Reminders 29 Jan

1. The first lesson next week, we will be doing formative/narrative essay
2. The second lesson we will be doing characterisation

Cheers~ :)

Lexile Reading Test

For Those who did not take the reading test today, I have given you all the Userid and password, pls go online to access the test using CHROME browser.

Lexile Reading Programme

Hi Class

Just a reminder that:

1) You can all resit for the the Lexile Reading Test after 30 days;
2) Retain your own individual userid and password. Do not share it with anyone.;
3) Read at least 1 book per term based on the reading list which is recommended to you.

Ms Lam

Fables Want you to Act Upon the Moral Values the Author wants you to

Fables are short stories with a moral value. And more importantly, they spur you to act upon that particular moral value. View the video clip on 'I have a dream' by Martin Luther King Jr., and post your comments on how you would combat discrimination in your school and country.

Reminder

Hey guys, sorry for only posting today but here are 2 reminders from Friday's lesson:

1) There will be a milestone check on the English Performance Task brochure (Pages 1 and 2) on Monday, 27th January.
2) Please also purchase 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas' from the school bookshop or anywhere else by Monday, 27th January too.

Have a good weekend ahead :D

Extract (Characterisation)

Characterisation

CHARACTERISATION

Group Writing Practice: Continue the story from this point by paying more focus on action, dialogue and thoughts of the protagonist.

Homework 22 Jan

1. Register 12 please post up learning points.
2. Groups selected, please update your story and send a pages/word document to Ms Lam 

English Lesson 21st Jan 2014

Learning Points:
Set mood by using imagery and figures of speech such as metaphors and similes.

Homework 21 Jan

1. Colour code the: Imagery, adjectives and figures of speech, in your writing. Do improve on the as well
2. Qayyum please post up the learning points for today

Do note that English Performance Task (pages 1&2) is due next week (27 Jan) 

Cheers~ ^^

Setting & Mood_Group Writing (1st Formative)

English lesson 17th Jan

Sorry for late post.

Mood

Homework 15 Jan

Look at this post :)


Register no 7 please post up learning points

Learning Point 15/1/14

Settings and Mood.

- The setting of a story is the venue and time where action occurs.

- A good setting not only affects characters but create conflicts too.

Plot Structure (Nehal & Sabrina)

Orientation

Who - The author and the dog

What - The author brought the dog for a walk which caused the author to save a group of people stuck in a fire

Where - Putnam Park and building on fire

Why - The dog would pee at his doorstep without fail if he didn’t bring him out on a walk

When - NA

How - NA

Orientation:  The author was bringing his pet dog for a walk outside.

Rising Action: The dog making trouble by going through the gap at a door.

Climax: The author realized that there were also people behind the door which could not escape because the door was stuck. The author began yanking and pulling the door with all his strength.

Falling Action: The teacher and the students escaped and the dog relieved himself on the author.

Resolution: The police arrived with the fire department and news crews.

Orientation

I pulled my collar up and my hat down, securing my sunglasses. The only reason I took the trip outside was because the mutt would pee at my doorstep without fail if I didn’t. He was scared to go outside on his own, the little brute. Not as scared as I was, though. The ride down the elevator with some lady. Pain. The doorman asking me how I’m doing. Agony. Smiles from strangers on the street. Unbearable. I made sure to mutter things back to them, just loud enough to enter their subconscious once I’d walked away, to mess with them. Things like, ‘Better than you,’ or ‘Contemplating world domination,’ or ‘Shove off.’ Sowing little seeds of discontent as I walked, fostering buds of aggravation. It gave me a chuckle to see the frown as they scratched their heads.

Rising Action

“Would you stop it?”

The mutt nearly knocked me down every couple yards, stopping short in front of me to look up and make sure I was still following him. Checking me out with his big, goofy, lopsided eyes. What an ugly dog. But then again so am I.

I breathed in the frigid air and smelled smoke. Everyone had a chimney on the block, pumping away to keep their dumb, ugly families from whining about the temperature. We rounded the corner to Putnam Park and that mangy, stupid, useless spaz of a creature bolted. The smoke was coming from a burning building, and that psychotic pug thought it would be a good idea to run toward the fire. Smart guy.

I continued at the same pace, chuckling as I watched him run in a circle, barking his little dumb head off. He didn’t just stop there, though. Oh, no. He wasn’t going to stop until he ruined my day completely. He was the reason I was out here in this disgusting city in the first place. Then I saw that little turd wedge himself through a gap in the door. I broke into a run. Well, the casual observer probably wouldn’t have called it a run. I heaved myself forward in a pathetic jog for half a block and wheezed to a stop at the building. If this is what dying feels like, sign me up for immortality. That stupid dog.

“Would you come out?” I shouted.

Climax

“We’re trapped! The door’s stuck!”

I jumped back, startled. It was a woman’s voice. It hadn’t even occurred to me people might be inside.

“Er, no...it’s just...my dog’s in there. Well he’s not my dog, per se; he just sort of follows me around and I—”

“Help us out of here, please!” a small child interrupted.

I don’t like things being out of order. If I’ve come to collect my dog, that is precisely what’s going to happen. First, I will collect the dog; after that is resolved, all other things will follow in their respective orders.

I ignored the rude child and began yanking on the door. It was wedged shut for whatever reason and not budging. I pulled as hard as my flabby arms could manage, inching the door out a little bit each time. Quite suddenly, the entire thing flew off, cracking vertically right at the hinges. I fell backward, hard, with the door on top of me. My back cracked and felt glorious. All kinds of very tiny humans (and their teachers) ran out through the doorway.

Falling Action

One of the teachers wrapped her arms around me and started in with a stream of gracious platitudes before I cut her off with a shushing motion and brushed past her into the building. After a few seconds of scanning through the thick smoke, I found the pain-in-the-bum tugging on the pants of a scared little boy. I bent down and tried to pull the pug off the child, but he wouldn’t budge, so, I did what any sane person would do: I dragged the dog out, and the dog, in turn, dragged the child out.

I wrestled the dog free from the terrified kid’s pants and picked him up. That lousy little pipsqueak took that moment as an opportunity to finally relieve himself. Right. That’s why we went on this walk in the first place.

Resolution

Just then the police arrived with the fire department and news crews. They were talking to the little kiddies, taking their pictures with panicked parents who showed up soon after.

“You’re a little late fellas,” I mumbled, as a made a beeline to my home.

“He broke the door down!” the teacher shouted in her high-pitched, painfully grating voice.

They pounced. Cameras and microphones were stuck in my face. All I could see were flashing lights. Too many questions, no order, complete chaos, and dirty, dirty scribbling hands far too close to my face. They delighted in the dumb pug wriggling in my arms, panting his little face off with a big dog smile, revelling in the attention. He seemed to be looking back and forth across the crowd, like he was waiting for someone to ask him who’s a good boy and whether or not he’s a good boy. It certainly wouldn’t be me, pal. Good boys don’t pee on Daddy’s jacket.

Flip over the next page and use the plot diagram structure which is for you to chart the various progressions made in the story. Also, identify the language features in the excerpt and provide specific examples, which are typical of a narrative style of writing.

Language Features	Examples
Fronting	- Checking me out with his big, goofy, lopsided eyes.
Personification	- He was scared to go outside on his own, the little brute - Smart Guy
Hyperbole	- If this is what dying feels like, sign me up for immortality. - My back cracked and felt glorious.
Alliteration	- Psychotic pug
Exclamation	- “We’re trapped! The door’s stuck!” - “Help us out of here, please!” - “He broke the door down!”
Declarative	- I don’t like things being out of order

Plot Structure and Language Features

Orientation:

I think that the orientation is the first paragraph,the author introduces the main character,this is the who,he brings in the setting,him leaving his house,this is the where,he also tells us what he is doing,taking out his dog,and why,because if he does not,the dog would pee at his doorstep.

Rising Action:

“I breathed in the frigid air and smelled smoke.” this is when the action starts to rise.

“The smoke was coming from a burning building, and that psychotic pug thought it would be a good idea to run toward the fire. Smart guy.” When we read this, we will have that sense of danger as we understand that there’s a building on fire.

After that, the dog ran into the burning building, and the author chases it. This is the event that leads to the climax.

Climax:

“I ignored the rude child and began yanking on the door. It was wedged shut for whatever reason and not budging.”

“I wrestled the dog free from the terrified kid’s pants and picked him up. That lousy little pipsqueak took that moment as an opportunity to finally relieve himself”

The author yanked the door save his dog,in doing so,he saved the class and the teachers. The author wrestled the dog ,saving the little boy that was rude to him before, all in a school on fire.

Conclusion:

The author ends off the story by giving a “funny/ humorous” ending by saying it from the dog’s point of view. One example is “Good boys don’t pee on Daddy’s jacket.”

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas Assignments

Qayyum + Kenric + Hong Yi + Sean
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dnn-LqHtRg1FzK49G-CdUGrMQcWBCKJKrpd5DXqtfmg/edit?usp=sharing

note from sean: my pages are messed up as the pdf version i am reading from is wierd.

Sorry ><

Themes	Characters and Specific examples
Prejudice and Discrimination	[kenric] Lieutenant Kotler was very rude and disrespectful to the Jews, even those older than him. He treated them very unfairly and always spoke to them in an insolent tone. This can be proven from pages 42 to 43 and , evident in, “‘Hey, you!’ he shouted, then adding a word that bruno did not understand. ‘Come over here, you--’ He said the word again, and something about the harsh sound of it made Bruno look away and feel ashamed to be part of this at all.” This clearly indicates that Lieutenant Kotler has no understanding or rather does not want to practice human rights towards the Jews and deems himself superior. Even though the obey his instructions, he still treats them like dirt and even treats them like labour animals. Thus, we can determine that he has no thoughts towards humane fairness and equality.
Childhood and Innocence	[sean] Bruno was very young and innocent, not able to understand many things about him. This is easily shown in the whole book when Bruno referred to Auschwitz as Out-With, instead of it’s actual name. As Bruno did not understand his current situation fully , he did not know what the was the actual name of the place he was living in , only knowing to refer to the place he was living in as something that Auschwitz sounded like. This clearly shows that Bruno was young and innocent, not mature enough to understand most things yet.
Obedience and Conformity	[sean] Bruno had to obey many strict and unorthodox rules laid by his father despite his own opinions and feelings about the tasks. This is elucidated multiple times in Page 40 , for example,  “‘I didn’t mean-’, ‘But you will be quiet now,’ said Father, raising his voice and interrupting him because none of the rules of normal family life never applied to him.”Firstly , this is one of the many instances where Bruno had to do something for father despite his reservations. By saying that “the rules of family life never applied to him” , it shows that the father had greater superioty that anyone else in the family and Bruno was forced to listen to his father. Therefore, this shows that Bruno had to comply with any rules and his requests set by his father.
Humanity	Bruno did not break up Shmuel despite knowing that he was supposed to despise Jews. Although he was scolded for bringing Shmuel home, he still visits Shmuel with a chocolate bar thinking that he is always hungry. He also offered to help Shmuel to find his father despite knowing how horrible the camp is like and in the end died with his friend, Shmuel. He also did not rat out Shuel intentions to the officers despite of all the confusion and fear. He also defied his father’s rules by visiting Shmuel. This shows that despite of all the prejudices, Bruno still believes that Shmuel deserved to be respected and treated equally.
Friendship and Loyalty	[Qayyum] Bruno was very close to his friends and would stick by them through everything. This was shown in page 8 through the way he reacted when he found out they were moving away. The first thing he asked was about his friends Martin, Karl and Daniel.This shows that he will always think of his friends first when he says”say goodbye to Karl,Daniel and Martin?” in a shocked manner as it is the last thing he wanted to do. Also when he was in Auschwitz, the thing he missed most was his house and his friends as they are very important to him.

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Characteristics of a Fable	Examples from The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Teaches a moral [Sean]	Friendship and loyalty can overcome any other factor like discrimination and rivalry. (this one is hard to explain): Although Bruno was a German and/or a “Nazi” too, he was treated the same way as every Jew in the end , as the had the same death as them (gas chamber). Hence, if Bruno’s parents had found out the way their son had died, they would have thought that it was a very cruel way to kill someone, although they would have not felt any compassion for the Jews that had already been killed that way. One can choose to accept discrimination and let it change their views on something , or listen to one’s own moral compass and let that allow the person to have his own opinions on a certain subject. The latter is displayed very valiantly by Pavel when he he helps Bruno find a tyre for his swing and helps to clean Bruno’s wound after he was hurt. We later find out in the book that Pavel is a Jew and we can understand from that that Pavel could have chose to not help Bruno as he was Jew and Bruno was German , but Pavel was still very kind and accepting of Bruno, cleaning his wound humbly and even chatting with him. This proves that One can choose to accept discrimination and let it change their views on something , or listen to one’s own moral compass and let that allow the person to have his own opinions on a certain subject.
Main characters are broadly drawn (Qayyum)	In The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, the main characters, such as Bruno and Shmuel are described intricately. Their backgrounds are described in depth to help us understand them better Also they are like that so that we can better relate to the characters and learn their lessons as well.
One character displays a flaw that leads to a downfall (Bruno’s father	Bruno’s father have a prejudice against Jews which led to his son being accidentally gasses due to his stubborn defiance against his father who hate jews. This shows that his hate against Jews could result in himself causing the death of a loved one.
Highlights what makes us human	“And that’s the end of the story of Bruno and his family. Of course all this happened a long time ago and nothing like that could ever happen again. Not in this day and age.” This shows that human can change their way of thinking about others to a more positive way and they are willing to forgive and forget to move on with life.

[sean chiu]:

I’ve never read alot to do with the WW2, or just war in general too.

However, I have read BSP and that still counts, so this is my book review of it.

i just finished reading boy in striped pyjamas and dear classmates who think thats its a bad/boring book I BEG TO DIFFER PLS

read on if you have time (its going to be long)

I'm currently in a extremely emotional state right now and i'm simply caught up in all my emotions , while i may be physically here typing this, i'm still lost in the world of Out-with, caught up in the conversations of Bruno and Schumel.

John Boyne is truly brillant and it's not the use of flamboyant words, or fancy descriptions of everything, but personally i feel that its how subtle his writing is , how he gives me clues to lead me on about how the character is feeling.

The way he portrayed Bruno's ignorance to everything and anything around him , his mild lack of social EQ when he talked to Schumel and the stark differences between the two boys really impressed me and brought the story alive for me. I was sincerely teleported into some other world where i was living in the 1950's and saw life through the eyes of a 9-year-old.

The childlike and innocence was so well written and i really appreciate the character development and the attachment that i grew to the two boys, like they too were my best friends.

However, it's truly the ending of the story that really hit me like a sack of bricks and came in like a wrecking ball. I read the last chapter 7 times and i cried harder each time. Their ignorance in the face of death and their loyalty and friendship to the end really impacted me and i couldn't help myself but break down. As i write this , the feels start to come back yet again and i'm tearing again.

The lines and quotes, the specific words and how John wrote them was so touching and well crafted that i'm speechless. "I'm sorry that we didn't really get to play, but when you come to Berlin, that's what we'll do." "he took hold of Shumel's hand and squeezed it tightly. "your my best friend, Shmuel,he said."my best friend for life"

i lost it at "Bruno found that he was still holding Shumel's hand in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let it go."

Reading the last 2 chapters was truly a heart wrenching experience , and each time i read it again i understood and managed to analyse their feelings, putting myself in their shoes and knowing how painful but sweet it was.

The boy in the striped pyjamas is truly a good book , i'm sick and tired of rubbish (ok maybe not that bad) books like Percy Jackson and The Mortal Instruments, books that have no impact and pales in comparison to this.

This book is the first that has made me cried so much, and the only 3rd book that i've cried to. what a great story, hats off to you John Boyne. This is what i call a truly satisfying ending to a book. u r d man

there won't be another book like The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas , not in this day and age.

tl;dr

BSP made me cry like a little girl

11/10

222

{Qayyum}

I have read a book titled Friedrich by Hans Peter Richter. It explained the hardships faced by the Jews during WW2. The book touched me as it also showed how a Jewish boy could not be with the girl he loved just because of religious differences. They were prejudiced against if they did not change their religion and could only practice their religion in secrecy. Even those that were well educated had to take up low paying jobs just because they were not respected and seen as leeches.

(Kenric) I have read a book called Mein Kampf (Volume I) by Hitler himself. The book basically describes his life as he matures both physically and mentally. It also describes why he wanted to be involved in the war in the first place and his surprising past. The book hit me in the guilt chord as it opened up the war in Hitler’s eyes and actually, he had a passion for art and history. Although he caused much sorrow and harm to many families, all he wanted to do was help his country due to what was happening to it. He was a hardcore patriot, relentlessly doing anything for the country and the society always refer to him as an animal or a beast. Although that is seemingly true, why can’t the society refer to him as a patriotic beast? It is understandable that some people might not agree with this due to the pain caused by him but if you look into his life, he actually cares for his country a lot. When he went to participate in the war, he killed many of the Jews as the Jews were technically more inclined in education (I may be wrong) and he was afraid that they might outsmart him and overthrow him or something along that line.

[Hong Yi]

Hanna’s suitcase.

Exposition: Hanna got gassed in a gas chamber and died but her brother survived the holocaust.

Feeling guilty about Hanna, her brother started to search for her after the war.

Rising Action: A teacher is introduced to the story. She wants her students to learn more about the Jewish holocaust. She wants her students to learn important lessons from the holocaust and she hopes that that would reduce the rate of violence within her students.

Climax: The teacher contacted George, the brother of Hanna and informed him about the dreaded news. After that, although he was sucessful in life, he still kept having nightmares about her.

Falling Action: He went to Japan to share his experience with the students.

Resolution: The children like his sharing and got very interested in Hanna’s suitcase. They enjoyed his presentation and he had fame after that when the whole of japan knew about him.

[sean]

i felt like doing my own one.

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Language Features	Examples
Exposition	The protagonist is introduced to us in the first 3 paragraphs with many insights into who he is like  character(eg.rude), Appearance(eg.”ugly”), friends(eg.his pug)(mild affection shown). “What an ugly dog. But then again so am I.” -His appearance (paragraph one)
Rising Action	The complication is introduced in paragraph 4 when we are told that a building is on fire and the protagonist is in the area near the fire. The situation is aggrvated when the protagonist’s dog runs into the building. Paragraph 4 “The smoke was coming from a burning building, and that psychotic pug thought it would be a good idea to run toward the fire. Smart guy.”
Climax	This is when the narrator decides to pry open the door to the building. But instead of having nobles reasons like to save the people inside the building, he opens the door with the intend of saving his dog instead. He rushes into the building and frees the teacher and her students, but his dog is deeper in the building with another child, forcing him to run in and save his dog, which in turn saved the child.
Falling Action	The protagonist exits the burning building after saving everyone inside, and receives thanks from the teacher.News teams and the fire department arrive.
Resolution	The protagonist is interviewed by the reporters only to his dismay and dislike, annoyed by the attention he is getting.He is lauded as a hero when all he really intended to do was to save his dog.