speech also relates how black citizens have been mistreated over the years and  still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination.


b. What is the tone of the speech?


A very persuassive tone.

 c. What interesting major feature(s) can you see from the speech? (i.e.Repetition of phrases, emphasis on certain things said etc)
The anaphora, emphasizing phrases by repeating at the beginning of the sentences. Interesting allusions and contrasting metaphors like

 
"joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity”

“the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity”


 d. Any interesting facts that you can gather based on the background of the speech?

The 1950s, 1960s and 1970s were tremendously difficult times for African-Americans. They were not treated like white Americans simply because of their skin color. And the laws protected the bad treatment they got! Laws requiring "separate" hotels, restaurants, schools, and even drinking fountains were common in many states. The speech was given in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial, the monument honoring President Abraham Lincoln, who issued the Emancipation Proclamation that freed slaves in the Southern states. By giving his speech there, it had called attention to how things were so terrible a century before  which was during the Civil War and how some things hadn't changed so very much in 100 years.

5. Suggest a while-reading activity that can be derived from this particular speech.

Analysing the speech for any one literary device would be a great activity as the speech is rich with literary devices.

                                                      Girija A/P Ramdas-J38853

Online Task 3 - Composed!!

Rolihlahla the African pride.

Many years of imprisonment,

Yet your spirit can never be confined.

Daggers and spears thrown to wound you, 

only made you more immortal.

Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela,

Now a soaring eagle with wings spread afar,

Flying high with pride,

A living symbol of freedom and victory!

                                                             Girija-J38853

Online Task 2 - Answered!

1.    Do we have a canon for Malaysian literary works? Let's say we do, who do you think are in it? Consider the fact that their works are well-known and most importantly included as part of the school syllabus- (both in BM and English)


 a.            A. Samad Said
 b.            Che Husna Azhari
 c.             Usman Awang
 d.            KS Maniam




2.      The poems by Erica Jong raises some feminist issues. What are they?


Adulthood, Sex and Risks.


3.      Do you think they are suitable to teach at the secondary school level? Explain.


Yes, as secondary students are teenagers as well and they will deal with issues that involves relationship and eventually deal with their transition to adulthood. So the poems would be a good way to open their mind to the issues mentioned.




4.      Is Hillary Tham's poem more suitable?


Both Hillary Tham and Erica Jong's poem are equally suitable. However Hillary Tham's poem would be a good warm up as it only deal with less complicated issues compared to Erica Jong's poem that involves more complicated issues such as sex and decision making.


5.      The short tale from the Native American group is about a girl who is unsatisfied with her life. How is this a universal experience? Can it teach our students anything?


The issues dealt in the short tale relate closely to those who are very quick at making judgement in which they often make a wrong one.This short tale however can teach one to have a reasonable judgement before making a conclusion about something. The short tale also reminds the readers  that one should think thoroughly in making decisions that involves a lifetime commitments and there would be consequences  if one have made the wrong decision.








6.      From internet sources find out more about Langston Hughes.
From your findings about his background, tell me about the dilemma he conveys through the poem CROSS.


This poem had a lot of meaning. Hughes is confused about his race but vowed  to take it as it comes. He is a child of multiracial decent. He  battled with his identity, blaming his parents but when he became more mature, he realized he was wrong to blame others and he was truly proud of his heritage, regardless of the complications he has to go through.



7.      I find "Dinner Guest: Me" laden with irony and sarcasm. Briefly state if you feel the same.
The irony is he got invited to a fancy restaurant, however, he was not feeling quite invited when the whites were throwing him 'the usual questions' , questions about his race. How would he feel? f i were him I would definitely be unhappy ....yes I see the tone in his poem. I do agree with you...both irony and sarcasm.




8.      The experience in the poem Harlem is one that is true for many people. Do you agree?


Yes I do..the poem relates closely to everybody. After analysing the poem, which is short yet condensed with meaningful messages, its mainly about dreams  in life that everybody has. However, the poems asked a question of what is the use of such dreams when they has not been realised.


9.      Langston Hughes fights for the voice of his people. What is the movement called?


'Harlem Renaissance.'

                                                    Girija A/P Ramdas-J38853

Online Task 1 - Answered!

List some of the well-known folktales from Malaysia.

Badang, Bawang Merah Bawang Putih, Sang Kancil, Mat Jenin, Pak Pandir and Si Tanggang.

List some of the possible issues found in The Son of the Turtle Spirit.

Adultery, Supernatural,Traits, Chinese believes and customs.

Are those issues universal in nature or are they only relevant in the Chinese culture?

Not entirely, only issues such place of burial relates to the Chinese believes and customs wherelse other issues that I stated above are quite universal.

What are the other morals that can be gotten from the other fables by Aesop? List at least two.

Like will draw like.-The Charcoal-Burner and the Fuller

In serving the wicked, expect no reward, and be thankful if you escape injury for your pains.-The Wolf and the Crane

Self-help is the best help.-Hercules and the Wagoner

The loiterer often blames delay on his more active friend.-The Traveler and His Dog

One well-known literary figure from the Elizabethan age used Ovid’s Pyramus and Thisbe as a model to one of his famous plays. Who is he and what is the play?

William Shakespeare  used Ovid’s Pyramus and Thisbe as a model in Romeo & Juliet.

List some of the popular legends we have in Malaysia.

 Puteri Gunung Ledang, Hang Tuah , Mahsuri and Si Tenggang.

Questions on  Le Morte d'Arthur. 

1. Who is Thomas Malory?

Sir Thomas Malory was an English writer and also the author of Le Morte d'Arthur.

2. When was Le Mort d’Arthur written?

While Thomas Malory in prison in early 1450's.

3. How many books/ parts are there in LMDA?

There are 21 books in LMDA.

4. What is book 8 about?

The Death of Arthur.

5. Who were the two people who had an affair?

Sir Lancelot and Guinevere.

6. Book 6 has a strong connection to a popular modern fiction which is now a movie. What is the title of the popular modern fiction?

a. King Arthur (2004) 

b. Merlin: Lancelot and Guinevere.

7. State three well-known facts about King Arthur/ his time as a King

i. King Arthur was often with his  Knights of the Round Table

ii. King Arthur's famous sword is called the Excalibur.

iii. Arthur killed Mordred, his nephew.

Think of 2 ways in which you can use folktales/fables/myths or legends in the classroom. Explain briefly.

Group presentation

1. Students can be assigned to look for folktales/fables/myths or legends the day before the lesson.

2. Students then get into groups. Each group list the stories they got for folktales/ fables /myths or legends.

Drama

1. Students carry out a drama on any one  folktales/fables/myths or legends in their groups.

2. For better management of time, students can be given a time period to prepare for the drama and present to their other classmates.

                                                  Girija A/P Ramdas-J38853

Robben Island: The Dark Years

This was written when Mandela was sentenced life imprisonment.  Prison is designed to break one's spirit and destroy one's resolve. However it never broke Nelson Mandela's spirit. He continues to fight for what he believes and stoof his ground firm. What a man he is...reading his autobiography bore a sence of admiration from my side as well as a litle frustration on the side of the "authorities".
Nelson Mandela was also a true friend who is capable to invoke inner strenght of a person. Kathy another inmate had trouble navigating the wheelbarrow resulting the warders of the prison to laugh at him. Watching was Nelson who immediately taught him how to navigate the wheelbarrow. Kathy managed to navigate it and the warders stopped laughing.
In another incident, Nelson Mandela requested for a long pants and he got it however his other inmates were refused to be given long pants and they were given short pants instead. Feeling unjust by it, he returned his long pants to the warder. It show that he maybe demanding as well as caring towards others.Although his decision were unpopular ones yet these actions gave impact in years to come and they mean a lot too.
If one continues to read his autobiography,one can learn so much as well as attain unmeassurable inner strength to cope with one life's struggles and harsh situations!

By Girija

Cross by Langston Hughes

This is a personal poem of Langston Hughes.Being of a mix between two races he is neither white nor black. He is not accepted by blacks because he is white, and so the same by the whites because he is black. In America during the 1920's the segregation of whites and blacks was very predominate.He is deprived of either race. Leaving him with the confusion of which race he can identify with. When he reaches his adulthood and maturity he  realizes that he can't blame his parents for who he is.No matter what he does that's still who he is going to be.
 Langton Hughes in his last stanza  he is saying that his father died wealth and his mother died poor and in the last two sentences he asks where he is going to die being neither black nor white. This shows that now its up to him how he is going to live his life and only he can choose his own path.This implies to our lives as well, no matter what the circumstances we have been born into, we should accept it. Just like Langston hughes put it, we can't help the situation we are born into but we can change the life we are living. It is up to us to make our life better. It is also up to to create our own identity and destiny.

Shooting an Elephant and save yourself..."Shooting an Elephant by George Orwell"

Can you recall a time in which you were goaded into doing something that you didn’t want to do under the influence of your friends then regret?The essay is about a young English policeman stationed in Burma. He called himself   a “puppet” to the desires and will of the natives.
After receiving a call regarding a normally tame elephant’s rampage the narrator, armed with a rifle heads to the bazaar. The young English policeman then sees a village woman chasing away children who are looking at the corpse of an Indian whom the elephant has trampled and killed. He sends an orderly to bring an elephant rifle and, followed by a crowd of roughly two thousand towards the paddy field where the elephant has stopped to graze. The gun was originally for his own protection, and when he sees that the elephant is obviously quite calm he felt that he don't have to kill it. However,at this moment he becomes aware that the crowd fully expects him to kill the elephant. He realizes that he is trapped by the crowd’s expectations. If he does not kill the elephant he would seem weak by them.
         “The people expected it of me and I had got to do it; I could feel their two thousand wills pressing me forward, irresistibly. And it was at this moment, as I stood there with the rifle in my hands, that I first grasped the hollowness, the futility of the white man’s dominion in the East. Here was I, the white man with his gun, standing in front of the unarmed native crowd-seemingly the leading actor of the piece; but in reality I was only an absurd puppet pushed to and fro by the will of those yellow faces behind. I perceived in this moment that when the white man turns tyrant it is his own freedom that he destroys. He becomes a sort of hollow, posing dummy, the conventionalized figure of a sahib. For it is the condition of his rule that he shall spend his life in trying to impress the “natives”, and so in every crisis he has got to do what the “natives” expect of him.”
In the end, he ends up shooting the elephant.

It goes the same in ones life when others usually make decisions based on others view. What happened to our principle, believe and courage to make a decision you believe? This question i ask, to everybody including myself....

Letters of John Keats



John Keats' orginal letter to Fanny Brawne, 11 October 1819

 Wow! What a letter. Very heart melting.It was obvious John Keats was so much in love with Fanny Brawne. I had no idea that people of 19th century could be so passionate about love and romance. I wish some has written such letter to me, and someone does, i would be at his feet! No thats too Indian perhaps he would be in my arms. I appologise if that give anybody a wrong picture ;) . "If you should ever carry your threat yesterday into execution-believe me 't is not my pride, my vanity or any petty passion would torment me-really 't would hurt my - heart- I could not bear it." This indicate how vulnerable he would become if Fanny Brawne leaves him. He seemd to be willing to let go of his pride and other seemingly important aspects of his life go but not his love for her. Its even sound cute the way he started of the letter to her, "My Sweet Girl". I am going to surf the internet for more of John Keats letters to Fanny Brawne!

Iroquois: The Girl who was "Misunderstood"

While reading the story Iroquois: The girl who was not satisfied with simple things, I could relate myself to her. Her parents had tried to find her a husband, but she would not accept as each man who came was not to her expectation. At last she married a very handsome man who brought her to his village only to discover that he isn't a human but a serpent who disguised as a human.
The moral of the story is 'Be satisfied with simple things.' I don't agree with the message at all! In my opinion it is good to be demanding of finest things in life. We should settle ourselves for less in other words or at least that is my believe system.
Not everybody who wouldn't settle for less got fooled unlike Iroquois who left the house right after she decided to marry the man whom she just met, that is just pure foolishness or rather the lesson should  be "Look before you leap."
Aim for the star at least you would reach the sky should be the advice Iroquois give to her children and granchildren.It is not a crime to set a high standard for choices to be made, only then we would be always strive to live filled with happiness and success.

For What It's Worth...

Picture by http://carlosmartynburgos.blogspot.com

Soundtrack: Forrest Gump
Title: For What It's Worth (Buffalo Springfield)

There's something happening here 
What it is ain't exactly clear 
There's a man with a gun over there 
Telling me I got to beware 
I think it's time we stop, children, what's that sound 
Everybody look what's going down 
There's battle lines being drawn 
Nobody's right if everybody's wrong 
Young people speaking their minds 
Getting so much resistance from behind

 
I think it's time we stop, hey, what's that sound 
Everybody look what's going down 
What a field-day for the heat 
A thousand people in the street 
Singing songs and carrying signs 
Mostly say, hooray for our side 
It's time we stop, hey, what's that sound 
Everybody look what's going down 

Paranoia strikes deep 
Into your life it will creep 
It starts when you're always afraid 
You step out of line, the man come and take you away 

We better stop, hey, what's that sound 
Everybody look what's going down 
Stop, hey, what's that sound 
Everybody look what's going down 
Stop, now, what's that sound 
Everybody look what's going down 
Stop, children, what's that sound 
Everybody look what's going down

Taken from

http://www.lyricsmania.com

To listen to the song
http://www.schoolofmix.com/music/Worth.mp3

I heard the song this morning. As the rhythm was catchy, It was played over and over in my head. So, I 'googled' the internet for the lyrics. It may be a very easy song but the it has a profound meaning. I thought this would be a good piece to be put on my blog to share with everyone else. However as i was looking for a right picture for this post, I stumbled onto a another blog that has written about this song. I even got the picture from the blog. It is stated in there that "With so much social unrest going on just about everywhere, this song still holds its own. For many this song went on to symbolize worldwide turbulence and confrontational feelings arising from events during the 1960's. Even today it's lyrics are still relevant." I agree with the statement. We still have so many on going war that use deadly weapons such as nuclear bombs and improvised multi killing weapons all meant for others' destructions.

How would this song be used as the material in the classroom? What impact would the song give to the students? The answers to these questions would determine the techniques I would choose as well the objectives I would set to carry out the lesson. I could ask the students to sing along with the song, a typical beginning of a lesson but its thrill never runs out. I could ask the students to analyse the meaning or the theme of the song, it would be an ideal material for group discussions as well as presentations. The students can be asked to identify words in the lyrics that relates to the theme they have chosen this would improve the students' contextual learning where they learn that words can be manipulated according to the meaning intended to be delivered in a writing. Values such as peace, friendship, toleration, and unity can be indirectly instilled in students during the teaching and learning period. Materials such as this can transform students' negative perception into a positive one towards learning of English Language as it includes interactive learning among the students using interesting materials.

Poetry in the Classroom, Why Bother?

I found this interesting video that appeals to me on the YouTube. I've been inspired to be more serious with the teaching of Literature in my classroom. There's so much the pupils can do with poetry. Poetry does not have to be difficult after all!!! It can be fun and interesting. Although this video shows how a primary school teacher may carry out poetry in the classroom, I also find that its useful for the Secondary classroom. Writing a poetry based on the book they have read is a great way to produce original writing of the pupils. Writing poetry in groups can lead to cooperative learning as well. However, if the teacher could not make poetry reading a positive experience for the pupils, it would kill their interest to read, write or even enjoy poetry so it is important for the teachers to equip themselves with good methods in order to deal with poetry type text in their class.

Becoming a Woman by Hilary Tham

I read the poem once, I didn't understand it. I read it again, trying to make sense of the stanzas...understood it a little better.Went back to it one last time and it all make sense to me! Who said poetry is easy let alone trying to make sense of it.
The poetry discusses about initiation of a girl into a lady, a mother and a grandmother passing on the tradition and knowledge along with the initiation to the next generation.

The poem discusses about the persona's mother started off by teaching her  to use the rice paper as a modess signalling us that her daughter has reached puberty. Each time the persona would have her period she would be very upset and uncomfortable not understanding the reason behind the trouble. However the persona now a grandmother is blessed with children and grandchildren . She now understood her duty that she bear, that is to ensure the generation continues.

I think this is a good piece of poem to be related to the students. It doesn't matter if boys too are given to read the poem. It could teach the students to appreciate the menstrual process. It could also teaches the boys that the females bear more pain than males in continuing the generation. If the boys don't agree, it could be a good piece to be discussed in the classroom!

Caught reading intensely - Catch us if you can by Catherine MacPhail

Catch us if you can by Catherine Macphail. I enjoyed the novel, I really did although I'm more used to read the much thicker novels. I felt like being in Secondary school again! Story line filled with humour and sentiments of love and loyalty. Yes, a perfect novel for students although the smarter ones would finish reading it in a day and throw it in a corner but it never fails to make you read till you finish. While I was reading it I could not help but to admire the character of Rory. So young and yet he knows so much. A very brilliant  boy who could be only nine or ten years of age who takes on the responsibility of  single handedly taking care of his old Grandfather. I believe upon reading the story, it would teach one to never be afraid to take on big responsibilities and loyalty. Rory was very determined to live with his grandfather when the social worker and other authorities tried take him away and place his grandfather in a home. A very touching story which I believe any age of readers can take on especially parents who intend to teach their kids values of courage, loyalty and responsibility.To think from an angle of an educator, definitely a good book for my literature class.Although I'm not teaching in secondary school right now, I would still suggest to my pupils to read it!

The Son of The Turtle Spirit

  The story of  'The Son of The Turtle Spirit' is based on the Chinese culture which believes that every turtle has a spirit that manifests itself at night and disappear at dawn. This happens during the seventh month of the Chinese calendar.Upon reading the story I found that it is a little similar to the story 'The Frog Prince'. The Frog Prince would be more suitable to be told to the young children as the storyline is more simple compared to the 'The Son of The Turtle Spirit' that would be suitable to be told to the older children (13 and above) as the story is longer. The story also discusses about how traits of parents may be passed down to their children and values such as filial piety, confidence and opportunity that should taken to prove oneself. This story would also allow the readers to learn about the Chinese culture and believe systems and so I think it would be a good idea to introduce this to the Malaysian students and also ask them if there are other stories that concerns other cultures in Malaysia. This would allow a good sharing and discussion among the students of different races in the classroom !