LA lesson: Poetry

Yesterday, during Language Arts lesson, we learnt about poetry. We went through similes and metaphors and how they were used in poems. I wasn't very sure about what was the difference between similes and metaphors were before, but now after the explanation of similes and metaphors I am know the difference. Metaphors are a comparison of two things while simlies use "like" and "as". Let me give you an example of a simile, "His face was as pale as a ghost." I guess using similes and metaphors aren't that hard but I'll try not to overuse them. Our teacher gave us us a handout that allowed us to view more examples of similes and metaphors. I found the page titled "Funniest similes written by high school students" rather awesome. I had a good laugh reading the similes! The page after that was metaphor poems. We had to read the poem and guess what the poet was talking about. This exercise was fun as I had to think hard to guess what the poet was talking about. Our teacher left us with an assignment over the weekend. It is a complusory blogpost. We had to write a poem about about life and post it on our blog. I hope I will enjoy composing this poem!

home learning writing task

I Never forgot

I never forgot,

how my life in primary school was.
I never expected so much change
in expectations and environment.

During my days
as a primary schooler,
there was fun, joy and of course
challenges.

My friends and I were very bonded,
we played games together
and were always there for each other,

through good times and bad.

In no time the exams approached...

Just before the exams, the class
would dish out their subject notes with zest,
trying hard to cram last few things
at the eleventh hour.

After the exams, everyone would
go wild and there would be
huge wide smiles on their faces.
This was the best part of my primary school life.

When the exam results were announced,
some cried tears of relief,
some regret, some anger.
And this was why many never looked
forward to this moment, never.

Soon the students learnt their lessons
and continued with their life,
looking back at their experiences
promising not to repeat them.

These memories, I never forgot,
I looked back in awe,
even though where I am now
is much different from before.

home learning, Lesson 1: Figurative language

My Dad, Your Dad

My dad's fatter than your dad,
Yes, my dad's fatter than yours:
If he eats any more he won't fit in the house,
He'll have to live out of doors.

Yes, but my dad's balder than your dad,
My dad's balder, OK,
He's only got two hairs left on his head
And both are turning grey.

Ah, but my dad's thicker than your dad,
My dad's thicker, all right.
He has to look at his watch to see
If it's noon or the middle of the night.

Yes, but my dad's more boring than your dad.
If he ever starts counting sheep
When he can't get to sleep at night, he finds
It's the sheep that go to sleep.

But my dad doesn't mind your dad.
Mine quite likes yours too.
I suppose they don't always think much of US!
That's true, I suppose, that's true.

By: Kit Wright

1.Figurative language is used in this poem using exaggeration. The poet using exaggeration alot in this poem. There is exaggeration in almost every stanza. Here is an example of the many times the poet using exaggeration, "won't fit in the house". The poet chooses to using exaggeration in the poem to show the two persons feelings and to show that they are competitive. The poet wants to let the readers feel the intense argument between the two people on whose dad is "better".

2. I like this poem very much as it brings out the readers imagination. The poem is also very hilarious and will make me laugh at times. The poem demonstrates the way people argue with humor and how competitive people can be. It too demonstrates the part a dad plays in their childrens lives, if a dad of child is not "special" or "better" than other dads. The child will feel that he himself is not special. These are the reasons why this is my favourite poem! :)

What we did today in LA lesson

Today in LA lesson, our teacher printed the summaries of the chapters one to eight. The summaries highlighted the important events in that chapter so that we could have a overview of the chapter. There summaries will be very useful to us. I feel that this could really help us in the literature test which will be in week ten. We can always refer to these summaries to get the main point of the chapter. I appreciate our LA teacher's effort to print thirty-four copies of these summaries for our whole class! :)

Today's assembly in school

I found today's assembly very enjoyable and enriching. The pianst, Chisato Kusunoki was very amazing! I found the pieces she played was extremely soothing and nice. Her playing definitely awed me and I really want to learn more about classical music as well experience more of this genre of music. As I was listening to Kunsunoki play her pieces, it brought me back to the past where I was still learning piano. In the past, I went for piano lessons weekly but sometimes I just could not play some pieces properly, this frustrated me. After I started getting involved in more sports activities, I decided to stop learning the piano. So far, I have not really touched the piano for the past 3 years. The way Kunsunoki played was very graceful and she was able to parts of the piece so quickly that I could not believe how she was able to do it. I was thinking of how much effort and practice she must have done to be at the standard she is at now. She must have played the piano for at least two hours everyday! I guess when someone is passionate about something, they will put in their heart and soul to accomplish the goals they have set for themselves.

Our first urbanization lesson

I found our first urbanization lesson very productive. We split into groups and discussed the effects of urbanization. There were three questions on the worksheet we were given and had to fill in the blanks with what we think were the effects of urbanization. There were three sections, air effects, water effects and soil effects. The second question was about the social effects on the villagers and Bombayites, again we had to list them out and write them in the blanks.The third question was about the effects of light pollution, using the information from an article attached behind the worksheets. After the discussion, some groups were chosen to present what they have discussed. Guess what? Our group was chosen! As the group leader, I had to present our discussion to the class! I had to explain the reasons why my group had decided to put this down as an effect. Overall, this lesson is very fun and I got to learn more about urbanization and its effects. The discussion was very good tool to let us find out more about urbanization. I felt the presentation that I did also allowed the information sink in more easily, so I guess I was at an advantage. Being the group leader certainly has its advantages! :)

Urbanization lesson preparation

Our LA teacher posted a message on EMB to ask us to be ready for the urbanization lesson that will be conducted. We were asked to read different parts of the book, Village by the Sea, according to the groups we were put in. There are three types of groups, "straight ahead", "uphill" and "mountain". We were sorted into these groups according to the amount of knowledge we had on urbanization. I am in the group, "uphill", which most of my classmates are in. I have to read Sayyid Ali Sahib's speech which is in the Village by the Sea. I am sure this topic is going to be an interesting one and I hope to be able have more knowledge on urbanization after these lessons.