Shooting an elephant

This is one of the most inhumane short stories that I have ever read. I think that the author is very selfish. Pride and establishing good name is not everything in life. Furthermore, killing an innocent animal is totally crazy. It is a baby elephant!!! Please have a slight feeling of mercy. This story has taught me a great lesson in life. One of my course mates even cried after reading this story as she is an animal lover. Please save the endangered species…

Robben Island; The Dark Years

One of the task that we did in the class was to read nelson Mandela's autobiography, part eight entitle "Robben Island; The Dark Years". Reading the autobiography was really sad. I could feel the struggle, suffer and misery that he went through even though it is way different from what the real situation, but by reading the autobiography, the emotion was transfered to me in a way or another. One of the saddest part that i think was totally inhumane and disrespectful was the discrimination towards people was portrait even by the cloths. "All of us...received short trousers, an insubstantial jersey and a canvas jacket.Kathy, the one Indian among us, was given long trousers..." It is sad to learn that Nelson was treated badly. He was isolated from the general prisoners because he was a strong influence towards the others. I have always remembered the number 466/64...That number only reminds me of one thing...inequality...

Limericks

One of the most enjoyable moment in edu3234 is when we learn about limericks. The lesson was fun as we were divided into groups and each groups were assigned to write their own limerick poem. It was interesting as my course mates came out with hilarious poems. We had a good laugh. Our group came out with this;

There was once a man from the west,
All the while he taught that he was the best,
So he went for a fight,
To prove himself right,
But he ended up last among the rest.

Martin Luther King, Jr

On the previous lesson, we did some exercises on the Martin Luther King, Jr's speech text entitled "i have a dream". It was my first time reading text. Personally, i think the text is filled with strength, passion and also will..A will to break free from difficulties..A will to fight for their own right. It is a shame that we have lost the great Martin Lurthur King as i think that he is a very influenced leader. On of the leader that i still admire till this day. As well as reading the text, we also watched the video of the speech in You Tube as a whole class. Me and my friends were extremely shocked as we see the amount of people gathering around him while he was giving out the speech.Even by watching the video, i could feel the influence of Martin Luther King. He gives his speech brilliantly, without any doubt and one of the most important thing in giving out a speech is that he did not even refer to a text The speech was totally from his heart. The speech was filled with moral values and hope. It is somehow connected to me in a way as i which discrimination in life should be ended...

research paper

We are assigned to do a research paper on writer or any literary text. Doing a research paper is not an easy task. It took months to choose the right text and also tittle for the research paper. One of the most difficult part of conducting research paper is that i have to think of a title that would make it easy for me to apply the "implication for education and teaching". This is also my first experience in dealing with a supervisor. I guess if i am to continue my study later in life, doing Master or PHD, then i would have to go through a the same process. In the end,i decided to analyze two text which deals with the issue of "the ill treatment towards the poor" in A Great Injustice by Heah Chwee Sian and Hands by Xiao Hong. Both protagonist in the story face similar dilemma due to poorness and personally, i have learned a lot by conducting this research paper.

Implications On Education And Teaching

We were assigned to apply the implication of our research paper towards teaching and learning process. My thesis statement was “Discrimination, Inequality And Inner Conflict Are Clearly Reflected To Describe The Theme Of Ill Treatment Of The Poor In Hands By Xio Hong And A Great Injustice By Heah Chwee Sian”. Firstly, both stories deal with good moral value, which is never to discriminate between the rich and the poor. Second, I think that both stories are excellent sources for literature based teaching tools. Students are able to use the text as an example for learning the second language and also at the same time, learning the culture of the story through the text. Other than that, I think it is wise for the students to view the life of ‘the poor’ in order for them to feel empathy and also helps them to learn the value of life…

The Andy Warhol Diaries

Reading Andy Warhol’s diary did not help me in comprehending more about Andy Warhol; as the diary consist only of selected quotes from his original diary. It is a little bit confusing because I think that I need to have some prior knowledge on him in order to understand it. Therefore, I did some research and readings on his autobiography. I was attracted to his “15 minutes of fame” quote. I think that it is very interesting. It simply refers to the fact that “celebrity that attaches to an object of media attention, will eventually loose his fame which is then passes to some new object”. In a way, I do agree with Andy Warhol’s thoughts...

Andy Warhol 'documentary'

We were assigned to watch the documentary of Andy Warhol. Initially, I thought that it would be in a form of a movie but it turns out to be a quite boring documentary. It consists of a power point like presentation of his artwork. No videos were included. Most of my course mates fell asleep in an instant. I tried to understand the documentary as hard as I could. What I understood from watching that documentary was that he is an artist. Most of his painting was done in 1962. I think Andy Warhol’s ‘do it yourself’ painting was very interesting. It captured my attention because it was something new to me. As a conclusion, I learned that he is a very influenced artist. Another thing that I realize is that he paints several painting that he repaint it the exact way he did before. I think he has an excellent talent. But I did not have a deep comprehension on his art work. This may be because I have not read his diary yet.

Th Road Home

We have been assigned to watch a movie entitled “The Road Home”. The movie was directed by Zhang Jimou. It is a very touching movie as the story is about the determination of two lovers in order to be together. The movie has several touches of sense of humor. I enjoyed watching how the heroin deliberately waited for her man as he walked to school everyday in order for him noticed her existence. One incident that really catches my attention was how his pupils are willing to take turn carrying their teacher's coffin as it is his wife’s will to walk the dead all the way to where they first meet. It was great, to see how his pupils honored and respects him even after his death. I enjoyed watching the movie as it touches on different issue in life. It is not like the other typical Chinese love story as it has it's own interesting twist and plot. In my opinion, watching this movie is essential for teachers to be as an example of how teachers should dedicate their life in teaching career.

Kim Trusty

I really enjoy the session that we had with Kim Trusty. She is a very talented poet from England. We had a great time during the whole session with her. We were combined with one of the Tesl-Twinning program. First, we asked to read aloud the poem entitled “lulu”. It was hilarious as Kim says our reading resembles choral reading. The next activity that was conducted was a prediction activity. We have to predict what happens we think we know, what we already know and what we think will happen next based on the poem. I think that this activity is an excellent activity to be conducted in real classroom. Then, were also given the opportunity to write our own poem by looking at the poem from a different point of view. It is very interesting as there we gain various feedbacks and each and every poem that was produce is very interesting. I think that I would like to join another session with Kim if I am given the opportunity to as I think that she is very talented, with a brilliant sense of humor…

A girl who was not satisfied with simple things

I like reading this story as the character as the girl in the story has very similar personality to me. The girl has rejected few men in her life and I done the same thing. In a way, I think that she is doing the right thing. Which is to select her future husband wisely, but she is doing it a little bit too harsh. I think that she should be more satisfied with what she has. She needs to be aware that not everyone is as fortunate as her. The moral of the story is simply” be satisfied with simple things”…

Presentation on position paper

Each of us were given about 10-15 minutes to present our position paper in class. Personally I think that Ira’s position paper is interesting. Her position paper deals with the issue of religion. She has explained it in a brilliant way. She has linked the symbolism in the text to Christianity. I think it captured most of our attention because her topic was totally different from the rest of us. Now, I would like to comment on my own presentation. One of my course mate told me that they liked my thesis statement because it is different form the others as I have looked at the story, “A Great Injustice” in a different point of view. I think that the society should not be blame for the abortion, as what the text says. I think that Ah Nya should be blame because she would not get pregnant if she did not submit herself to Steven in the first place. It was a relief that my friends liked it…

position paper

Initially,i think that writing a position paper would be tough as i have never done it before. Thinking of a thesis statement was not as easy as it sounds. I have chosen to analyze the short story entitled "A Great Injustice".The reason that i have chosen this text is that the story deals with an interesting issue and besides that, it is an interesting story. The text deals with the issue of inequality in life and the dilemma of a girl who gets pregnant out of wedlock. Initially, i would like to analyze on how the society have effected Ah Nya in committing the abortion. My first thesis statement was "internal conflict that Ah Nya faced due to society's reaction towards unmarried mother forces her to commit abortion".Later i realized that most of my fellow course mates have a similar thesis statement. Then, in order to have an interesting thesis statement, i need to think different from others. I need to see the text in a different point of view. Then i decided to see the text from Ah Nya's perspective. My thesis statement was later changed into "Society did not cause the abortion but it was Ah Nya". I have analyzed the reason of why Ah Nya is guilty by deciding to abort the baby.During teh presentation, my friends told me that they liked my thesis statement as i see things from different from point of view. Let us just hope that Mr Omit enjoy reading it...

the fall of icarus

We have been assigned to search the painting entitled ‘The Fall of Icarus’ and also search for a poem by W.H.Auden that has a link to the painting. Lots of painting popped up when I goggled for ‘the painting of The Fall Of Icarus’. Some were very interesting but I realized that it always consist of two man with wings falling from the sky. I guess I was in the right path. But trying to determine which painting was the right one was a little problem. Later, after discussing with my friends, I found out about a poem entitled ‘Musee’ des Beaux Arts’. The poem touches on the story of Icarus. It described on the surrounding where Icarus had fall; “…where the dogs go on with their doggy life…”, “…the plaughman may have heard the splash….for him it was not an important failure…”. The poem matches on ob the painting that I have searched. It was a painting by Peter Brueghal. At that moment I realized that I have found the right painting. The poem was written based on the painting, it touches on the theme of how ‘life goes on’. Later, after discussing about the painting in class that I understand the significance of Brueghal painting only the leg of Icarus, emphasizing more on the surroundings of where he fall.

ovid metamorphosis

Dr Edwin has been assigning us to search information on Ovid Metamorphosis since last semester, in EDU3067 subject. But this issue was not emphasized then. In this semester, we were asked again to search information on Ovid. Initially, I did not have a clue who he was. After reading his works and searching more information on the internet that I found out he has such a big influence in medieval poetry. Other than that, it was interesting to know that William Shakespeare’s writing was influenced by Ovid. I have not had the chance to read the complete Metamorphoses yet, but I think I will want to read it one day. Dr Edwin has included ‘Deadalus and Icarus’ and also ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’ as a compulsory reading in this subject. Personally, I enjoyed reading both stories. It has its own moral value and novelty touch. I have also realized that Romeo and Juliet has slightly a similar plot to ‘Pyramus and Thisbe’.