Learning Log 7

On the early morning of 15th September, many of my group members met up at Clarence's house to bring our props and costumes to school. We then practiced once last time to get ourselves ready for the actual performance. I was quite excited and wished that school ended quickly so that we could perform. During the last two periods before school ended, we were told by Mrs. Woo that we could actually set up our props and get ready for the performance. Theophania's mother arrived school at 2.15p.m. to help with the makeup. We were really grateful. After that was done, we did a final check to our background. Unfortunately, we were told by Miss Malyanah that we have to shift our table towards the back so that our performance could be captured in the video. There, we faced a bit of a problem. If we moved the table to the back, the dancers would not have their spaces to dance. But fortunately, with Theophania's spontaneous idea, we solved the problem. 


During the performance, I was rather nervous although my role as Cousin Capulet was quite small. I was afraid that my group members would forget their lines but fortunately, they deliver their lines smoothly and fluently. Although there were some faults to the acting, we were satisfied with our performance. I want to take this opportunity to thank Theophania for being an amazing director, and also to the other casts.

Learning Log 6

Last week, we were introduced to more literary devices. Literary devices are not new to us. We had learnt them in Secondary one. Literary devices are used in our everyday lives. They are to show sarcasm, feelings etc. One of my favourite literary devices is oxymoron. I love how sentences are made up of ironic words like “Thundering silence”. Literary devices can also be used to make sounds, like onomatopoeia, the sound  made by objects or living things and then spelled out. I find literary devices cool and very interesting but I find it difficult to memorise all of them.

Learning Log 5

During the weekends, I read a booklet on Unseen Poems. Mrs. Woo wanted us to read and understand what unseen poem is all about. Unseen poem is a poem that we have not read before. The poem must be read at least twice so that we understand it in detail before answering the questions. When answering questions, there are things to consider such as explaining it in detail, describing , give evidence, give opinion etc. It is important to underline key words so we do not forget the point of the questions which may lead to ‘out of the point’ situation. It is not advisable to quote long passages, which shows that we do not understand the passage and just ‘copy and paste’. To answer the question, there are two techniques. One of them is PEEL (Point, Explain, Evidence, Link) These methods helps us to organize our answer. Many writers adopt the ironic tone to create humour, criticise and add to the sense of tragedy.

In my opinion, answering Unseen Poem questions well is not easy. We need a lot of practice and time in order to do well in Unseen Poem .

Learning Log 4

On 13 April 2011, my classmates did a performance for Macbeth Act 1 Scene 1, which will be graded for Mid-year exam. My group, which consisted of Yuet Yan and Mui Siew, was the first to perform. I was rather nervous because I've never acted in front of the audience before. Imagine me imitating the voice of a witch! Although it did not went as smoothly as I thought it would, I was rather satisfied with our performance. For a beginner like me, it wasn't a bad start. Since me and Mui Siew were busy preparing for SYF competition which is just around the corner, we did not have time to rehearse for the performance. Therefore, we met up for 10 minutes on Tuesday during recess to discuss. In the meantime, we have to prepare the props, costumes, music and memorising the script. Initially, we did not have any idea as to what props to use, but I decided to make a background which depicted a lightning instead of using the computer.

I love how the other groups performed especially Liang Wei, Theophania, and Dawn's group. They were fantastic and close to perfection. Liang Wei and Theophania's group's sense of humour made me laugh my head off! All in all, I enjoyed myself although there's a need for improvement for me.

Learning Log 3

As we are concentrating on the story Macbeth, it is therefore not surprising to understand more about superstitions. For the past week, some of our classmates share our own stories of superstition. We were gathered into groups and given a worksheet which contained a question if someone had told us something would happened and it really did. For some reason, I find this question a bit creepy because as human beings, we cannot predict the future.

Anyway, my group members were Vanessa, Liang Wei and Shaun. Among the three of us, only Vannessa experienced it. She was said to be reprimanded by her aunt not to point to the full moon as there would be cuts behind her ears but stubbornly Vanessa did.  As was said by her aunt, she really had a cut behind her ears the next day.

Next, the representatives were to share the stories with the class. If I can remember well, Rachel's group shared with us a very creepy story. Initially, I thought it was real but it turned out to be fictious. Some of the stories were true and I find this really amazing. Truth to be told, I cannnot wait for the next Literature lesson and I admit that I enjoy doing group work. I understand now that this is a good opportunity to share things with our group members, know them better and speak up.

Learning Log 2

During the two previous Literature lesson, I have learnt about superstitions. We were asked to find some superstitions on the Internet and share it with my group members about my findings the next Literature lesson. Superstitions started when people from the past did not have knowledge on what was happening. Therefore, they tried to find out or make up something to explain things. Superstitions were created because the early people intended to prevent someone from doing something for good. For example, “a maiden shouldn’t be singing in the kitchen while cooking, or she will be a spinster for the rest of her life”. Supposedly, her mother doesn’t want the cooking to burn because of carelessness due to singing. Therefore resulting to rejections from men who are supposed to propose her.

Besides learning about superstitions, I also witnessed six of my classmates performing as witches in Act 1 Scene 1 of Macbeth. They were to imitate the voices of the witches and I found it hilarious. I was surprised that most of them were not shy to perform in front of their classmates and the teacher. This lesson taught me how to be more expressive in order to attract the audience. Overall, I enjoy the lesson very much.

Learning Log 1

In literature lesson last week, I learnt the way to construct a cinquain poem. It is a five-line poem that is defined by specific rule and guidelines. The word ‘cinq’ means ‘five’ in French, which obviously suggests the pattern of the poem. The lesson is quite interesting as I get to construct my own cinquain poem using my name and use the right words to describe my personality and feelings. Our literature teacher, Mrs. Woo, instructed us to get into groups so that we could make our own cinquain poem together. However, I was against the idea because it would be better if the poems were made individually. This is because I have trouble working together as a team to complete a piece of work assigned by teachers.