Learning Log 7

Hello everyone!! Boy, it had been quite a long time since I blogged here! I almost forgot my password to it. :) Anyway, today's blog post mostly consists of my experience throughout the preparations and the actual performance of Romeo & Juliet. How time really flies when you are having fun. Well the day of our actual performance eventually came on Thursday the 15 of September and boy, were my members having butterflies in their stomach. Our director, Phania, got all of us to run through a few final rehearsals before we got into our costumes and had our make-up done. Fortunately, we had Phania’s mother to thank for her make-up skills. She transformed Clarence into a middle-aged Lord Capulet and Sanjna into a stunning Juliet. My ,my was I amazed!! After make-up, we set-up the props and Ms Malyannah prepared the camera for the filming. When it was time to act, our audience which was 2 Integrity rushed inside through the back door and when we entered, there was total silence. Ms Maly checked our forms and with that it was 3, 2, 1. ACTION!! The music played and as I was one of the dancers, started to dance. Everything went by so fast. It went from the Tybalt’s angry scene to the kissing scene shared by Romeo & Juliet to the last part where we all got together to thank the crowd in Indian. In my opinion, I think everyone did well. Especially Sanjna and Anirwin, the Romeo & Juliet, who got scolded time and time and again by our director and Clarence who coached them on how to do a proper kissing scene. In my opinion, I also think that although being a costume manager does not require saying any lines, it is sure a tough time searching for them. This whole experience had certainly been memorable. Come to think of it, Justin who acted as Tybalt really had a hard time making his hair spiky and his make-up stand out as well. I find it a bit amusing, don’t you think?? Anyway, he did a splendid job being Tybalt. I would recommend this to the juniors as I am sure they would find the whole experience a memorable one in fact. I hope we have more things like this in the future and if there is, I perhaps would want to try out my acting skills. Won’t you??

Learning Log 6

This blog would mostly cover on the literary devices I learnt so far. Altogether there is about 25 literary devices and I am going in detail for each of them.

Firstly, simile.A comparison between two distinctly different things by using 'as' and 'like'. Next, metaphor are qualities of an object that is applied to another.Personification is the attribution of human beings to inanimate objects. Symbol stands for an object that mean something. Next, there is visual means descriptions to do with what we see. Auditory describes what we hear. Olfactory describes our smell. Kinesthetic describes our movement while tactile describes our touch.

Next, is rhyme.The similarity of ending sounds between two words. Rhythm the beat of the pattern of stresses in a passage or poem. Alliteration is the repetition of initial consonant sounds, to produce a rhythmical effect. Onomatopoeia is the formation of words, which echo the sounds that they describe. Tone is the oral expression of mood, attitude or point of view.

Then, there is connotation stans for the associated images and ideas conveyed by a word. Oxymoron is a single image or idea made up of contradictory images. Hyperbole is a deliberate exaggeration to emphasize a point or feelings. Paradox is a statement which seems self-contradictory, turns out to be good sense. Simple sentence is a sentence with one main idea. Complex sentence is one or more ideas together with minor phrases or causes. Incomplete sentence are truncated sentences which reflect excitement, action, etc. Exclamation is a strong statement showing emphasis. Rhetorical question is a question that does not require an answer. Repetition stands for using a word multiple times to give emphasis.

Overall, I like symbol the most. From my point of view, I find symbol interesting as it can use an object to signify things. For example, rose signifies love while a black cat signifies bad luck. It is going to take some time for me to memorise this whole lot of literary devices that is for sure.

Learning Log 5

To be honest, I was not so sure how to start of this learning log before seeing some examples from my fellow classmates. So I will keep this short and sweet.

Lets say I just love literature as a whole. I am filled with awe everytime I read a beautiful piece of poem or play. The poems all hold deep meaning which sometimes I could comprehend and sometimes I could not. However, after reading the notes for the unseen poems and passage, I think I could understand poems written by the skilled persona by using the 'PEEL' method. The other method which needs the introduction, body and is followed by the conclusion seems to vague for me. So, I feel that the 'PEEL' which means 'P'for point, 'E' for evidence, 'E' for elaboration and 'L'for link seems more similar to what we are used to do for literature. Then, the 'ABC' method of quoting seem to be really helpful especially in terms of context where I have to understand the text and at the same time let my feelings flow so I can comprehend the certain poem.

Learning Log 4

Lets start from the very beginning when Mrs Woo was using her famous number selector to arrange our groups for the Macbeth Play from the first to the last. It was quite nerve-wrecking waiting to see my group number to be chosen. Boy was Lady Luck on my side that very day as my group was one of the few other groups to perform later! Anyway, my group leader Dawn didn't waste any time assigning us our tasks. My group consists of Dawn, Jamie and me. I was tasked to find the sounds and design the props. Jamie was tasked to bring a box which was part of the props. Dawn had more of the heavier tasks like making the costumes out of black trash bags, the background picture and the other props. When I saw the witches costumes she had made, I was horrified. I appreciate her effort of making it but the costumes really wasn't what I had imagined. It was then when I remembered that my mom had a few long dresses that could be worn for the play. Dawn was ecstatic when she heard about it and told me to bring it to school so that we could practice with it. With that, Dawn had one less thing to be worried about. The day when we rehearsed our lines and tried our scenes was very memorable and fun. We tried to imitate the voice of the three witches and their way of walking. It was a bit challenging for Dawn but she managed to do it anyway. The day of the performance was a bit hectic. My group was supposed to perform after recess so we had no choice but to sacrifice our break to dress up. With messy hair and a sneer on our faces, we looked like witches already! But Dawn felt that it would be much better if we could apply some makeup to make us look more witch-like so she went in search of Sanjna who fortunately brought along her make-up box. However, we searched for her high and low but my group couldn't find her and alas we thought we had to make do without make-up. When it was minutes away from my group's performance, Sanjna came in with her make-up box and her group members. Dawn hurriedly borrowed the make-up box and applied make-up on us and herself. Soon, our performance started. I felt so nervous in the beginning that I almost forgot my lines but the rest of the performance proceeded quite smoothly. After the performance, I felt a sense of relief overcome me. Finally, the play was over! I watched the rest of the other performances by my classmates and especially enjoyed Sanjna's group performance. I came to realise that Dawn did a good job on the prop of the bloody hand and the hats. I also thought that without my group members teamwork and dedication, this play wouldn't be such a success. Thus, I had a very memorable time going through this play with my classmates as I await our next play which would be Romeo and Juliet!!

Learning Log 3

When the whole class was tasked to split up into groups and discuss about an event where something actually happened because someone said it would, my mind just went blank. To me, nothing exciting like that ever occurred in my mundane life so I was pretty thankful to Mrs Woo for breaking us up into smaller groups and having the opportunity to share our different views on this certain topic. I found myself in the company of Jing Yan, Calisa and Amanda. But to my dismay, none of them had a great story to share. Out of the blue, Jing Yan said that he had a story in mind but refused to tell any of us so in the end we settled for Jing Yan's mysterious, unknown story. When the day came where every group had to share their own story, disaster struck!! Jing Yan was not PRESENT!! He went to Thailand already for an early Chinese New Year so our group was now left with me, Calisa, Amanda and a newly added member, Jia Ying. Boy was I relief when Mrs Woo said the story need not be true so we used our 'girl power' and brainstormed of an awesome story. In the end, we got ourselves a pretty interesting tale to share. Due to time constraint, we did the sharing on another day where Jing Yan was around. Despite using Mrs Woo's famous 'number selector' to pick the person in the group who was going to go to the front to share, Jing Yan had already secured that position as he did not contribute to the work the day before. During the sharing, I got to hear quite a handful of entertaining stories but I especially liked the story that Rachel's group shared. It was an imaginative yet a creepy tale for a made up story. At the end of the day, there would always be reasons for doing an activity, right? So, I guess Mrs Woo was trying to relate the story 'Macbeth' to this groupwork because that famous William Shakespeare story revolved around superstitions and occults. Thus, making us understand more about Macbeth. Overall, the lesson was enjoyable.

I feel that sometimes breaking up into our groups would take a long time as some of us refuse to have a sense of urgency. This would waste time so I would suggest that everytime we break up into our groups, there should be a 'number countdown' from 10 to 1. The ones who had exceeded the time given perhaps could do a forfeit if there was time. I hope this idea could be considered.:)

Learning Log 2

Well, this lesson was really an interesting one! When I first got the information that we had to surf the Internet for some superstitions, my mind was blank for a moment! In my head I was thinking, "What had superstions got to do with English or Literature?". After that our form teacher asked us to read up on our first play by Shakespeare which was Macbeth. Gosh, was I on cloud-nine! Finally we can do some acting and drama although I would much rather prefer the famously known Romeo & Juliet. However, I found out that I would also get a chance to act in it next term for our CA2. Lets' focus on the main thing here before I slowly stray away from it! Unfortunately, I failed to read Macbeth but was able to scoop out some cool bits on superstitions. The next day came and our smart Mrs Woo decided to use a function in her laptop that was able to pick numbers at random for some sharing on superstitions. I was literally praying that my register number would not come up! I found out that many superstions relate to a variety of religion. The thing that came next was really fun! Mrs Woo used the same 'random pick' function in her laptop to call out the people who would act the opening chapter of Macbeth as the three witches! When they tried to act the scene out with a voice of a witch, I was trying really hard to contain my laughter but it was to no avail. That particular lesson was pretty hilarious! Soon I realised that Macbeth had something got to do with superstions like 'witchcraft' and 'sorcery' i guess.

Overall, I enjoyed the lesson and I think so did the others from 2CMT. This is all thanks to Mrs Woo for the smooth delivery of the lesson and also making it come to life! In my opinion, working in groups for the discussion really helps us bond with others and it was really a great feeling sharing different type of information with each other. To Mrs Woo, as a teacher you did really well! I hope you can keep making each of your lesson alive!

I had been pondering this for a while but my mind just cannot think of anything. As long as the lesson was entertaining and smoothly delivered in detail, I think everything would be fine I guess...

Learning Log 1

When I was first introduced to cinquain,I was a bit lost and uninterested. However,I soon developed a keen interest to the subject as it was a bit unique. It has to have a one word title. Two creative words to describe the topic after it. Then,three adjectives or descriptive words ending with -ing following with four words to know the topic in more detail. Lastly, write a word that reflects the topic itself. Overall,the lesson was fun. We got a chance to team up with other members and create our own cinquain. It was awesome! My group did the one on money. Everyone seems to be involved in the lesson and Mrs Woo also did a great job teaching this topic and showing us examples like the cinquain about chocolate. In my opinion, Mrs Woo should let the class to group up more often for activities like last time to make the lesson more colourful than mundane. This also help students to have motivation to pay attention to the lesson if the activity were carried out with classmates than by themselves. At the end of the day, cinquain was a fresh and new topic to me thus it was an entertaining lesson!