Sunday 3 April 2011

"The Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin


One of my favorite short stories I've read is "The Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin. In the title, the "story" refers to that of Louise's life. She lived in the true sense of the word, with the will and freedom to live for only one hour. The untrue love and untold feelings between a husband and a wife. I like the way the story evolves.

Most people carry the belief that marriage should occur only when two people are in love, though people marry for many reasons.

We dream a relationship that is built on openness, intimacy, and trust, but the truth is, our relationships do not always work that way. More often than not, our intimate relationships involve secrecy and deceit. In fact, if you want to look for deception and betrayal in your own life, the best place to start is close to home.

Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare


Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare is poem where the persona who is immensely in love with his beloved, deeply admires his love and compares her with summer. The comparison is done based on the beauty of summer’s day and its wonders.

However, the persona finds his belove being more beautiful than summer and its elements; the sun, flowers, nature’s movements, and the summer of his heart and life is and will be forever beautiful and warm.

Besides that his beloved’s beauty is eternal. Life is full of meaning to the persona as the beauty of his life remains forever. Even as summer fades, the love of his life will remain intact as long as people are alive to read and appreciate the beauty of his beloved in the poem.

Robert Frost’s poems


Robert Frost’s poems are very interesting as they touch the nature revealing an appealing atmosphere and inviting comfort .  The Road not taken is of his poems which have themes that are related to us..... as we walk on the pathway of our lives.

Synopsis:
This poem is about the poet who is enjoying his walk in the woods. He came to a point where the road branched into two. He had to make a choice to choose which road to travel, so he stood there wondering which one to take. Then , he decided to choose the less travelled one. He hopes that he can return on the other day and explore the other road.  However, he did not get the chance to do so as the road he choose took him further and further in life. After many years, he looked back and ponders about his decision he had made many years ago. The choice he had made many years ago have brought a great influence upon his life(shaped his life) and eventually making him the man he is today.

William Shakespeare

Amazingly William Shakespeare’s literary works are used widely in schools and educational institutions around the world until the present day although he died in 1616. Being a very distinguish playwright and actor,  he wrote dramatic and non-dramatic plays and insert poems in them. His sonnets deals with human emotion which touches the issues of love, beauty and immortality. The words he used reveal the human dimensions relating to the joy and sorrows of life which eventually creates a magnatic force where the readers get engaged in his beautiful, aesthetic works.Sonnet 18 is one of the sonnets of William Shakespeare which is used in the upper secondary level to test their critical and creative thinking skills.

The universal experience gained from Iroquois:The Girl Who Was Not Satisfied With Simple Things

This is a universal experience across all country, society, race and religion because no matter how much people get of something, they want more and more. Some of them are very greedy and they are not thankful or grateful to god and the people around them. In relation to the real life, the people nowadays are very materialistic. No matter how much they earn, they are still not satisfied with what they have and they always want more and more! Another example which I can relate to is some people are not satisfied with their marriage life so they end up having extra marital affairs. Referring to the story, the girl was deceived by the handsome outlooks of the man who turns out to be one of the horned serpents. We can use this story to teach our students to be grateful and be satisfied with the simple things they have. They need to appreciate their god, parents, teachers and etc. for the things they have given to them. They also need to learn that having something is better than having nothing! For example, having an old bicycle is better than having none. Other than the above, another moral value from the story is not to trust someone based on their looks because they might have bad intentions. They look good from the outside but they are bad inside.

Symbols in The Awakening

The Awakening is a novel full of symbolism; within each narrative segment there is often a central and powerful symbol that serves to add meaning to the text and to underline some subtle point Chopin is making. Understanding the meaning of these symbols is vital to a full appreciation of the story. Here are listed some of the major symbols with explanations of their import. It is important for you to discover symbols and meanings on your own, and these are here only to offer assistance. It might also be useful in considering all symbols in the text, not just those listed below, to remember this quote by Sandra Gilbert:
Porches and pianos, mothers and children, skirts and sunshades - all these are the props and properties of domesticity, the key elements of what in the nineteenth century was called "women's sphere," and it is in this sphere, on the edge of a blue gulf, that Edna Pontellier is securely caged when she first appears. . . she is confined in what is not only literally a "woman's sphere" but, symbolically speaking, the Woman's House. . . every object and figure [here] has not only a literal domestic function and a dreamlike symbolic radiance but a distinctively female symbolic significance" (47).

 

Art:

Art becomes a symbol of both freedom and failure. It is through the process of trying to become an artist that Edna reaches the highest point of her awakening. Edna sees art as a way of self-expression and of self-assertion. Mlle. Reisz sees becoming an artist as a test of individuality. Edna fails because her wings are too weak.

 

Birds:

Birds are major symbolic images in the narrative. They symbolize the ability to communicate (the mockingbird and parrot) and entrapment of women (the two birds in cages; the desire for flight; the pigeon house). Flight is another symbol associated with birds, and acts as a stand in for awakening. The ability to spread your wings and fly is a symbolic theme that occurs often in the novel. Edna escapes her home, her husband, her life, by leaving for the pigeon house. Mlle. Reisz lectures Edna on the need for strong wings in artistic endeavors.

 

Clothes:

Edna is fully dressed when first introduced; slowly over the course of the novel she removes her clothes. This symbolizes the shedding of the societal rules in her life and her growing awakening and stresses her physical and external self. As she disrobes, the reader is presented with an internal voyeuristic view. As MacCurdy points out, "Edna's dress opposes external nature, but more importantly, it begins to oppose her inner nature. A division exists between her and her environment as well as between her social character and her awakening instincts" (59). When she commits suicide she is finally naked, she has shed everything she has in her quest for selfhood. But it is not only Edna who is symbolized in clothes, Adele is more "careful" of her face in the seventh chapter and wears a veil. Both she and Madame Leburn constantly make clothes to cover the body, and the woman in black and Mlle. Reisz never change their clothes, symbolizing their distance from any physical attachment.

Food:
There are several symbolic meals in the text and each stress mythic aspects in the text. The meal on Cheniere Caminada occurs after she awakens from a fairy tale sleep; the dinner party in chapter thirty is viewed by some as a re-creation of the Last Supper.

 

Houses:

There are many houses in the novel: the one on Grand Isle, the one in New Orleans, the pigeon house, the house in which Edna falls asleep on Cheniere Caminada. The first two of these houses serve as cages for Edna. She is expected to be a "mother-woman" on Grand Isle and to be the perfect social hostess in New Orleans. The other two are places of supposed freedom. On the island she can sleep and dream, and in the pigeon house she can create a world of her own. In the same way, places have a similar significance. Grand Isle itself is a place of women. Most men only visit on weekends, and while there go to places of their own like Kiles's hotel. Cheniere Caminada is then a place of escape off this island of women, into a new, romantic, and foreign world. It is also similar to a garden, a Garden of Eden, where Edna gains knowledge. New Orleans is the bastion of societal rules, of realistic life and duties. Kentucky, for Edna is simply New Orleans in a different place; ridged with rules and full of unhappy memories. New York and Mexico are men's Grand Isles, and both Leonce and Robert leave Edna for these places, where they do business with other men.

 

Learning to swim:

Edna has struggled all summer to learn to swim. She has been coached by the men, women, and children on Grand Isle. In chapter ten, Chopin uses the concept of learning to swim as a symbol of empowerment. It provides Edna with strength and joy. Also attached to the concept of swimming are the ideas of staying afloat and getting in over one's head. Edna manages to do both.

 

The moon

The moon has many symbolic meanings in The Awakening. It is used as a symbol of mythic power and connects Edna with the goddess Selene and the associated implications. She is strong and commanding, the goddess of the hunt. She is sexually aware of Robert for the first time, the fertility aspect of Artemis. Moonlight also symbolizes the struggle Edna has with the concepts of sexual love and romantic love. At the end of chapter ten, delicate images of "strips of moonlight," are interposed with strong sexual feelings, "the first-felt throbbings of desire." Joyce Dyer suggests that this juxtaposition "symbolically anticipates the problems Edna will have determining the relationship between sex and romance" (58).Go back and reread chapter 10.

 

Ocean, Gulf, or Sea:

The ocean is a symbol of both freedom and escape. Edna remembers the Kentucky fields of her childhood as an ocean, she learns to swim in the gulf, and she finally escapes into the sea. The ocean is also a source of self-awareness, both an outward knowledge of the expansion of the universe and an inner direct obsession with self. The sound of the surf calls to her, comforts her throughout the novel, and acts as a constant beckon in the text. As you read, notice how often, even in New Orleans away from the sea, the language mimics the sound of the surf or the actions of the water.

 

Piano playing:

Music is an important symbol in text, both Adele and Mlle. Reisz play the piano. Each woman functions to underscore a different aspect of the narrative. Adele is considered a musician by Leonce, but she does not play for art, instead she does so to keep her husband and children cheerful and to set time for parties. Mlle. Reisz, on the other hand, is disliked by all, but is granted status as a musician by only Robert and Edna. The issue of the piano playing echoes the issue of placement in society. If you follow the rules and norms whatever you accomplish is considered great, if you defy those rules you are shunned and dispairaged. Thus, the piano playing becomes a symbol of societal rules and regulations.

 

Sleep:

Sleep is an important symbolic motif running through the novel. Edna's moments of awakening are often preceded by sleep and she does a great deal of it. Robert Levine calls it the "sleepiest novel in the American literary canon" (71) and sees Edna's sleep patterns as a rebellion against natural rhythms. Sleep is also a means of escape and of repairing her tattered emotions. In fairy tales, sleep is a key ingredient.

Using folktales/fables/myths or legends in the classroom.


Since fables are related to moral values, we must first teach the moral values related before taking a dive into the story. We must try to relate the moral values with real life situation before going into the story to increase students’ background knowledge in the moral values which they are going to grasp from the story.

I would use folktales/fables/myths or legends in the classroom by creating group activities to induce the students’ interest in the subject matter. Group activities are good to encourage and increase co-operation level among the students. This is vital because the co-operation skill will be applied by the students in the tertiary level and also in their respective careers. 

The examples of some group activities which can be carried out in the classroom are as follows:-

a.) Simplify the language used in the story.
b.) Turn the story into dialogue form.
c.) Brainstorm on the important issues found in the folktales/fables/myths or legends.
d.) Using role-play and simulation in the classroom. The best example is the mock trial.
e.) Rewrite alternative endings for the folktales/fables/myths or legends.
f.) Write their opinions about the characters and the story.
g.) Carrying out drama activities based on the folktales/fables/myths or legends in the classroom.

The examples of some individual activities which can be carried out in the classroom are as follows:-

a.) Reading comprehension.
b.) Identification of plot, characters, themes, point of view, settings, symbols, metaphors, tone, style, irony and etc.
c.) Sequencing activities such as unscrambling the events, filling in the missing events or charting the development of the plot.
d.) Paraphrasing or retelling of the story such as gap filling exercises, summary writing and story telling sessions where students take turns to narrate the story until it is completed.
e.) Predicting the events in the story.
f.) Linking / perceiving relationships such as identifying the cause-effect relationship of characters and events in the plot.
g.) Analysing conflict in characters.
h.) Responding to characters in texts.
i.) Insight into characters in literary texts. Examples of activities are matching characters and traits, inferring characters’ traits, perceiving characters and analysing character relationships.
j.) Using extrinsic visual support to teach folktales/fables/myths or legends in the classroom. Examples of extrinsic visual support are illustrations and pictures, maps, photographs (including slides), objects, video recordings and so on.

Then the students will be required to present their work to the class and submit the written version of their task to me, the teacher.

Pyramus and Thisbe

Pyramus and Thisbe is written by Ovid. The myths reminds me about the Romeo and Julie by William Shakespeare.  The characters in both stories are struggled in the same external conflict. Both of their conflict is their parents would not allow the lovers to be together. If the lovers could not get their blessing from their parents for their relationship, they will suffer a lot just like Pyramus and Thisbe. For me, the most miserable thing in this world is that the couple love each other very much, truly from the bottom of their heart but death separate one of them.

           There is another reason that Pyramus and Thisbe could not be together in their life time, their fate.  It is their fate to meet death on the night they eloped. If the lioness does not appeared at that night, everything will be different. Happiness will be the one waiting for them in other city.
 

           I like the sentence in "Pyramus and Thisbe" : Only death could have separated you from me, but not even death will part us.
 

          Activity that can be carried out in the classroom is let the students to study the soliloquy of both lover and complete the table below:

Character:

Character involve:
Conflict: internal /external conflict
Action Taken:
Result:

After the students have fill in the table, there will have a discussion on their finding.

Chinese Folktales And Myths

The Chinese have told each other stories for many different reasons - to teach things to their children, to make each other laugh, to record their feelings and observations and to explain how things got to be the way they are. Thus, common themes in Chinese folktales and myths revolve around filial piety in "Madam White Snake", triumph of good over evil in "Journey to the West", supremacy of wisdom over sheer physical strength in "the Romance of the three kingdoms", "Hua Mulan", cleverness and resourcefulness in "Wu Song kills a tiger", everlasting love in "Liang Shanbo and Zhu YingTai", "A Dream Of Red Mansions", "The Cowherd and the Girl Weaver", supernatural in "The Goddess Of Mercy", "God Of Longevity", "Zhong Kui", "Nuwa Repairs the Heaven", "Pangu Creates the Universe". Through these stories, Chinese values, traditions and customs are passed from one generation to the next.Follow the series "The Son Of The Turtle" showing an everlasting love.

The story of "The Son Of The Turtle-Spirit" have given us thoughts about supernatural powers. The childs mother shows brave, selfawareness characters dealing with happen around her. The mother character shows itself she is a typical chinese. Chinese believe that their old people who dies must be pray and ceremony to sending of their soul must be handled carefully. The believe are followed by chinese traditional families till today to face succeed life with the help of their forefathers.

The son character obey the mother`s order to place the bones of his father`s in the dragon`s mouth and hang the other bones on his horns. The son follows it exactly and one day he have became the Emperor. So, it have given a positive thinking attitudes to the reader to hear what ever advise from the parents. Parents advice are to be followed to succeed in life.

The reason why we are introducing tales, fables, folktales to motivate children to read as they get some information about real life. Another reason to make the teaching and learning process occur in the open classroom.

Form 2 Classroom
Chapter 3
Famous Faces
Skills:
Read and understand an article on remarkable man
Scan for details
Identify main ideas
Sequence ideas in a diagram

Wednesday 30 March 2011

EDU 3234 Online Task 4: SPEECHES

Question:
1. Think of at least 3 benefits of using speeches by famous figures, in the classroom.
The benefits of using speeches by famous figures, in the classroom are:-

a.) Speeches by famous figures are normally well prepared, free of grammatical errors and proofread many times before they are finalized. So these speech texts are suitable to be used in the classroom.

b.) Speeches by famous figures are normally persuasive speech. Therefore, if students read more of this type of speech, they can learn the techniques of persuasive speech and apply this particular skill in their real life.

c.) Speeches by famous figures normally reflect higher level of critical thinking skills. Therefore, if such speeches are used in the classroom, it might sharpen the critical thinking skills of the students.


2. Go to www.youtube.com and find the audio-visual on the speech. In not less than 50 words, state would the audio-visual be of any use in helping understand the speech better? State your reasons.

Martin Luther King's I Have A Dream Speech
Shortly, the speech is energetic effective in a way of persuading people freeing themselves. In our modern life speech which contents phenomenon about fighting for ones own rights are too sensitive among Malaysian. The style and the pattern of a persuasive speech can be the main idea to listen his speech but not the content. It may create negative point of view to fight for justice and human rights among our races. The harmony bind with us together might loose if content of such  speech being illustrated widely. So, my idea is autobiographies and speech has to view by the teachers before it is listen by the students.

3. Who is Martin Luther King?
He is a minister and social activist who led the civil rights movement in the United States from the mid-1950s until his death. His leadership was   fundamental to that movement's success in ending the legal segregation of African Americans in the South and other parts of the United States. He is promoting nonviolent tactics such as the massive March on Washington (1963) to achieve civil rights.

4. Based on the questions below, analyzes the features of the given written speech:

a. What is the purpose of the speech?
     Purpose of the speech is to motivate with kind words to be friendly and sacrifice a little to the needy. What we may have now is to share because we should remember that there are many people who do not have the things that we have. He talks about human rights awkward between northern white people and southern white people sharing church and shops.

b. What is the tone of the speech?
One of the biggest things we can notice in Martin Luther King's speech is the various tones and pitches of his voice. When his voice turns high and the volume of his voice is loud, it shows that he strongly feels about the point that he just voiced up.

c. What interesting major feature(s) can you see from the speech? (i.e.Repetition of phrases, emphasis on certain things said etc)
Loving your Enemies… make them think about what is he going to say next, Perhaps he is waiting for the audience to stop applauding him, or perhaps it is a pause, to make the audience really think hard about what he has just said. They aren't necessarily long pauses, but they are highly effective. A certain sentence in the speech that he makes stand out is this following one…"When will you be satisfied?" "I have a dream" it makes the audience want to know what he is going to say next. It catches the audiences' attention because they simply want to know what this dream of his is. He also says… "We cannot walk alone".

d. Any interesting facts that you can gather based on the background of the speech?
He utters fully energetic voice from the bottom of the heart to the people and for the African people who lives in America. It shows the importance of human rights to the people of Africa. 5. Suggest a while-reading activity that can be derived from this particular speech.

-     Taking short notes to gather important points in the speech and using mind map to explain it


ONLINE TASK 3: BIOPOEM ABOUT NELSON MANDELA

Online Task 3: BIOPOEM ABOUT NELSON MANDELA


                                        Nelson Mandela


Nelson Mandela
Brave, helpful, brilliant and insistent
Leader of the South Africa
Who loves reading, gardening and drawing
Who hates violence, bias and inequality
Who wants to see peace, respect, justice, freedom and human right
Resident of democracy
Nelson Mandela, a peacemaker

EDU 3234 Online Task 2: MARGINALISED LITERATURE

EDU 3234 Online Task 2: MARGINALISED LITERATURE

Do we have a canon for Malaysian literary works?
Yes.

Consider the fact that their works are well-known and most importantly included as part of the school syllabus- (both in BM and English)

Let's say we do, who do you think are in it?
I think that the recipients of the national literary scholar awards (anugerah sasterawan negara) are in the list of Malaysian literary canon. The recipients of the awards are listed below:-

   1. 1981 : Kamaluddin Muhamad (Keris Mas)
   2. 1982 : Dato' Shahnon Ahmad
   3. 1983 : Datuk Dr. Usman Awang
   4. 1986 : Datuk A. Samad Said
   5. 1988 : Muhammad Dahlan bin Abdul Biang (Arena Wati)
   6. 1991 : Prof. Dr. Muhammad Haji Salleh
   7. 1993 : Datuk Noordin Hasan
   8. 1996 : Datuk Abdullah Hussain
   9. 2001 : S. Othman Kelantan
  10. 2009 : Dr. Anwar Ridhwan

The recipients who have produced Malaysian literature in English, some titles and the category of their works are listed below:-

1981 : Kamaluddin Muhamad (Keris Mas)
a.)  Jungle of Hope
1983 : Datuk Dr. Usman Awang
                        a.) Mother’s grave (poem)
                        b.) Father Utih (poem)
                        c.) Little Girl (poem)
1986 : Datuk A. Samad Said
a.)  The Dead Crow (poem)
1991 : Prof. Dr. Muhammad Haji Salleh
                        a.) words for father (poem)
                        b.) on a dry bund (poem)
                        c.) three beserah fishermen (poem)
                        d.) seeds (poem)
e.) the traveller (poem)
f. ) si tenggang’s homecoming

The recipients whose literary work are being used in the school’s textbooks are as below:-

Malay literature

1982 : Dato' Shahnon Ahmad
                        a.) Gelungnya Terpokah (short story) for SPM level
1991 : Prof. Dr. Muhammad Haji Salleh
                        a.) Anak Global (poem) for SPM level

English literature

1981 : Kamaluddin Muhamad (Keris Mas)
a.)  Jungle of Hope (novel) for SPM level (Form 5)
1986 : Datuk A. Samad Said
a.)  The Dead Crow (poem) for PMR level (Form 1)
1991 : Prof. Dr. Muhammad Haji Salleh
a. ) si tenggang’s homecoming (poem) for SPM level (Form 4)


The poems by Erica Jong raises some feminist issues. What are they?
The feminist issues raised by Erica Jong in her poems are sex-positive issues, gender difference, gender bias, patriarchy and oppression of women, male dominance in love and family relationship, gender equality for women and women's rights and interests.

Do you think they are suitable to teach at the secondary school level? Explain.
I think that they are not suitable to be taught at the secondary school level because her works are sexually explicit and it might corrupt the young minds. However, her works are suitable for adult audiences. Erica Jong is an American woman and she has been married four times. Her works reflects her thoughts and her community’s culture. Some issues discussed in her poems and other literary works are taboo in the eastern culture. Therefore, they are not suitable for our eastern culture and her literary works cannot be taught at the secondary school level.

Is Hillary Tham's poem more suitable?
Hilary Tham is a local Malaysian writer. Therefore, her poems are more suitable for our eastern culture and they can be taught at the secondary school level because the use of language in her poems are more moderate and her poems often deals with common female issues.

The short tale from the Native American group is about a girl who is unsatisfied with her life. How is this a universal experience? Can it teach our students anything?

This is a universal experience across all country, society, race and religion because no matter how much people get of something, they want more and more. Some of them are very greedy and they are not thankful or grateful to god and the people around them. In relation to the real life, the people nowadays are very materialistic. No matter how much they earn, they are still not satisfied with what they have and they always want more and more! Another example which I can relate to is some people are not satisfied with their marriage life so they end up having extra marital affairs. Referring to the story, the girl was deceived by the handsome outlooks of the man who turns out to be one of the horned serpents. We can use this story to teach our students to be grateful and be satisfied with the simple things they have. They need to appreciate their god, parents, teachers and etc. for the things they have given to them. They also need to learn that having something is better than having nothing! For example, having an old bicycle is better than having none. Other than the above, another moral value from the story is not to trust someone based on their looks because they might have bad intentions. They look good from the outside but they are bad inside.    


From internet sources find out more about Langston Hughes.

From your findings about his background, tell me about the dilemma he conveys through the poem CROSS.
This poem explores the deepest emotions and troubles of a young man born into a world of confusion. He is confused by his heritage but arrogant in his pride. He is growing up in the whirl of a white society, and cannot decide whether he is white or black. Hughes, using a black mother and white father, completely makes it easy for the reader to understand and almost foreshadow where this poem is going. It is evident that there is an inner sense of not belonging in this child. In line three through eight, it is clear that the child is sorry for all the pain he has brought on to his parents, unknowingly. He shows remorse for all the curses and bad wishes he said to his parents, now that they are dead. But this is all because of a bigger problem. Now that his parents are both dead, he has no one to turn to, to help him figure out what his is. He can’t seem to figure out whether he is going to die in riches or rags. This is the great dilemma Hughes presents to the reader and leaving the audience in query to this unanswerable question. He cannot seem to find any truth in himself whatsoever, this child is and forever will be lost in his own identity. Hughes uses this boy’s struggles symbolically, not to show the pressures of a “crossed” child but rather to show how we as a society stereotype the races. The white father dying in a fine house whereas the mother dies in a shack, depicts the common view of the white race as being a more upscale and richer society and the black culture oppressed in poverty and forever bound to the slums of the world.

I find "Dinner Guest: Me" laden with irony and sarcasm. Briefly state if you feel the same.

I agree that "Dinner Guest: Me" is laden with irony and sarcasm because of the following lines:-

Stanza 1, Line 1 & 2
I know I am
The Negro Problem

Stanza 1, Line 9, 10 & 11
Of darkness U.S.A.--
Wondering how things got this way
In current democratic night,

Stanza 1, Line 14
"I'm so ashamed of being white."

I personally think that this poem is about Langston Hughes being invited to a fancy restaurant by a white person and the two of them were discussing race. You can tell by the way he says 'Asked the usual questions' and how the white person is embarrassed to be white. A black person in a fancy restaurant was a big deal back in those days. Not only do they have to wait for service in the restaurant but their discussion is about the answer to race relations and in the end of the poem he says; the answer to the problem is to wait.


The experience in the poem Harlem is one that is true for many people. Do you agree?
Yes. It is the unequal treatment among the blacks and the whites. The blacks are marginalized and they are treated like second class citizens. In 1951–the year of the poem's publication–frustration characterized the mood of American blacks. The Civil War in the previous century had liberated them from slavery and federal laws had granted them the right to vote, the right to own property and so on. However, continuing prejudice against blacks, as well as laws passed since the Civil War, relegated them to second-class citizenship. Consequently, blacks had to attend poorly equipped segregated schools and settle for menial jobs as porters, ditch-diggers, servants, shoeshine boys and so on. In many states, blacks could not use the same public facilities as whites including restrooms, restaurants, theaters and parks. Access to other facilities such as buses, required them to take a back seat, literally, to whites. By the mid-Twentieth Century, their frustration with inferior status became a powder keg and the fuse was burning. Hughes well understood what the future held, as he indicates in the last line of the poem.

The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution–approved in the post-Civil War era–granted black Americans basic rights as American citizens, as did the Civil Rights Act of 1875. However, court and legislative decisions later emasculated the legal protection of blacks. For example, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1896 (Plessy v. Ferguson) that it was legal to provide "separate but equal" accommodations for passengers of Louisiana's railroads. This ruling set a precedent that led to segregated schools, restaurants, parks, libraries and so on. Meanwhile, hate groups inflicted inhuman treatment on innocent blacks including brutal beatings. Lynchings of innocent blacks were not uncommon. Many so-called "enlightened" or "liberal-minded" Americans looked the other way, including law-enforcement officers, clergymen, politicians and ordinary Americans. By the mid-20th Century, black frustration with white oppression formed itself into a potent blasting powder.   


Langston Hughes fights for the voice of his people. What is the movement called?
The movement is called ‘Harlem Renaissance’ (the New Negro Movement). The African Americans used art to prove their humanity and demand for equality. The Harlem Renaissance led to more opportunities for blacks to be published by mainstream houses. Many authors began to publish novels, magazines and newspapers during this time. The new fiction attracted a great amount of attention from the nation at large. Some authors who became nationally known were Jean Toomer, Jessie Fauset, Claude McKay, Zora Neale Hurston, James Weldon Johnson, Alain Locke, Eric D. Walrond and Langston Hughes.
In 1916-17, Hubert Harrison founded the militant "New Negro Movement", which is also known as Harlem Renaissance. In 1917, he established the first organization (The Liberty League) and the first newspaper (The Voice) of the "New Negro Movement" and this movement energized Harlem and beyond with its race-conscious and class-conscious demands for political equality, an end to segregation and lynching as well as calls for armed self-defense when appropriate. Therefore, Harrison is called the "father of Harlem Radicalism."

Online Task 1

Online Task 1

My answers:

1. List some of the well-known folktales from Malaysia.
a)      Paddy That Turns To Gold
b)      The Clever Servant
c)      The Owl Misses the Moon
d)      How Malacca Got Its Name
e)      The Curse of Batu Gajah
f)        The Cursed Princess
g)      Sang Kancil and the Crocodiles
h)      Greed Does Not Pay.

2. List some of the possible issues found in The Son of the Turtle Spirit.
 Are those issues universal in nature or are they only relevant in the Chinese cultur
a)      Love
b)      Spiritual and magic.
c)      Power
d)      Adventurous
e)      Hard works pay

These universal issues which listed above are not only relevant in the Chinese culture, but also all the cultures around the world. Although different cultures have different folktales, they still reveal the issues mentioned above.

For examples, “The Empty Pot” is a folktale from China. A boy named Jun with his empty pot win the contest and become the next to wear the crown. This story reveals honesty, hard work and keeps one’s promise. “The Pied Piper” from Hamelin reveals keeps one’s promise, magic and mysterious. “Water and Salt” is a folktale from Italy which also reveals love and appreciation.

           
            Their story is different but they could not deviate from the universal issues above.

3. What are the other morals that can be gotten from the other fables by Aesop? List at least two

a) Early preparation is necessity. (The Ant and the Grasshopper)
b) One good turn deserves another. (The Ant and the Dove)

4. One well-known literary figure from the Elizabethan age used Ovid’s Pyramus and Thisbe as a model to one of his famous plays. Who is he and what is the play?
The story of Pyramus and Thisbe appears in Giovanni Boccaccio's On Famous Women as biography number twelve (sometimes thirteen) and in his Decameron, in the fifth story on the seventh day.
            Geoffrey Chaucer was among the first to tell the story in English with his The Legend of Good Women.
The "Pyramus and Thisbe" plot appears twice in Shakespeare's works. Most famously, the plot of Romeo and Juliet, in which the titular characters, Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet, fall in love at a party the Capulet family hosts, but they cannot be together because the two families hold "an ancient grudge" (which the young lovers' deaths eventually squash), and because Juliet has been engaged by her parents to a man named Paris. Romeo and Juliet may draw either from Ovid's Latin retelling in the Metamorphoses, or from Arthur Golding's 1567 translation of that work. Interestingly, most modern tales of "forbidden love" are seen as having been based on Shakespeare's play, rather than "Pyramus and Thisbe."

5. List some of the popular legends we have in Malaysia

a) “The Legend of the Two Princesses”
b) “The Curse of Mahsuri”
c) “Legend of Beras Terbakar (Burnt Rice)”
d) “The Lion City”
e) “The Dragon Of Lake Chini”

6. Legends.
1.Who is Thomas Malory?
Thomas Malory is an English author of Le Morte Darthur ("The Death of Arthur"). Even in the 16th century Malory's identity was unknown, but he is tentatively identified as a Welshman and knight who was imprisoned at various times. Le Morte Darthur (completed c. 1470) was the first account of Arthurian legend in English prose. Though based on French romances, it differs from its models in its emphasis on the brotherhood of the knights rather than on courtly love and on the conflicts of loyalty that destroy the fellowship. Only one extant manuscript predates its printing by William Caxton in 1485.


2. When was Le Mort d’Arthur written?
     Le Mort d’Arthur was written while Sir Thomas Malory was in prison in the early
     1450s and completed it by 1470.

3. How many books/ parts are there in LMDA?
    There are 8 books / parts in LMDA.

4. What is book 8 about?
     Book 8 is about The death of  Arthur: “Le Morte D’Arthur” (Caxton XX–XXI).

5. Who were the two people who had an affair?
     Sir Launcelot and Queen Gwynevere.

6. Book 6 has a strong connection to a popular modern fiction which is now a movie. What is the title of the popular modern fiction?
  “The Noble Tale of the Sangreal”

7. State three well-known facts about King Arthur/ his time as a King
a) Arthur was the son of King Uther and Igraine. 
b) Arthur was raised by Sir Ector, who had a son named Kay. 
c) Arthur was betrayed by his greatest knight, Sir Lancelot.

8. Think of 2 ways in which you can use folktales/fables/myths or legends in the classroom. Explain briefly.

a) Role playing.
First, teacher has to let their students to read and understand the folktale/ tales/ myths or legend.  Teacher has to guide their students to change the form of text into a simple dialogue. And remind their students the pronunciation and intonation for certain part of the dialogue. Then, divide them into groups and give them some time to practice. With some simple props, this activity can be done in the class. If their performance is good, they can present again during the assembly or in English Month. This activity will let students have fun while learning the folktale/ tales/ myths or legend. Some students may not good in comprehension of text, for example the legend which has lengthy sentences. Students may lose their interest in the half way. But they will understand much better by role playing the plot of the folktale, tales, myths or legend.

b) Mind mapping.
After students have understood the folktale/ tales/ myths or legend, teacher can divide the students into groups. Each group will be given a character. They have to mind map all the activities that the character involved in the folktale/ tales/ myths or legend. For example, “The Son of The Turtle Spirit”, students have to outline the turtle’s involvement in the folktale. From where the turtle came from until what had happened to the turtle until the end of the folktale. Students can use the 5W and 1H (Who, What, Where, When, Why and How) to complete the task. Then, they have to present their mind map and give some explanation. Teacher combines the students’ works to a clear and simple mind map as a whole. Mind maps are easy to review. Regular review reinforces memory. It will help students to generate more ideas, improve their memories, make more new connections that may have seemed separately and use their whole brain.