link here
This video is here for Bridging Tension and Suspense Wed 4th November. Please watch it and complete the given handout. We will be discussing this in class on that day.
Tuesday 27 October 2015
Thursday 8 October 2015
Poetry Readings
Congratulations for having completed Unseen Poetry.
Billy Collins https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahdMvjqdlsk
Singapore Writers Festival 2011: Arthur Yap's '2
Mothers In A HDB Playground'
Arthur
Yap https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTl7t1zGKk4
Its always good to hear them read aloud.
Thursday 24 September 2015
Assignment for Friday 25 September for Literature
Please download the poem and either print out your answer and hand it to me in hardopy on the 28th September or send the softcopy to my email address prss.jumiah@gmail.com
Read this poem carefully,
and then answer the questions that follow it.
Bird in the Classroom by Colin Thiele
|
The
students drowsed and drowned
In
the teacher’s ponderous monotone –
Limp
bodies looping in the wordy heat,
Melted
and run together, desks and flesh as one,
Swooning
and swimming in a sea of drone.
|
5
|
|
Each
one asleep, swayed and vaguely drifted
With
lidding eyes and lolling, weighted heads,
Was
caught on heavy waves and dimly lifted,
Sunk
slowly, ears ringing, in a syrup of his sound,
Or
borne from the room on a heaving wilderness of beds
|
10
|
|
And
then, on a sudden, a bird’s cool voice
Punched
out song. Crisp and spare
On
the startled air,
Beak-beamed
Or
idly tossed,
Each
note gleamed
Like
a bead of frost
|
15
|
|
A
bird’s cool voice from a neighbour’s tree
With
five silver calls – mere grains of sound
Rare
and neat
Repeated
twice…
But
they sprang the heat
Like
drops of ice.
|
20
|
|
Ears
cocked, before the comment ran
Fading
and chuckling where a wattle stirred,
The
students wondered how they could have heard
Such
dreary monotones from man,
Such
wisdom from a bird.
|
25
|
(i)
What
impressions do you form of the teacher and students in the poem?
(ii)
How
does the poet make the scene vivid for you in the poem?
Support your answer by close reference to the words and
images that he uses.
Tuesday 8 September 2015
Tuesday 25 August 2015
What is Poetry by Benjamin Zaphaniah (British Poet)
I have found it really useful as a way into poetry. Zephaniah's biography and unique poetry help even the most anti-poetry pupils find their voice!
Dr Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah was born and raised in Birmingham, England. He cannot remember a time when he was not creating poetry but this had nothing to do with school where poetry meant very little to him, in fact he had finished full time education at the age of 13. His poetry is strongly influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica and what he calls 'street politics'. His first real public performance was in church when he was 10 years old, by the time he was 15 he had developed a strong following in his home town of Handsworth where he had gained a reputation as a young poet who was capable of speaking on local and international issues. It was once said of him that he was Britain's most filmed, photographed, and identifiable poet, this was because of his ability to perform on stage, but most of all on television, bringing Dub Poetry straight into British living rooms. The mission was to take poetry everywhere, he hated the dead image that academia and the establishment had given poetry and proclaimed that he was out to popularise poetry by reaching people who did not read books, those that were keen on books could now witness a book coming to life on the stage. This poetry was political, musical, radical, relevant and on TV.
Dr Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah was born and raised in Birmingham, England. He cannot remember a time when he was not creating poetry but this had nothing to do with school where poetry meant very little to him, in fact he had finished full time education at the age of 13. His poetry is strongly influenced by the music and poetry of Jamaica and what he calls 'street politics'. His first real public performance was in church when he was 10 years old, by the time he was 15 he had developed a strong following in his home town of Handsworth where he had gained a reputation as a young poet who was capable of speaking on local and international issues. It was once said of him that he was Britain's most filmed, photographed, and identifiable poet, this was because of his ability to perform on stage, but most of all on television, bringing Dub Poetry straight into British living rooms. The mission was to take poetry everywhere, he hated the dead image that academia and the establishment had given poetry and proclaimed that he was out to popularise poetry by reaching people who did not read books, those that were keen on books could now witness a book coming to life on the stage. This poetry was political, musical, radical, relevant and on TV.
To begin, listen to Zaphaniah's ideas and make a list for yourself as you had done some poetry in lower sec as well. You can listen to his other poems as well to see that poetry can be seirous YET fun as well.
Text: Money
Money make a rich man feel like a big man
It make a poor man feel like a hooligan
A one parent family feels like a ruffian
An those who have it won’t give you anything
Money makes your friend become your enemy
You start to see things very superficially
Your life is lived very artificially
Unlike those who live in poverty
Money affects your ego
But money brings you down
Money causes problems anywhere money is found
Food is what we need
Food is necessary
Let me grow my food
An dem can eat dem money
Money can save us
But yet we feel doomed
Plenty money burns in a nuclear mushroom
Money can make you happy
Money can help you when you die
An those who have it continually live a lie
Children are dying
Spies are spying
Refugees are fleeing
Politicians are lying
An deals are done
An webs are spun
An no one keeps the third world on the run
An the brother feels better than the brothers next door
Cause his brothers got money an his brothers got more
The brother thinks a brother’s not a brother cause he’s poor
When a brother kills another that is economic war
Economic war we call it economic war
It may not be the east and west anymore
But the north and south third world far lord
Coffee an isle
That’s what it’s about
Economic war
Economic war
Shots fired from the stock market floor
So we work for a livin’
An we try an we try
With so little time for chillin’
Like we’re livin a lie
Money makes a dream become reality
Money makes real life like a fantasy
Money has a habit of going to the head
I have some for the rainy day underneath me bed
Money problems make it hard to relax
Money makes it difficult to get down to the facts
Money makes you worship vanity and lies
Money is a drug with legal highs
The parents of poor kids
Some are not coping
Some are just managing
Books that need balancin’
Property is theft
No money means death
You pay for your rent
An then nothing left
Some will pick your pocket
Some will pay to stop it
Those who will pay to stop it
They happy cause they got it
Some go out an fight for it
Some claim they got the right to it
An people like my grandparents
Live long but never side it
Money made me go out an rob
Then it made me go looking for a job
Money made the nurse
And the doctor emigrate
Money buys friends you love to hate
Money made slavery seem alright
Money brought the Bible
An the Bible shone the light
Victory to the penniless
The gospel shows us
We come to mash those market forces
The paper giant called market forces
Monday 24 August 2015
Unseen Poetry 01: DICTION in war poetry
The following lessons will focus on 2 short poems. You are advised to listen to both poems and think about the following.
DICTION : "The best words in the best order" Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Definition of Diction (Word choice) : It is the selection of words employed by poets or writers to convey ideas.
Poets must convey meaning within a small space, therefore they choose their words carefully. In order to better appreciate a poem, we need to look at why the poet chooses one word instead of another.
Method: The 4-Step Method
1. Read the poem, highlighting interesting words or phrases which attract our attention.
2. Think about why a particular word is used instead of another. "Why X and not Y?"
3. Examine what the word/phrase denotes (its literal meaning) and more importantly, what it connotes (its implied meaning)
4. Examine the word in the larger context, that is how it elaborates the underlying meaning or theme of the poem.
Watch this video that we will discuss in our class this week:
We will begin with Mood, Tone and Atmosphere
You can download the text from the internet. This is a World War I poem by Wilfred Owen. It is one of the most recognisable war poems that ever came out of that war. It is also a PROTEST poem.
Listen to both readings to see if the reader has given you different insights into the poem.
Note: you might like to go to this link for explanation of the various terms as well.
Note: you might like to go to this link for explanation of the various terms as well.
Thursday 20 August 2015
Fire on the Mountain
This chapter deals with 2 issues:
1. The nature of the 'beast'.
2. The goals of the society or community that Ralph has created.
We will be discussing the following questions in our lesson tomorrow:
1. What changes have taken place in the community in this chapter?
2. What are the goals of this society? Are they reasonable? How do they go about achieving them?
3. How is Ralph's government working?
4. What do you think the beast is?
5. What caused the out-of-control fire in your estimation?
6. What do you think happened to the small boy with a "mark on his face"?
Be prepared to present your opinions and have them challenged tomorrow in class.
Good Luck.
1. The nature of the 'beast'.
2. The goals of the society or community that Ralph has created.
We will be discussing the following questions in our lesson tomorrow:
1. What changes have taken place in the community in this chapter?
2. What are the goals of this society? Are they reasonable? How do they go about achieving them?
3. How is Ralph's government working?
4. What do you think the beast is?
5. What caused the out-of-control fire in your estimation?
6. What do you think happened to the small boy with a "mark on his face"?
Be prepared to present your opinions and have them challenged tomorrow in class.
Good Luck.
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