Blog Post 3 - My Favourite Storybook

My favourite book is a book that I read during the December holidays last year. It is titled ‘ The Mysterious Benedict Society ‘ , written by novelist Trenton Lee Stewart. I like this book very much because of the interesting storyline, the way the author keeps his reader in suspense and the many twists in the story.

The whole story is basically about 4 talented children who passed a series of special tests and were being selected to go on a secret mission to stop a man from using children to brainwash the whole world. The 4 children faced many difficulties during the mission, but with teamwork and friendship, they eventually managed to accomplish their mission and save the world from the brainwash.

I really enjoyed reading this book very much and I would recommend the book to my friends.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/83369.The_Mysterious_Benedict_Society

2011 Blog Post 2 - Answers to Shel Silverstein's Poems

Poem 1 - The Little Boy and the Old Man

1: The underlying message that is being conveyed in this poem is that matured adults do not pay enough attention to children and the elderly because they feel that they are troublesome. Children and elderly should receive more care and attention from adults.

2: He uses repetition of words, rhymes and assonance.

Poem 2 - Messy Room

1: Yes. The poet critises the owner of the room, stating how messy the room is and the owner of it should be ashamed of himself. However, at the end of the poem, he realised that he was the owner of the messy room, and he had been insulting himself all along!

2: Criticism of others, not reflecting upon oneself.

Poem 3 - Cloony The Clown

1: When Cloony tried to be funny and make the audience laugh, they did not laugh but instead felt that he was boring and they did not like what he did. However, when he tried to tell them how he felt to make them symphatise him, they laughed instead.

2: Yes, it conveys sadistic people.

3: He uses repetition, rhymes and assonance.

2011 Blog Post 1 - Answers to 'Big Fish' Questions

1. The phrase “a big fish in a small pond” means that someone is outstanding within a group of people.

2. He wanted to let people know that in order to catch an uncatchable woman, you have to offer her a wedding ring.

3. As a boy, William Bloom was interested in his father’s telling of the tale. However, as he gets older, he felt that his father’s telling of the story was getting more and more boring and feels annoyed whenever his father wanted to tell him the story.

4. He felt proud of himself whenever he told the story and he wanted to emphasise the message of catching an uncatchable woman using a wedding ring.

5. The tale revealed that Edward and William Bloom were very close to each other because Edward actually released the fish after catching it so that William could catch the fish again. However, after Edward told William the tale many times, the relationship between the father and son was strained and both of them ignored each other for three years.

6. Myths. We would not know if the event really took place in the past, or whether it was made up. Thus, we would not know whether or not to believe the story.

7. Yes, bending or exaggerating the truth for the purpose of conveying an entertaining story does undercut the believability of such a story and a tall tale is less valid than a straight reportage of the facts. By bending or exaggerating the truth for the purpose of conveying an entertaining story, the reader may find it hard to believe the story and think that the story is fictional.

Reflection on things that I have learned so far this year in Language Arts That Have Been Valuable for Me

I have learnt many new things in my LA lessons after 3 terms in school. Among them, I will highlight mainly 2 things that I have improved the most. They are my comprehension skills and my appreciation for poems.

When I first entered Hwa Chong, my comprehension skills were not very good. I usually encountered many problems while doing the comprehension assignments in my primary school. However,after Mr Lundberg taught us some skills to tackle comprehension, I found that I was able to answer the questions more easily and I did not struggle as much as before.

In the past, I also did not enjoy poems at all. I found that they were very boring and that they made no sense. After Mr Lundberg taught us about poems and shared with us some interesting poems in class, I enjoyed poems alot and also started writing my own poems. I also understand that poems have deeper meanings behind them and as I read more poems, I began to feel that I can understand more of the author's emotions and what he is thinking about.

Compulsary Blog Post 11 - 10 Steps Procedure For Snapshot Land

Step 2: Thoughts Of Title -
-Photos
-Fictional World
-Smiles
-People posing for actions
-Smiles
-Place where everything is stationary

Step 4: Words/Phrases which catches my attention-
-happy all the time
-smile and smile and smile
-sun shines all day long
-lovers stay in love forever
-permanenet delight
-no one dies, ever

Step 5: Figurative Language in the Poem-
-Snapshot land is the promised land - Metaphor
-smile and smile and smile - Repitition
-smooth sand , sun shines , sepia on sandboys - Alliteration

Step 6: Groups of Words Which Are Themetically Similar-
-sand, sea,sea-shore,buckets---beach
-lovers,couples ---relationship

Step 8: Intelligent Guesses on the Poem's Meaning-
-Informal
-Happiness
-Fictional

Step 9:Questions-
a)persona
b)public in general
c)happiness
d)neutral
e)free-verse gives the poet more freedom on how he writes the poem
f)understand the poem better

Step 10: Poet's Intent-
Talk about the happiness in snapshot land. Everything is perfect, like a paradise.

Compulsary Blog 10 - Writing a Poem About Life

This is my poem about life, please enjoy!

Life is a rocky road,

and never will it be smooth.

The road is so uneven,

that no one will fail to fall.

The road is full of up and downs,

so what you might encounter along the way, is very unpredictable.

25th May's IT Home Learning - Lesson 1

Poem- If You Forget Me By Palbo Neruda

I want you to know one thing.
You know how this is:
if I look at the crystal moon, at the red branch of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch near the fire of impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals, were little boats
that sail toward those isles of yours that wait for me.
Well, now, if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.
If suddenly you forget me do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.
If you think it long and mad,
the wind of banners that passes through my life,
and you decide to leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots,
remember that on that day, at that hour,
I shall lift my arms and my roots will set off to seek another land.
But if each day, each hour,
you feel that you are destined for me with implacable sweetness,
if each day a flower climbs up to your lips to seek me,
ah my love, ah my own,
in me all that fire is repeated,
in me nothing is extinguished or forgotten,
my love feeds on your love, beloved,
and as long as you live it will be in your arms
without leaving mine.

1. How is figurative language used in the poem? Give the specific word(s), explain what type of figurative language it is and why the poet chose to use this figurative language.

Hyperbole – ah my love , ah my own

Shows exaggeration, evokes a strong sense of love and desire

Personification – everything carries me to you, wrinkled body of the log

Depicts nature as a living thing which carries her to 'you', makes the reader feel that the body of the log is like an old man's one , one which is wrinkled.

Metaphor - aromas, light, metals, were little boats

Comparing aromas , lights , metals to little boats

Symbolism - the fire of impalpable ash

Fire of impalpable ash is used as a symbol in this case, gives the reader a feeling that there is a deeper meaning to this phrase.

2. Tell us why you like this poem in no less than 100 words.

This poem is an extremely romantic one. It evokes a strong feeling of love and an unforgettable memory of someone who the author loved greatly. The sentences are extremely meaningful. The phrase ‘ flower climbs up to your lips to seek me’ is a really beautiful one. Since flowers are pretty , it makes the reader feel as if it is very touching and romantic. The author also used many good phrases and some hyperboles, personification, metaphors and symbolism. Some of her sentences are really very meaningful and beautiful . Some examples are “I shall lift my arms and my roots will set off to seek another land.”, “and you decide to leave me at the shore of the heart where I have roots” etc. All in all, I enjoyed reading this poem very much.